Bilaterals- US/China
Rumsfeld Wants to Visit China to Revive Military Ties
New York Times, 10 February 2005
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has agreed in principle to pay an official visit to China, a significant step toward revitalizing a military-to-military dialogue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/09/politics/09rumsfeld.html
Related news:
- International roundup: Europe: US nod for arms sales to China
The Guardian, 10 February 2005 The United States has reluctantly accepted that the European Union will lift its arms embargo on China within months, Condoleezza Rice, the American secretary of state, indicated yesterday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1409526,0
0.html
Children-Trafficking
China's unspoken shame -- parents are chief culprits in baby trafficking
Agence France Presse, 9 February 2005 YULIN, China, Feb 10 (AFP) - Tiny newborn infants bundled in layers of blankets sleep next to their mothers while fathers and grandmothers sit quietly by the bedside, but this is no ordinary maternity ward.
www.afp.com
Death Penalty
China executes two hundred people in last 2 weeks
China National News, February 9, 2005
China rushed through 200 executions in the past two weeks in advance of the lunar new year. In December and January the number of executions reported in local media topped 650, although that number could be much higher as China does not release details of all executions.
http://story.chinanationalnews.com/p.x/ct/9/id/be6b7d85e8199
c57/cid/4a8b544d0e80ba53/
Labor-Disasters
Steelworks explosion kills six in N. China
Xinhua News Agency, 10 February 2005
TAIYUAN, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- A steelworks explosion in north China's Shanxi Province on Wednesday killed six people and injured nine others, local police said Thursday.
www.xinhuanet.com
Political dissidents- detention cases
Canada "deeply concerned" over fate of Chinese dissident Wang Bingzhang
AFP, February 10, 2005
Canada joined the United Nations in calling on China to release dissident Wang Bingzhang, jailed for life two years ago for "espionage" and leading a "terrorist organization.”
http://story.chinanationalnews.com/p.x/ct/9/id/6be35998bdd754
8c/cid/9366300fc9319e9b/
U.S. is guarded on China offer on prisoners
New York Times, 10 February 2005
The United States has responded guardedly to a move by China to volunteer details about 56 political prisoners and people convicted of spying whose prison sentences have been or may be reduced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/09/international/asia/09chi
na.html
Rural issues-poverty
China Faces Year of Rooster Amid Growing Social Tension
VOA, February 8, 2005 China's leaders have welcomed the lunar new year with glitzy festivities among the Beijing elite. But millions of ordinary Chinese face the Year of the Rooster with deep anxiety over the basics of existence, according to Chinese officials, experts and ordinary people. Many face unemployment, non-payment of pensions and wages, and homelessness. Now the government has even auctioned off the land our home stands on.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2005/02/08/china_newyear/
Women
Childhood hardships inspire Chinese activist
Reuters, February 10, 2005
At 14, Zhang Ye furtively learned her ABCs while herding sheep in frigid Inner Mongolia during China's Cultural Revolution, a humble start on her path to a masters degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School.
http://story.chinanationalnews.com/p.x/ct/9/id/d8299fe835c50
de1/cid/9366300fc9319e9b/