Mon May 12, 2008, Reuters-

BEIJING (Reuters) - Less than a month after China put into effect a new law supposed to boost government transparency, most Chinese want to know one thing — how much officials get paid, a state newspaper said on Monday.

China passed regulations last year demanding the government disclose information about issues affecting the public interest in a bid to combat rampant corruption and discourage cover-ups enabled by often secretive decision-making processes.

But money appears to be on the top of many people’s minds, the China Youth Daily said, citing to a survey it jointly conducted with popular web portal sina.com.

“About 77.5 percent of people chose ‘assets of government officials’ as the information they most wanted to know about,” the newspaper said.

Land seizures, house demolitions and how the government reacts to “sudden public incidents” were also high on the list of information citizens wanted to know, the report added.

The law empowers ordinary Chinese citizens to demand information about government finances and economic plans, environmental regulations and many other polices.

But the ruling Communist Party does not want a free-for-all, and the rules offer a broad opt-out for officials, saying that information released “should not harm state security, economic security or social stability”.

Yet the Party is also keen to show it is tackling corruption, a problem so serious that officials have warned it could lead to their losing power.

In January, a group of conservative Chinese intellectuals made a rare public call for Western-style laws requiring officials, including President Hu Jintao, to declare their personal assets to curb official corruption.

- Original from Reuters: Chinese want to know how much officials paid: survey

Reuters, Sun May 12, 2008-

BEIJING, May 12 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities arrested one person on a charge of inciting subversion and warned or detained five for their roles in a protest in the southwest against plans for a petrochemical project, local media reported on Monday.

Police were seeking another two on charges of illegally demonstrating in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, the Beijing News reported.

“The police accused them of using the Internet and other means to spread rumours, inciting trouble or illegally marching or demonstrating, or using the Internet to spread rumours and harmful information,” the report said.

About 200 people took to the streets last week to demonstrate against plans for the ethylene plant and oil refinery in Chengdu’s northern outskirts, an echo of a protest movement that forced the government to scrap plans for a chemical plant in the southern city of Xiamen.

In March, officials in Xiamen confirmed they would shift a proposed plant to make paraxylene, a petrochemical used in polyester and fabrics, after thousands took to the streets and forced a rare invitation from the government for public comment.

China’s Communist authorities frown on public protest, but demonstrations are becoming more common due to anger over official corruption and pollution and tensions between industrialisation and environmental concerns.

The Chengdu protesters, who news reports said were orderly and did not carry banners, worried the plant would lead to degradation of air and water quality.

The ethylene plant was due to produce 800,000 tonnes a year of the industrial compound commonly used in packaging and insulation.

The refinery, which would process 10 million tonnes of crude oil a year, had been approved by China’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, last year, the Beijing News earlier reported.

- Original from Reuters: China punishes 6 for protest against chemical plant

Egovmonitor.com, UK , 9 May 2008-

Two United Nations Special Rapporteurs have reiterated their previous findings on China’s organ harvesting. Once again, they requested the Chinese government to fully explain the allegation of taking vital organs from Falun Gong practitioners and the source of organs for the sudden increase in organ transplants that has been going on in China since the year 2000.

Ms. Asma Jahangir and Mr. Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion or Belief and on the Question of Torture, made the request jointly and documented it in their respective 2008 annual reports to the UN Human Rights Council, as a follow-up to their previous communications to the Chinese government.

The two Special Rapporteurs, together with Ms. Sigma Huda, the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, transmitted their original communication to China on August 11, 2006. Drawing on information submitted by individuals and volunteer groups, including the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group (FalunHR), the Special Rapporteurs highlighted and raised questions about the identifiable sources of organs, the short waiting times for finding perfectly-matched organs, and the correlation between the sudden increase in organ transplants in China and the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Although the Chinese government responded in November 28, 2006, with categorical denials, it failed to address the critical issues raised by the Special Rapporteurs. The follow-up communication by Ms. Jahangir and Mr. Nowak, sent on January 25, 2007, holds the Chinese government to address those critical issues.

FalunHR has posted the Special Rapporteurs’ original and follow-up communications at (http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1693&Itemid=0)

The Special Rapporteurs’ original communication is documented in their respective 2007 annual reports, and their follow-up communications in their 2008 annual reports. The annual reports of UN Special Rapporteurs typically document their previous year’s activities, and these reports are usually presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council during its spring sessions.

