China links to North Korean arms flights- weapons sent to Iran through Beijing airport- WIKILEAKS

The Daily Telegraph, via Montreal Gazette, Nov. 29, 2010 -

North Korea has been secretly assisting Iran develop a weapons program under the auspices of the Chinese government, American officials believe.

The U.S. government has repeatedly asked the Chinese to stop shipments between the rogue states passing through Beijing airport, according to memos sent by both the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice.

US knocks back China’s ‘PR’ talks call on North Korea

AFP via Sydney Morning Herald, November 30, 2010 -

The White House has brushed aside China’s call for new six-nation talks on North Korea, saying it would amount to a “PR activity” unless Pyongyang changed its behaviour.

“The North Koreans need to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose in ending their aggressive behaviour,” spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Monday.

South Korean President Vows North Korea Will Pay as China Calls for Talks

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) – South Korean President Lee Myung Bak vowed to make Kim Jong Il’s regime pay for military attacks as China sought talks to defuse tension on the Korean peninsula.

“It’s become clear that more patience and tolerance only leads to bigger provocations,” Lee said today in a national address from Seoul in which he apologized for the government’s weak response to the Nov. 23 shelling. “North Korea will be made to pay for any further provocation no matter what.”

Senior North Korean official arrives in Beijing for a 5-day visit

washingtonpost.com, November 29, 2010 -

BEIJING — A senior North Korean official began a five-day visit to China on Tuesday amid heightened tensions following North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island last week.

Chairman of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly Choe Thae Bok arrived from Pyongyang, breezing past reporters at Beijing’s Capital Airport without comment.

China blocks WikiLeaks webpage, orders news medias not to report on the Wikileaks dump

Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2010 -

Can the world’s most elaborate censorship system put the clamps on the Internet’s most prolific source of confidential information?

A day after WikiLeaks began to release a quarter-million diplomatic cables sent from U.S. embassies, propaganda authorities in Beijing appear to be trying to control how much of the content of those cables leaks through to the Chinese public.

As of Monday evening in Beijing, the WikiLeaks “Cablegate” page was blocked by China’s Great Firewall—a rudimentary first-step on China’s censorship checklist.

Nearly 100 children hurt in northwest China school stampede

AFP, Nov. 29, 2010 -

BEIJING — Nearly 100 children were hurt in a stampede Monday at a primary school in China’s far-western Xinjiang region but no deaths have been reported, state media reported.

The accident occurred in the city of Aksu as school children were rushing outside to a playground around lunchtime when some students in the lead tripped and fell, Xinhua news agency said, quoting an unnamed city official.

China’s Politburo Was Behind Google Hacking Incident, WikiLeaked Diplomatic Cables Confirms

Details about the U.S. State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks are starting to come out. Although WikiLeaks itself may be under a denial of service attack, it provided several newspapers around the world access to the raw documents it is preparing to release later today. The New York Times just posted it’s first article summarizing the contents of the cables and highlighting the most newsworthy ones.

Among the 251,287 U.S. diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks, there is one set which deals with the massive computer attack on Google and other companies which was first revealed last January. At that time, Google went public with its contention that the attacks came from China, and linked those attacks to government censorship in explaining why Google was pulling out of China proper. They returned in a more limited way last summer.

Inflation in China Blamed on US

By Li Xiaoyu, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 28, 2010 -

Skyrocketing prices of everyday goods in China threaten the standard of living of the country’s poorest citizens, as well as its nominal middle class. Given the potential dangers faced by the Communist Party as public discontent swells along with inflation, the United States has become scapegoat Number One.

From soybean, ginger, garlic, to cotton and sugar, surging prices have struck one product after another since the beginning of the year. The China Securities Journal described cotton prices in October as “crazy.” Cotton has increased 93 percent compared with the same period last year.

Chinese Rights Defense Lawyer Bai Dongping Detained on Charge of Government Subversion

ChinaAid, November 28, 2010 -

BEIJING – An active member of the Petitioners’ Rights Defense Lawyers Association was seized by Beijing police and placed under criminal detention Saturday evening. He was charged with allegedly trying to encourage the subversion of the Chinese government.

