China Lawyer Detained For Teaching College Students About Online Censorship

Radio Free asia, 2009-11-30 -

HONG KONG—A civil rights lawyer says he was detained by police in southern China for teaching a class to college students about online censorship and the use of a popular microblogging service.

Tang Jingling, a lawyer based in Guangdong’s provincial capital Guangzhou, said he was invited by a teacher surnamed Xu to the Guangzhou College of Vocational Technology on Nov. 27 to lecture students there on the Internet and its applications.

Instead, he said, he was interrupted by a member of the campus security force who was auditing the class, and was told to show his identification before being led away by police.

“When a teacher delivers a lecture, he should have all the rights over the content. But when I was in the classroom, a staff member from the school’s security division was sitting there, intimidating teachers,” Tang said.

“He even called the police to threaten the teachers and students. This was a joke and the biggest derision to academic freedom,” he said.

At the police station, Tang was questioned and barred from making phone calls.

Police threatened to keep him in custody for 24 hours.

News of Tang’s detention spread quickly on Twitter, enabling some netizens to immediately rush to the scene and call for his release.

Police allowed Tang Jingling to leave early Saturday, after three to four hours of questioning.

Twitter targeted

Tang admonished the authorities for shutting down his lecture, which included a talk on the use of the Twitter microblogging service.

“Twitter is just a tool to acquire knowledge and information, which can increase the skills of the students and ready them for tomorrow’s society. The way I was treated is really ridiculous,” he added.

Twitter has been censored several times by Chinese authorities following deadly ethnic riots in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region last July.

But China’s netizens say it is impossible for authorities to completely control Twitter due to the service’s inherently open characteristics and joke that “the day Twitter is shut down, pigs will climb trees.”

In fact, signs seem to indicate that an increasing number of China’s netizens are joining Twitter and using the service to pass on news.

Feng Zhenghu, a cyber-dissident who has been stranded in Tokyo’s Narita airport seeking the right to return to China, said that since registering as a user on the site on Nov. 13, he has received nearly 500 messages.

“In my inbox there are several hundred tweets, mostly from Chinese people expressing their concern and support,” Feng said.

Guangzhou-based cyber-activist Bei Feng said that Twitter is considered “a tool of subversion” by some Chinese security personnel.

“As far as I know, leading Chinese Web sites and forums were all cautioned not to discuss Twitter, which may now be monitored by special task forces,” Bei said.

“The Chinese authorities are always on high alert against Twitter, wanting to cut it off entirely,” he said…….(more detals from Radio Free Asia)

London Mayor’s deputy: I HAD SEX WITH A CHINESE SPY, during the Beijing Olympics

By Kate Mansey, The Mirror, UK, Nov. 29, 2009-

Boris Johnson’s deputy was lured into a classic honeytrap by a beautiful Chinese agent in scenes which could have come straight out of a spy novel.

Ian Clement went up to his Beijing hotel room for sex with the secret service siren… but was drugged and came round hours later to find his room had been ransacked.

The London Mayor’s No 2 discovered the woman had rifled through confidential documents and downloaded details about how the capital is run from his BlackBerry smartphone.

Clement hid the shameful episode from his boss but today he comes clean, admitting: “I fell for the oldest trick in the book.”

The £127,000-a-year politician walked into the trap during the Beijing Olympics last year, when he was on a Government mission to build contacts with potential investors for the 2012 London Games.

Clement, who had a partner back in Britain at the time, said: “Before I went out I had to be briefed by MI6. They told me about honeytraps and warned me that the Chinese secret service often use women to entice men to bed to get information. I didn’t think for one minute that I would fall for it.”

The 44-year-old Tory met the girl at an official party on the opening night of the Olympics. He was accompanying Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell to China and was sitiing just a few rows from then US President George Bush.

Clement confessed: “I know I’m no George Clooney, so when lots of attractive women are being particularly friendly it’s not normal.

“At the party a pretty Chinese woman came up to me, gave me her card and asked me to go for a drink. I thought nothing of it but when I got back to my hotel, she was in the reception.”

After two glasses of wine, Clement invited the girl to his room. He woke to see all his documents strewn around – and the girl disappearing.

Clement said: “I wasn’t thinking straight. I was thinking like a heterosexual bloke who is an 11-hour flight from home. I knew I shouldn’t be doing it but by then I was drunk.

“The next thing I knew I was waking up and she was dressed and leaving the hotel room. My wallet was open. She had plainly gone through it but I knew she wasn’t a simple thief because nothing was missing. I think we had sex but in truth I can’t remember. She must have drugged my drink.

“While I was in Beijing I was making planning decisions from my BlackBerry. We’re talking major, major decisions.

“They wanted to know which businesses I was courting. I think she was looking to see my plans, who I was meeting and how the new Conservative administration was working in London.”

Clement kept the squalid encounter secret from Boris Johnson. He said: “I didn’t call the office in London to tell them. I have never had a conversation with Boris about this. It wasn’t a breach of British security on a national level.

“What she had learned from me was economic information about how London is run – it wasn’t something that would put the people of the UK at risk so that was why I kept it to myself.

“But it’s right to stand up and say, ‘I’m sorry, I messed up.’”

Clement lost his job a year later when he was found to have fiddled his expenses. He resigned as Deputy Mayor in June after it was revealed he claimed £156 on meals for his girlfriend.

He had been putting personal expenses on a credit card and paying it back, but tried to claim a date was a meeting with Tory officials.

Clement was convicted and ordered to do community service painting public toilets – and is still wearing a curfew tag. He said: “I’m not bitter. The only person I’m angry with is myself.”

- www.mirror.co.uk

China’s Famous AIDS Activist Arrives in U.S.– New book exposes the AIDS epidemic

By Liang Zhen, Epoch Times Staff, Nov. 28, 2009-

After more than two years of silence, 82-year-old Gao Yaojie spoke publicly in Hong Kong at the release of her new book, China’s AIDS Plague: 10,000 Letters. Through a review of individual cases, the book uncovers the making of a man-made disaster led by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. She asserts that millions have been victimized because of a blanket of silence and misinformation imposed by the communist regime.

Dr. Gao, formerly a professor at the Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and known as one of China’s foremost experts on AIDS, has now arrived in the U.S. She plans to hold a press conference in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 1—World AIDS Day.

Pastor Bob Fu of the U.S.-based ChinaAid Association assisted Dr. Gao in leaving China. The pastor said that Gao managed to come to the U.S. with legal status despite the Communist Party’s efforts to block her from leaving. Over the past three months, Gao has been in hiding, forced to keep moving from place to place to avoid almost certain abduction and persecution, Fu said. Because of the necessity of keeping her whereabouts unknown, not even Dr. Gao’s family knew that she had come to the U.S.

