- Taiwan’s ex-president Chen Shui Bian has gone on a hunger strike to “protest the death of his justice and the regression of democracy”. He hasn’t eaten since Wednesday, when he was arrested and put in detention in Taipei to await persecution on various corruption allegations.
- China gets called up by the UN to defend its human rights record, but refuses to answer questions on the alleged mistreatment of dissidents and prisoners.
- Google China promises that it, unlike Baidu, will not manipulate its search results. Still, that doesn’t stop Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN China correspondent and a few educated others from musing, “Did Google sell out in China?” China also agrees today to give foreign financial news providers better access to information.
- The Wall Street Journal compares the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to the 2008 crisis. China could be in a better position now than it was 10 years ago.
- Beijingers are starting to call the new CCTV tower the “Big Underpants”. The local press instead suggests “Wisdom Window”, which sounds better in English, but a lot more like “hemorrhoids” in Chinese.
