Results tagged “straitstimes”

Much like the better toilet campaign enacted by Beijing before the Olympics, Shanghai will be upgrading its public restrooms in time for the World Expo. The city has said it will clean up and renovate more than 5,200 public toilets to meet the “urgent needs” of roughly 70 million expected Expo visitors.

McDonalds will be cutting prices for many popular items on its China menu. Popular options like the Filet-O-Fish, Double Cheeseburger, McNuggets, McPuff, and the Mala Pork Burger, are all getting a nice discount. Sure, it's still more expensive than local food, but all expats craving their fast food fix can now do it even cheaper. Yay, recession! Source: Straits Times

Ching Cheong, the chief China correspondent of the Singapore-based Straits Times that was jailed in China for supposed espionage but freed recently, has made his first statements after his well-deserved rest. He lost more than 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) during the more than 1,000 days that he was in prison. Here are Ching Cheong's quotes, compiled from various news sources quoted below:

Just three days after Straits Times journalist Ching Cheong regained his freedom, China has released yet another media man — Yu Huafeng (喻华峰), general manager and deputy editor of the Southern Metropolis News《南方都市报》, the Guangzhou-based paper that is one of China's boldest and most critical papers.

We did not think it would happen, but it has. Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong (程翔), chief China correspondent of the Singapore-based Straits Times has been released. This totally unexpected release has come about 3 weeks after his 1000th day of imprisonment. Ching Cheong was said to have been lured into the Guangdong Province while researching former Premier Zhao Ziyang (赵紫阳) and subsequently charged with spying for Taiwan. With Ching Cheong's release, all eyes are now on Hu Jia's trial.

Today marks the 1000th day of the imprisonment of Ching Cheong, the China correspondent of the Singapore-based Straits Times [Ching is a Hong Konger on a British National (Overseas) passport]. That means he has another 825 days of his 5 year sentence for espionage to serve, if Chinese authorities choose to ignore the appeal for medical parole that has been sent in on his behalf. The last time we told you about Ching Cheong, he was not doing too well in a Guangdong prison. Efforts by Singapore and Hong Kong authorities/journalists to lobby for his early release appear to have lost steam in the meanwhile. For more on his background, read this.

Shanghai mayor, Han Zheng (韩正) looks set to keep his job despite earlier suggestions that he would only be a seat-warmer after his predecessor Chen Liangyu (陈良宇) was exposed in a massive pension scandal and was sacked from his job. Apparently, rumours have been rife in Hong Kong media that Han would be replaced soon. Reuters (via the Straits Times) tells us more:

Beijing believes that Han is 'a good comrade' and 'can continue to do a good job in Shanghai', one of the sources paraphrased new Shanghai Party chief Yu Zhengsheng as telling a recent meeting of senior city officials.

Continue reading "Shanghai mayor Han Zheng to stay on"

So in the meanwhile, it's become kind of fashionable to blame Beijing for the mess in "Myanmar". Sure, Russia and India have gotten some of the blame for failing to rein in Burma's ruthless junta. ASEAN has also been put to shame for its impotence in handling Burma, and even Singapore's conservative Straits Times (subscription required) has begun to wonder aloud if it's not the right time to suspend Burma's membership in ASEAN, admitting that the "1997 Asean decision to admit Myanmar under the current military leadership without any conditionality was a mistake".

Ching Cheong, the Hong Kong journalist who was chief China correspondent for the Singapore-based Straits Times, is ailing in prison somewhere in the Guangdong province right now. On 22 April 2005, Ching was apprehended by Chinese security agents in Guangzhou, where he was to meet a source who had promised to give him a copy of a politically sensitive manuscript on former premier Zhao Ziyang. It took one and a half years before he was eventually prosecuted (for spying on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency and for divulging state secrets) and sentenced to five years in prison.

We recently read a report on China's water/environmental problems, based on reports from Singapore's Straits Times. Despite living in China and developing some measure of immunity to dismal statistics, there was one that managed to shock us: environmental experts claim that without some drastic change, pollution might, within five years, make the Yangtze River just about inhospitable to all forms of life. The baiji, or Yangtze river dolphin, was only the latest victim: according to the first report, in the 1980s there were 126 forms of life in the river, and by 2002, that figure was already down to 52.

Hu in new bid to tighten screws on rival faction, by Chua Chin Hon of the Straits Times:

One has died from an undisclosed illness while another is already behind bars on corruption charges. But there appears to be no let-up in Chinese President Hu Jintao's attempts to put the squeeze on members of the rival Shanghai faction, a group of senior leaders and officials allied with his predecessor Jiang Zemin.

Continue reading "Snippets: The Shanghai faction, counterfeit and corruption"

Briton Nick Young, founding editor and publisher of the China Development Brief (we're surprised this website is still up and running), has been ordered to shut down his politically-sensitive newsletter here and has been accused of 'conducting unauthorised surveys'. He also faces possible deportation and a 5-year ban from China.

Singapore - Singapore will host a round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, making it the home of Asia's first street circuit (the only other street circuits are in Monaco and Valencia). More exciting is the fact that this will be the first night-time event in Formula One history!

Even though we've long put our public relations days behind us, we can't help but think what a day in the life of a PR executive at Starbucks must be like. They must all have been working overtime lately with the Seattle-based coffee company hitting the headlines like crazy lately. First it was the landmark victory against Shanghai Xingbake, then there was the trans fat issue.

The Straits Times today tells us about 27 year old Liu Qian who "has been feted as a modern-day heroine, held up as a role model for women, and won the hearts of thousands across China". For the past eight years, Liu was the mistress of Yao Chuanrui, a former manager of a Shenzhen-based state-owned company, who had been detained by police for questioning over the alleged embezzlement of RMB70 million.

Famed Singaporean photographer Leslie Kee has found himself in the centre of a controversy over the launch of his latest photobook and exhibition, SuperStars, featuring 300 top Asian celebrities — many of them almost nude — a project that has taken him two years to complete.

It is interesting how different countries around the world envision themselves in the year 2020: