A U.S. college closed its China MBA program Due to “Widespread Plagiarism” among students

By Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, Via USA Today -

It’s not uncommon for colleges to discontinue academic programs overseas for financial reasons. But Centenary College, in New Jersey, is shutting down an M.B.A. program in Asia to contain a plagiarism epidemic. About 400 students are currently enrolled in the program at locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Taiwan.

“The college is extremely concerned with the welfare of the Chinese students involved in the program, but must note that its review revealed evidence of widespread plagiarism among other issues, at a level that ordinarily would have resulted in students’ immediate dismissal from the college,” Debra Albanese, Centenary’s vice president for strategic advancement, said in a statement. “Despite that, in an effort to afford students every fair possibility, the college has opted to attempt to reach an amicable solution, in lieu of any such dismissal. The students were offered a choice to receive a tuition refund in exchange for a standard release in higher education or take a comprehensive exam in order to earn a degree.”

Students have until July 30 to make the choice, and so far, according to Centenary, all but two who’ve replied have accepted the refund. College officials declined to elaborate beyond the written statement, and did not answer specific questions in regard to what, if any, judicial procedures or preventative programs were in place at the satellite locations, or the nature of the academic misconduct uncovered.

A number of experts, however, said that the most surprising element of this case was that Centenary took the problem seriously enough to shut down its program. “For a lot of the American schools or foreign schools (in China), this is a cash cow,” noted Kathryn Mohrman, who is director of the University Design Consortium at Arizona State University and who has also been president of Colorado College and executive director of the Johns Hopkins University campus in Nanjing. “You don’t want to be too persnickety or you lose the revenue that comes from these programs.”

“I would certainly say,” Mohrman added, “Centenary is not the only school that has suffered this problem.”

Academic misconduct is a particularly pervasive problem in China, where it infiltrates the higher education system from the undergraduate ranks on up. Increasingly, commentators have speculated about whether the country’s reputation for plagiarism and research misconduct will hamper the rise of Chinese universities, per a recent series of news articles to this effect in the American (CBS News: “Rampant Academic Cheating Hurts China’s Ambition”), British (The Economist: “Replicating Success”), and state-run Chinese press (China Daily: “Academic Corruption Undermining Higher Education”). (A new post on Inside Higher Ed’s World View blog also explores the issue.)…… (more details from the USA Today)

China tax office blast– 4 killed, 19 hurt: state media

AFP, July 31, 2010 -

BEIJING — Four people were killed and 19 injured Friday in a blast at a tax office in central China that police said appeared to be a deliberate attack, state media reported.

The explosion went off at about 4:15 pm on the third floor of a district tax office in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, Xinhua news agency said, quoting a police statement.

According to police, initial investigations indicated it was a planned attack, Xinhua said. The report gave no details of possible suspects or the motive for the attack.

Police sealed off the building in central Changsha and blocked nearby roads for investigation after workers were evacuated, Xinhua said.

All the windows on the third floor were shattered and large blood stains could be seen on the stairs, the news agency said.

China sees thousands of cases of violent social unrest each year, typically as marginalised segments of society lash out over illegal seizures of their land, environmental degradation, government corruption or other grievances.

Separately, in the northeastern province of Jilin, one person was killed and 20 injured in a series of blasts at a barber’s shop, Xinhua said.

Four firefighters were among those injured in the explosions which occurred around 4:45 pm Friday in the provincial capital Changchun.

Firefighters and workers from a gas supply company were at the site, it said.

Police were investigating the cause of the explosions.

- AFP

China censors take notice of Twitter-style blogs

By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times, USA, July 31, 2010 -

Reporting from Beijing —

Chinese censors blocked access to Facebook and Twitter a year ago for fear the foreign sites could be used to sow political unrest. Now it appears they’re taking aim at the popular Chinese imitators that filled the void.

Known as microblogs, or weibo accounts in Chinese, these personal sites function a lot like Twitter, giving users the ability to post messages and links in short, almost instantaneous bursts. Offered by China’s leading Web portals, microblogs have surged in popularity. The number of weibo users more than tripled this year to 100 million.

The sites were quickly embraced by China’s techie cognoscenti. Celebrities discovered they could be used as promotional tools. Government officials found them an efficient way to reach citizens. And though most weibo chatter is trivial, some intellectuals and activists have used the microblogs to discuss human rights and other topics considered sensitive by China’s censors.

The weibo was an unexpected advance in freedom of expression at a time when authorities were clamping down on Internet communication. But hopes of a wider opening were dashed this month when some of the sites were temporarily shut down. Four major portals — Sina, Sohu, Tencent and Netease — said their weibo services went down for maintenance. Internet experts were dubious. More likely, they said, authorities forced the shutdowns to impose stricter oversight and controls.

That could mean pressuring portals to hire more staff to delete content seen as challenging the state’s authority. This week, for example, search results for “Cantonese” and “Guangzhou” were blocked from some portals after Cantonese-speaking residents demonstrated in that southern city to protest the growing use of Mandarin, China’s official language.

Wu Mingliang, a magazine editor who has used his weibo to highlight rights issues and abuse cases, said his account vanished one recent morning.

“The page didn’t exist anymore,” said Wu, who had about 1,000 followers subscribing to his feeds. “I was shocked.”

The government goes to great lengths to sanitize the Internet in China. It forces websites to delete objectionable material and pays Internet users to sway opinion on forums. It also maintains a vast censorship apparatus, nicknamed the Great Firewall, to filter information flowing in from abroad. Some savvy Chinese netizens have learned to jump that barrier using technology that links their Chinese computers to servers located outside the country, beyond the reach of state minders. Still, these proficients remain the minority among China’s estimated 420 million Internet users.

Meanwhile, the government is bent on tightening its grip. In the last year alone, authorities have taken aim at pornography and violent computer games. They mandated that computer manufacturers install filtering software on all new personal computers sold in China (though they later retreated when the much-criticized program proved ineffective). Then Google Inc. shut most of its China-based operations, citing increasing government censorship and cyber assaults from hackers suspected of targeting the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

But regulating weibo service could prove an especially big challenge for Chinese authorities. That’s because of the burgeoning number of users, which is growing by about 10 million a month, and the speed at which they can post messages.

