US-China Relations - 187. page

China News reprinted in full text an editorial from China Press, an overseas Chinese newspaper based in the United States. The editorial is titled “Be on Alert: Anti-China Working Hand in Hand with Anti-Olympics Campaign.” The editorial states, “Tibet is moving toward unprecedented prosperity along with the rise of China.” The editorial is critical of “the leading advocate in the U.S. Congress for Taiwan Independence” who has called for boycott of the Olympics. It also disapproves that “someone hurried to meet with Dalai Lama to strategize how to internationalize the Tibet issue.”

Source: China News, March 26, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com/olympic/news/2008/03-26/1203172.shtml

After the White House issued a statement on March 20, 2008 that U.S. President Bush will keep to his plans of attending the Beijing Olympics despite the Tibetan protests, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper The People’s Daily ran the news as a headline banner, reading “White House Spokesperson: Bush’s Plans for Attending the Beijing Olympics Unchanged” on the World section’s main page of its website. The banner remained prominently placed for three days through to March 23, 2008. Clicking on the banner brought up  the page displaying the specific article on the announcement. The news report also mentioned specifically that Bush regarded the Olympics as a sporting event and that he would not use it to publicly discuss political issues.

Source: People’s Daily, March 21, 2008
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/7026748.html

Li Shen, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences stated on March 17 that the last 10 years of economic boom experienced in the U.S. after the end of cold war was not the result of information technology development, but because the U.S. had brought down the economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. “Will the U.S. heading into recession repeat history and mobilize all its energy to bring down the world’s other major countries or major powers?” questioned Li.

Source: Xinhua, March 19, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-03/19/content_7820222.htm

This front page commentary, cited in Wen Hui Bao a Hong Kong based newspaper backed by Beijing, characterized press freedom in the US as “High on Water Content” (a Chinese saying meaning having surface value but little substance). According to the article, under high pressure and an unseen hanging rope, the US media have become reluctant to either criticize the government or discuss the legitimacy of the Iraq war. The media does not have any means to force the government into releasing more information and for a long period of time it has not dared to challenge the government’s propaganda policy. The end result has been to accept and encourage the government’s news which in effect has made the US media unknowingly a propaganda tool for the US government.

Source: China News, March 19, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com/gj/xwbj/news/2008/03-19/1195717.shtml

The Jiefang Daily criticized the U.S. of having a double standard when it issued its 2007 human rights report on other countries. The article said that “while the U.S. pays close attention to human rights violations by other countries, it was blind to its own deteriorating human rights record.” The article stated that there has been a 25 percent increase in cases of personal rights infringement by the executive and judicial branches from 2001 to 2007; The U.S.-lead Iraq war has caused 660,000 casualties with 90 percent of them civilians; and the [Abu-Graib] prisoner abuse scandal has become a symbol of the U. S. The article suggested that U.S. should mind its own business before pointing fingers at others.

Source: Xinhua, March 14, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-03/14/content_7786747.htm

The Press Office of China’s State Council will issue a "2007 US Human Rights Report" on March 13, according to Xinhua News Agency. The release of this report, its 9th year in a row, is a direct rebuttal to "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" released by the U.S. State Department on March 11 which, according to Xinhua, slanders China’s human rights record with groundless accusations.

Source: Xinhua, March 12, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/12/content_7771221.htm

Global Times, a subsidiary of People’s Daily, published an interview with Xiao Chen, a young Chinese internet hacker who was featured in CNN’s March 7 exclusive "China Hacker" story. "CNN’s story is completely fabricated", said Xiao Chen who also denied that his team had successfully attacked Pentagon’s website nor  that his website have received any funding from the Chinese authorities. The article criticized the US media’s fanfare of the so-called "China’s Internet Threat". It quoted a statement from the Minister of the Foreign Affairs that neither the Chinese government nor the military would hire civilian hackers to attack the government networks of other countries.

Source: Xinhua, March 10, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-03/10/content_7754330.htm
Related CCN article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/07/china.hackers/index.html

Carried by China News Service (CNS), Hong Kong based Wenweipo published article on February 26, 2008, titled "United States facing an unprecedented credibility crisis". The article lists a few issues that negatively affected U.S.’s international image: war against Iraq and Afghanistan, gigantic military expense and fiscal deficit, missile defense system set up in countries outside U.S., and recent shoot-down of a spy satellite. The article stated that while U.S. often criticizes other countries for manipulating currencies, U.S. let its own currency to depreciate without control. "The conducts of U.S. makes world countries to show suspects on its credibility."

Source: China News Service, February 26, 2008
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/1029/6924836.html