Bai Dongping, a new Christian but a longtime political activist whose activism and leadership dates back to Tiananmen Square in 1989, was held at Beijing’s Xicheng District Detention Center. Although police produced no paperwork to authorize apprehending Bai, a document was later sent to his family saying he was being charged with “inciting subversion of state power”.

Australian business leader arrested in China

Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 26, 2010 -

ONE of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs in China, Matthew Ng, has been detained on suspicion of embezzlement after an acrimonious business dispute with his Chinese joint business partner.

Guangzhou police are yet to lay charges or reveal their case for detaining him and this week refused his application for bail.

Mr Ng’s incarceration comes nine months after Australian iron ore salesman Stern Hu was sentenced to 11 years’ jail, amid fears that China’s business playing field is increasingly tilted against overseas business people.

Analysts: Chinese Regimes behind the North Korea’s Attack

By Gao Zitan & Jiang Yuchan, Epoch Times Staff, Nov. 25, 2010 -

Following the bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island by North Korea, the international community condemned North Korea for this reckless, unprovoked attack, but Beijing merely expressed concern over the incident.

The failure to condemn the North Korean attack is part of Beijing’s strategy to use the attack to gain an advantage over the United States, analysts say. The Chinese regime seeks to force the United States to the negotiation table where it would seek concessions, in particular on exchange rates.

The deadly 2 hour, 10 minute, Nov. 23 artillery attack on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island is the latest in a string of provocations by the North.

Tension in Northern China about Mongolia activist’s imminent release, supporters harassed

Reporters Without Borders, Nov. 25, 2010 -

Reporters Without Borders urges the Chinese authorities not to delay the release of Mongol journalist and human rights activist Hada, who will complete a 15-year jail sentence in Inner Mongolia on 10 December. Their behaviour towards his supporters indicates a degree of nervousness about the prospect of his imminent release.

“We ask the authorities to allow Hada to be reunited with his family after his release,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We also urge them to stop all forms of surveillance of those who defend Mongol ethnic minority rights peacefully online.”

China detains prominent law expert in run-up to major offensive linked to Nobel Prize

China Aid, Nov. 24, 2010-

(Beijing–Nov. 24, 2010) One of China’s foremost legal scholars and advocates of constitutional democracy was detained and interrogated by police in Beijing late Wednesday night in what may be a warning shot in advance of a crackdown planned to coincide with the awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Dr. Fan Yafeng, also a leader of an unregistered house church, was forcibly removed from his home at 9:10 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 24 by more than 10 officers of the Haidian District Domestic Security Department and taken to Shuangyushu Police Station, where he was interrogated for several hours about allegedly illegally “engaging in activities under the guise of a social organization.”

Vatican Lashes Out at China Over Bishop’s Appointment

By STACY MEICHTRY, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 24, 2010 -

The Vatican lashed out at China Wednesday for consecrating a bishop without Pope Benedict XVI’s approval, ratcheting up tensions between the world’s most populous nation and its largest church.

In an unusually strong-worded statement, the Holy See accused the Chinese government of forcing other Catholic bishops to attend a ceremony on Saturday, in which the Rev. Joseph Guo Jincai was consecrated as the bishop of Chengde located in the eastern province of Hebei. The Vatican said it had warned Chinese authorities that it opposed Bishop Guo’s consecration, noting that the bishop was “exposing himself” to church sanctions that call for the excommunication of bishops who don’t have papal approval.

Australia MPs slam China over jailed Nobel activist

Mark Davis, Sydney Morning Herald, November 23, 2010 -

GOVERNMENT and opposition backbenchers last night slammed the Chinese government as thuggish and authoritarian over its jailing of the human rights activist Liu Xiaobo who was awarded the Nobel peace prize last month.

In a debate which will anger Beijing, four MPs spoke in support of a private member’s motion moved by the Labor backbencher Michael Danby congratulating Mr Liu on the Nobel prize and calling on China to release him from jail.

