Social Stability - 185. page

On the morning of March 25, the second day of the protest, over 300 retirees from Ha Er Bin Insulation Material Factory in Heilongjiang province continued to gather in front of the Electric Motor Factory to demand the settlement of their overdue winter benefits package. The two-day protest was held in rainy and cold weather conditions. No factory officials came out to speak to the protesters.

Source: Chinese Human Rights Defenders, March 25, 2008 http://crd-net.org/Article/Class71/200803/20080325175518_8185.html

Xinhua reported today that more countries have expressed their support for China’s actions in handling the “severe and violent criminal incident” in Tibet. The governments of Sudan, Mauritius, and another eleven countries are among the latest, according to Xinhua. “A government has the responsibility to take necessary action to maintain social stability and security when facing violent incidents created by domestic separatists who are incited by foreign forces,” the report said. Xinhua also cited a statement from the government of Sudan openly expressing support of China’s “necessary actions."

Source: Xinhua, March 23, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/23/content_7840257.htm

A Thai Chinese woman who had witnessed the protests in Tibet has identified a Tibetan shown holding a knife in a picture released by the Chinese government as a policeman, according to a spokesperson for the Dalai Lama on March 18, 2008. This Thai Chinese woman was detained with other foreigners at the Bajiao Street police station on March 14, when a group of Tibetans were detained and escorted into the station. She saw one of them, a man with a knife in his hand, take off his Tibetan robe and change into a police uniform. She was later forced to leave Lhasa and went to India via Nepal. Once in India she identified the person she had seen change into a police uniform as the same person in a picture released by the Chinese government as evidence of violence during Tibetan protests. The picture was also broadcasted by the BBC.

Source: Sound of Hope, March 20, 2008
http://soundofhope.org/programs/162/88669-1.asp

According to the  Hong Kong-based Apple Daily, as of March 15, the second day of reported protests in  Tibet, Mainland Chinese news media outlets were mostly silent about it. The official Xinhua news agency only reported on the protests on its English site.  At one point, Xinhua reported shooting by local police on its English site, but soon took the notice down.

Chinese Central Television (CCTV) aired some video footage about Tibet on its evening news on March 15, which only contained scenes of a group of young people burning stores or attacking civilians. It did not mention an earlier peaceful demonstration or the arrest of protesters by the local police. CCTV’s evening news called the protest “a riot that was carefully organized by Dalai Lama with the intention of damaging social stability.”

In the afternoon of March 15, major mainland Chinese websites and newspapers started to carry an article by Xinhua titled “Q&A issued by officials of the Tibet Autonomous Region about a small group of people creating social disorder” but the web link for posting comments was disabled.

Source: Boxun, March 16, 2008
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/03/200803161002.shtml

According to the website Tibetan Pages, overseas Tibetan organizations warned the international community not to be taken in by March 14 street violence staged by Beijing, citing the lesson they learned from the 1989 Lhasa protest when “Communists sent 300 state agents into Lhasa disguised as residents and monks to cooperate with the plain clothed police from the public security bureau” by burning and ransacking stores. The website was created at the request of the Dalai Lama.

Those who participated in last week’s violence have until midnight March 17 to surrender, said a joint notice issued by the Chinese-controlled Tibetan government police and judicial authorities. The notice was issued a day after the city erupted in riots against China’s control of the Himalayan region, with crowds setting fire to businesses and vehicles.

Source: Tibetan Pages, March 16, 2008
http://www.xizang-zhiye.org/b5/xzxinwen/0803/index.html#080316.4
China Tibet Information Center, March 15, 2008
http://tibet.cn/news/zfzx/zfgg/t20080315_299364.htm

According to the Gansu Provincial Population and Family Planning Work Conference 2007, 2,718 Party members who are government officials have more children than allowed under the Planned Parenthood policy. 2,191 of them have been reprimanded by the Party or received administrative disciplinary actions. In 2008, those who violate Planned Parenthood policy cannot be promoted or nominated as Party delegates and National Congress members. In 1979 The Chinese government introduced the one-child policy to curb population growth.

Source: Xinhua, March 13, 2008 http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/13/content_7785026.htm

Radio Free Asia reports that Chinese veteran journalist, writer, and scholar Lin Changzhou published an open letter to top Chinese leaders through Radio Free Asia during the “Two Conferences (National People’s Congress and Political Consultative Conferences),” calling for direct elections and freedom of assembly, as well as pursuing a renaissance of national fundamental values. The 41-year-old Lin was the former deputy editor of the newspaper BEIJING DAILY MESSENGER.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 10, 2008
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shenrubaodao/2008/03/10/ling/

On March 5, 2008, Falun Gong’s official website Minghui published a list of over 50 Falun Gong practitioners in Beijing who were arrested since December 2007. According to the report, the police began monitoring and following them as early as August 2007 in an attempt to limit efforts to expose the persecution of Falun Gong in the run-up to the Olympics.

Source: Minghui, March 5, 2008
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/3/5/173643.html