The New Book

Gao first paid attention to the spread of AIDS in China in 1996, and began devoting all of her efforts towards AIDS prevention and rescue. She traveled to villages throughout Henan Province, using her own pension money to treat more than 1,000 patients. She also printed hundreds of thousands of flyers to educate peasants about the causes of the epidemic.

Initially her actions received a lot of attention, and many patients began to contact her. Desperate victims wrote to her, describing their situations and looking for help. The letters arrived by the thousands. When letter number 10,001 arrived, she decided to publish them as a way of raising awareness.

The new book discusses problems in China’s medical system such as people selling fake drugs to exploit AIDS patients for money. She writes that Chinese Communist Party officials, for a share of the money, provide protection for these profiteers. Others, in collusion with their doctors, pretend to be AIDS patients to receive a government subsidy. Orphans become ill after contracting the disease from their parents, and AIDS patients are treated very unfairly.

First Book Suppressed

Gao ’s original book, 10,000 Letters, published in 2004, received the Best Chinese Book Award in 2005. Hundreds of influential people attended the awards ceremony in the Great Hall of the People hosted by Beijing News and the Nanfang Daily. Despite the accolades, however, and much to Gao’s surprise, few copies were sold.

She could not understand what happened but remembered several people at the ceremony telling her that “the content was poorly edited and the stories seemed overly simplified.” They suggested that she rewrite the book using the original letters. That evening, Gao met with her editor, asking him to recheck the book. The young man burst into tears but said nothing. After half an hour, he left quietly.

Through this incident, Gao felt the unspoken pressure keenly. She decided not to hand over the original letters, and did not reply to anyone else offering to publish her book. Five years later, when her contract with the publisher expired, she contracted with Open Magazine in Hong Kong to publish this revision of her previous book…….(More details from The Epochtimes)

Canadian Lawyer Says China’s Black Market Organ Trade Worsening

NTDTV, Nov. 26, 2009-

A message arrived at Canberra’s Parliament House. It turned the corner, passed a Falun Gong demonstration and got out of the car.

The messenger: Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas, and the message: China’s black organ trade is on the rise.

[Kay Rubacek, Falun Dafa Association Spokesperson]:
“We’ve witnessed, and are aware of, the most heinous crime taking place today – that of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong practitioners in China.”

Falun Gong, a peaceful and spiritual practice of mind and body, has teachings based on truth, compassion and tolerance. But the Chinese communist regime has brutally persecuted it since 1999.

Matas says that transplant tourism into China has mostly stopped, but according to his new book entitled Bloody Harvest, both transplant volumes and Falun Gong sourced organs have increased.

Matas presented his findings at a parliamentary human rights sub-committee yesterday. He will speak at a human rights conference in Sydney.

- NTDTV

Family Plea for Missing Prominent Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng

Radio Free Asia, 2009-11-26 -

HONG KONG–The family of a prominent civil rights lawyer who has been missing for more than nine months has called on the Chinese government to give them news of his whereabouts, saying that his sister had now also lost contact with the rest of the family.

Civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was last seen in public in February, 2009 after reporting repeated kidnappings, detentions, surveillance and beatings at the hands of the authorities.

“Even if Gao Zhisheng had committed a terrible crime, his family would still have the right to know what had happened to him,” Gao’s brother Gao Zhiyi said in an interview.

“For every question, there are three unknowns. No-one knows anything,” he said. “They won’t talk to us and they won’t meet with us,” he said.

Gao Zhiyi added that his Shandong-based sister, who had also been under police surveillance at her home, had now stopped communicating with the rest of the family.

“His sister hasn’t called us or contacted us,” he said, adding that he had refused previous interview requests for fear that his brother would feel the repercussions.

Hong Kong Democratic legislator Albert Ho, who has led a campaign of lawyers calling for Gao’s release, said the group had written to U.S. President Barack Obama ahead of his state visit to China.

“We called on him to pay attention to our concerns about the safety of Gao Zhisheng,” Ho said.

“We are not going to let this drop. We have also written to the U.S. government asking for a reply now that Obama has left.”

Gao’s whereabouts have remained unclear for months after he was subjected to a secret trial by the authorities on unspecified subversion charges in 2006.

Lauded by China’s own Justice Ministry as one of China’s Top 10 lawyers in 2001 for his pro bono work in helping poor people sue government officials over corruption and mistreatment, Gao was once a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. He resigned from the Party in 2005.

Gao’s fortunes took a sharp downturn after he wrote an open letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in October 2005 slamming the continuing persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement.

Chinese lawyers who have defended members of the Falun Gong say they are forbidden to defend their clients on the proper application of law or the nature of the incident.

According to Jiang Tianyong, a defense lawyer for Gao who has himself been prevented from practising by authorities in Beijing, the entire legal profession is under increasing strain when it comes to defending the constitutional rights of individuals. “I and other human rights attorneys in China are suffering an increasing level of harassment, suppression, and persecution [by the government], because we serve as defense counsels in cases of safeguarding the freedom of religious belief,” Jiang testified in front of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on Oct. 29.

- Radio Free Asia

In Five Years, One Book Changes China

By Dane Crocker, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 25, 2009 -

It is widely known that the ruling powers in China do not tolerate dissent; the most well known example of this may be the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.

What is less well known by the West are movements of popular dissent within China today, particularly those that have been spurred by the book, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.

Five years ago, in November 2004, the Nine Commentaries was published. The book is an exposition of the history of the CCP, its rise to power, and its rule for the past 60 years. The commentaries also discusses the ideology of the CCP within the context of Chinese culture and detail, in shocking fashion, the crimes committed by the CCP against the Chinese people.

These crimes are enormous. It is commonly stated that in it’s six decades of rule; the CCP has killed more people than Nazi Party in Germany and the Soviets in Russia combined.

The book has spread widely in Chinese communities, both inside and outside of Mainland China.

Although many books criticizing the Chinese regime have been published, none have had the overarching effect on Chinese people that the Commentaries have. Indeed many Chinese journalists and scholars say this book is having a transformative effect on Chinese society.

Mr. Wu Baozhang is a journalist who spent 27 years working at China’s state run Xinhua news agency. He has also recently served as a director in the Chinese department at Radio France International.

He told The Epoch Times, “For these past five years, I have kept the Nine Commentaries at my bed side and read it again and again. In its words, I vaguely see a blueprint of a democratic free China.”

Though the book does not specifically put forth suggestions for an alternate system to the current one, it asserts the current system is failing and is dragging the people down with it.

In the Commentaries, the authors write, “The CCP has been moving towards its complete doom. Sadly, it is still trying to tie its fate to the Chinese nation before its demise.”

The Commentaries describe that one of the most damaging results of the CCP’s rule came from the all pervasive propaganda, in the arts, media and education, which effectively established a “Party culture” for the Chinese people, forcing them to think within the Party’s own logic.

It says that the Chinese people, “need to help themselves; they need to reflect, and they need to shake off the CCP.”

Wu talked about evidence that ordinary Chinese are beginning to do that……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Germany Suspects China of Spying on Uighur Expatriates, Residences of 4 Suspected Chinese Spies Searched

SPIEGEL ONLINE, Germany, Nov. 24, 2009-

German investigators on Tuesday morning searched the residences of four suspected Chinese spies. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the suspects had been spying on Munich’s Uighur community on orders from the Chinese government.

Unlike China’s imposing embassy in Berlin, the general consulate in Munich is no symbol of power. The representative office in the Bavarian capital is located in the upmarket district of Neuhausen in an inconspicouous corner building close to Nymphenburg Palace.

If you believe the consulate’s own PR, the institution deals with pleasant issues such as business and travel visas, the Olympic Games or German-Chinese trade relations. But if German investigators are to be believed, this idyll is merely a facade behind which the Chinese intelligence service is operating a network of spies.

On Tuesday morning, officers from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bavarian police searched the homes of four Chinese nationals in the Munich area, SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned. They are under suspicion of being intelligence service agents for the Chinese government tasked with spying on Munich’s large expatriate community of Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority in China that has been engaging in violent protests this year against perceived discrimination.

A Center for Expatriate Uighurs

Several hundred Uighurs live in exile in Munich, and many of them are politically active. Munich has one of the world’s largest exile communities of Uighurs and the World Uighur Congress is based there. The government in Beijing is interested in everything the Uighurs think, talk about or plan. The Uighurs are one of the “five poisons” the Communist government is fighting against with all the means at its disposal.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has discovered that the Chinese government has been recruiting a number of informants to spy on Munich’s Uighur community. Investigators believe that the suspected group of agents is controlled from within the Munich consulate by a consul who has been observed conducting conspirative meetings with the alleged agents. The consul himself has diplomatic immunity from prosecution in Germany but prosecutors are investigating four of his alleged informers.

The investigation presents yet another strain on the already tense relationship between China and Germany. The spying activities in Munich are closely coordinated with Beijing, with the consul reporting directly to the homeland. The Chinese government is following every step taken by the German government with interest.

The rigid countermeasures taken by German officials are new. Last year, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office established a procedure whereby all evidence regarding suspected Chinese spying activities was collated, but until Tuesday, no searches or arrests had been carried out. Officials largely limited themselves to keeping a close eye on hostile behavior on the part of the Chinese government and on the extreme interest showed by consulate employees in Munich’s community of Uighurs in exile.

Two years ago, the Chinese diplomat Ji Wumin, who also lived in Munich, had to leave the country after investigators observed him meeting around a dozen times with spies who provided him with information about the Uighur community. Ji left before he could be expelled.

Ji’s case remains a source of tension in diplomatic relations between China and Germany. Beijing would like to send Ji back to Munich, but Berlin fears that he would merely resume his previous spying activities. Tuesday’s searches, however, make Ji’s return unlikely — the consul now under investigation is Ji’s official successor.

- SPIEGEL ONLINE

Three-year jail term for China’s human rights website editor

Reporters Without Borders, nov. 23, 2009-

Reporters Without Borders deplores the three-year jail sentence that human rights activist and blogger Huang Qi was given at the end of a 15-minute hearing yesterday in Chengdu.

“There is still time for the judicial authorities to reach a just decision on appeal,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We again urge the judges to act humanely as this resolute activist’s health is now very precarious.”

Huang’s wife, Zeng Li, and his mother, who were the only people allowed to attend yesterday’s hearing, challenged the verdict and sentence as soon as they were announced. Huang was quickly escorted out of the courtroom by police officers but he had time to shout that he wanted to appeal. He was then driven away in a police van without being allowed to speak to his family.

Zeng requested a copy of the court’s verdict but was refused on the grounds that Huang himself would submit his own appeal. Under Chinese law, his lawyer should be given a copy of the verdict within five days. Huang has 10 days to file an appeal.

- Reporters Without Borders

U.S. government slow-walks congressional initiatives of supporting Internet freedom in countries such as China

The Washington Post, Saturday, November 21, 2009 -

THE MOST interesting question President Obama fielded in China came over the Internet, via the U.S. Embassy, from a Chinese citizen who asked, “Do you know of the firewall? Should we be able to use Twitter freely?” In response, Mr. Obama, speaking at a town hall in Shanghai, did not directly address China’s massive Internet censorship operation — “the firewall” — and he confessed that he does not use Twitter. But he said, “I’m a big supporter of not restricting Internet use, Internet access, other information technologies like Twitter.”

No doubt that’s correct. And, just as likely, Mr. Obama is not aware that his State Department not only is doing next to nothing to support Internet freedom in countries such as China, but that it also has been slow-walking congressional initiatives to do so.

For two years Congress has appropriated funds to support groups that are developing ways to circumvent the Chinese firewall and those erected in Iran, Burma, Cuba and other repressive countries. The most prominent of the groups, the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, says it has the capacity to host 1.5 million users daily. Its technology works: Shiyu Zhou, the deputy director of the consortium, testified to the U.S. Helsinki Commission last month that at the height of opposition protests on June 20, more than 1 million Iranians used the system. He said that with $30 million of additional funding, capacity could be increased to 50 million users a day, making it “prohibitively expensive for any repressive government to counter our efforts.”

A bipartisan coalition that includes Sens. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has been trying to channel the necessary funding. A total of $20 million has been included in the past two State Department budgets, and $30 million more is pending in the Senate’s version of the 2010 budget. But State hasn’t passed the money on to the firewall-busters. Instead it gave the lion’s share of its 2008 appropriation to a group that specializes in conducting media studies and training journalists, and it has failed to distribute the 2009 funds, even though the fiscal year ended nearly three weeks ago. The department says it is increasing the staff dedicated to working on Internet freedom issues and that it is funding some “implementing partners” that it won’t identify.

Still, no money is going to the one organization with a proven record of overcoming firewalls. The group’s advocates suspect that that’s because the Global Internet Freedom Consortium is identified with China’s banned Falun Gong movement — and State is fearful of Beijing’s reaction to any U.S. support for it. The Obama administration has already done plenty to appease the Chinese regime. The least it can do is act on the president’s own words about the value of free information — and help give Chinese their chance to Twitter.

