Conversation
05.19.14
Is This the Best Response to China’s Cyber-Attacks?
On Monday, the United States Attorney General Eric Holder accused China of hacking American industrial giants such as U.S. Steel and Westinghouse Electric, making unprecedented criminal charges of cyper-espionage against Chinese...
Caixin Media
05.19.14
“White Glove” Sisters at Center of Coal Country Graft Scandal
Two sisters with business savvy and important friends in high places are now the standout figures in the mysterious case of a former Shanxi province government official, Jin Daoming, charged with corruption.Few details of the Jin case have emerged...
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05.19.14Department of Justice Indicts Chinese Hackers: What Next?
Council on Foreign Relations
The US indicted five Chinese military officers for cyberspying, but the Snowden revelations about alleged NSA activities make it hard to build support for diplomatic efforts from the rest of the world.
Infographics
05.15.14
China’s Fake Urbanization
from Sohu
This infographic explains why it is so hard for rural migrants to settle permanently in cities. For starters, city dwellers were the first to get rich after Reform and Opening Up, which created a large income disparity between them and people living...
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05.15.14Up to 21 Dead as Anti-China Riots Spread in Vietnam
Reuters
The deaths occurred in rioting around Chinese factories that amount to one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.
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05.14.14Anger Grows in Vietnam Over Dispute With China
New York Times
Thousands of workers rampaged through an industrial area in southern Vietnam in what reportedly began as protests against China’s stationing of an oil rig in disputed waters off of Vietnam’s coast.
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05.14.14Shoe Maker Yue Yuen Suspends Vietnam Production Amid Protests
Reuters
Vietnam accounts for about a third of Yue Yuen's global production capacity, which amounted to 313 million pairs of shoes last year.
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05.14.1425 Years Ago: Zhao Ziyang Appears to Win Backing
China Digital Times
To commemorate the student movement, CDT is posting a series of original news articles from 1989, beginning with the death of Hu Yaobang on April 15 and continuing through the tumultuous spring.
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05.14.14Chinese Police Charge British Former Head of GSK in China With Bribery
Reuters
The case is the biggest corruption scandal to hit a foreign company in China since the Rio Tinto affair in 2009, which resulted in four executives, including an Australian, being jailed for between 7-14 years.
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05.14.14Philippines Challenges China Over Disputed Atoll
New York Times
The Philippines has protested signs of land reclamation by China aimed at expanding a disputed coral atoll near the southern Philippines, the latest in a series of disputes pitting China against its neighbors.
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05.06.14Rights Lawyer Detained Ahead of Tiananmen Anniversary
New York Times
Pu Zhiqiang, 49, has been detained by the Beijing police one month before the 25th anniversary of the deadly crackdown on the Tiananmen protest movement.
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05.06.14Six People Injured in Attack at South China Rail Station
Wall Street Journal
A single man slashed people outside a Guangzhou railway station. An armed police officer fired at and wounded the attacker, helping authorities capture the perpetrator.
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05.05.14China Corruption Campaign: On the Trail of Zhou Yongkang
BBC
Until recently one of China's most powerful politicians, Zhou Yongkang has simply disappeared, presumed victim of the Orwellian security apparatus he once controlled.
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05.04.14China's Half-Year Report Card on Economic Reform: Slow, Safe and Steady
Reuters
Incremental steps promise to reach enough critical mass to sustain reform momentum and help the world's second-largest economy shift down fairly smoothly after decades of red-hot growth.
Environment
04.30.14
China’s Environmental Law Good on Paper
from chinadialogue
China’s environmental protection law, which stirred great controversy during its amendment process, has finally been passed. The updated law makes significant progress in the area of public interest litigation and strengthens the legislative tools...
Caixin Media
04.29.14
‘Black Jail’ Victims Hunt Down Captors, Get Day in Court
A recent one-day trial in the northern province of Hebei involving China’s “black jail” industry came about because people who say they were illegally detained did some detective work to find their former prison and then took the matter to the media...
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04.29.14China Gives Teeth, Finally, to Beijing’s New ‘War on Pollution’
Businessweek
The new environmental protection law—approved April 24 by China’s National People’s Congress—differs significantly from the previous one, especially on enforcement.
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04.28.14Obama in the Philippines: ‘Our Goal Is Not to Contain China’
Time
The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement took eight months to negotiate but mere days to anger Beijing, which sees U.S. involvement in East Asia as interference despite President Obama's insistence the goal is not to "contain" China.
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04.28.14China Forces Four U.S. TV Shows Off Web
Wall Street Journal
'Big Bang Theory' and 'Good Wife' are among programs taken down from popular video streaming sites Sohu, Youku Tudou, and Tencent, as government control of the Internet and over foreign entertainment content intensifies.
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04.27.14China Releases Japanese Wartime Documents: State Media
Reuters
The publication comes during a fraught period in Japan-China relations. Last week, Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines paid $29 million for the release of a ship seized by China over a dispute that dates back to the 1930s.
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04.25.14The Shadow over Obama’s Asia Trip: 3 Ways China Scares the U.S.
Washington Post
The Balance of Power in the Pacific; China’s global footprint; and friendship with Russia
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04.24.14Obama: U.S. To Defend Japan In Territorial Disputes With China
NPR
President Obama is in Japan for the start of his four-nation Asia visit. The trip aims to assure U.S. allies that they're not forgotten, even as China gets more bullish with its neighbors.
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04.24.14China Court Frees Japanese Ship After Unprecedented Seizure
Bloomberg
A Chinese court released a Japanese ship owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. after the cargo carrier paid compensation for the loss of two vessels leased from a Chinese company before the two countries went to war in 1937.
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04.23.14Artist at Center of Multimillion Dollar Forgery Scandal Turns Up in China
Guardian
Pei-Shen Qian, acccused, along with two Spanish brokers, of conning New York art collectors, will likely escape extradition.
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04.23.14Russia, China Block Central African Republic Blacklistings at U.N.
Reuters
The United States and France proposed U.N. sanctions of former Central African Republic President Francois Bozize for "engaging in or providing support for acts that undermine the peace, stability or security."
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04.23.14America Should Step Back from the East China Sea Dispute
New York Times
The Diaoyu Islands, which are of little real strategic or economic use, are hardly worth disrupting relations among the world’s three largest economies. It is time to put the issue back into a box.
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04.22.14Obama Faces Headwinds on Trans-Pacific Partnership in East Asia trip
South China Morning Post
Negotiations with Japan on a 12-nation transpacific trade liberalisation deal are bogged down, while support for it is waning in Malaysia, which could pull out altogether under pressure from business concerns. Analysts say the negotiations...
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04.16.14A Role for Taiwan in Promoting Peace in the South China Sea
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Taiwan has a chance to set a positive example and chart a peaceful course in managing and eventually resolving East Asian maritime disputes.
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04.16.14Why Ukraine Crisis has China in a Bind
CNN
Concerns that Chinese hardliners could seek to use Crimea as a precedent for moves against disputed territories in the Asia-Pacific should not be overplayed.
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04.15.14China is Reportedly Screwing Up the Search For MH370
Gawker
With a handful of countries still searching the Indian Ocean for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the one country annoying the others is China.
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04.15.14China’s Air Pollution Leading to More Erratic Climate for US, Say Scientists
Guardian
Computer modelling shows intensification of U.S.-bound Pacific storms, driven by fine aerosols from coal power plants and traffic.
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04.15.14Massive China Shoe Factory Strike Rolls on as Offer Falls Flat
Reuters
Chinese shoe factory workers shrugged off an offer of improved benefits, prolonging one of the largest strikes in recent years amid signs of increased labor activism as the economy slows.
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04.15.14In China, A Big Jet Becomes a Status Symbol
New York Times
Chinese buyers are enthusiastically opting mostly for so-called heavy metal jets—big, long-range luxury jets that can cost $50 million or more before extras like fancy cabin fixtures.
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04.14.14Can Forbidden Rules Teach Officials How to Behave?
Global Times
A Sichuan newspaper listed "ten forbidden behaviors" for officials—such as don't talk to the public with hands behind your back and don't ask others to carry the suitcase for you.
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04.14.14Chinese Signaling in the East China Sea?
Washington Post
What to make in the decline of Chinese patrols of the territorial waters around the Diaoyu / Senkaku Islands since September 2013.
Conversation
04.12.14
China, Japan, and the U.S.—Will Cooler Heads Prevail?
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's whirlwind tour of China this week saw a tense exchange with his Chinese counterpart, Chang Wanquan, over the intention behind America's "pivot" to Asia, followed by a more measured back-and...
Caixin Media
04.01.14
Eviction by Arson: Land-Seizure Turns Deadly
A village head and the boss of a building company were among the seven people arrested over an arson attack on a protest against a land seizure in Shandong Province in which one man died and three others were hurt.The government of Pingdu, a county...
Media
03.21.14
“We’ll Know It When We’re There”
Martin Johnson (not his real name), is a co-founder of the China-based Internet freedom advocacy collective GreatFire.org. On the condition that he not be photographed, he gave the following interview to ChinaFile at an outdoor cafe in Manhattan...
Media
03.17.14
‘Self-Media’ Pushes and Beijing Pushes Back
Michelle Song, twenty-four, studies international relations at Beijing’s prestigious Peking University and lives in a dormitory, so she doesn’t watch television regularly and doesn’t subscribe to newspapers. But this has not hampered her ability to...
Media
03.14.14The Other Shoe Drops
Welcome to the big leagues, WeChat.For the past year, the mobile chat app WeChat, or Weixinin Chinese, has been the fresh new face in China’s hyperactive social media, stealing millions of members—not to mention mojo—from its wounded but still...
