Category Archives: China

China cuts ‘freedom of thought’ from top university charters

Posted on by

Inclusion of pledge to follow Communist party leadership sparks rare defiance at Fudan

Changes to the charter of one of China’s top universities, including dropping the phrase “freedom of thought” and the inclusion of a pledge to follow the Communist party’s leadership, has sparked fierce debate and a rare act of student defiance.

The changes to the charter of Fudan University in Shanghai, considered one of China’s more liberal institutions, emerged on Tuesday when the education ministry said it had approved the revisions for three universities.

Continue reading...

The censor is watching: China’s mega photo fair – in pictures

Posted on by

Life on green trains, wild animals caught unawares and 55 ‘sweetheart’ portraits that angered the authorities … here the highlights of China’s biggest photography show

To visit the Lianzhou Foto festival, one flies along the banks of the Pearl river delta and into the heart of Guangzhou. Witnessing this mega city from the plane is to suddenly realise the immensity of modern China. Roughly 50 million people live in this urban sprawl surrounding Hong Kong.

Lianzhou is a four-hour drive from Guangzhou into the forested mountains of Guangdong province. It is perhaps an unlikely destination for a major arts event. But in 2005, Duan Yuting, a 47-year-old former photo editor for a Guangzhou newspaper, chose the city to found the festival, now firmly established as China’s leading contemporary photography event.

Continue reading...

Craven Arsenal abandon Mesut Özil over his stance on China’s Uighur persecution | Sean Ingle

Posted on by

The midfielder is in tune with a United Nations panel and human rights groups over the imprisonment of millions of Uighurs but the club chose to raise a white flag

Arsenal might not be any good at parking the bus. But they sure know how to throw Mesut Özil under one. Imagine the frantic boardroom conversations on Friday after Özil expressed his horror at the imprisonment of millions of Uighurs in China. The fear of losing profits from shirt sales, commercial deals and future pre-season tours must have choked senior executives like Beijing residents in smog season.

Related: Mesut Özil row: China's Arsenal fans burn shirts in anger at Xinjiang post

Continue reading...

Mesut Özil row: China’s Arsenal fans burn shirts in anger at Xinjiang post

Posted on by

Player, who has 4 million followers on Chinese microblog Weibo, is called a ‘dirty ant’ for attacking China

Chinese football fans have burned Arsenal football shirts and called on the club to fire star player Mesut Özil after he publicly criticised China’s treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang.

On Friday, Özil, who is usually quiet on social media, posted a message on his Instagram profile describing Uighurs in the far north-western region of China as “warriors who resist persecution”.

Continue reading...

US covertly expelled Chinese officials who drove on to military base – report

Posted on by

The US government covertly moved to expel two officials from the Chinese embassy earlier this year after they drove onto a military base, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The newspaper reported that one of the two officials is believed to be an intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover.

Continue reading...

US-China trade deal ‘totally done’, Trump aide Lighthizer says

Posted on by

The “phase one” US-China trade deal will nearly double US exports to China over the next two years and is “totally done” despite the need for translation and revisions to its text, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday.

Related: 'Amazing deal' or 'capitulation'? Why the US-China trade truce may not last

Continue reading...

Chinese state broadcaster pulls Arsenal v Man City after Mesut Özil criticism

Posted on by

• Özil posted message about China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims
• Chinese FA ‘outraged and disappointed’ by German’s remarks

China’s state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday removed Arsenal’s Premier League game against Manchester City from its broadcast schedule following Mesut Özil’s messages that criticised the country’s policy towards its Muslim Uighur minority.

The Global Times Newspaper said on its Twitter account on Sunday that CCTV took the decision after midfielder Özil’s comments on Saturday had “disappointed fans and football governing authorities”.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong violence breaks out again in shopping centres

Posted on by

Police make arrests and use pepper spray as flashmobs and vandalism break out

Hong Kong police used pepper spray and made arrests on Sunday as small groups of black-clad pro-democracy protesters targeted some of the city’s shopping centres, ending a rare lull in violence.

Flashmob protests and vandalism broke out in several locations. Riot police responded with pepper spray in at least two shopping centres as members of the public heckled them.

Continue reading...

Arsenal distance themselves from Mesut Özil comments on Uighurs’ plight

Posted on by

• Midfielder highlighted persecution of Muslims in China
• Club says it ‘does not involve itself in politics’ in statement

Arsenal have distanced themselves from comments made by Mesut Özil on Instagram, in which he spoke out strongly against China’s persecution of the Uighur population in the north-western region of Xinjiang and criticised Muslims for not doing more to highlight the issue.

The club sought to limit any damage caused to its business in China, where it has numerous commercial interests including a chain of restaurants, by releasing a statement on Weibo – a leading Chinese social media site – as well as other platforms stressing it is apolitical and does not associate itself with Özil’s views.

Continue reading...

China confirms ‘phase one’ trade deal with US

Posted on by
  • Beijing says deal includes rollback of tariffs in phases
  • Trump hails ‘amazing deal for all’

China and the US have reached an initial deal to resolve a bruising trade war between the two countries, according to statements from both sides.

China’s vice-commerce minister Wang Shouwen said in a late night briefing on Friday that the US had agreed to cancel some of its existing tariffs on Chinese goods, while Donald Trump tweeted that the two countries had agreed to a “very large Phase One Deal”.

Continue reading...

Around the world in a day, without leaving Shenzhen – a photo essay

Posted on by

For Chinese tourists who cannot travel, the Window of the World theme park offers versions of 130 global attractions. Photojournalist Anthony Micallef took a whistlestop tour

More than 3 million visitors a year flock to the Window of the World theme park in the megacity of Shenzhen to see 130 copies of the world’s largest tourist sites gathered in a single place.