“It’s very difficult to control these [microblogging] sites,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of the Beijing-based Danwei.org, which covers media in China. “No matter how great the Great Firewall is, all it takes is one guy to post the complete works of Master Li of the Falun Gong,” Goldkorn said, referring to the founder of a spiritual group that is outlawed here.

The growth of social media clearly has alarmed Beijing. Authorities last year shut down access to Twitter and Facebook from inside China. Many here believe it was because protesters used those services to communicate and organize during ethnic riots in China’s restive Xinjiang province. A government think tank recently released a report alleging that U.S.-born sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube could be used by Washington to overthrow foreign regimes.

“We must pay attention to the potential risks and threats to state security,” the report said. “We must immediately step up supervision of social networking sites.”

Local police in Beijing are now holding workshops for Internet industry employees aimed at increasing their vigilance over anti-government material.

Jason Ng, a prominent blogger, attended a meeting this month, the same day Sohu’s microblogging service went offline. He described the event to his followers on Twitter by accessing the service through a server located outside China.

“They told us we had to delete illegal material, especially anti-government information” anywhere it was found, Ng said in an interview. “One security official said they had to shut down a major weibo portal that day and the boss of the company had to go meet with authorities at night, even though it was raining.”

Well-known political blogger Michael Anti, whose recent posts include information on the Guangzhou protests, said he too is feeling the heat. Anti said he recently was contacted by an editor at the portal Sina who told him to tone down his weibo feeds if he didn’t want his content blocked. Anti capitulated. He’s decided to save sensitive material for his Twitter account. Like Ng, the Beijing resident accesses Twitter through a foreign server to avoid Chinese censors.

“Microblogs are going to be more and more nonpolitical,” Anti said. “It’s just going to be entertainment.”

What’s clear is that most of China’s most-followed microbloggers are celebrities. More than 2 million people subscribe to comedian Yao Chen’s Sina weibo.

There, she posted photos of her tour of an earthquake-stricken region of China, as well as shots of one of her more recent purchases: a cream-colored Chanel sweater embroidered with the brand’s name in Chinese.

- Los Angeles Times

Greenpeace Says China Oil Spill 60 times larger than Officially Reported, after a 10-day on-site investigation

VOA News, 30 July 2010 -

The environmental group Greenpeace says it believes an oil spill in northeastern China was up to 60 times larger than has been reported.

Richard Steiner, a marine conservation expert from the University of Alaska, announced the conclusion Friday after a 10-day on-site investigation.

Steiner estimates the July 16 explosion at an oil terminal in Dalian released 60,000 to 90,000 tons of crude oil into the South China Sea, making it larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.  Official estimates have said only 1,500 tons of crude were spilled.

The explosion ruptured two pipelines and ignited a fire that raged for 15 hours. Greenpeace said Chinese workers told the group they deliberately released additional oil into the sea to contain the fire and reduce the risk that a nearby tank of dimethylbenzene would explode.

Steiner said at a Beijing news conference that the explosion and fire completely destroyed one oil tank with a capacity of 90,000 tons. He said Greenpeace was told that the tank had been filled shortly before the blast.

He said a spill of that size would rank among the 30 largest ever recorded.

The oil spill expert, engaged as a consultant by Greenpeace, said Chinese crews have already recovered more than 1,500 tons of oil – the amount officially said to have been spilled.

Reuters news agency contacted PetroChina on Friday but said officials of the company, which operates the oil storage facilities at Dalian, could not confirm or deny the Greenpeace findings.

- VOA News

Chinese influence on Canada runs deep: MP

Renata D’aliesio, Postmedia News; With Files From Katherine Laidlaw, via The National Post, Friday, Jul. 30, 2010 -

China’s influence over Western politicians runs deeper than controversial claims made by the head of Canada’s spy agency, Conservative MP Rob Anders says.

In a recent interview with Epoch Times, an international newspaper founded by Falun Gong supporters, Mr. Anders suggested politicians and government officials from Canada and other countries are being wooed with extravagant gifts, beautiful women and too-good-to-be-true business deals.

“The reach is deep, and it’s very unfortunate,” the Calgary MP told the newspaper.

“I would argue that I’ve seen things happen on a federal level as well in our own government.”

Richard Fadden, director of Canadian Security Intelligence Service, faced a storm of criticism after saying last month that his agency suspects several municipal politicians in British Columbia and Cabinet ministers in at least two provinces had fallen under the influence of a foreign government.

“I think that Mr. Fadden only gingerly scratched the surface. I feel for him that he was dragged before an investigative committee with Parliament to have to explain, and I think that this situation is far worse than what he let on.”

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said the comments of Mr. Anders and Mr. Fadden are clouding the future of Canadian and Chinese relations.

“Casting aspirations and suspicion on any community does no good in Canada, certainly does no good in China,” said Mr. Ignatieff, who addressed an audience in Toronto’s Chinatown last night.

“If you’re running a serious relationship with a serious country you don’t say those kinds of things.” he added. “As my mother used to say, it’s bush league.”

Mr. Anders’ opinions have landed him in political trouble in the past. Last month, he apologized for a comment he wrote on a card to Canadian troops in Afghanistan: “When in doubt, pull the trigger.”

- The National Post

China swaying politicians with gifts, sex: Canadian MP

CBC News, Canada, July 30, 2010 -

A Calgary Conservative MP is accusing Chinese authorities of attempting to buy the influence of Canadian politicians and government officials with financial incentives and prostitutes, suggesting some officials may have been compromised.

“I know politicians who have done things that I think are antithetical to their character and I know those politicians to have been offered things — whether they were lucrative business deals or sexual favours while they were over on foreign trips,” Rob Anders told CBC’s Power & Politics.

“Now can I give you the smoking gun to say that I definitely know there’s a link between the two? Probably not. But can I tell you that I think these things go on and I think it’s fairly obvious, yes.”

Anders said MPs have told him how they had women follow them back to their rooms in Shanghai and offer them massages.

“I’ve had members of Parliament tell me about business deals they were offered that frankly were above market rates and that they should have known better, that were, you know, veiled attempts to create or curry favour and influence.”

Anders said he wouldn’t divulge names and that he didn’t want to “engage in a witch hunt” against his colleagues.

Anders said he himself had been offered sexual favours while in China but that he turned them down. He said he didn’t address his concerns with the Prime Minister’s Office, but that officials have been briefed by the department of Foreign Affairs about the issue.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News on June 22, Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden said foreign governments hold influence over at least two cabinet ministers in two provinces, and are also involved with municipal politicians in B.C. and with federal public servants.

Fadden did not provide any names, but implied that China was one of those foreign governments.

But Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, who has travelled to China numerous times, called the allegations “ludicrous.”

“If Mr. Anders has any evidence, then he should take it and bring it forward to the ethics commissioner and do it now and stop paintbrushing the rest of the parliamentarians with the brush that certainly is not becoming of Canadian parliamentarians.”

“To make statements like that, the man has really reached the bottom of the barrel,” he said.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he wasn’t aware of the specific allegations made by Anders. But he said if those propositions are being made, Anders should bring the details forward to police and security agencies.

Toews added that it’s not surprising that there are allegations that governments attempt to influence politicians.

“That has been a constant theme in newspaper articles for the last half century and probably before that. That’s nothing new. It’s how politicians respond to pressure or influence.”

- CBC News

Legislative reports confirm ECFA with China risks for Taiwan

The Taiwan News, July 29, 2010 -

The substantive risks to Taiwan’s national security, economic autonomy and democratic health posed by the controversial “Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement” with the authoritarian People’s Republic of China have been confirmed by reports drafted by the legal affairs and budget research departments of the Legislative Yuan.

Although the drafts have not yet been finalized, the nine reports are based on substantive research and investigation tours in both Hong Kong and Macau to examine the impact of the “closer economic partnership agreements” (CEPA) signed between the two PRC “special administrative regions” and the Beijing central government.

The preliminary results of the Legislative studies conflict sharply with the incessant attempts by President Ma Ying-jeou and numerous senior officials of his rightist Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government to paint opposition to ECFA as “alarmist” or “ideological.”

Among the topics reviewed are the impact of the CEPA on social equity and employment, the economic impact of the revaluation of the renminbi, PRC economic policy toward Taiwan in the wake of the ECFA signing, the termination and conflict resolution mechanisms in ECFA, the economic impact of regional trade agreements focused on the ECFA, issues concerning the FTA between the PRC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the question of rules of original production in regional trade agreements, the experience of Hong Kong and Macau in permitting Chinese students to study in the two SARs and the influence of the CEPAs on news freedom.

The existence of this study indicates that the leadership of the Legislative Yuan was preparing for a detailed and substantive review of the ECFA and was not planning to simply immediately refer the draft pact and four associated sets of legal revisions for immediate second reading, a decision that excluded article by article review and discussion in legislative committee.

The release of this report before July 9 could well have raised sufficient public concern to stymie the ramming of the referral of the ECFA package to a second reading over the physical objections of opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, especially since its contents confirm that the issues raised by DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen and numerous economists were valid.

Warnings for the future

For example, unlike the Ma government, the Legislative Yuan report clearly warned that PRC leaders have historically displayed strategic “consistency” and “continuity” and acknowledged that Beijing defines the ECFA as a pact signed “under the one-China principle” and that the touted benefits in “international space” and “economic cooperation” are offered “under the precondition of the ‘one China principle.”‘

Moreover, the Legislative report cautioned that the PRC could adopt a negotiating strategy of “initially making concessions and then using such “benefits” to compel Taiwan to accept political negotiations” and use a possible “peace agreement” as an “peaceful unification framework agreement.”

However, unlike the Ma government, the Legislative report acknowledged that there were grave risks for Taiwan of falling into a ‘one China’ trap”‘ as political factors manifest an “invisible catalyst effect” and consolidate the PRC’s leadership advantage in promoting a substantive “one country, two systems” and creating the international impression that “Taiwan and the mainland have indivisible sovereignty.”

Ironically, PRC officials have already fulfilled the prediction by the Legislative Yuan report that Beijing would “uphold the one China principle” even with “more flexibility in interpretation” as shown by the affirmation by PRC Deputy Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng Monday that the ECFA was signed under the “one China principle” and that the PRC government continued to oppose any FTAs between Taiwan and any other country.

In sum, the reports by the legal affairs and budget offices of the Legislative Yuan confirm that concerns over the negotiation and structuring of the ECFA and its future economic, social, political and cultural implications and potential impact on Taiwan’s national security, sovereignty and democratic system (including news freedom) are absolutely not “alarmist” but should have been earmarked for consideration in the process of the negotiating strategy and the structuring of the ECFA…….(more details from The Taiwan News)

A week after US’ announcement of trade sanctions, North Korea Sign Agreement with China for Economic, Technological Cooperation

Bloomberg News – Jul 29, 2010 -

North Korea signed an economic and technical cooperation agreement with China today, a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced further trade sanctions to halt the regime’s nuclear-weapons program.

Liu Hongcai, the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, and Ri Ryong Nam, the nation’s Minister of Foreign Trade, signed the agreement during a ceremony held in Pyongyang, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. It didn’t elaborate.

Clinton announced sanctions that target government officials and the foreign banks that help sustain the North’s weapons industry during a visit to Seoul last week. The U.S. has backed South Korean claims that the North torpedoed one of its ships and has been pressing for an international effort to put more pressure on Kim Jong Il’s regime.

China has so far refused to condemn North Korea for the attack on the Cheonan, which killed 46 South Korean sailors. China accounted for 79 percent of the North’s 2009 international trade, according to the Seoul-based Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. China provides almost 90 percent of energy imports and 45 percent of the country’s food, according to a July 2009 report by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

China’s Foreign Ministry had no knowledge of the agreement and the Commerce Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a fax seeking comments.

