Government/Politics - 336. page

China issues rebuttal on report issued by Amnesty International (AI) “Human Rights in China Declining Ahead of Olympics”.

“AI was wearing tinted glasses. None of those who understand China would agree with AI” stated the Foreign Ministry. Liu Jianchao, the spokesperson from the Foreign Ministry warned that: “no one should interfere with China’s internal affairs.” Xiong Lei, Executive Director of the state-run China Society for Human Rights Studies claimed that: “China has never broken its commitments. AI has made its conclusion based on random cases and its conclusion is different from most of the Chinese people.”

Source: BBC, July 29, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7530000/newsid_7530800/7530830.stm

Beijing News recalled its July 24th edition because of a photo taken on the street of Beijing during June 4th 1989 democratic movement appeared in section C15 of the newspaper.

Beijing news has been carrying series coverage on China’s open door policy adopted 30 years ago. Its July 24th edition published an interview with Liu Xiangchen, author of the photo and former Beijing correspondent of AP.  The interview was titled “I use photos to record my journey in China.” The photo displayed an injured man being rushed to the hospital, which has been used by numerous worldwide news media in the past.

Source: BBC, July 25, 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7520000/newsid_7524900/7524975.stm

Curbing the road traffic and suspension of some factory productions have helped in bringing in down the Air Pollution Index (API) by 20%, according to the announcement made by the official from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau today on July 25. Since July 1, the road traffic has been reduced by 25.1%. All construction works over the city involving cement and concrete have been suspended starting July 20. The four big coal-burning power plants have reduced the emission by 30%. Other major factories involving metallurgy, raw building materials, and petrochemical will either reduce emission or suspend production during the Olympic game.

Source: People’s Daily, July 25, 2008
http://society.people.com.cn/GB/41158/7566998.html

On July 26, during the Communist Party’s group study held by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Hu Jintao is calling the various levels of Communist Party bureaus and municipal bodies to place the goal of hosting a successful Beijing Olympics and Paralympic Games as the top priority. He said: “as the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic is around the corner, the world’s attention is here. Various party bureaus and municipal bodies need to unite and form one understanding among each other. They need to coordinate well to further place the Olympics at its utmost important position.

Source: Xinhua, July 27, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2008-07/27/content_8779856.htm

To repair China’s shattered image during the Olympics, Beijing agreed to resume a Human Right Dialogue with Japan after eight years of break.

Human Right Dialogue was invented by China in early 1990’s to counter the Human Rights criticism by the West. The dialogue is a discussion between equal partners, while the criticism puts China at defense.

The Human Right Dialogue is not an admission of China’s human rights problem. Qin Gang, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokes person made it very clear. In a recent press conference, Qin said: “The Chinese Communist Party has been working to improve human rights since Day One of its founding. Human Rights always will be our sacred goal.”

The article blames Amnesty International, Reporters without Border and Human Right Watch for pressuring China to improve its human rights.

Source: Xinhua Net, July 23, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2008-07/23/content_8751211.htm

In speaking with Xinhua’s International Herald Leader, Li Wei, Chairman of “Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies” of “China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)” named five groups as the top terrorist threat to the Olympics: Eastern Turkistan, Tibetan Separates, Falun Gong, oversea’s democracy movement groups, and individuals who seek retaliations. As to threats from international terrorism groups, Li said that the scale would not be a big concern but can’t be ignored.

Li disclosed that the western countries including US, Israel, UK, France, Russia, Australia, and Greece have assisted China in its anti-terrorism effort. Ministry of Public Security claimed last month that terrorism is the major threat to the Olympics security.

Source: ChinaGo, July 4, 2008
http://news.chinago.cn/o/2008/0704/1731.html

50,000 copies of a special Olympics edition of the Bible have been printed and shipped to the six Olympics cities, according to two state-run Christian organizations. The cover of the Bible that bears the Olympic Logo has been on the front page of major state-run newspapers. The two state-run Christian organizations are  the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Church in China and the China Christian Council. According to the two state organizations, the copies are being offered free as one of the major religious services that they are providing to the Olympics. The use of the Olympic logo on the Bible was licensed by the State Beijing Olympics Committee.

Source:
Chinese Protestant Church, July 14, 2008
http://www.chineseprotestantchurch.org/news/hot/2008/714/08714866.html
Chinese Protestant Church, June 23, 2008
http://www.chineseprotestantchurch.org/news/hot/2008/623/08623226.html

Customers of government postal services must produce a valid government identification card during the Olympics, says China’s State Post Bureau. The special notice from the government agency states that post offices will not provide postal service if a sender of particles either to or from 6 cities between July 20 and September 20 does not produce a valid government I.D. The 6 cities are Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.

Source: Xinhua, July 16, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/sports/2008-07/16/content_8557748.htm