It is important to note that, in their 2008 annual reports, Ms. Asma Jahangir and Mr. Manfred Nowak also reported their joint urgent action, together with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, on behalf of Mr. Cao Dong, a witness to China’s organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners.

On May 21, 2006, in Beijing, Mr. Cao met with Edward McMillan-Scott, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, and gave him testimony on China’s organ harvesting. Following this meeting, the Chinese authorities arrested Mr. Cao. Reports indicate that Mr. Cao was sentenced to five years in prison for “accepting illegal interviews.”

- Original from eGov Monitor: United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteurs Reiterate Findings on China’s Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners

By PIERRE THOMAS and JASON RYAN, ABC News, USA, May 9, 2008 -

The FBI is investigating whether counterfeit routers and computer hardware from China installed in U.S. government computer networks might provide a secret gateway for hackers to tap into secure government databases.

Sources told ABC News the counterfeit hardware could represent a major breach to national security. An FBI PowerPoint presentation, which somehow ended up on a Web site, lays out the concerns and the breadth of what has been a far-reaching investigation.

Friday afternoon a somewhat miffed FBI released a statement that read: “At the request of another federal government agency, on Jan. 11, 2008, the FBI’s Cyber Division provided an unclassified PowerPoint presentation and briefing on efforts to counter the production and distribution of counterfeit network hardware,” said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director James Finch. “This unclassified briefing was never intended for broad distribution or posting to the Internet.”

Finch goes on to talk about Operation Cisco Raider, which “targeted illegal distributors of counterfeit network hardware manufactured in China and included 15 investigations across nine FBI field offices and the execution of 39 search warrants.”

According to Finch, the FBI “disrupted a large distribution network and recovered approximately 3,500 counterfeit network components with an estimated retail value of over $3.5 million.”

In total, authorities around the world, including in the United States, Canada and China, made more than 400 seizures with an estimated value of $76 million. In one instance, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized 1,600 pieces of counterfeit Cisco routers.

In other words, government officials, defense contractors and universities thought they were getting top-notch products from Cisco, a well-regarded American company. Instead, they were buying counterfeit equipment that originated in China, which traveled a circuitous route to its final destination.

Those phony Chinese routers, switches, converters and interface cards were sold to the U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center, U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the General Services Administration, the U.S. air base in Spangdahlem, Germany — which is home to the Air Force’s 52nd Fighter Wing — and defense contractor Raytheon.

Some parts ended up in networks serving the Marine Corps, Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and the FBI.

The cheap, lower-quality equipment led to some system failures and other problems. The real concern, though, is whether this computer hardware represents some sort of Trojan horse that can be manipulated by hackers to steal sensitive information.

Cisco spokesman John Noh told ABC News via e-mail that the company has extensively tested counterfeit equipment purporting to be made by the company, and though not “technically inconceivable,” the company’s tests “have not found a single instance of software or hardware that was modified to make them more vulnerable to security threats.”

Noh acknowledged that counterfeiting of computer technology is “an industrywide issue,” but that Cisco has an internal team dedicated to preventing damage from counterfeiting and that the company works with law enforcement in its investigations.

According to the FBI PowerPoint, Cisco controls 80 percent of the computer router technology market.

The FBI and a number of government agencies are now examining the hardware trying to determine if there has been a massive security breach.

The People’s Republic of China has not been accused of orchestrating the counterfeit sales, but for several years, U.S. officials have been investigating a wave of government computer breaches thought to have originated in China.

Cisco has been working with U.S. investigators and representatives from China’s Technical Service and Public Security bureaus since 2003 to combat the counterfeiting of its routers.

- Original from ABC News: Counterfeit Chinese Technology: Gateway for Hackers?

By Aaron Pan, Bloomberg.com, May 11, 2008-

May 11 (Bloomberg) — Africans living in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou are being forced to leave the country because of new visa policies, the South China Morning Post reported, citing an unidentified spokesman for the community.

Nearly half of the 10,000 Africans in the city have already been forced to leave because their visa-renewal applications have been denied and at least 100 people are stranded in Macau without enough money to return home, the newspaper reported.