- The Bloomberg

China stops journalist’s arrest after public outcry

AFP, July 29, 2010 -

BEIJING — Police in eastern China on Thursday quashed an arrest order for a fugitive graft-busting journalist following a public outcry, in an apparent rare victory for media freedom.

Qiu Ziming had become a cause celebre after his investigative reports on alleged improprieties by a listed company landed him in a nationwide police most-wanted database on suspicion of slander.

Qiu, 28, a reporter with the Economic Observer financial weekly, has been on the run for days after police in Zhejiang province put out an arrest notice.

But in a sudden about-face, the Zhejiang government said Thursday that police in the province’s Suichang county who initiated the arrest order had been told to rescind it.

“The (provincial) Public Security Bureau has ordered the Suichang Public Security Bureau to withdraw the Qiu Ziming criminal detention decision and apologise to him,” a notice on the provincial news website said.

It said the detention order “did not meet statutory requirements”.

Qiu, who is based in the Economic Observer’s Shanghai bureau, published reports in June detailing alleged improprieties such as insider trading by a major battery manufacturer based in Zhejiang.

The company, Kan Specialties Material Corporation, based in Suichang and listed on the stock exchange of Shenzhen in southern China, has denied the charges and accused Qiu of slander, initiating the police action.

But Qiu has continued to defend his innocence and demand justice in defiant entries on his Weibo account, a Twitter-like service offered by leading portal Sina.com.

“What I reported is the truth,” Qiu said in an entry Wednesday, adding that he had “iron-clad” evidence of the company’s wrongdoing and did not fear police.

“This is not over. I will get an apology from the Suichang police,” he said.

China’s media is tightly controlled but gradually becoming more aggressive in exposing corporate and official malfeasance. However, particularly bold reporters who offend powerful forces risk being muzzled or even jailed.

Since going on the run several days ago, Qiu has garnered broad support on the Internet, with his Weibo account gaining 8,000 “followers” and his case generating sympathetic media coverage.

An online poll organised by Sina.com, which drew more than 33,000 responses, found that 86 percent of users viewed the police pursuit of Qiu as “unlawful” and that 98 percent trusted his reports on Kan Specialties.

The Economic Observer — an independent weekly newspaper considered one of the most respected financial publications in China — last month put out a bold statement defending Qiu and criticising authorities.

“We strongly condemn the use of public power to suppress and threaten the personal safety of media professionals,” it said.

Chinese Internet users have become a potent force in exposing official abuses and pressuring authorities to back down from some unpopular decisions.

- AFP

Journalist on China police’s “most wanted criminals” list for accusing company of improprieties

Reporters Without Borders, July 29, 2010 -

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the action of the police in Suichang, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, in putting reporter Qiu Ziming of The Economic Observer weekly on the list of the country’s most wanted criminals because of allegations he made about a Suichang-based battery manufacturer, Kan Specialties Material Corporation.

Voicing strong support for Qiu and hailing his determination to stand by what he wrote and produce evidence to back his claims, Reporters Without Borders calls on the police to remove him from the list at once and drop all legal proceedings. Qiu is currently facing a possible two-year jail sentence.

“This is a journalist who adhered to his principles and did his duty as a reporter, and it is absurd to put him in the same category as wanted criminals,” the press freedom organisation said. “The government should heed the massive support that Chinese Internet users have expressed for Qiu since the police put him on the wanted list. There have been more than 2,000 posts about him.”

Qiu, who works for The Economic Observer’s Shanghai bureau, wrote several stories in June about the battery company’s alleged improprieties, including insider trading. After the company responded with a lawsuit, Qiu went into hiding, prompting the police to put him on the national wanted list.

Aged 28, Qiu is calling for justice to be rendered in the case. He says he does not fear the police and has proof of what he wrote. “This is not over, I will get an apology from the Suichang police,” he has written in his blog on Sina, one of the leading Chinese portals.

Of the 33,000 Internet users who responded to a poll on the Sina website, 86 per cent said they thought the manhunt launched by the police was “illegal.”

Commenting on the case, The Economic Observer, a widely respected business weekly, has condemned “the use of the police to repress a media professional.”

- Reporters Without Borders

Northeast China town: Flooding traps 30,000, washed 1,000 barrels of explosive chemicals into a river

BBC News, July 28, 2010 -

Flooding in northeastern China has stranded 30,000 people in one town and washed 1,000 barrels of explosive chemicals into a river, reports say.

In Kouqian town in Jilin province, residents were trapped when a reservoir and two rivers overflowed following torrential rain.

In Jilin city itself, containers of explosive fluid from a chemical plant were washed into the Songhua river.

China is facing its worst flooding in more than a decade.

Weeks of heavy rain have swollen rivers and caused damage, landslides and bridge collapses across a swathe of the country.

According to state media, 928 people have died because of the seasonal bad weather and another 477 are missing.

More than 200 rescue workers have been sent to Kouqian, where tens of thousands of residents are reportedly trapped after the Xingshan reservoir and the Wende and Songhua rivers burst their banks.

Chinese media reports said houses and buildings were under water, and 80 people were trapped in a train station surrounded by water.

In Jilin city, emergency teams were trying to recover barrels of explosive chemicals washed into the river.

Environmental officials were said to be monitoring the water quality in the river.

Further to the south, in Wuhan city in Hubei province, workers were sandbagging river banks ahead of possible flooding where the Yangtze and Han rivers converge…….(More details from BBC News)

Wealthy Chinese flock to the West

By Chris Hogg, BBC Shanghai Correspondent, July 27, 2010 -

Growing numbers of rich Chinese are applying for permanent residency in western countries under programmes that allow investors with a high net worth to “buy” citizenship.

The number of Chinese investors granted permanent residency in Canada has doubled in two years.

Ottowa has now halted all applications to its federal immigrant investor programme while it consults on plans to double the funds needed to obtain a visa.

Applicants are still allowed to apply to a scheme run by the province of Quebec, however.

