Interview: Grace Before Meals post-rocking Shanghai
Around Shanghai: No more airplane temperature checks, but we're getting a Wall St. Bull and Linkin Park!
Fatal bus crash on Shanghai's Yangpu bridge
Xinjiang riot leaves 3 dead, over 20 injured
Following last week's expulsion of 20 Hong Kong journalists from Lhasa that was roundly criticised by the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China has issued an updated call for China to grant reporters unhindered access to Tibetan areas:
"Reporting interference is not in the interest of the Chinese government which is trying to show a more open, transparent and accountable image to the world," said FCCC President Melinda Liu."As of March 21, the FCCC has been informed of more than 39 foreign journalists who have faced obstruction while reporting on topics related to Tibet. In some instances Chinese authorities scrutinized, confiscated or deleted reporting materials. The locations where the reporting interference occurred include Lhasa, Beijing, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Xining and Tongren in Qinghai Province, and several locations in Gansu Province.
On March 20 in Chengdu, reporter for Swedish Radio Hanna Sahlberg said police questioned a hotel receptionist she had been interviewing for about five minutes in Chengdu and told her "there is a new rule, you are not allowed to interview in this area." The police declined to say which area, when the "new rule" started, or who issued it.
"Such interference is not in keeping with reporting regulations adopted during the Olympics period -- and is especially not in keeping with the international community's expectations of an Olympic host nation," said Liu.
Apart from James Miles of the Economist who had the good fortune of being the only foreign journalist with official permission to be in Lhasa when the violence erupted (we also highly recommend this transcript of an interview with CNN), other journalists made it close to the action. Tim Johnson, the Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, managed to report from western Sichuan although he was unable to get into Tibet. Richard Spencer of The Telegraph reports of his encounters with "little posses of familiar faces from Beijing and Shanghai" as he made his way into Tibetan towns in Gansu and Qinghai, the foreign affairs office jeep that drove him and his team out of the "black zone" to meet up with "quite a club of exiled journalists", and the standoff with Chinese police that he experienced in Luqu, Gansu.
Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives (US), has visited the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, and described recent developents in Tibet as “a challenge to conscience of the world”. In addressing a crowd of 2,000 consisting of mostly Tibetans, she said:
“We are here at this time to join you in shedding bright light on what is happening inside Tibet,” she said. “Little did we know we would be coming at such a very sad time. Perhaps it is our karma, perhaps it is our fate we be with you at this time.”“If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression and China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.”
Response from the Chinese side came swiftly:
A few hours later came a tart response from the Chinese ambassador to India, calling Tibet an “internal affair” and shunning interference. “We don’t allow anybody to meddle in China’s internal affairs,” Zhang Yan told reporters in New Delhi, the Indian capital, according to the Press Trust of India. “Any attempt to cause trouble to China is doomed to fail.”Within a couple of hours of those remarks, Tibetan protesters scaled the fence of the Chinese embassy compound, ran around its lawns and unfurled Tibetan flags. Police said a total of 33 protesters were arrested and security around the mission was fortified.
The latest protests complicated matters for the Indian government, which has had to strike a delicate balance between maintaining warm relations with China and hosting the Dalai Lama, along with about 100,000 Tibetan refugees.
In response to journalists' questions on Pelosi's remarks, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang claims that the governments of almost 100 countries have "conveyed to China or demonstrated in public their support for China's action to safeguard the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability in Tibet and condemned the violence and those who masterminded the crimes", and that this is "clear proof that the international community is on the side of China". Here are the countries that Xinhua says are supporting China:
A spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday strongly denounced the unsavory elements of their moves to seek "the independence of Tibet" and scuttle the upcoming Beijing Olympics.He expressed support to the Chinese government in its efforts to ensure social stability and the rule of law in Tibet and to defend the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people.
A spokesman of Mongolia's Foreign Ministry reiterated that Mongolia adheres to the one-China policy and recognizes Tibet as an inalienable part of China.
The Foreign Ministry of Nepal said in a statement that Tibet is an inseparable part of China and it appreciates the commitment by the Chinese government to peace, stability and progress.
A spokesman of the Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Thursday, expressing Bangladesh's solidarity with China on the Tibet issue.
All matters pertaining to Tibet are internal affairs of China, the statement said.
Bangladesh wishes the Beijing Olympic Games great success and said it opposes the idea of politicizing the sports event, the spokesman said.
Kazakh Vice Foreign Minister Nurlan Baiuzakovich Yermekbayev told reporters that Tibet is an inseparable part of the Chinese territory, and the measures taken by the Chinese government in efforts to defend Tibet's social stability is entirely China's internal affair.
