More to it than meets the eye in China-Libya relations
So, as we all know now. China has been caught selling weapons to Libya under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. But have the two countries always been the best of buddies? Not really, says Brian Spegele of the WSJ's China Realtime Report:
In recent years, the Libyan regime clashed with the Chinese on everything from the rising power’s inroads into Africa to Col. Gadhafi’s economic and political ties with Taiwan. China, which is scouring the world for resources to feed its economy, saw its crude imports from Libya more than double since 2008. But its state-owned oil companies seemed to lack the needed political capital with the Gadhafi regime to gain significant stakes in crude-oil assets in Libya, home to Africa’s largest proven oil reserves.more ›
Quote of the Day: FM Jiang Yu calls issuing reports "intervening in China's domestic affairs"
"We urge the so-called 'U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom' to abandon its prejudices, respect facts and stop intervening in China's domestic affairs by means including issuing reports"
Chinese-Australian blogger Yang Hengjun resurfaces, derides MoFA spokeswoman Jiang Yu
Chinese-Australian blogger Yang Hengjun (杨恒均) has resurfaced after disappearing in mysterious circumstances for over two days in Guangzhou. In a brief interview with the AP, Yang said he was "recovering" from his "illness“ (likely a euphemism for detention) and said cryptically, "I'm OK right now. Everything is OK. I'm just recovering... This trouble is caused by me." Yang is understood to be leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow and then returning to Australia from there.
Quote of the Day: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu on the whereabouts of Yang Hengjun
- Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) when asked about the whereabouts of Chinese-Australian political blogger Yang Hengjun (杨恒均) who used to work for the Chinese foreign ministry and has just disappeared in Guangzhou.
Quote of the Day: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu on Google in China
"China's Internet is open... China has tried creating a favorable environment for Internet. China welcomes international Internet companies to conduct business within the country according to law. China's law prohibits cyber crimes including hacker attacks."
Beijing Olympics: evictions, parks, and toilets
It's true, the outdated but once beloved term "W.C." is going to be flushed down the crapper of history (at least in Beijing) before the Olympics, to be replaced by the more widely-used "toilet." But more interesting than that is what they are planning on doing with road signs:
Also on the list are road signs. Use of the romanized form of Chinese, known as "pinyin," will be replaced by the actual English word, except for proper names, the newspaper added. Out will go Dong Changan Jie and in will come East Changan Avenue.Although we always liked the ring of "avenue" and are even more partial to "boulevard," these words would sound strange in the context of China, and even more so in Shanghai. Here we have a plethora of "roads" but no "avenues," and come to think of it, we don't even know what lu, if any, would qualify as an avenue. But perhaps that's just the peculiarities of our city, which for the most part is composed of small winding streets and a handful of major arterials.
Today's Links: Spy slammed, worker's wages to rise, and Chinese rockets to fly
For more del.icio.us links, visit the Shanghaiist Contribute page, which is updated throughout the day.
Photo by Christian Wind found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
We love Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu
Which is a good thing. If we didn't, she would quite possibly tear us limb from limb. If this Shanghaiist was not British, he would probably say "she don't take no shit", and possibly "you go girl!", but British people just sound silly when they try to talk American slang. She started yesterday's press conference with no fuss, no muss:

