Politics

posts on political issues relevant to Greater China

Campaign against human-rights lawyers

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From: Anne Henochowicz <anne@chinadigitaltimes.net>
Source: Quartz (7/27/15)
CROSSING THE LINE
China’s campaign of intimidation against human-rights lawyers has to be stopped
By Maya Wang

File photo of Wang Yu talking during an interview with Reuters in Beijing

Wang Yu. (Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

When Beijing last rounded up dozens of human-rights lawyers in 2011, it was clearly scared of a “Jasmine Revolution” like the protests then rocking the Middle East. But when Chinese police detained more than a hundred human-rights lawyers across the country over just a few days this month, there was no pretense of anything other than bare-knuckled crushing of the courageous rule of law advocates who have helped build China’s civil society over the past decade.

On July 10, Beijing police first took into custody lawyer Wang Yu, and then the director and staff of Wang’s employer, Fengrui Law Firm. Within the next 24 hours, what originally looked like a targeted attack on one law firm turned out to be a coordinated hunt for human-rights lawyers across nineteen provinces [Chinese]. While most have now been released, seven have been criminally detained, while the fate of at least fifteen remain unclear. The message that defending basic rights can cost you your freedom went out loud and clear across the country. Continue reading Campaign against human-rights lawyers →

Beijing’s drive to control the South China Sea

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Too long to post here in its entirety, MCLC LIST members may be interested in this article from The Guardian.–Kirk

Source: The Guardian
What’s behind Beijing’s drive to control the South China Sea?
By Howard French

China’s startling attempt to assert control over vast waters has alarmed nearby countries and escalated tensions with the US. Howard W French reports from Hainan, the island at the heart of Xi Jinping’s expansionist ambitions

Excerpt:

There is no single explanation for why asserting its authority over the South China Sea now matters so much to China. Controlling the many tiny islands is in part a matter of controlling of the wealth assumed to lay beneath the sea in the form of unexploited minerals and oil and gas, not to mention the immense fisheries that exist in these waters. It is in part a matter of increasing the country’s sense of security, by dominating the maritime approaches to its long coast, and securing sea lanes to the open Pacific. It is in part a matter of overcoming historical grievances. And finally, it is about becoming a power at least on par with the US: a goal that Chinese leaders are themselves somewhat coy about, but which is now increasingly entering the public discourse.

 

‘Picking quarrels’ law

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Source: NYT (7/26/15)
China Uses ‘Picking Quarrels’ Charge to Cast a Wider Net Online
By EDWARD WONG

Demonstrators in Hong Kong protesting the detention of Pu Zhiqiang, a civil rights lawyer from Beijing charged with “picking quarrels.” Credit Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

DUNHUANG, China — An oil-field worker in this Gobi Desert town posted poetry online memorializing the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. An artist in Shanghai uploaded satirical photographs of his wincing visage superimposed on a portrait of the Chinese president. A civil rights lawyer in Beijing wrote microblog posts criticizing the Communist Party’s handling of ethnic tensions.

In each case, the men were detained under a broad new interpretation of an established law that the Chinese authorities are using to carry out the biggest crackdown on Internet speech in many years.

Artists, essayists, lawyers, bloggers and others deemed to be online troublemakers have been hauled into police stations and investigated or imprisoned for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a charge that was once confined to physical activities like handing out fliers or organizing protests. Continue reading ‘Picking quarrels’ law →

Ai Weiwei’s freedom by fiat

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Source: The New Yorker (7/23/15)
Ai Weiwei’s Freedom by Fiat
BY EVAN OSNOS

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The artist Ai Weiwei, in Beijing, in March. CREDIT PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDY WONG/AP

Nearly four years after he was barred from leaving China, the artist Ai Weiwei this week abruptly regained the right to travel. He broke the news via an Instagram selfie. “Today, I picked up my passport,” said the caption, beneath a photo of him and his new travel document. He had reason to rejoice, of course, and yet, in the image, he wears a flat, uneasy expression—a fitting reflection of a moment that opens an uncertain new chapter.

For Ai, the news is, in the first instance, a step closer to the end of a strange purgatory. One of the world’s most famous artists, he has been neither jailed nor free. Ai’s ordeal began on April 3, 2011, when he was arrested and charged with tax evasion, which his supporters interpreted as retaliation by the Chinese government for his mounting political criticism. After eighty-one days in custody, he was released, but he remained barred from leaving his house or resuming his political activities. Whenever he tried to find out how long the conditions would last, he received no reply. Continue reading Ai Weiwei’s freedom by fiat →

Wu’er Kaixi to run for Taiwan parliament

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Source: Yahoo News (7/24/15)
Chinese dissident sets sights on seat in Taiwan parliament
By Reuters, by J.R. Wu

2015-07-23T210713Z_1_LYNXNPEB6M122_RTROPTP_2_CHINA-TIANANMEN-MOTHER

Wu’er Kaixi listens to a question while giving a speech at Yuan Ze University

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Twenty-six years after Wu’er Kaixi stood alongside young comrades to stare down People’s Liberation Army tanks in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese democracy activist has his sights set on winning a seat in Taiwan’s parliament.