Viewpoint
03.13.14
How Chinese Internet Censorship Works, Sometimes
Earlier this week, Chinese Internet services blocked searches for the phrase mìshū bāng (秘书帮). Roughly translated as “secretaries gang,” the term relates to the speculation surrounding government probes into public officials linked to former...
Environment
03.11.14
It’s Time to Cooperate on the Yarlung Tsangpo
from chinadialogue
This is part of a special series of articles produced by thethirdpole.net on the future of the Yarlung Tsangpo river—one of the world’s great transboundary rivers—which starts on the Tibetan Plateau before passing through India and Bangladesh.The...
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03.11.14Baby Trafficking Rings Busted In China, 382 Babies Rescued: Officials
Huffington Post
Chinese police have rescued 382 abducted babies and arrested 1,094 suspects in a national operation that busted four major Internet-based baby trafficking rings.
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03.11.14Chinese Man Sues Local Government Over Smog
Diplomat
Li Guixin of Hebei province has become the first person to sue the government over air pollution.
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03.11.14Many in China Can Now Have a Second Child, but Say No
New York Times
Many couples blamed the rising cost of living for their reluctance to have more than one child. Some cited a cultural norm that requires husbands to provide an apartment, car and other material riches to a bride, demands that can push families into...
Caixin Media
03.11.14
Li Ka-shing’s Remedy for ‘Coddled’ Hong Kong
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing is again in the media spotlight after he mentioned in late February the possibility of publicly listing his retail business A.S. Watson Group, which is part of the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa."No...
Conversation
03.10.14
Should China Support Russia in Ukraine?
Alexander V. Pantsov: The Chinese Communist Party leadership has always maintained: “China believes in non-interference in internal affairs.” In the current Ukrainian situation it is the most we can expect from the P.R.C. because it is not able to...
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03.05.14China Charges Prominent Uighur Professor with Separatism
Reuters
The government’s case against Ilham Tohti is the latest sign of its hardening stance on dissent in Xinjiang, where unrest in the past year has killed more than 100, including several police, according to state media.
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03.05.14Compliance Becomes Hotter Issue for U.S. Firms in China
Reuters
U.S. companies in China placed greater focus on compliance last year after several high profile probes into corruption and high pricing, but rising costs and a skills shortage remained their main concerns.
Environment
02.28.14
Citizen Sues Local Government for Failing to Curb Air Pollution
from chinadialogue
Although residents in Northern China are no strangers to dirty air, a man from the smog-enshrouded Hebei province has decided to take the local environmental authority to court for failing to control air pollution.Li Guixin, a resident in Hebei’s...
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02.25.14Pushing Back Against Government Surveillance
New York Times
Xie Yanyi, a Beijing lawyer, asked the Ministry of Public Security to tell him about Chinese security officials’ spying on their own citizens.
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02.25.14Wall Street Girds for China Bribery Probe as IPOs Beckon
Bloomberg
Wall Street hiring in Asia is under increasing scrutiny after a U.S. criminal investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase & Co. employed children of China’s elite in violation of anti-bribery laws.
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02.25.14China Faults Report Blaming North Korean Leader for Atrocities
New York Times
Chinese officials criticized a United Nations report serving notice to Kim Jong-un that he might be personally held liable in court for crimes against humanity.
Media
02.21.14
How the Internet and Social Media Are Transforming China
“The Internet has radically transformed China,” said Emily Parker, author of the book Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices from the Internet Underground, in a public discussion at Asia Society in New York on February 19.Talking about the Internet’...
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02.20.14Local Government Threatens Severe Punishments for Families of Tibetan Self-Immolators
South China Morning Post
A county in Sichuan province has issued guidelines aimed at punishing family members of Tibetans who have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule in their homeland.
Environment
02.19.14
Water Pollution: More Difficult to Fix Than Dirty Air?
from chinadialogue
Although China’s air pollution keeps making headlines, its water pollution is just as urgent a problem. One-fifth of the country’s rivers are toxic, while two-fifths are classified as seriously polluted. In 2012, more than half of China’s cities had...
Conversation
02.13.14
Are Ethnic Tensions on the Rise in China?
On December 31, President Xi Jinping appeared on CCTV and extended his “New Year’s wishes to Chinese of all ethnic groups.” On January 15, Beijing officials detained Ilham Tohti, a leading Uighur economist and subsequently accused him of “separtist...
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02.12.14Microsoft Denies Global Censorship of China-Related Searches
Reuters
Microsoft denied it was omitting websites from its Bing search engine results for users outside China after a Chinese rights group said the U.S. firm was censoring material the government deems politically sensitive.
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02.12.14This Woman is the Voice of Tibet for China and the World
Public Radio International
Tsering Woeser is a prolific blogger who writes in Chinese, the language she grew up with in school in Tibetan towns in southwestern Sichuan province. This makes Woeser's voice for the rights of Tibetans unique.
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02.12.14An Offer They Can’t Refuse
Foreign Policy
Will China win its 65-year war with Taiwan—without firing a shot?