African nationals in the city have been running small businesses on flexible, six-month “F” visas and are now being given only tourist visas of up to 15 days, the Morning Post said.

The General Committee of African People in Guangzhou has sent a letter to 10 African embassies in Beijing asking them to press the Chinese government on the issue, the newspaper added.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing said May 7 that visa checks have been tightened ahead of the Olympic Games to ensure “greater security.”

- Original report from Bloomberg: Africans Forced to Leave China on New Visa Rules, Post Reports

Reuters, via The Guardian, UK, Thursday May 8 2008-

HONG KONG, May 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong authorities came under fire on Thursday for the leak of classified data including individuals on an immigration watchlist, as the city’s tougher immigration policies in the runup to the Olympics face increasing scrutiny.

A source with direct knowledge of the incident said confidential data of a few people on the watchlist had been “unwittingly leaked” by a new immigration department employee.

News of the leak came after the Hong Kong government on Tuesday made it clear that visitors seeking to “disrupt the smooth proceeding” of Olympic activities in the territory were not welcome. Hong Kong will host equestrian Olympics events on behalf of Beijing this August.

The source, who declined to be named, told Reuters an employee who worked at a checkpoint on Hong Kong’s border with China had breached guidelines by taking classified data home.

While he did not intend to share the data with anyone, his home computer carried software which allowed outside users to access the files, the source added. The names on the watchlist were retrieved and circulated among Hong Kong netizens.

Hong Kong’s immigration department said in a statement that it was still investigating the data breach.

The territory’s Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee told reporters on Thursday that he was concerned about the leaked data.

“It’s a serious breach,” said democratic lawmaker James To, who is on the legislative council’s security panel.

“They are the disciplined forces and they have to protect the security of Hong Kong and now it seems they can’t even protect the security of information,” To added.

He said the city now had around 11,000 names on its immigration “watchlist” of individuals including known criminals who might be barred from the city.

Hong Kong, considered to be China’s freest city and highly tolerant of protests, was criticised by rights groups for barring at least six activists, including pro-Tibet campaigners, from entering the city ahead of the Olympic torch relay there last week.

Critics say the former British colony’s heightened immigration curbs are a result of pressure from Beijing, which brooks no dissent.

- Original report from The Guardian: Hong Kong immigration “watchlist” partially leaked onto web

By Daniel Schearf, VOA News, Beijing, 06 May 2008-

The Chinese government has revealed the recent tightening of restrictions on visas is part of its Olympic security measures. China’s stricter interpretation of visa rules has led to concerns that thousands of foreigners may be forced out and complaints from businessmen that they cannot get in. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing.

China’s foreign ministry finally gave a clear explanation as to why visas to China have suddenly become difficult to obtain.

Foreigners looking to renew their previously widely available business visas are being told they can no longer purchase the multiple-entry one-year visas.

There are also reports of foreigners having to show airline tickets and proof of advanced hotel booking as additional documentation.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the government is not suspending all multiple entry visas. But, he revealed it is adopting stricter procedures to ensure a safe environment during the Beijing Olympics.

He says the current visa arrangements are following the usual practice of the Olympics and the hosting of large-scale international contests as well as China’s own laws and relevant regulations.

For some weeks the Chinese government refused to give a clear explanation for the changes, though stepped-up security for the Olympics was widely suspected to be the reason.

The Chinese government has yet to make the new requirements clearly known or widely circulated, upsetting many in the foreign business community.

In April, the European and American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong sent strongly worded letters of complaint to Beijing after businessmen had their visa applications rejected.

Despite the tighter regulations, Qin said China still welcomed foreigners to China for study, work and travel. He said China’s visa policy was much more relaxed than many countries.

For example, he said unlike some countries, they do not require finger prints or retinal eye scans - a clear reference to security measures in the United States.

- Original report from VOA News: China Says Visa Restrictions Are Part of Olympic Security Measures

By Xin Fei, Epoch Times Staff, May 08, 2008-

On May 6, mainland attorney Wang Yonghang published an article titled “A Make-Up Law Class for Hu and Wen.” The article reads that it is extremely absurd to use “the crime of using an evil cult organization to destroy the law of the country and the implementation of administrative regulations,” to arrest, try, sentence, and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.