Wu’er, a Taiwan citizen of nearly 20 years, and a rival from the pro-independence party have struck a gentlemen’s agreement whereby the one with the least support will endorse the other in a bid to unseat the incumbent from the ruling pro-China Nationalist Party, also known as Kuomintang (KMT), in central Taiwan next year.

“The KMT needs to be normalized. It is an enormous monster,” said Wu’er, an ethnic Uighur who fled China and ultimately made Taichung his adopted home in 1996. Continue reading Wu’er Kaixi to run for Taiwan parliament →

Reality shows must uphold socialist values

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Source: China Real Time, WSJ (7/23/15)
China’s Reality Shows Must Uphold ‘Socialist Core Values,’ Regulator Says

A contestant sings as he takes part in an audition for the “X Factor” TV show in Beijing. Associated Press

From “American Idol” to “The Voice,” many popular Western TV series have inspired similar shows across the Pacific – but don’t expect a Chinese “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” anytime soon.

China’s reality shows should “blend in socialist core values” and not become “a place to show off wealth and rely on celebrities,” said a circular released Wednesday by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the country’s top media regulator.

The circular added that shows should follow the country’s austerity push by relying on a modest production budget and should not “deliberately flare up conflicts” or “reflect the evil of human nature” in order to draw eyeballs. Continue reading Reality shows must uphold socialist values →

2 women to vie for Taiwan presidency

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Source: NYT (7/19/15)
2 Women to Vie in Taiwan Presidential Election for 1st Time
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s top two political parties have each nominated a woman for president in 2016, a historic first signaling acceptance of female leadership and kicking off a campaign highlighted so far by clashing views on ties with rival China.

The ruling Nationalist Party on Sunday picked as its candidate Hung Hsiu-chu, a former teacher and the current deputy legislative speaker. Hung, who supports friendly relations with China, will run against Tsai Ing-wen, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman and an advocate of more cautious relations with Beijing. Tsai leads in opinion polls ahead of January’s election.

Ties with Beijing, long icy but cordial since 2008, have shaped up as an early campaign issue.

Voters in Taiwan, which has been democratic since the late 1980s, have never elected a woman as president nor had a choice between two female candidates backed by the major parties. Continue reading 2 women to vie for Taiwan presidency →

Xi Jinping’s ‘key minority’

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Source: China Real Time (7/21/15)
Understanding Xi Jinping’s ‘Key Minority’
By Yiyi Lu

Staffers prepare a leadership academy meeting for Communist Party cadres in Shanghai. Associated Press

To mark the 94th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1, a high-profile event took place in the Great Hall of the People the previous day. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with 102 “Outstanding County-Level Party Secretaries” from around China who had been selected from among 2,800 of their peers to receive commendation in Beijing.

It has been 20 years since the Party last honored outstanding county Party secretaries. The renewed attention to the performance of county leaders shows that Xi is relying on local officials to play a pivotal role in implementing his program. The realization of the visions and goals of his administration depends on the commitment of these cadres. Continue reading Xi Jinping’s ‘key minority’ →

Red Detachment at Lincoln Center

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From: timothy pi <timothy.pi@gmail.com>
Source: The Epoch Times (7/17/15)
Chinese Ballet at Lincoln Center Glorifies the Violent Class Struggle That Killed My Great-Grandfather
By Leo Timm

Dancers from National Ballet of China wait backstage for their turn to perform the Mao-era ballet "The Red Detachment of Women" in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

Dancers from National Ballet of China wait backstage for their turn to perform the Mao-era ballet “The Red Detachment of Women” in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

My great-grandfather was a landowner in southern China prior to the communist takeover in 1949. Possessing about three acres of rice paddies and a lychee orchard placed him squarely in the “landlord” class—a group of people the new regime was determined to dispose of using “the greatest force,” as Mao Zedong put it.

Accompanying and legitimizing Chairman Mao’s coming campaign of mass murder was the remolding of national arts and culture.

“The Red Detachment of Women,” a 1964 Chinese ballet and one of many works glorifying violent class struggle, opened to New York audiences on the evening of July 11 at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center. Continue reading Red Detachment at Lincoln Center →

Light on 1947 slaughter in Taiwan

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Source: Sinophere, NYT (7/14/15)
Taiwan Turns Light on 1947 Slaughter by Chiang Kai-shek’s Troops
By MICHAEL FORSYTHE

The 228 Memorial Park in Taipei, which includes memorials to victims of the 228 Incident of 1947, in which as many as 28,000 people were killed by troops sent by the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek.CreditSean Marc Lee for The New York Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan — It took Faith Hong about a half-hour to blast through a century of history and a lifetime of propaganda.

