PHAYUL
Nov. 30 “2008 Tibetan protester escapes to India”
A Tibetan wanted for his role in anti-Chinese protests in 2008 has successfully managed to escape into India, a media report said. Namsa Wangden, originally from Shusor town in Kardze [in Chinese, Ganzi] county in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province, arrived with his wife and daughter in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala during the third week of November, Radio Free Asia reported Monday.
TIBETAN REVIEW
Nov. 29 “Uighur killings seen as reprisal against Chinese injustice”
At least eight Chinese settlers had been killed in three towns in East Turkestan (Chinese: Xinjiang) in what were believed to be attacks by Uyghurs to avenge deprivation, discrimination and injustice on their own land by the Chinese authorities, according to a Radio Free Asia online (RFA) report Nov 26. “The Chinese population in [Xinjiang] has reached 40 percent from 4 percent in 1949. It’s impossible that the speed of the increase wouldn’t concern and anger Uyghurs,” Germany-based World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilshat Raxit was quoted as saying.
KOREA HERALD
Nov. 27 “North Korea praising leader after skirmish”
Engulfed in a victorious mood, North Korea is praising its dictator and heir apparent, reports in and out of the country said Friday, adding weight to views linking the communist state’s recent attack against South Korea with its succession plans.
… The sense of loyalty has been escalating within the North Korean military toward the incoming Kim Jong-un, Washington-based Radio Free Asia reported, citing sources in Pyongyang.
SUNDAY TIMES
Nov. 21 “Suu Kyi risks her freedom to unite opposition”
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is planning to test the boundaries of her new freedom by touring the country to rebuild the opposition and restore her support outside the big cities.
… The young turned out in good numbers for Suu Kyi's first speech last week, but she has been careful since then to avoid igniting any enthusiasm that could turn into mass protests.
"I saw our new blood, our new generation, participating in the political process," Suu Kyi told Radio Free Asia, one of her main sources of news while in detention.
ASIA NEWS (Also in SPERO NEWS)
Nov. 24 “China: Zhao, in prison for defending children, ‘renounces’ appeal”
Zhao Lianhai, sentenced to prison for defending the rights of children affected by the melamine-tainted milk scandal, has not presented an appeal but instead has applied to be released on bail for medical reasons. So says the state news agency Xinhua.
… Youjin Wang, Professor of Political Science and Law at the University of China, has told Radio Free Asia that the authorities fear that Zhao might become a point of reference for those who oppose the injustices of the Communist Party.
GLOBE AND MAIL
Nov. 20 “Two faces missing from Suu Kyi crowds; In an interview with The Globe, Myanmar's democracy icon expresses frustration that the junta won't allow her sons to visit”
Aung San Suu Kyi is free to speak her mind, address large crowds and meet with foreign diplomats.
… With no telephone or Internet access, and few visitors allowed to see her, Ms. Suu Kyi passed her time under house arrest by meditating, reading and learning how to do odd jobs around the crumbling house, since the junta forbade even workers from going to her residence for repair work. She spent six hours a day listening to the radio – primarily the Burmese-language services of BBC and Radio Free Asia – knowing that if she missed any snippet of news, there was no one who could tell her about it later.
JOONGANG ILBO
Nov. 19 “Kim Jong-un pushing ‘military-first’”
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's youngest son is making unofficial rounds to munitions factories in the communist state, encouraging the modernization of technology in the manufacture of weapons and following his father's footsteps in songun, or “military-first,” politics, according to U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Wednesday.
FINANCIAL POST
Nov. 19 “Twitter CEO to China: Leave our users alone!”
Cheng Jianping, a Chinese human rights activist, never showed up to her wedding on Oct. 27.
She didn’t get cold feet, she had been arrested and sentenced to a year of “re-education through labour” at Shibali River women's labour camp in China's Henan province. All for retweeting a satirical message her fiance Hua Chunhui posted to Twitter earlier.
… “Cheng may be the first Chinese citizen to become a prisoner of conscience on the basis of a single tweet,” Amnesty International wrote upon hearing the news from a Radio Free Asia report.
MSNBC ONLINE
Nov. 17 “China cracks down on safety after blaze kills 53”
China ordered tighter fire prevention measures Wednesday following a blaze that gutted a high-rise apartment building in China's business capital, killing at least 53 people.
