29 Jun 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Google is to adopt a ‘new approach’ in China after officials threatened to revoke its Internet Content Provider (ICP) licence. In January, the internet giant declared that it would no longer censor search engine results as required by Chinese law and since March, has redirected mainland users of google.cn to the unfiltered google.hk site. However the new approach, announced a day before its ICP license expires, directs users of google.cn to a “landing page” with a link to google.hk. Google chief legal officer David Drummond defended the change in direction highlighting that “Without an ICP licence, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China.” However, it is unclear whether this new arrangement will be accepted by Chinese authorities.
10 Jun 2010 | Index Index, minipost
Zhang Jianhong, prominent writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, was released on medical parole on 5 June. Zhang was sentenced to six years in prison in March 2007 for writing articles critical of the government. He had been diagnosed with a progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system and his condition rapidly deteriorated in prison. Repeated requests for medical parole had previously been denied.
4 Jun 2010 | Uncategorized
Today’s 21st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre has not passed without controversy.
This cartoon, published on Tuesday in the Southern Metropolis Daily was pulled from the newspaper’s website after it started attracting online interest. The image was part of a series commemorating International Children’s Day but it clearly references Tank Man, the lone protester who stood in front of a column of tanks, now the emblematic image of the massacre.
This is a brave move for the Guangdong-based newspaper, which has reputation for being one of the most independent news outlets in mainland China. However the decision to run the print edition and pull the online one has raised questions; was the cartoons publication a mistake — perhaps an overworked editor missed the underlying symbolism — or was the paper simply forced to pull the online version due to government pressure? So far, the Southern Metropolis Daily has declined to comment on the situation.
Elsewhere the authorities have kept tight control around the physical domains of Tiananmen Square and Beijing; on the geography-based social networking website foursquare.com users have staged online vigils, “checking in” to the virtual Tiananmen Square in a show of solidarity. In response, the Chinese government today blocked access to the website from mainland China. Around the world, protests have taken place in cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo, where one of the original student demonstrators, Wu’er Kaixi, was arrested for trespassing on the Chinese Embassy. Wu’er, an activist of Uighur descent currently lives in exile in Taiwan.
In a strange twist, it was announced today that the June 4th diaries of China’s premier at the time, Li Peng, will be published this month. Secrecy still surrounds the decision to use the military to crush the student-led protests, and the Chinese government still refuses to publish verifiable figures for the number of injured or killed civilians during the protests. Although doubts have been cast on the book’s authenticity, the diaries are rumoured to provide an insight into senior officials thinking during the crisis and background into how government decisions were reached, including the deployment of martial force in the Square. In one of the passages, Li Peng is quoted as saying he will “sacrifice” his life in order to prevent another Cultural Revolution from occurring. If the book turns out to be genuine, it could be the government’s attempt to justify its actions 21 years ago.
24 May 2010 | Index Index, minipost
A high school near the city of Shigatse in Tibet has banned teachers and pupils from having “separatist” ringtones on their mobile phones after they were ruled “unhealthy” by local education officials. A list of 27 popular Tibetan songs was posted on the school website, and anyone caught in possession of them was warned they would be “severely dealt with”.