That is her mission as a volunteer at the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, where she guided her visitors from mainland China through the somber displays, describing the events that set off the killing in 1947 of as many as 28,000 people.

The perpetrators? Troops dispatched to the island by the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, the man whose face is stamped on Taiwan’s coins and whose political party, the Kuomintang, still governs Taiwan. Lest that fact be lost on any visitor, large copies of the written orders he issued are prominently on display. Continue reading Light on 1947 slaughter in Taiwan →

HK charges 4 over burning of policy paper

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Source: Radio Free Asia (7/7/15)
Hong Kong Charges Four Over Public Burning of Beijing’s Policy Paper

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Occupy Central leader Joshua Wong speaks to the media after a vote at the city’s legislature in Hong Kong, June 18, 2015. AFP

Four Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, including Occupy Central student leader Joshua Wong, face charges of obstructing the police in the course of their duty, in connection with the burning of a Beijing policy paper outside the Chinese government’s liaison office in the former British colony.

Wong, who heads the student activist group Scholarism, pan-democratic lawmaker Albert Chan, League of Social Democrats deputy chairman Raphael Wong, and Nathan Law, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, burned Beijing’s “white paper” on the “one country, two systems” arrangement under which it rules Hong Kong during a June 2014 demonstration outside Beijing representative office in the city. Continue reading HK charges 4 over burning of policy paper →

Feminist Five open letter

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Source: China Change (7/6/15)
Open Letter: Chinese Feminist Five Seek UN Help to Have Case Against Them Dropped

Delegates to UN women’s conference show solidarity with Chinese feminist five in front of UN in March.

Dear Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Under-Secretary-General, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,

We are the five feminist activists from China, Wu Rongrong (武嵘嵘), Wei Tingting (韦婷婷), Li Tingting (李婷婷), Wang Man (王曼) and Zheng Churan (郑楚然). We were detained on the eve of International Women’s Day in 2015 for planning events against sexual harassment on public transportation in China. Thanks to the national and international pressure on the Chinese government, we were released on bail in mid-April.

After our release, we learnt from the media that UN Women was deeply concerned with our case. As reported by the Reuters, UN Women “has been closely engaged with the developments throughout and welcomes the release of the five women from detention.” We are grateful for your support. Continue reading Feminist Five open letter →

Mearsheimer vs Nye on the Rise of China

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Dear all,

please follow the link to my new documentary film ‘Mearsheimer vs. Nye on the Rise of China’ that is designed for use in classes on International Relations theory, Chinese foreign policy and US foreign policy.

It is published on The Diplomat site: http://bit.ly/1LTlLKx

here is the blurb:

The rise of China is the key issue of the 21st century. Can China rise peacefully? Has America’s engagement policy created a peer competitor? How should the U.S. respond to Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea, and its institution-building in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)?

This short documentary film (19 minutes) by Bill Callahan examines how the personal experiences of iconic IR theorists John Mearsheimer (Chicago) and Joseph S. Nye, Jr. (Harvard) on their first trips to China have framed their strategic understandings of U.S.-China relations. Are Offensive Realists like Mearsheimer correct that a rising China is structurally determined to challenge the hegemonic U..? Can U.S.-China relations be managed through diplomacy and international organisations, as the Liberal Institutionalists argue? Or does America’s China policy need a combination of Realism and Liberalism, as Nye suggests?

Bill Callahan is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His films can be viewed at www.vimeo.com/billcallahan.

best wishes,

Bill

William A. Callahan <waccpol@gmail.com>
London School of Economics

Princesses or patriots

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Source: China Real Time, WSJ (7/7/15)
Princesses or Patriots? China Girl Group Seeks AKB48′s Pop-Idol Crown

Watch out, AKB48. A new crew of contenders from China is coming for your girl-group crown.

56 Flowers is their name, and singing China’s praises is their game. Banking on a home market 1.4 billion people strong, the Chinese troupe is set on surpassing Japan’s beloved pop princesses as the world’s biggest idol group.

But don’t expect coquettish lasses belting saccharine tunes. These are pop idols with Chinese characteristics—packing patriotic platitudes, ascetic aesthetics, and a penchant for mass gymnastics.

Donning plain white polo shirts and staid dark skirts and sporting identical hairstyles, these 56 mostly teenage girls strutted across a Beijing stage last month to a rousing repertoire of nationalistic numbers — laced with dashes of poetic prowess borrowed from Mao Zedong and Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi. Continue reading Princesses or patriots →