… The city's deputy police chief, Cheng Jiulong, said eight people had been detained, but did not identify them. … Chen added that the scaffolding surrounding the building consisted of flammable nylon netting and bamboo, according to Radio Free Asia.
INDIAN CURRENTS
Nov. 15 “The three Chinas”
People will raise their eyebrows if I say that I am a 'victim' of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
… I did an article on China based on the interview I had with Han Dongfang, who joined the People's Armed Police, a law-enforcement division of the People's Liberation Army, at the age of 17.
… When I interviewed him, Han had been working for Radio Free Asia since 1997. His broadcast programme was very popular with the Chinese workers. He would often ask anonymous callers from China if he could tape their calls and play them back in his broadcasts. In other words, he was in regular touch with the working class and knew a lot about its condition.
JOONGANG ILBO (Also in KOREA TIMES, DAILY NK)
Nov. 13 “Kim Jong-un now portrait-perfect”
In the latest effort to install Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, as the country's next leader, portraits of the son are being now being handed out to ingrain his visage into the minds of North Koreans.U.S.-based Radio Free Asia reported yesterday that regional government and security officials had received portraits of Kim Jong-un, citing several sources in North Korea. The portraits are to be distributed to all North Korean citizens by the end of the year.
INTERPRESS SERVICE
Nov. 10 “Burma’s junta switches from fatigues to plain clothes”
On Wednesday, that same militia, under the alias of the Union Solidarity Development Party (UNDP), announced a landslide victory in Burma's first election in 20 years.
… Khin Maung Nyein, a correspondent from the Burmese Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA), spoke to U.N. correspondents by phone from Burma. He expressed a deep sense of despair about the situation on the ground, and lamented the vacuum of independent journalism in the country. “Editors, reporters, TV and radio personnel were not allowed into polling stations, except on guided tours,” Nyein said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nov. 8 “SKorean military on high alert as Seoul readies for G20 summit”
The exchange of gunfire across the Koreas’ tense border was brief, lasting just a few minutes. But it served as a stark reminder that the Korean peninsula remains a war zone as dozens of world leaders descend on Seoul this week for a global economic summit.
… Radio Free Asia reported last week that North Korea had formed a special unit to plot a provocation that would call attention to tensions on the peninsula. The report by the U.S. government-funded station cited an unidentified source in China.
ASIA SENTINEL
Nov. 8 “The world after Burma’s sham election”
Burma's national elections, held Nov. 7, leave the country's military free to reshuffle its control over the biggest country in mainland Southeast Asia, while the muzzled opposition expects a continuation of human rights violations, US-led economic sanctions, and China's increased influence. … The junta claimed that the British Broadcasting Corp., Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia told the Burmese not to vote. Also, Burma’s elections and human
TIBETAN REVIEW (Also, ASIA NEWS, INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET REPORT)
Nov. 8 “Three Tibetan writers tried for separatism in Amdo Nqaba”
Three young Tibetan writers detained in Jun-Jul this year for their writings on the 2008 protests in Tibet in a local Tibetan magazine have been tried Oct 28 by the Aba (Tibetan: Ngaba or Ngawa) Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan province, reported Radio Free Asia online
CHINA WORKER
Nov. 5 “Thousands riot against land seizure in Yunnan province”
A total of 50 vehicles were destroyed, among them ten police cars, according to media reports, as a Yunnan protest against a government land grab turned violent.
… Television footage showed hundreds of villagers in Zhaotong city, in the northeast of Yunnan province, armed with shovels and sticks, clashing with construction workers and police. The villagers insist the local government’s actions are illegal, that the land grab violates central government regulations on compensation levels and provision of temporary housing. “Our livelihoods suffered a serious blow, and there were no safeguards,” one villager with the surname Sun told Radio Free Asia.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS (Also, CHINA ACTION)
Nov. 3 “OPINION-EDITORIAL -- China: One Child Policy Victim ‘Treated’ with Electroshock, Injections”
Gu Xianghong languishes in an “Ankang,” a special Chinese psychiatric hospital run by police, Radio Free Asia reports. In a video quoted by RFA, Gu says, "They put electrodes on my temples and they were burned black. They handcuffed me and chained my feet . . . My [entire family] and home have been ruined by the village government." They also subjected her to injections against her will. According to the report, Gu has been jailed nine times in the Ankang since 1992.