For Chinese tourists who may not be able to travel out of the country this is their only chance of seeing the New York skyline, the pyramids of Giza or the Taj Mahal – or smaller replicas of them, at least.

Continue reading...

US reaches ‘deal in principle’ with China to end trade war

Posted on by
  • White House expected to announce accord later on Thursday
  • US offered to halt new tariffs and up to 50% cuts on existing ones

The White House has reached a “deal in principle” with Beijing to resolve the 17-month US-China trade war, according to a source briefed on the trade talks.

The White House was expected to make an announcement later on Thursday, the source said.

Continue reading...

China steps in as Zambia runs out of loan options

Posted on by

Southern Africa’s third largest economy is a textbook example of the increasing debt facing a fast-growing continent

Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, was having a power cut, so the only light in the restaurant was from Fumba Chama’s mobile phone. The rapper, better known as PilAto, had just finished uploading a new track to Twitter. The bitter-sweet lyrics (in Bemba) of Yama Chinese describe the concerns of many Zambians: “They put on smart suits and fly to China to sell our country. The roads belong to China. The hotels are for the Chinese. The chicken farms are Chinese. Even the brickworks are Chinese.”

Continue reading...

Hong Kong democracy protester says he was ambushed by masked Chinese men in Australia

Posted on by

Exclusive: ‘Frontline’ protester alleges he was chased by group but Chinese embassy says allegations are ‘nonsense’

A “frontline” Hong Kong democracy protester who recently fled the territory in fear of his safety says he was ambushed and chased in an Australian city by a group of masked Chinese men.

“They were nearby my house and waiting for me,” Jack* told Guardian Australia. “They knew my address, they knew where I was going to be.

“I think they don’t want to hurt me, they just want to make me scared. It was like intimidation, a message that ‘we know where you are’.”

Guardian Australia has been able to confirm some elements of Jack’s story, including that he arrived in Australia a few months ago and has attended pro-Hong Kong demonstrations since arriving. He has since reported the incident to police.

Human rights advocates and China experts say the claims match a trend of intimidation and surveillance on Australian soil. Several recent incidents – including a brawl at the University of Queensland where pro-China participants were praised by the consulate – have raised concerns about the extraterritorial activities of China, including the state’s pursuit of critics beyond its borders.

Continue reading...

Swedish diplomat faces trial for trying to free China dissident

Posted on by

Anna Lindstedt accused of brokering unauthorised meeting over fate of Gui Minhai

Sweden’s former ambassador to Beijing is to go on trial for overstepping her duties by trying to negotiate the release of a Chinese-Swedish dissident held in China.

Anna Lindstedt is accused of brokering an unauthorised meeting to try to get Gui Minhai freed, prosecutors said.

Continue reading...

Japanese officials helped procure wartime sex slaves, report claims

Posted on by

News agency says diplomatic dispatches contradict claims that so-called ‘comfort women’ worked willingly

The Japanese imperial army asked the government to provide one wartime sex slave for every 70 soldiers serving in China in the late 1930s, according to dispatches that offer evidence of official involvement in the recruitment of women to work in military brothels.

The dispatches from Japanese diplomatic missions in China include requests to the foreign ministry in Tokyo to provide “comfort women”, Kyodo news agency reported. The term was a euphemism used to describe tens of thousands of women from Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and other countries who were forced into sexual servitude before and during the second world war.

Continue reading...

China tells government offices to remove all foreign computer equipment

Posted on by

Directive is likely to be a blow to US multinational companies like HP, Dell and Microsoft

China has ordered that all foreign computer equipment and software be removed from government offices and public institutions within three years, the Financial Times reports.

The government directive is likely to be a blow to US multinational companies like HP, Dell and Microsoft and mirrors attempts by Washington to limit the use of Chinese technology, as the trade war between the countries turns into a tech cold war.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong: mammoth rally marks six months of pro-democracy protests

Posted on by

Sea of protesters pour on to streets calling for elections and inquiry into police tactics

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have once again poured on to the streets of Hong Kong, their chants echoing off high-rise buildings, in a mass show of support for a protest movement that shows no signs of flagging as it enters a seventh month.

Chanting “Fight for freedom” and “Stand with Hong Kong”, a sea of protesters formed a mile-long human snake winding for blocks on Hong Kong Island, from the Causeway Bay shopping district to the Central business zone.

Continue reading...

US business leaders in Hong Kong detained and denied entry to Macau

Posted on by

President and chairman of American Chamber of Commerce told to sign statement saying decision not to enter Macau was voluntary

The chairman and president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong were separately denied entry to the neighbouring Chinese-ruled city of Macau after being detained by immigration officials.

Chairman Robert Grieves and president Tara Joseph were travelling to the former Portuguese colony for the chamber’s annual Macau ball on Saturday. They said authorities did not provide a reason for refusing them entry.

Continue reading...

US is losing the battle for Pacific power

Posted on by
Trump’s neglect of the region has left a political vacuum that China is rushing to fill – and small nations such as the Solomon Islands are stuck in the middle

If anything demonstrates the interconnectedness of the 21st-century world, it is how a decision made in the Solomon Islands, population 650,000, in the remote South Pacific, can affect the behaviour of powerful countries on the other side of the globe. That, in a way, is exactly what happened last week when Nato leaders met in London. Top of their agenda was Donald Trump’s demand that Europe pay more for its defence. But why is the US so exercised about so-called “burden-sharing”? In part because, these days, it is looking west, not east.

The US has identified China, not Russia, as the biggest strategic, economic and potential military rival to its global leadership. Barack Obama, who was dubbed the “Pacific president”, formalised this shift with his 2011 “pivot to Asia”, which prioritised the region.

Continue reading...