- The Washington Post

China ‘sentences quake activist to three years’

AFP, Nov. 22, 2009-

BEIJING — A Chinese dissident who campaigned for the parents of children killed in last year’s Sichuan earthquake was sentenced Monday to three years in jail on a state secrets charge, his wife said.

Huang Qi, 46, who had investigated accusations that shoddy school construction contributed to the quake’s heavy toll, was found guilty by a court in the city of Chengdu of possessing state secrets, his wife Zeng Li told AFP.

“We will surely appeal,” she said by phone from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.

The sentence came just days after US President Barack Obama paid his first visit to China, during which he raised the issue of human rights, saying the United States believed in fundamental rights for all people.

US ambassador Jon Huntsman also specifically brought up Huang’s case with the Chinese government in the lead-up to Obama’s visit, a US embassy official told AFP.

The sentencing was the second move since Obama’s visit by Chinese authorities against dissidents.

On Thursday, Zhou Yongjun, a student leader of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was tried for fraud, also in Sichuan.

No verdict has been announced in Zhou’s case.

The nature of the state secrets in Huang’s case was not publicly released, but his lawyer Mo Shaoping denounced the verdict, saying it was information freely available on the Internet, although he declined comment on it.

“We do not acknowledge the verdict. We maintain that he is innocent,” Mo said.…… (more details from AFP)

China’s ex-president sought in Spanish probe: lawyer

The Expatica, Nov. 20, 2009 -

Madrid – A Spanish judge wants to question former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four other Chinese Communist Party officials over allegations of torture and genocide against the Falun Gong, a lawyer for the spiritual movement said Thursday.

Judge Ismael Moreno of the National Court made the decision after concluding a preliminary inquiry, Falun Gong lawyer Carlos Iglesias said.

The Supreme Court in 2006 ordered Moreno to probe a complaint for genocide filed two years earlier by the Falun Gong and which had initially been rejected.

Iglesias said the Chinese officials will receive a letter requesting information about their alleged involvement in the persecution of the Falun Gong.

If they fail to reply within six weeks, the judge could issue arrest warrants against them, Iglesias said.

Chinese authorities banned Falun Gong, whose Buddhist-inspired teachings focus on exercises and which claims 70 million followers in China, in 1999. Beijing has since branded Falun Gong an “evil cult” and sometimes brutally suppressed its practitioners.

The Spanish case was accepted under the principle of “universal jurisdiction” which Spain has observed since 2005 and which allows judges to open probes into genocide and human rights abuses wherever they occur.

But it has also caused diplomatic headaches for the government, and Spain’s parliament voted in June to limit its scope.

In May, a Spanish judge also issued rogatory letters to China to request information on eight leaders targetted by a suit by a Tibetan rights groups accusing them of repression in Tibet.

- AFP / Expatica

China Uses Obama’s Visit to Portray Itself

The Age, Australia, Nov. 21, 2009 -

HOURS after Barack Obama landed in Beijing and headed downtown, a cavalcade of black sedans drove out the other way.

China’s security chief, Zhou Yongkang, was heading against the traffic to meet an old Sudanese friend who has been accused of genocide in Darfur. Zhou’s three-day visit to President Omar al-Bashir coincided with Obama’s time in Beijing with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. It was a vivid statement of how differently the US and China might view the world when they are running it together.

Obama had brought some of his heaviest hitters to enlist China in confronting ”the major challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to nuclear proliferation to economic recovery … challenges that neither of our nations can solve by acting alone”.

Over the three days Obama and Hu spoke positively of each other’s efforts but struggled to list concrete achievements on any of Obama’s priorities. The US leader and his team spoke bravely if not convincingly about China being receptive to its message on Iran, North Korea and Pakistan and Afghanistan. Sudan never made it to the list. On China’s human rights, both sides plainly disagreed.

”I underlined to President Obama that given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues,” said Hu.

For the Chinese state, even if the leaders failed to forge a personal rapport or policy breakthrough, it was a priceless three-day opportunity to manoeuvre a US president on their stage and project an image of China on top. By some accounts, China’s single highest diplomatic priority was not reducing the threat of rogue nuclear weapons on its doorstep or preventing the next economic meltdown, but getting Obama to say ”Tibet is part of China” on Chinese soil.

In Chinese diplomacy, form and content can be hard to disentangle. China is a ”ritual state”, says Australian National University China historian Geremie Barme. It is ”tirelessly reassuring itself and whoever is watching of its own stature and stateliness”.

Not all Chinese were impressed by their ”ritual state” going to extraordinary lengths to prevent Obama from engaging freely with the Chinese public. To many, particularly among internet-savvy youth, the contrast between Beijing’s insecurity and Obama’s natural confidence was instructive. ”They put a condom on the President of the United States,” wrote Wang Yukun at Sina, a popular website.

Obama handled Beijing’s strictures with grace but it wasn’t easy going. Bashir, in Khartoum, found security chief Zhou Yongkang to be a more obliging dance partner.

Zhou’s team unveiled the first Khartoum-Beijing direct flights, opened a Confucius Institute, signed an agriculture deal and agreed to jointly pump more oil.

The world is familiar with how Obama’s agenda in China was constrained by his own domestic politics. He had slapped tariffs on Chinese tyre imports and was not ready for a legally binding climate change agreement at Copenhagen – something that China sees as in its national interest.

But Hu was also weighed down by domestic political challenges. In 1995 Zhou was working his way to the top of China’s biggest oil company, Petrochina. Zhou and oil industry veteran Zeng Qinghong persuaded then president Jiang Zemin to exploit Sudan’s oil reserves at a time when Western companies could not afford the political or reputation risk, according to several Chinese oil industry and foreign policy sources.

”You are the important promoter of the Sudan-China oil project, the Sudanese people have special affection towards you,” said Bashir, on Thursday’s CCTV report. ”Sudan-China oil co-operation not only brought Sudan oil but also peace.”

Zhou left Petrochina in 1998 and Jiang stepped down from the presidency in 2002. But Chinese institutions can be shaped as much by invisible ties of patronage as official lines of power. Oil industry sources and foreign policy strategists say Zhou continued to hold the reins of China’s oil industry for many years after his official title changed. Some strategists claim that an ”oil gang” also drove the Chinese Government’s more recent forays into Iran’s oil and gas fields and even obstructed efforts by Hu and others to support international sanctions against Sudan and Iran.

Zhou now heads China’s secret and public security agencies and justice system. He is Jiang’s most important ally and therefore a factional rival of Jiang’s successor, Hu. Jiang’s allies also head China’s propaganda apparatus and possibly form a majority of the all-important Central Military Commission. Unfortunately for Obama, most of the concessions he would have liked from Hu happen to be on turf the Chinese President does not confidently control. Hu has to juggle the interests of factional rivals, giant state-owned corporations and an increasingly demanding bureaucracy. Hu could not unilaterally commit to what Obama appeared to put most effort into – a threat of sanctions against Iran.

Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told an unimpressed White House press corps that Obama had never expected that ”the waters would part and everything would change over the course of our almost 2½-day trip to China”.

Gibbs was in damage control but he also had a point. The US cannot lead as it used to and has no choice but to give China a more proportionate say.

John Garnaut is China correspondent.

- The Age

China’s former Communist head Jiang Zemin Indicted for Torture and Genocide of Falun Gong

NTDTV, 2009-11-20 -

Five high-ranking Chinese Communist Party Officials have been indicted in a Spanish court for crimes of torture and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners.

Among them is former head of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin. He’s responsible for launching the brutal campaign in 1999 to “eradicate” the Falun Gong meditation practice.

The court decision means Jiang and the others have 4 to 6 weeks to reply to the judge’s request for their testimony. Otherwise they could face extradition. They could be arrested if they travel to any of the dozens of countries that have extradition treaties with Spain, including the United States. Theoretically they would then be sent to Spain, where they would stand trial and could face up to 20 years in prison.

Aside from Jiang Zemin, the four other indicted officials are:

- Luo Gan who lead the “610 Office,” a nationwide secret police task force;
- Bo Xilai, current Party Secretary for Chongqing and former Minister of Commerce;
- Jia Qinglin, the fourth-highest member of the Party hierarchy; and
- Wu Guanzheng, head of an internal Party disciplinary committee.

On November 13th, Spanish National Court Judge Ismael Moreno notified attorney Carlos Iglesias of the Human Rights Law Foundation that the court had granted a petition to indict the defendants.

[Carlos Iglesias, Attorney, Human Rights Law Foundation]:

“This decision of the Spanish Judge, I sincerely think will open the door for other countries around the world to also start to investigate these crimes—and for justice to be served in the genocide that the Chinese Communist Party is committing against Falun Gong.”

Iglesias says evidence of the genocide is abundant and has been accepted by the judge. That includes oral testimonies of seven Chinese victims of the persecution as well as reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

[Carlos Iglesias, Attorney, Human Rights Law Foundation]:

“The Spanish court has made a historic step forward to stop and bring to justice those responsible of those terrible crimes that the Chinese Communist Party is committing against millions of Falun Gong practitioners. The [five] accused—Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, Bo Xilai, Jia Qinglin, Wu Guanzheng—and all the other CCP officials who are responsible for the persecution, they should be brought to justice, and before history, appear before the court, and put in jail—for being directly responsible for the millions of Falun Gong practitioners that have been persecuted for their beliefs of simply trying to be good people.”

- NTDTV

China: Obama Leaves, Activists Tried

Radio Free Asia, 2009-11-20 -

HONG KONG— Hard on the heels of a state visit to China by U.S. President Barack Obama, authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan have begun the trial of a former 1989 student leader and will shortly sentence an activist who tried to help victims of last year’s devastating earthquake.

Authorities in Sichuan’s Shehong county began the trial of U.S. resident and former leader of China’s 1989 student movement Zhou Yongjun for “economic fraud” after he tried to visit his ailing father in 2008, just one day after Obama ended his three-day trip.

“This case definitely exists,” Zhou’s lawyer Chen Zerui said.

“But there is no evidence whatsoever to show that Zhou Yongjun is directly connected to it.”

Zhou was a student at the Chinese University for Political Science and Law at the time of the student protests and ensuing military crackdown on June 4, 1989, in which hundreds died.

He was among a group of students who knelt in front of the Great Hall of the People on April 22 to present a list of demands to China’s leaders after the death of moderate premier Hu Yaobang.

Lawyer appointed

Chen, assistant to top Beijing-based lawyer Mo Shaoping, was retained only in late August after Zhou’s family tried to hire Mo to defend him in May.

He said he had already called into question some of the evidence presented by police.

“I have asked for a suitable agency to review the evidence based on handwriting,” he said, adding that he had also found holes in the legal procedures used to bring the case against Zhou.

Zhou’s relatives, who attended the trial, said he didn’t look himself.

“He seemed in low spirits and his voice was very faint,” said a brother-in-law surnamed Ye. “We wondered if he was sick.”

“It has been such heartache for our family. Zhou disappeared for about a year, and we were all very worried. His parents are old, and they are extremely distressed,” Ye said.

Cyber-dissident tried

Meanwhile, a court in the provincial capital Chengdu said it would announce its decision in the trial of cyber-dissident Huang Qi for “possession of state secrets.”

“I received a phone call and a fax… from the court,” said rights lawyer Mo, who is acting on Huang’s behalf.

“They said the sentencing would be open and that relatives could attend.”

Mo added that there had been no opportunity for Huang, 46, to defend himself throughout the trial, which was held at Chengdu’s Wuhou district People’s Court.

“There was no opportunity for either Huang Qi or his lawyer to say anything throughout the trial,” Mo said, adding that a typical sentence for the charge of “possessing state secrets” was three years’ imprisonment.

“They just read out a statement. I didn’t send a lawyer over to save the fees. If he is found guilty, we will appeal.”

Huang’s wife Zeng Li said she has had no direct communication from the court regarding her husband’s case.

“I am very worried now. If they send him to jail, Huang Qi won’t be able to get medical treatment in prison,” she said.

“He is in very poor health.”

Held after quake

Huang was detained by the Sichuan authorities on June 10, 2008 after he tried to help parents of children who died in the May 12 earthquake to investigate allegations of shoddy construction following the collapse of school buildings across the quake-hit region in which thousands of schoolchildren died.

He was formally arrested on July 18, 2008.

Zhou, who is a permanent resident of the United States with two children, was detained in the wake of the June 4 crackdown and released in 1991 following international political pressure for the release of student leaders.

He arrived in the United States in 1992, and was granted permanent residency.

Zhou’s case highlights the situation of dozens of Chinese political activists who have been allowed to leave China and seek asylum in the United States, but are now unable to get permission to return to visit relatives.

- Radio Free Asia

Who Are China’s Most Powerful People?

Jason Dean, The Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2009 -

BusinessWeek has published its inaugural list of China’s 40 “Most Powerful People.” It’s an interesting exercise, trying to enumerate where power resides in China today. Sticklers will doubtless point to omissions: former President Jiang Zemin still has pretty serious pull, for example. And, for that matter, any list based purely on raw power would have to include all nine men on the Communist Party’s Standing Committee (there are three on BusinessWeek’s list) – if not all 25 on the full Politburo, any one of whose members could out-muscle list-member Zhang Ziyi if it ever came to that.

But that list would be boring, as opposed to this kind of compellingly eclectic roster, which includes artists and economists in addition to executives and officials. Here’s the full 40 (loosely grouped, but otherwise alphabetical; titles as BusinessWeek has them):

Government Officials (11)
• Bo Xilai, Party Secretary, Chongqing
• Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce
• Hu Jintao, President, Peoples Republic of China
• Liu Mingkang, Chairman, China Banking Regulatory Commission
• Lou Jiwei, Chairman, China Investment Corp.
• Wang Qishan, Vice-Premier
• Wang Yang, Guangdong Party Boss
• Wen Jiabao, Premier
• Xi Jinping, Vice-President
• Xia Deren, Dalian Party Boss
• Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of People’s Bank of China

Executives (21)
• Dong Mingzhu, Vice-Chairwoman & President, Gree Electric Appliances
• Hou Weigui, Chairman, ZTE
• Li Ning, Chairman, Li-Ning Co.
• Robin Li, Chairman & CEO, Baidu
• Li Shufu, President, Geely Auto
• Liu Chuanzhi, Chairman, Lenovo Group/ President & CEO, Lenovo Holdings
• Jack Ma, Chairman, Alibaba
• Pony Ma, Chairman & CEO, Tencent Holdings
• Ren Zhengfei, President & CEO, Huawei Technologies
• Shi Zhengrong, Chairman & CEO, Suntech Power
• Ma Weihua, President, China Merchants Bank
• Wang Chuanfu, President & CEO, BYD
• Wang Jianzhou, Chairman & CEO, China Mobile
• Wang Shi, Chairman, Vanke
• Wei Jiafu, President & CEO, China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO)
• Wu Gang, President & CEO, Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology
• Don Ye, President & CEO, Tsing Capital
• Yin Tongyue, Chairman & General Manager, Chery
• Zhang Qingwei, Chairman, Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China
• Zhang Ruimin, CEO, Haier Group
• Jonathan Zhu, Managing Director, Bain Capital

Others (8)
• Justin Lin, Chief Economist & Senior Vice-President, World Bank
• Lu Chuan, Movie Director
• Song Hongbing, Author, Currency Wars
• Andy Xie, Board member, Rosetta Stone Advisors
• Xu Xiaonian, Professor of Economics & Finance at CEIBS
• Yao Ming, Center, Houston Rockets
• Yue Minjun, Artist
• Zhang Ziyi, Actress

–Jason Dean

From The Wall Street Journal

China Officials Indicted for Genocide and Torture by Spanish Court

By John Nania, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 18, 2009 -

Five high-ranking Chinese officials have been indicted in Spain for genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners.

As reported by The Epoch Times online and in Monday’s print edition, the five officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) include Jiang Zemin, the former top man in the Party, and Luo Gan, head of the notorious 610 Office, a nationwide secret police task force that has led the violent campaign against Falun Gong.

Additional details were announced Wednesday in a press release by the Falun Dafa Information Center, on behalf of the Human Rights Law Foundation (HRLF), which is heading the legal effort in Spain. Carlos Iglesias is the HRLF attorney on the case in Spain.

“When one carries out the crime of genocide or torture, it is a crime against the international community as a whole and not only against Chinese citizens,” Iglesias said.

For committing the crime of genocide, the defendants face imprisonment for up to 20 years and may be economically liable to the victims for damages. Based on the magnitude of the crimes committed by the defendants, they are likely to face the maximum 20-year penalty for their crimes.

According to the press release, the defendants have 4-6 weeks to reply and could subsequently face extradition if they travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with Spain. The decision was taken under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows domestic courts to hear cases of genocide and crimes against humanity regardless of where they occur.

Falun Gong is a traditional Chinese spiritual discipline that was practiced by 100 million people in China before it was banned in July 1999 by the CCP. It was initially supported by the CCP as promoting health and social harmony, but was suddenly declared illegal and subsequently violently persecuted, largely on the decision of Jiang Zemin, one of the defendants in the case in Spain.

The court also took a historic step in being the first to legally recognize the persecution against Falun Gong as amounting to genocide.

- The Epoch Times

Spanish Court Indicts 5 Top Communist Party Officials for Torture, Genocide of Falun Gong

Falun Dafa Information Center, 18 Nov 2009 -

NEW YORK – In an unprecedented decision, a Spanish judge has indicted five high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials for their role in crimes of torture and genocide committed against Falun Gong practitioners. Among the defendants is former CCP head Jiang Zemin, widely acknowledged as the chief instigator of the campaign to “eradicate” the spiritual practice.

Following a two-year investigation, Spanish National Court Judge Ismael Moreno last week notified attorney Carlos Iglesias of the Human Rights Law Foundation (HRLF) that the court had granted a petition to indict the defendants on charges of torture and genocide. According to the notice, for committing the crime of genocide, the defendants face imprisonment for up to 20 years and may be economically liable to the victims for damages.

The Judge’s notification also stated that the court had granted a petition to send rogatory letters (letter of request) to the five defendants in China with questions relating to each individual’s involvement in the persecution of Falun Gong. The decisions followed a series of submissions to the court by Iglesias and other HRLF staff.

The defendants have 4-6 weeks to reply and could subsequently face extradition if they travel to a country that has an extradition treaty with Spain. The decision was taken under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows domestic courts to hear cases of genocide and crimes against humanity regardless of where they occur.

“This historic decision by a Spanish judge means that Chinese Communist Party leaders responsible for brutal crimes are now one step closer to being brought to justice,” said Iglesias. “When one carries out the crime of genocide or torture, it is a crime against the international community as a whole and not only against Chinese citizens. Spain is emerging as a defender of human rights and universal justice.”

Among the accused are former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, widely acknowledged as the primary instigator of the campaign launched in 1999 to “eradicate” Falun Gong. Also facing charges is Luo Gan, who oversaw the 610 Office, a nationwide secret police task force that has led the violent campaign. Chinese lawyers have compared the 6-10 Office to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo in its brutality and extra-legal authority.

The other three accused are Bo Xilai, current Party Secretary for Chongqing and former Minister of Commerce; Jia Qinglin, the fourth-highest member of the Party hierarchy; and Wu Guanzheng, head of an internal Party disciplinary committee. The charges against them are based on their proactive advancement of the persecution against Falun Gong when they served as top officials in Liaoning, Beijing, and Shandong respectively. In a Pulitzer prize-winning article, The Wall Street Journal’s Ian Johnson describes how Wu imposed fines on his subordinates if they did not sufficiently crackdown on Falun Gong, leading officials to torture local residents, in some cases, to death. (news)

Other evidence considered by the judge during his investigation included written testimonies from fifteen Falun Gong practitioners and oral testimonies from seven practitioners, including torture victims and relatives of individuals who had been killed in Chinese custody. The judge also relied on reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.N. Human Rights Commission to reach his decision, HRLF attorney Iglesias said.