Wang is a resident in China’s Northeast Dalian City. On April 30, his wife was detained by the authority for posting a Falun Gong information brochure. He went to the police and asked the police to release his wife unconditionally. “I told them, there is nothing to argue about, because you have arrested a good person, the wrong person,” Wang told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

Wang’s wife is a graduate student at the Medical Institute of Fudan University studying for a Ph.D. and will graduate next year.

Wang’s wife was arrested by Shanghai police in the morning of April 30. Wang rushed to Shanghai from Dalian the next day. A colleague advised Wang to “persuade his wife to give in.” Wang refused and said, “I am not going to do that, if I wanted to, I would have done it a long time ago.”

Wang went to the police and requested that they immediately release his wife unconditionally. He said, “As an attorney, I know the current persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, one must demand the release in confidence, because they arrested good people, they arrested those whom should not be arrested. Letting them go is something that they have to do.”

About his wife, Wang said, “She has a good personality; she used to be impatient and anxious, but Falun Gong has helped her a great deal. Therefore, I am supportive of her practice of Falun Gong, and strongly oppose the Chinese Communist Party’s suppression of Falun Gong.”

Wang’s Defense of Falun Gong Practitioners

In March, Wang was also retained by the family of a Falun practitioner to appear in court, but was blocked by the authority. He could not even get into the courtroom, not even as an observer. In another case, while in the process of appeal, he was told there was no court session, and that the case ended without a ruling. However it was later heard that the original sentence was sustained during the hearing. These two Falun Gong practitioners, one sentenced to five years in prison because banners were found in his home, and the other was sentenced to three years in prison because he wrote an appeal letter to the Ministry of Public Security.

Wang pointed out that the legal issue of Falun Gong is that during the past nine years, the regime has not allowed Falun Gong believers to talk in court, nor allowed attorneys to defend their innocence. “Generally, Falun Gong practitioners have no right to talk, and they even have difficulty hiring attorneys. As an attorney, I often express my own views, but in vain. Now I am facing my own emergency, I have no alternative but to speak up on overseas’ websites.”

No Law Broken

“Actually, should there be a law, as an attorney, I would not be worried. But in China today, there is no law to speak of when it comes to Falun Gong practitioners.”

“While appealing for my wife, it would be nice if more people get to know my view points. It will be most gratifying to be able to help mainland Falun Gong practitioners and their families.”

According to Wang’s understanding, the so-called crimes on which the authority bases its detention, abduction, conviction, and sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China are almost all under Criminal Law 300, “Use of a cult organization to destroy the law of the country and the implementation of administrative regulations.”

Wang pointed out that regardless what Falun Gong practitioners have done and what they have said, such as the hanging of banners, distributing CD’s or pamphlets, regardless how much they have done or how big the impact, not any one of them has broken the “implementation” of any “law, or administrative regulation,” nor is there any implementation of the law or administrative regulation that can be found that was destroyed by any Falun Gong practitioners.

Regime Has No Qualification to Brand Falun Gong a Cult

“As an administrative organization, it has no right to define what is orthodox and what is cult. Much more so, the CCP itself is an atheistic regime, it has no qualification to make a pronouncement of what is orthodox and what is cult, it is obviously absurd.” Wang commented.

Wang said that he was very moved by attorney Gao Zhisheng’s third open letter to the Communist Party leaders. He said, “I cried every time I read it. I cannot figure it out why would such a group of believers suffer such cruel treatment! I began to have some understanding of the problems in this area. Gao is indeed China’s conscience, a remarkable person!”

Since last year, Wang has seen the reality of many problems. Falun Gong practitioners are in a very weak position under the law, the attorneys who provide help and support are mostly not very thorough or profound, and therefore he began to help defend Falun Gong practitioners.

Pitiful Position for Attorneys in China

He told the Epoch Times reporter, “In China, attorneys are in a pitiful position. In the regular civil cases, the role of an attorney is not much to begin with, it is even less in a criminal case. As for Falun Gong cases, no matter how well the attorney defends the case, the influence on the result is miniscule, the court does not believe in your viewpoint from the start.”