Adakhan Madumarov, speaker of the Kyrgyzstan's parliament said the violent crimes in Lhasa have caused casualties among innocent people and damage to property.
He said Kyrgyzstan is very concerned about these events. The Tibet issue is an internal affair of China and Kyrgyzstan believes that the Chinese government and people have the capacity to safeguard the social stability in Tibet.
Tajik First Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullo Yuldoshev told Chinese ambassador to Tajikistan that his country strongly condemns the organizers and mobs who sparked the riots in Lhasa, firmly supports the measures by the Chinese government within the law to maintain social stability and strongly opposes the politicization of the Olympics.
Other nations cited in the lengthy Xinhua report include: Georgia, Syria, Fiji, Serbia, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Benin, Russia, Belarussia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Mauritania, Singapore, Lesotho and Congo. Clearly some of the most open and democratic nations of the world.
As the PR campaign to vilify the Dalai Lama shows no sign of relenting, elements within the Tibetan independence movement are growing increasingly impatient with the Dalai Lama himself, saying that his "middle way" policy will not work. Despite claims to the contrary by Beijing, the Dalai Lama has long retreated from seeking independence for Tibet, but is seeking greater autonomy. In his latest statements from Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama has invited China to provide evidence to show that the latest violence was orchestrated by him. He has also offered to resign if the violence does not end. In the event of a resignation, the Dalai Lama would step down as political head of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, but remain the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism till his death (as would a Pope). Should that happen, more hardline elements from Dharamsala may surface to provide political leadership, such as the Tibetan Youth Congress and other "Free Tibet" parties who have recently met with the Dalai Lama for a closed-door meeting. These elements are not expected to accept anything less than full independence for Tibet, and may pose a greater challenge to Beijing.
Apart from the support China says it has from the international community, Xinhua also claims that top living Buddhas — whose reincarnations have all been approved by the government we suppose — have voiced their opposition to secessionism. Said Jamyang Losang Jigme Tubdain Qoigyi Nyima, a living Buddha and vice-president of the Tibetan Chapter of the Buddhist Association of China:
"It is only a very few people who were engaged in the sabotage activities. Most living Buddhas and lamas are patriotic.""The violence has disturbed normal order in lamaseries. The violence has been proven as having been masterminded by the Dalai clique. Ethnicity and religion were only deceitful camouflage. Their real motive was to disturb the stability in the Tibetan areas and undermine the order in lamaseries."
The China Daily has also launched an offensive on biased reporting by Western media. In a report that singles out CNN, the Washington Post and the Berliner Morgenpost (Germany), it details the three most common errors made by Western media in reporting on the situation in Tibet:
1. Photos have been edited or manipulated to under-report violence on the part of Tibetans.
2. In dramatic pictures of policemen hitting Tibetan protestors that have been widely circulated, the policemen turned out to be Indian or Nepalese, but captioned as "Chinese".
3. Pictures of Han Chinese getting pulled away to safety by the police were captioned as protestors getting arrested.
Top image from Oriol Gascon, Bottom image from China Daily.
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the pics of the Chinadaily report is not created by Chinadaily. It is compiled and written by an overseas Chinese. Now some Chinese living OUTSIDE of China found a website:
anti-CNN.com.
its purpose is to debunk those biased reports by western meida. it is not just aimed at CNN.
China daily just uses those people's work. don't overstate their ability.
the thing is this is the voice from Chinese folks, not from CCP.
It would be very ignorant by labelling those Chinese defending China(not necessarily CCP) as "brainwashed".
It seems the majority of the "bias" is demonstrated by showing pictures from Nepal, which is presumably because no pictures from Tibet are available due to the news black-out that has been imposed in China. It would probably be to China's advantage if it understood that it might add credibility to its actions and claims by allowing foreign journalists to report on the incident. But then again, that would create the danger that the world might glean the truth. In fact, the official media has already plainly stated that they would "crush" the opposition, which I think is a very clear statement of tactics.
Obviously, those "Chinese living OUTSIDE of China" are a bit fobby (if they are in fact overseas) as revealed by their use of such choice phrasing as "canader tourist" to describe a Canadian tourist.
It's really scary to see how young Chinese people studying overseas don't start to appreciate a more free and critical press but are so brainwashed that they see everything as western propaganda aimed to defame China!
Reading the comments at the China Daily article gives me goose bumps.
This NYT op-ed is worth reading.
The Chinese tourists are typically on those "shopping tours" and aren't even afforded the time to really get to explore the western countries they visit and the Chinese students spend all of their time playing internet games.
Bad, bad China.