And at seminars run by visa consultancy firms in China, advisors are encouraging people to apply for the scheme before Quebec also doubles its minimum requirements to match the federal government’s proposals.

Cash and experience

On a rainy Saturday afternoon, in a conference room at a five star Shanghai hotel, more than 30 potential “investor applicants” arrive to hear how they might be able to exchange their cash for a foreign passport.

Many are in their 30s. There are several young couples. Most are professionals. Few are dressed smartly. They appear to be a pretty average cross-section of Shanghai’s moneyed middle class.

They are shown a video that the visa company has made to promote Canada, and the country’s visa application service.

“You don’t have to worry about integrating,” the video’s commentary declares. “You don’t even need to speak English.”

Then the advisors go through the detail.

The Quebec scheme requires applicants to show they have a net worth of C$800,000 (US$776,000; £502,000) and they must invest up to C$400,000.

They also need to show they have had two years experience in management.

Different requirements
 
That’s considerably cheaper, they point out, than the UK, which requires investors to invest £1m ($1.5m) for five years.

There are pros and cons of each of the countries’ schemes.

Canada’s applications currently take about two and a half years, but the financial requirements are the lowest in the world.

The United States requires applicants to invest up to $1million (£646,000) in a business that creates at least 10 new jobs. Applications take up to one and a half years.

The UK’s application process is the quickest. It can be completed in just three months, according to the visa consultants at the seminar, and there is no interview.

But it is also the most costly.

“Usually, the applicants are business owners or senior managers,” explains Vincent Chen, senior consultant for the Visa Consulting Group.

“The average age is 40 to 45, but it’s getting younger.”…… (more details from BBC News)

Foreign Companies Shy Away From China

Oxford Analytica, 07.27.10 -

Foreign companies are becoming more concerned by what they see as barriers to market entry and unfair treatment in China. Furthermore, in a departure from past practice, prominent corporate figures have been making their criticisms known publicly. In the Financial Times China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming characterized China as a market that has become increasingly open, remains attractive to foreign investors, and is responsive to foreign concerns and good for the global economy.

Domestic markets. As the era of manufacturing in China for export by multinational companies is coming to a close, and manufacturing in China for Chinese consumers is the growing incentive to be there. However, corporate executives are becoming increasingly concerned by what they say are barriers preventing their entry into the market.

Outspoken critics. General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt reportedly expressed concerns about China and uncertainty as to whether China wanted companies to be successful earlier this month. Immelt later expressed doubts about whether he had spoken as bluntly as reported, thereby triggering a media flurry within and outside China. Indeed, foreign businesses usually avoid talking openly about problems they have in China; backroom negotiation is preferred and press attention typically not welcome. However, Jurgen Hambrecht, chairman of BASF, and Peter Loescher, chief executive of Siemens, went further in breaking the unspoken rule when they met Premier Wen Jiabao, alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on July 19. It is highly unusual for foreign visitors to criticize Beijing’s policies in front of senior Chinese leaders on a public occasion, yet both complained about the need to transfer technology to Chinese partners for deals to go ahead, obstructions put up against them in getting access to the Chinese domestic market, and intellectual property violations.

Response. China’s official news service, Xinhua, was quick to respond. On July 20 it highlighted that, contrary to negative assessments about China’s business environment, foreign direct investment (FDI) in China had jumped by 19.6% year-on-year in the first half. It noted how much promise Chinese companies saw in the ‘consumption boom’ China offered.

Less favorable regime. Part of the issue is that China has slowly reduced its favorable treatment for FDI, with tax breaks and other perks now largely phased out. While they still want foreign investment, provinces are becoming much more picky about the kind of investment on offer, and they have fewer policy tools to encourage investors to come.

Changed game. Furthermore, the game is changing. Investment has transformed regions such as Guangdong and Fujian into the world’s largest suppliers of items such as microwaves, electronic goods and toys. Labor disputes this year are the latest reminder of pressures that are pushing costs up, and there no longer appears to be the limitless pool of cheap labor that there once was. This has had a knock-on effect on prices.

Foreign manufacturers have also had to deal with the tougher employment regulations in the Contract Law of early 2008. Companies are caught in a quandary:

–China is no longer the cheap manufacturing base it used to be; but

–there is no easy alternative destination boasting factories on such a scale and good links to the international supply chain.

(By the Forbes)

China sends S.Korean prisoner of war back to N.Korea

AFP, July 26, 2010 -

SEOUL — China has repatriated an 81-year-old former South Korean prisoner of war who had fled North Korea decades after being captured, a newspaper report and an activist said Tuesday.

Dong-A Ilbo quoted an unidentified government official as saying the man surnamed Jung was sent back despite intensive diplomatic efforts by Seoul to bring him to the South.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman said she had no information.

“The government made tremendous diplomatic efforts but he was eventually sent back to the North,” the source was quoted as saying.

South Korea had contacted Chinese diplomatic authorities more than 50 times since Jung’s arrest, the daily said.

Choi Sung-Yong, an activist who campaigns for the return of South Korean abductees, said Jung was forcibly returned to the North in September last year, about a month after being arrested in China where he was hiding.

He said Jung was arrested eight days after he fled the North with the help of South Korean activists.

China repatriates escapees from North Korea as illegal immigrants even though they can face harsh punishment back home.

By Seoul’s official account 494 South Koreans, mostly fishermen, were seized in the Cold War decades following the war. Seoul also says more than 500 prisoners of war were never sent home after the Korean War armistice was signed on July 27, 1953.

North Korea denies holding any southerners against their will, even though some have managed to escape from the hunger-stricken country.

- AFP

China’s Summer Of Labor Unrest– deficit of workers’ rights is destabilizing the manufacturing sector

Phelim Kine, The Forbes -

Cheap labor, no independent unions and a bottomless pool of impoverished migrant laborers. That model for China’s export manufacturing sector–which over the past three decades has made the country’s Pearl River Delta region the “workshop of the world–suddenly looks less certain than in the past. In recent months, a series of rolling strikes in southern Guangdong province by mostly migrant workers at factories for Japan’s Honda and Denso Corporation have up-ended popular conceptions of a workforce content with the calculated injustice of the status quo.