Tainted Milk Scandal Shows Danger of Seeking Justice in China

By Huang Tianchen, Epoch Times Staff, Nov. 22, 2010 -

According to a joke, a tourist accidentally fell into a construction pit. He became enraged and told the tourist guide, “In our country, a red flag would have been put up wherever it’s dangerous, but yours doesn’t.” The tourist guide smiled and replied, “When you entered customs, didn’t you see a giant red flag fluttering in the wind, clearly giving you a five-star index warning?”

Unfortunately, in China today this is more of a daily reality than a joke.

10 source of wealth of China’s Billionaires

secretchina.com, Nov 21, 2010 -

In the last 30 years, many people have become billionaires in China. The source of their wealth has mainly been from the power of their family backgrounds and status. These sources are as follows:

1. Attract foreign investments as well as Chinese mainland overseas companies’ funds as foreign investment to invest back into China to earn commissions.

Beijing Silent Over 53 Chinese Fishermen Detained by Russia in 2010

The Epochtimes, Nov. 22, 2010 -

Beijing is silent over the scores of Chinese fishermen and boats that have been detained by Russian border patrols this year.

Russian Far-East border guards have confiscated 17 Chinese boats and arrested 53 Chinese fishermen who trespassed the border on the Amur and Ussuri rivers in 2010. In addition, 760 Chinese boats were expelled from Russian waters, and a total of 20 boats were inspected in 2010. The Chinese Party central has remained silent.

Bird Flu Case Pops Up in Hong Kong: First in Seven Years

By Jack Phillips, Epoch Times Staff, Nov 21, 2010 -

Bird flu has seemingly disappeared from the media spotlight over the past several years but a case was diagnosed in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to the Hong Kong Department of Heatlh.

A 59-year-old woman was diagnosed with influenza A (H5N1), developing a fever and a productive cough—the first diagnosis in seven years.

As a result, Hong Kong raised its alert level to “serious.”

Chinese Given Hard Labor For Twitter Comments

channel4.com, Nov. 18, 2010 -

A Chinese woman has been arrested on her wedding day and sentenced to a year in a labour camp for retweeting a message on Twitter that “disturbed social order”.

Cheng Jianping is thought to be the first Chinese citizen to be imprisoned for a single tweet.

Her incarceration is the most severe punishment related to a tweet recorded to date and has prompted outrage from the Twitter community – who only last week rallied to support a man convicted over a ‘joke’ tweet.

Twitter CEO chides China

(CNN) — “Dear Chinese Government,” began a message sent late Thursday from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.

“Year-long detentions for sending a sarcastic tweet are neither the way forward nor the future of your great people,” he wrote on his Twitter profile.

Costolo’s edict is no doubt a response to the Chinese woman who had been sentenced to a year in a labor camp for retweeting a message that officials in China disapproved of. The tweet mocked Chinese people who were aligning with the Chinese government by protesting Japanese products.

25-year-old Woman Unable to Walk from Sexual Abuse in northern China Labor Camp

Press Release, The Falun Dafa Information Center -

NEW YORK— A 25-year-old kindergarten teacher was severely sexually abused in a Hebei Labor Camp in June 2010, the Falun Dafa Information Center has learned. Months after the attack, she continues to have trouble walking and her family has been denied access to visit her. The Center urges the international community to investigate her case and pressure the Chinese authorities for her immediate and unconditional release.

Police abducted Ms. Hu Miaomiao (胡苗苗), a Falun Gong practitioner from Chaigoupu Town in Hebei province’s Huai’an county, from her home on the morning of June 15, 2010. Without informing her family, she was quickly sent to the Hebei Province Women’s Re-education Through Labor Camp in Shijiazhuang. At the instigation of the unit leader Wang Weiwei, three criminal inmates beat and tortured Ms. Hu in an effort to force her to renounce her belief.

(photos) China’s Public Shaming Rallies Recall Maoist-Era Tactics

By Lou Ya, Via The Epochtimes, Nov. 17, 2010 -

In a scene that could have been lifted from the Cultural Revolution, 17 Chinese villagers who petitioned against government land-grabs were recently subjected to a public humiliation session by district officials, in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province.

A public, Cultural Revolution-style shaming session in Ankang City, China, Nov. 2, 2010