Thanks Dan. Its nice to see some constructive comments from someone who is actually educated about and morally invested in the 'Tibetan question.'
If the comments on China Daily and Economist articles are truly indicative of what the average educated Chinese person believes, I'm terrified for the future.
Nancy Pelosi's posturing seems to be more about herself than anything or anyone else.
Regarding the last paragraph of the post -- I can understand why mistakes in reporting, such as thinking a Nepalese person is Tibetan or Chinese or basically saying that all Asians look alike, would invalidate the coverage. Personally, I don't think I have enough information about what is going on to make a clear judgement one way or the other.
I am a Chinese, and I really like this Shanghaiist website, because it provides opinions from different sides. Here, I hope I can answer some above questions.
Alec, pls do not be terrified only if those points are not the same as yours. it is the good sides of west free media which I, and many Chinese, always admire. If more media can hold their moral standard and code of ethics, checking the information and telling the stories of both sides without bias, there will not be anti-CNN website. And, for this point, I, personally, prefer UK's media. eg: before iraq war, pro and con views were equally strong on media, then, suddenly one day, media realized their soldiers had already been on the front line ready to fight for their country, then, media stopped all those arguments. This 'debating, rationale, reality' approach is worth learning.
RichardLee is correct, these pics of ChinaDaily report was created by an overseas Chinese, the original file is a video chip posted on youtube. Its web link has already been provided by the article named 'BBC,Youtube unblocked...' on this website. Meanwhile, I do not believe Chinadaily or any government related staff made that video, because the usual approach for Beijing to handle the west media is all about blocking, if someone – a young person -- wants to change to a new, different method, there will be countless steps of approval procedure, therefore, that video could not be released so quick and I do not think anyone there will take so much pain and risk their career.
Now, regarding the wondering about the reaction of the Chinese people, especially those overseas Chinese people to the current events. Once again, this unexpected outcome has been labeled as the result of successful brainwashing or overflowing nationalism. But, how can it happen? Many Chinese young students criticized everything of China when they left for aboard, they had the willingness to accept all western views...
However, Many westerners have harbored prejudices against the Chinese people. When they talk about Chinese or China, it is all about brainwashed, close-minded, under-developed, etc. the West TV news and programmes about China are full of suppress, pollution, even, when it comes a moment that China’s achievement has to be mentioned, a negative comment/programme will be followed immediately. On the contrary, on China media, eg: CCTV/Shanghai TV are reporting West news largely based on translation without Chinese subjective comments, and they also have run many programmes to introduce western achievements. It is this media that has been consistently condemned as biased by Chinese and Westerners.
Yes, China media is biased. But WHO is NOT biased??? In line with a west trendy of bashing on China, then, Why Chinese has to listen to those biased west media to preach about justice and democracy?
‘in the absence of respect and equality, the Chinese people have rallied at an unprecedented speed underneath the national flag. They have voluntarily given up many rights and freedoms, in order to avoid more injuries and insults from the outside.’—quoted from a report.
I believe it is patriotism not nationalism, because these Chinese young people will not go extreme and violence. They know how to love the country rationally, and they have the unwavering determination to keep the country unified.
This time, west ‘free media’ has done a big favour to Beijing. I guess such outcome is also out of Beijing’s expectation, which results the unblocking of BBC and youtube --- only my wild guess.
I know, once I post this comment, some people here will throw stones to me.
Well, I have no interest in politics, and I am not good at debating. I am writing comments here, only because I feel, as a Chinese, I am sort of obliged to say something, during this event, to a website which I really like.
Bamboos - here is why I am frustrated.
I have never, ever read a comment by a Chinese citizen that empathizes with anyone harmed by China's actions. On any topic. Poisoned children, poisoned pets, occupation of areas that do not want to be occupied, business ties with corrupt, horrific regimes - - I occasionally read comments from Chinese netizens attacking Chinese actions towards other Han Chinese - land seizures, fake products that kill people (baby milk, blood), official corruption - but never, ever do I find a Chinese person online who apologizes or sympathizes with those hurt by China.
The Chinese love to be the victim. It seems ingrained in your psyche that the rest of the world is out to oppress China, and that nothing China is blamed for could ever, ever be China's fault. It is all 'Western bias' that T-betans and muslims want independence. It is 'Western bias' that uncovers China's deadly products (since Xinhua would have you believe there are just as many cases of Western products hurting people). It is 'Western bias' for suggesting that China is wrong for blocking UN resolutions to resolve ethnic conflicts.