Labor unrest is nothing new in China. The majority of the country’s annual 100,000-odd “mass incidents” are local work stoppages by disaffected laborers ranging from taxi drivers to garment workers. State-owned factories in China’s northeast rustbelt region are particularly prone to wildcat strikes, though the combination of state-ownership and bans on domestic media coverage of such actions invariably gets workers back on the job through a combination of enticement and intimidation by management and local government.

The recent spate of strikes has defied that pattern and resulted in hard-won gains for the strikers. It helped that the factories were Japanese-owned, and therefore more politically acceptable targets of Chinese unrest, and that the domestic media was allowed to cover the events. The tenacity and solidarity of the youthful, tech-savvy organizers who used instant messaging and mobile phone technology to maintain their picket lines demonstrated a heightened awareness of workers’ rights.

The result? Rather than being strong-armed into submission, the Honda ( HMC – news – people ) and Denso employees have been able to bargain their way back to work with pay rises and some benefits.

But longer-term labor peace requires the Chinese government to do more than stifle labor activism or, on occasion, actually permit workers to negotiate with their employers. By proactively resolving the grievances stoking worker discontent, the Chinese government can buy itself a measure of labor peace essential to its official goals of “harmony” and “stability”–also prerequisites for maintaining strong foreign direct investment inflow.

The Chinese government should first take the simple but critical step of lifting its prohibition on independent unions and collective bargaining. China’s Trade Union Law, in direct violation of article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which China ratified in 2001, forbids any union activity outside the state-affiliated All-China Free Trade Union (ACFTU)……. (More detals from the Forbes)

Thousand protesters gather in south China city to protect Cantonese language

Tania Branigan, The Guardian, July 25, 2010 -

A Chinese “culture war” has spilled onto the streets of a southern city as hundreds of inhabitants held an unusual mass rally to defend their local language.

Proposals for Guangdong’s main television company to broadcast primarily in Mandarin – China’s official language – have angered citizens in the province, who fear that Cantonese is being sidelined.

Some worry that Cantonese, which is also spoken in some other parts of the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, is on its way to extinction. According to the official People’s Daily newspaper, it is the first language for half of the 14 million residents of the provincial capital Guangzhou, while the other half speak mainly Mandarin.

Up to a thousand protesters gathered in the centre of Guangzhou shouting slogans, before police dispersed them peacefully. A witness said most were in their twenties, although some were middle-aged.

The controversy broke out when the local committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – a political advisory body – urged authorities to ensure that Mandarin, which is spoken across the country, is used on Guangzhou TV’s main shows. It said the move would promote unity and help tourists and athletes who will arrive in the city for the Asian Games this November.

Although the network has said it will continue to broadcast in both languages, residents fear that Cantonese is being squeezed out and could ultimately be dropped completely. They argue there are already plenty of Mandarin channels for people to watch and say that a decline in the use of the language will also erode the area’s cultural heritage.

In a poll on the committee’s own website, 80% of the 30,000 respondents said Guangzhou TV stations should broadcast in Cantonese…….(more details from The Guardian)

President of digital arts College: Shen Yun dance “spectacular, very athletic, and beautiful”

By Abraham Thompson, Epoch Times Staff, July 24, 2010 -

SAN FRANCISCO— Ex’pression College president and creative director, Spencer Nilsen and his wife, Claire, were among the theatergoers at Shen Yun Performing Arts’ evening show at the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday, July 24.

When asked about the display of classical Chinese dance and music, Mr. Nilsen replied: “Oh, it’s beautiful. Wonderful music and the costumes are incredible. The dance is spectacular, very athletic and beautiful.”

Mr. Nilsen has a impressive background in the music and digital media. He has worked on show productions for bands, and he has worked together with others and produced and directed many TV shows, commercials and music videos for ESPN, Turner Broadcasting, The Super Bowl and American Express. Mr. Nilsen was hired by SEGA where he headed the music department and composed many well-known movie soundtracks.

Currently, Mr. Nilsen is the acting president of Ex’pression College for digital arts.

Mr. Nilsen enjoyed the culture and storytelling of Shen Yun. “First of all, the culture is so extraordinary in the storytelling—it’s fantastic through the use of dance and music and choreography,” he said.

Who knows, Mr. Milsen may have gotten some new inspiration for the next video soundtrack he works on after attending the show.

“I’m always interested in new art forms and new music, and this seems to be a wonderful combination of both,” and, “I’m interested in all art forms—this in particular—just the combination of the different music and dance. Having only been exposed to Western ballet and dance and orchestration, it’s a different approach,” said Mr. Nilsen, referring to the Shen Yun New York Company orchestra.

The elaborate backdrop and stage props used by Shen Yun are unique and give added depth to each performance, something Mr. Nilsen enjoyed. “I think it’s fascinating. The colors are very vibrant and obviously sets the location for each of the scenes.”…… (more details from The Epochtimes: College President: ‘The dance is spectacular, very athletic, and beautiful’ )

Uyghur journalist and website editor sentenced to 15 years in jail for criticising China

Reporters Without Borders, July 24, 2010-

Reporters Without Borders said it was outraged at the harshness of a 15-year prison sentence handed down today to journalist Gheyret Niyaz by a court in Urumqi, in Xinjiang province.

He was arrested in October 2009 following ethnic unrest in Xinjiang in July 2009 and found guilty of “threatening national security” after criticising Chinese official policy towards the Uyghurs, sending news about the riots to foreign journalists and contributing to a website accused of inciting violence.

“We are utterly astonished at the outcome of this trial,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Gheyret Niyaz did indeed make some criticism of Chinese policy in his region, but he is neither a criminal nor a dissident. He is seen by Uyghurs based abroad as supporting China’s administration of Xinjiang and even shares some of the Chinese government’s views of the summer 2009 unrest.