- Original report from The Epochtimes: Dalian Attorney Defends Falun Gong: Belief Is Not a Crime

According to China Aid Association (CAA) reports, China’s intensifid campaign against House Church Christians is spreading in recent two months, many leaders arrested, bible schools raided, and Christian Books Confiscated.

In north China, Inner Mongolia:

- on May 1, 2008, two house church ministers detained . Security officials also confiscated a video camera, books, a washing machine, comforters, and food supplies belonging to the Daqing Church. All of the aforementioned items were taken without proper and legal documentation.

- On May 4, an old pastor was summoned to the Local police station and charged with holding an “illegal religious meeting”;

- On May 5, in another organized attack by Public Security Officials, a church meeting was raided and 13 believers were arrested and detained .

In west China, Xin Jiang:

- On April 23, 2008, 10 people were arrested during a House Church Worship Service, and released at the same day

(more details about these case)

In northeast China, Jilin province:

- on May 4, 2008, a pastor in Yanji City, Jilin province was beaten, wounded and finally arrested while he was preaching in his church

In East China, Shandong:

- May 8, 2008, 3 house church leaders in Shandong province were detained while organizing a Bible study group. One pastor from Taiwan was expelled from China immediately

- Meanwhile, 4 other church leaders from the same province have been detained since the beginning of May.

( More details about above cases)

Notes:

- House church Christians in China recognize only one head of the Church, that is, Jesus Christ.

- The TSPM (Three-Self Patriotic Movement) is the government-sanctioned (”patriotic”) Christian organization, which must recognize two, both Christ and the Communist Party.

The TSPM is used as a tool of the Communist Party to control and regulate the expression of Christianity.

Radio Free Asia, 2008-05-06-

Hong Kong people turned out in force to protest the deadly Chinese crackdown of 1989, says a Hong Kong-based journalist jailed by China for almost three years on spying charges. But Ching Cheong also says the territory’s space for dissent has shrunk dramatically.

HONG KONG—A Hong Kong-based journalist jailed by China for almost three years on spying charges says the former British colony’s freedoms have been eroded since the 1997 handover to Beijing.

“Hong Kong has made a continual contribution to progress in China for more than a century, even promoting some positive change in China,” Ching Cheong, formerly chief China correspondent for Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper, said.

“This can be ascribed to the freedom of expression in Hong Kong. However, since the handover, the space for different opinions has shrunk, or even disappeared,” he said in an interview.

“This is a potential threat to the traditional values of Hong Kong,” he added.

Ching was handed a five-year jail term by a Guangdong court in August 2006 for allegedly spying for Taiwan, which he denies. He had been held previously for some 16 months.

Tibet protest in Hong Kong

He spoke after a confrontation between Free Tibet protesters and supporters of the Chinese government during the Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong, where some spectators held large Chinese flags and others carried protest signs.

Ching said the temporary detention of Tibet protester Christina Chan, ostensibly a form of protective custody to protect her from an angry pro-China mob, was “unfortunate.”

Chan had wrapped the Tibetan snow lion flag around her body and later began waving it, drawing obscenities and angry comments from a group of Mandarin-speaking bystanders.

Several onlookers heckled Chan, shouting “What kind of Chinese are you?” and “What a shame!’ The 21-year-old Chan said, “Why can’t we just respect each other and express our views?”

Hong Kong people are outspoken

Ching said that while Hong Kong people were genuinely patriotic during the passage of the Olympic torch through China’s Special Administrative Region, which has been granted a “high degree of autonomy” and constitutional protection of its basic freedoms, he said they wouldn’t hesitate to show dissatisfaction as well.

“The same Hong Kongers will be unhesitant in voicing their discontent on the streets whenever this is a problem in China,” Ching said, citing a demonstration of more than 1 million people in the territory after the 1989 military crackdown pro-democracy protesters.

“In 2003, half a million Hong Kong people went out on the streets, rallying against the legislation in the Hong Kong Basic Law Clause 23 and expressing their anger over the limitation of various freedoms in Hong Kong after the 1997 handover,” said Ching, who has taken up his work as a journalist again but has no plans for any reporting trips to China……. (more details from Radio Free Asia: Journalist Fears for Hong Kong)