To arrange for an interview with attorney Iglesias or one of the witnesses, please contact the Falun Dafa Information Center or the Human Rights Law Foundation.

- Falun Dafa Information Center

Obama’s Silence on China

by Matt Gurney, FrontPage, Nov. 19, 2009-

President Obama this week embarked on his first trip to China, but so far he has little to show for his visit. Wrapping up a three-day stay in the Asian powerhouse, the president secured impressive photo ops, spouted lofty rhetoric, and made vague statements about future plans. Yet he has done absolutely nothing to defend American interests or to stand up for the Chinese people who continue to suffer under communist tyranny.

For an unapologetically liberal leader, President Obama had surprisingly little to say to China on the contentious issue of human rights. While China has enthusiastically embraced capitalism, it has ignored the Western world’s demands that it improve the treatment of its own people.

The facts are bleak. An estimated half-million Chinese are currently being held without trial or legal recourse; religious freedoms are suppressed; and the Chinese press is vigorously censored. The minority Tibetan and Uighar peoples are oppressed. Prisoners face torture and swift execution. While China may excel at wowing the world with dazzling events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it remains a deeply repressive country.

And yet, President Obama has tip-toed around these issues, doing his best to avoid antagonizing his hosts. He has not met with Chinese liberals, with spiritual and faith leaders, and certainly not with the Dalai Lama. The spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama has been a thorn in China’s side ever since China occupied Tibet, and yet has always been feted in the West as a champion of freedom and human rights. President Obama hasn’t exactly repudiated this position; he’s simply refused to meet with the Dalai Lama until after the summit, hoping to play both sides of the coin. Apparently, the president believes that it is possible for America to find a balanced position between the oppressor and the oppressed.

The president’s only “real” contact with average Chinese citizens occurred during a so-called town hall meeting with students in Shanghai. The meeting was actually a carefully managed media event, controlled by the Chinese. Obama played along and made a few bland remarks about the need to embrace openness and limit censorship, knowing that his words would reach few in China, and therefore not offend his hosts. The president’s statement on the value of open information and a free press were seen by almost no one — the Chinese did not widely broadcast the event. So much for freedom of the press.

It is unfortunate that President Obama has shown the same disinterest in the plight of Chinese dissidents that he did in the fates of Iranian reformers. For all his talk of optimism and hope, Obama clearly values building relationships with dictators more than supporting the people they oppress. This would be difficult to swallow even if it had conveyed any advantages, but ignoring the Iranian protesters has done nothing to improve relations between America and Iran, and will do no more to improve America’s standing with China……. (more details from FrontPage)

NTD TV to Appeal French Court’s dismissal of investigating Eutelsat’s shutdown of satellite broadcasts to China

New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), Nov.18, 2009 -

Paris, November 18, 2009 – The Paris Commercial Court has dealt a set-back to NTDTV’s request to appoint an independent investigator to examine fully Eutelsat’s June 2008 shutdown of NTDTV’s satellite broadcasts to China. In reviewing the court’s decision, the channel’s legal counsel expressed surprise that the judge dismissed the case on technical grounds while ignoring the compelling evidence presented in a report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in which Eutelsat’s Beijing representative admitted NTDTV’s uncensored programming was cut off as a goodwill gesture to the Chinese regime.

NTDTV spokesperson Carrie Hung expressed disappointment that the court’s judgment yesterday did not address, and neither did Eutelsat refute, the RSF recorded evidence demonstrating Eutelsat’s pre-meditated and discriminatory decision to silence NTDTV. “When we presented this same set of evidence to the European Parliament at the beginning of the year, the MEPs found there was sufficient cause to pass a resolution censuring Eutelsat for its actions and calling for an independent investigation into the company’s conduct,” stated Ms. Hung.

Ms. Hung said that NTDTV is confident of its case if its evidence receives a full and fair hearing. She confirmed that the channel will appeal to the next level in the French legal system, in order to seek full accountability and transparency in Eutelsat’s shutdown of the world’s only non-governmental Chinese-language TV broadcast to China.

NTDTV Contact:
Carrie Hung, NTDTV Spokesperson, 917-319-0219, carrie.hung@ntdtv.com

###

About New Tang Dynasty Television

Established in 2001, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) is a non-profit television broadcaster and the only independent Chinese-language television to broadcast into China. NTDTV is dedicated to providing objective, uncensored news to Chinese residents. As a vital news source, NTDTV reported on the SARS outbreak in China three weeks before Beijing admitted to its existence. NTDTV also reports on environmental and human rights issues in China, generating awareness among Chinese residents important issues their government withholds from them.

- NTDTV

In Obama’s China trip, a stark contrast with the past

By Andrew Higgins and Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post Staff Writers, Wednesday, November 18, 2009-

BEIJING — President Obama has emerged from his first trip to China with no big breakthroughs on important issues, such as Iran’s nuclear program or China’s currency. Yet after two days of talks with the United States’ biggest creditor, the administration asserted that relations between the two countries are at “at an all-time high.”

Although one concrete advance emerged — that the United States may offer a target for carbon-emission cuts to boost climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month if China offers its own proposal — it was a relatively small step for a new president who had campaigned on a promise to enact far-reaching change in U.S. diplomatic interactions.

If there was any significant change during this trip, in fact, it was in the United States’ newly conciliatory and sometimes laudatory tone. In a joint appearance with President Hu Jintao on Tuesday, Obama hailed China as an economic partner that has “proved critical in our effort to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations.” The day before, speaking to students in Shanghai, he described China’s rising prosperity as “an accomplishment unparalleled in human history.”

On a visit to the Great Wall Wednesday after his last official business, a morning meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the U.S. president offered yet more gushing tributes. He declared the ancient structure “spectacular” and “majestic” and told a Chinese journalist that he had “great admiration for Chinese civilization.”

U.S. presidents have been trekking to China — and also lauding the Great Wall — since Richard Nixon visited in 1972. But, in both form and content, Obama’s trip stood in stark contrast to the journeys of his predecessors.

The changes reflect not so much a policy shift by a new administration in Washington as a dramatic and much bigger change in the power dynamic, particularly in economics, over the past decade — a change that has been the central undercurrent of Obama’s swing through China this week.

In 1998, when President Bill Clinton stood before television cameras in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the United States owed more money to Spain than to China and did more than twice as much trade with Mexico. At a freewheeling news conference, Clinton criticized China’s military crackdown a decade earlier in Tiananmen Square and traded spirited jibes with President Jiang Zemin.