“In giving him such a heavy sentence and imprisoning other journalists and netizens whose sole crime is to have spoken about these events, the Chinese authorities are not encouraging a negotiated solution. On the contrary, this shocking sentence shows that the authorities put control of news above the reconciliation process. Prisoners of opinion should be released and the verdict against Gheyret Niyaz quashed on appeal”, the organisation added.

Niyaz gave an interview to Hong Kong magazine Yazhou Zhoukan (www.yzzk.com), in July 2009 in which he supported the official version of events that implicated external agents in the rioting, saying that the Islamic Liberation Party, Hizb-ut-Tahrir al Islami, was behind them. He also claimed to have warned the authorities that things were getting out of hand. In the same article he raised the issue of economic inequalities in Xinjiang, as well as some aspects of the struggle against “separatism”.

He also contributed to the website Uighurbiz.cn, a bilingual forum on Uyghur life and culture that the government accused of inciting violence by posting news about clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in another region of the country……. (more details from Reporters Without Borders)

(photos) Congressmen, rights activists and NGOs Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong in China (3)

By Gary Feuerberg, Epoch Times Staff, July 23, 2010 -

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Obama administration not doing enough

Falun Gong practitioners from around the world, U.S. Congress members, NGOs, and others speak out against the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of practitioners on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 22. (Mark Zou/The Epoch Times)

Smith (Rep. Chris Smith) cited the numbers of Falun Gong killed and asked why the United Nations and the United States remains silent of this “holocaust”? He said that the use of torture against Falun Gong practitioners is perhaps the worst anywhere in china.

“We call on the Obama administration to do more to raise its voice very clearly on behalf of Falun Gong.”

Smith noted that China is on the State Department’s list of a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its human rights violations. He asked rhetorically, why aren’t the sanctions imposed on China, as is proscribed by the law?

“Even though Congress has spoken out nearly unanimously against [the persecution of Falun Gong], the Obama Administration, as previous administrations, has failed to press the government of China seriously enough to motivate theme to change their policy of attempting to destroy Falun Gong,” said Efferman.

Rep. Ros-Lehtenin repeated her wish that is contained in the House Resolution 605, which she authored. “I call upon President Obama and leaders of other free, democratic nations, to meet with Falun Gong practitioners whenever and wherever possible to emphasize our unequivocal support for freedom of conscience as a fundamental principle of the United States Government and any democracy.”

Reps. Edolphus ‘Ed’ Towns (D-NY) and Eliot Engle (D-NY) sent statements which were read at the rally. (END)

- The epochtimes: Congressmen Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong

Part1 Part 2 Part 3

(photos) Congressmen, rights activists and NGOs Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong in China (2)

By Gary Feuerberg, Epoch Times Staff, July 23, 2010 -

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Solidarity with Falun Gong

Congressman Gus Bilrakis (R-Fla.) speaks on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 22 where around 500 Falun Gong practitioners from around the world gathered in peaceful protest against the Chinese Communist Party's persecution. (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times)

Nearly all the speakers were not Falun Gong practitioners, but they expressed solidarity with the peaceful practice and appreciation for what Falun Gong has done to expand freedom for others.

“You have not surrendered to the tyranny, but have fought against it with the power of your hearts and minds. Through your television broadcasts, newspapers, and internet websites you have spread the word and provided access to the truth for those who live under the communist party’s lies and oppression,” said Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL.).

He continued: “Please know that as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I have worked hard to make sure your voice gets heard. … Your numbers cannot be denied and your collective voice cannot be stopped, especially not here in the United States, by Chinese communist thugs. I stand with you and share your principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) observed the first clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is about freedom of religion, which he said every person deserves, and expressed his solidarity with the protesters. The Congressman said, “We need to have change in the way we do business in the Peoples Republic of China.”

“I feel a very strong sense of solidarity with you, and so do all the members throughout the world. I believe you people today are the true martyrs in this age, as you continue to persevere through one of the worst persecutions of the 21 century,” said Dan Fefferman, Executive Director, Coalition for Religious Freedom. “We know the ideology of Marxist/Leninism is a materialistic ideology, an evil ideology, an ideology that does not believe in freedom, especially not spiritual freedom, freedom of speech and religion. You stand as a testimony to the strength of human spirit that will never be dominated by this communist ideology.”

Appreciation was also expressed by many for the work that some Falun Gong practitioners have done to defeat China’s Firewall. Clothilde Le Coz, Washington Director of Reporters Without Borders, said, “The Falun Gong’s struggle has given a gift worldwide: circumvention software for internet users. Tired of being censored and harassed, the Falun Gong petitioners created one famous tool that is used all around the world. Thank you.”

Perhaps no one could surpass an expression of solidarity with Falun Gong’s persecution than Presbyterian minister Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition. He and his family were arrested for peacefully praying in front of the White House a few years ago to call attention to the lack of U.S. Government effort to pressure the Chinese to end the persecution. Rev. Mahoney waved his passport before the practitioners and said it shows that he was expelled from the Peoples’ Republic of China. He had been arrested and deported for demanding on Tiananmen Square for Chinese people to be able to freely practice their faith.

“This passport is a badge of honor I wear proudly,” said Rev. Mahoney……. (to be cont’d)

- The epochtimes: Congressmen Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

(photos) Congressmen, rights activists and NGOs Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong in China

By Gary Feuerberg, Epoch Times Staff, July 23, 2010 -

SPEAK OUT: Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.) speaks on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 22 where around 500 Falun Gong practitioners from around the world gathered in peaceful protest against the Chinese Communist Party's persecution. (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTON— On the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol at high noon on Thursday, about 500 Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) practitioners from around the world gathered in protest of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of the meditation practice for the past 11 years.

Members of Congress, human rights activists, and Christian organizations joined offering their support for a new dawn of religious freedom in China.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) both spoke of the extreme brutality the Chinese regime inflicts on Falun Gong practitioners.

“That is absolutely despicable,” shouted Rep. Smith. “[Those who] cherish freedom must speak out against the brutality and hate that everyday manifests by the dictatorship of Beijing.”