Just once I want to see a Chinese netizen post - 'yes, sorry that our government supports the government in Khartoum' or 'yes, it is a problem that T-betans are not happy being part of China, and that we have failed them in that respect'. But I never, ever hear it. It's always excuses, excuses, excuses. Now, I'm an American. But I was vehemently against the war, and I have stayed that way to this day. I will rant about neo-cons and Bush if given the chance. Yes, there is some biased western press. But Xinhua is far, far worse - not biased, actual LIES, and the Chinese accept it and refuse to apply their conscious or reason to what they read. They simply parrot what their government has told them since they were young. THAT is what is frustrating. The INABILITY to read more than one viewpoint and develop your own, nuanced interpretation. Yes, a CNN article might be biased. That is why I read BBC, Economist, CNN, NY Times, IHT, Slate, and yes, even China Daily before coming to my conclusions. China Daily is by far - by far - the worst, and most Chinese online commentators align themselves almost in lockstep with what I read there. It's funny, I've talked with friends who are married to Chinese locals or have very close friends here and they say that the comments online are extremists - but then where are the moderates? The ones that can empathize with non-Han Chinese and be true global citizens? Where are the non-victims who can take responsibility for their country's actions?
Oh, and for the record Bamboo, regarding what you said about Xinhua reprinting Western articles without Chinese commentary . . . that is patently false.
I often see articles that have appeared elsewhere (like CNN, NY Times) that have had entire passages cut out that could be construed as negative towards China. Lots of those articles you read from 'agencies' have been carefully edited, just like the old maps in your history books as a child were edited to include T-bet and Xinjiang.
China loves to point out how it has been "victimized" while conveniently forgetting how it has made victims of plenty of other people. It's always about China ya know.
What a crap hole country and society.
are you guys automatically blind? there are hundreds of pics showing the mobs arsons, attack innocent ppl by knives and stones, there are already 300 arsoning cases.. all the pics shows the mobs attacked high school, elementary school, banks, shops, news agency etc..and the CNN,BBC still take that as "peaceful demonstration"?
why cnn, bbc r on the defend of murders? why cnn, bbc dont condemn those mobs who violated human rights severely by burning children to death?
The BBC Charter and its Producers Guidelines state:...impartiality lies at the heart of the BBC. All programs and services should be open minded, fair and show a respect for truth?[BBC reports should] contain comprehensive, authoritative and impartial coverage of news and current affairs in the United Kingdom and throughout the world. How does the BBC measure up to its charter?
liers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nancy ! you are an absolute disgrace to intelligence of the world. in your world, killing, seting fires, buring shops , buring ppl to death is "peaceful demonstration", if you, expect to be part of the world and be respected, you must act as responsible citizen of the world!
you are beyond belief!
concor1: We hear you. But try shouting less. Your audience might actually hear you better?
So, paid government shill, crazy, or due to his educational upbringing simply unable to think critically? Concor, thanks for illustrating my points so well.
Alec, I have been pondering while many responses of late (insult, victimization, vitriol - in that order)have been so distasteful but I think you've hit the nail on the head.
It's hard to feel compassion or concern when you're always the victim.
For those of you on this site (richardlee, concor1, et al) who post with such virulent anger and contempt for all ideas but those streaming from Zhong Nan Hai straight to Xinhua - open your eyes and ears. This isn't personal, it's political. Those of us who do not support China's stance on Tibet do not hate China. The Western media isn't trying to ruin your Olympics.
This isn't like getting picked on at the playground. Welcome to the real world of international scrutiny. It's part and parcel to becoming an international power. And while you might be able to shield yourself from criticism from within, you cannot and will not be able to censor the outside world.
Grow up.
CIA behind riots in Tibet
Well, seems my post did irritate some of you. I have no intention to argue with you, because i am not good at debating, and it takes too much time on typing up...
You people are right, Feeling like victim can not sort out anything.
I think China was a loser for around 150 years. however, every nation has ups and downs(US may be the exception), that is alright to be loser, as far as we knows how and why we lost, and do not make the same mistakes again.
Regarding the global citizen/international power topic, i am in doubt how many Chinese want to be that kind of role. China is not so ambitious. As far as economic is good, territory isnot separated, we consider it to be a golden age and we are satisfied. ...emm...Maybe i am narrow-minded...?
i think industry globalization is only a business topic not political one, right?
For those who can read Chinese, pls refer to below. (i know it is easy to say, difficult to be...)
For those who cannot read Chinese, pls accept my apology that my English is not good enough to translate them.
身是菩提树，心为明镜台。时时勤拂拭，勿使惹尘埃
===>>>
菩提本无树，明镜亦非台，本来无一物，何处惹尘埃 -- Lime without this tree, Der Spiegel nor stand, no one was on, where dust Anger (translated from Google, not good, but OK.)
I see da light, sista!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~