On Tuesday, Obama stood in the same building alongside another Chinese leader. This time, with the United States in hock to China for more than $1 trillion dollars and flooded with Chinese-made goods, it was a Chinese-style news conference. Each leader read a prepared statement and eyed the other in silence. There were no questions.

Since leaving Washington last Thursday for an eight-day tour of Asia, Obama has occasionally nudged China on issues such as Tibet and Internet censorship. But he has more often trumpeted China’s achievements and pleaded with Beijing for increased help on the world stage.

China returned the effusiveness in its music selection at a state dinner for Obama on Tuesday night. The People’s Liberation Army serenaded him and other U.S. officials with “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “In the Mood” and “We Are the World,” as Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sat on either side of the Chinese president over a steak dinner. …… (more details from the Washington Post)

Afghan minister accused of taking $30 million bribe from China

By Joshua Partlow, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 18, 2009 -

KABUL – The Afghan minister of mines accepted a roughly $30 million bribe to award the country’s largest development project to a Chinese mining firm, according to a U.S. official who is familiar with military intelligence reports.

The allegation, if proved true, would mark one of the most brazen examples of corruption yet disclosed in a country where the problem has become so pervasive that it is now at the heart of Obama administration doubts over Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reliability as a partner. The question of whether Karzai can address his government’s graft and cronyism looms large as he prepares for his inauguration Thursday for a new term, and as President Obama completes a months-long strategy review that will define the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan after eight years of war.

Karzai is coming under intense international pressure to clear his cabinet of ministers who have reaped huge profits through bribery and kickback schemes. Although he announced a new anti-corruption unit this week, the president has been reluctant to fire scandal-tainted ministers in the past, and it is unclear whether he is ready to do so now. Meanwhile, Afghans’ perceptions that they are ruled by a thieving class have weakened support for the government and bolstered sympathy for the Taliban insurgency.

In the case of the minister of mines, there is a “high degree of certainty,” the U.S. official said, that the alleged payment to Mohammad Ibrahim Adel was made in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, within a month of December 2007, when the state-run China Metallurgical Group Corp. received the contract for a $2.9 billion project to extract copper from the Aynak deposit in Logar province. Aynak is considered one of the largest unexploited copper deposits in the world.

The selection of the Chinese firm, known as MCC, has angered some Afghan and American officials who worked on the bidding process with Adel. They say he was biased toward the company and did not give a fair hearing to the proposals of Western firms. But the issue has also gained urgency because the ministry is reviewing offers for another massive mining deal — this time for an iron ore deposit west of Kabul known as Haji Gak — for which MCC is the front-runner.

“This guy has done this already; we’re in the same situation again,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In an interview, Adel denied repeatedly that he has received any bribes or illicit payments during his three-year-old tenure as minister and said that MCC won the contract after a fair review process. The Chinese company’s investment — including plans to build a railroad and a 400-megawatt power plant, and to make an $808 million bonus payment to the Afghan government — far exceeded that of other firms, Adel said.

“I am responsible for the revenue and benefit of our people,” Adel said. “All the time I’m following the law and the legislation for the benefit of the people.”

The performance of the Mines Ministry under Adel typifies the weakness of Karzai’s government. Afghanistan’s wealth of mineral resources represents a potential bright spot in an otherwise feeble economy. Flush with copper, iron, marble, gold and gemstones, the mining sector could become a major source of revenue for the country. ….. (more details from the Washington Post)

U.S. Citizen Detained in Beijing for Attempt to Deliver Letter to Obama

Human Rights in China, Nov. 17, 2009 -

On the afternoon of November 17, 2009, when U.S. President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, a U.S. citizen, Julie Harms, who was waiting outside the embassy in order to deliver an appeal letter for the President, was picked up by Chinese police officers. According to Ms. Harms, she was then detained and interrogated for two-and-a-half hours at the Maizidian Police Substation in Chaoyang District, Beijing.

Julie Harms, a graduate of Harvard, told Human Rights in China (HRIC) that over many months she had petitioned unsuccessfully to central authorities – including the National People’s Congress, Ministry of Public Security, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and State Bureau for Letters and Calls (the state agency responsible for receiving petitions) – on behalf of her fiancé, Liu Shiliang (刘士亮).  Liu was detained on June 17, 2009, by the Wuhe County Public Security Department in Bengbu, Anhui, and was tried at the Wuhe County People’s Court on September 14, 2009, for “trespassing” (非法侵入他人住宅), a charge brought by a neighbor with whom Liu had a dispute in 2007. (The neighbor is now serving a five-year prison term after being convicted of beating and seriously injuring Liu.) The court, required under the Criminal Procedure Law to issue a ruling within one month after accepting a case, has yet to render a decision on Liu Shiliang’s case.

Harms first met Liu in 1999 in Hefei, Anhui, during her travels. Liu was then working as a security guard at a local post office. They were engaged in 2007, but have delayed their wedding because of the legal problems involving Liu’s neighbor.

“Sadly, Ms. Harms’ experience is a microcosm of the ordeal that hundreds of thousands of Chinese petitioners go through when they try to appeal to higher authorities for justice,” said Sharon Hom, HRIC executive director. “In this case, the Chinese authorities prevented a U.S. citizen from delivering a petition to her own president. This incident should be a cautionary tale for the U.S. government and the international community about the true face of China’s progress and the limits of redress for Chinese citizens.”…… (more details from Human Rights in China)

China’s pre-emptive response to Obama’s free flow of information comments?

Reporters Without Borders, 16 November 2009 -

As US President Barack Obama used the Shanghai leg of his China visit to call for an end to online censorship, it emerged that a Chinese court has sentenced Tibetan writer and photographer Kunga Tseyang to five years in prison on various charges including posting articles on the Internet. Two days before, literary website editor Kunchok Tsephel has meanwhile been sentenced to 15 years in prison on a charge of “divulging state secrets”.

“Was this the Chinese government’s pre-emptive response to the US president’s very clear defence of the free flow of information,” Reporters Without Borders asked. “Either way, we hope the central government will overturn such heavy prison sentences, which two Tibetan writers have been given just for expressing their views. We deplore the increased repression since the major protests in Tibet in March 2008.”

Reporters Without Borders has learned that Tseyang, who is also know by the pen-name Gangnyi (Snow Sun), was given the five-year sentence by a court in the western province of Gansu on 14 November 2009 after being found guilty of writing “separatist” articles, posting them online and having contact with a Buddhist monk based in India. The authorities objected in particular to his posting articles on the website Zindris……. (more details from Reporters Without Borders)