Rep. Ros-Lehtenin said that the “Chinese communist regime’s obsessive and relentless hunting down of practitioners of Falun Gong” is “one of the most flagrant examples of systematic persecution in the 21st Century.”

Ros-Lehtenin was the author of H.R. 605 which called upon the Chinese regime to cease its campaign against Falun Gong practitioners and abolish the 6-10 office, which is given the mandate to “eradicate” Falun Gong. The resolution also called for the release of Falun Gong practitioners from prisons and reeducation through labor camps. It passed in March, overwhelmingly, 421 to 1.

Congresswoman Ros-Lehtenin said nothing had changed in the last four

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) speaks on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on July 22 where around 500 Falun Gong practitioners from around the world gathered in peaceful protest against the Chinese Communist Party's (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times)

months since her resolution passed. “The persecution of Falun Gong is barbaric, bloody, and brutal, and it must come to an end at once!”

If anything the trend has been that the persecution is getting worse, observed Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.), in a statement read at the rally. “Over the last 11 years of the ban against practicing Falun Gong in China, we have seen persecution against Falun Gong intensify, including an increase in censorship of websites, television stations, and other forms of media sympathetic to Falun Gong.”

Two of the speakers were survivors of China’s Re-education Through Labor camps. Charles Lee spent three years in a labor camp. Jennifer Zeng from Sydney, Australia, said she was present in July 1999 when the first Falun Gong practitioners were rounded up. She was eventually sent to a labor camp where she said she was “beaten, shocked by electric batons to every part of the body,” and deprived of sleep for days.

Reggie Littlejohn, President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said that often female Falun Gong practitioners undergo forced abortions while being detained. She said that forced abortion and forced sterilizations were state policy in China and really forms of torture, which may explain the unusually large rate of female suicides in China and why China is the only country in the world where the female suicide rate is higher than the male suicide rate…….(to be cont’d)

- The epochtimes: Congressmen Call for End to 11-Year Persecution of Falun Gong

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

No redress after 10-year petitioning of brother’s sudden death in east China prison

Radio Free Asia, 2010-07-23 -

HONG KONG— Wang Shengli has been petitioning the authorities in the northern port city of Tianjin for a decade over the death in prison of his younger brother Wang Shengjie.

Hounded by local officials and sentenced to a year in a labor camp in 2008 for disturbing public order, Wang said his decade of petitioning with no redress had left him close to despair.

“I thought about killing myself sometimes when I was in Beijing,” said Wang, who was detained by Tianjin officials on his way to a hospital appointment in the capital in August 2008.

“I thought about death. I couldn’t seem to find any hope in staying alive,” he said.

“[One time] I stood under the portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Gate, and bowed to him. I said that today’s society is so very dark, and there are so many demons riding the heads of ordinary people, tyrannical abusers, feeding on the people, beating them.”

Last month, authorities in Beijing dispersed a group of protesters who gathered near a railway station in the southern part of the capital and sang revolutionary songs from the Mao era.

China’s army of petitioners say they are repeatedly stonewalled, detained in “black jails,” beaten, and harassed by authorities if they try to take a complaint against local government actions to a higher level of government.

Death in jail

Wang’s troubles began after he was contacted in August 2001 by the authorities in Tianjin’s Yangliuqing Prison and informed that his brother had died suddenly on Aug. 28 of a heart attack.

Prison officials said Wang Shengjie was on his way to the showers at 3 p.m. after finishing work when he suddenly complained of feeling unwell. He squatted down on the floor, and then collapsed and died, they said.

A state prosecutor at the jail had immediately ordered an autopsy.

“They reported after this examination that there were no marks or injuries on my brother’s body, and that there was no evidence that he had been beaten,” Wang said.

“They had already sent my brother’s body to an undertaker’s in Zhongbeixie township.”

The next morning, Wang Shengjie’s relatives were escorted to the funeral parlor by officials from the local procuratorate.

“I looked and saw that my brother’s body was still dressed in prison clothes,” Wang recalled.

“I asked if he was still a criminal. They said that no, he wasn’t. So I asked why he was wearing prison clothes.”

Wang said his younger sister and a friend was shocked to see Wang Shengjie’s body when it was turned over.

“There were more than 20 injuries on my brother’s body. There were rope burns and lash marks from a whip, and marks … on his ankles,” he said.

“At the time, the prison officials looked flustered by this, and said that they hadn’t seen them before, and that they could lose their jobs over it. I took photos. They tried to stop us. The police also looked very nervous.”…… (more details from Radio Free Asia: Death in Custody Unresolved)

Husband Reports Abuse of Shanghai petitioner in Labor Camp

Human Rights in China, July 22, 2010 -

Wu Xuewei (吴雪伟), husband of Shanghai petitioner Mao Hengfeng (毛恒凤), told Human Rights in China (HRIC)  that Mao has been suffering serious physical abuse in the Anhui Provincial Women’s Reeducation-Through-Labor (RTL) Camp, where Mao is serving an 18-month sentence. Wu stated that Mao told him during a brief meeting at the camp on July 21 that the abuses include: frequent beatings carried out by inmates who were encouraged and directed by camp police officers; being hit on the head by a chair twice; being lifted and pulled by her arms and legs and thrown repeatedly against the floor; not being allowed to go to the bathroom or bathe.

In March 2010, Mao was ordered by Shanghai authorities to serve one-and-a-half years of RTL for “disturbing social order” by shouting slogans outside a Beijing Court. She began serving in the Shanghai Women’s RTL Camp, but was transferred to Anhui on April 27, 2010, more than 600 kilometers from Shanghai.

Mao began petitioning in 1988 after being fired from her job for refusing to abort a second pregnancy. For her petition activies, she has been forced into psychiatric hospitals by the authorities many times, and suffered many types of abuse and torture while imprisoned in the Shanghai Women’s Prison.

The Chinese original of Wu Xuewei’s description of the mistreatment of Mao is available at: http://gb.hrichina.org/public/contents/19995.

- Human Rights in China