March 16, 2005

Top news of the day
Human rights - bilaterals ties
Javier Solana must press the Chinese foreign minister over human rights: Amnesty International reports growing harassment of activists in China
Wednesday 16 March, 2005
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=BAF761D0
75129AC780256FC500586948A

Death penalty
Corrupt China official gets suspended death sentence.
Reuters News, 16 March 2005
Bi Yuxi, a top Beijing transport official entrusted with building a huge network of roads across the Chinese capital, received a suspended death sentence on Wednesday for taking huge bribes, state media reported.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/16/news/corrupt.html

Detention – Guo Guoting ( 郭國汀)
'Accidental activist' under house arrest
SCMP, 16 March, 2005
Activist lawyer Guo Guoting, known for defending political dissidents, is reported under house arrest, after he is banned from practice for a year by a Shanghai court.
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZTH5F456E.html

Detention - Shi Tao (師濤)
CHINA: Dissident reporter faces 10 years' jail
Asia Pacific Media Network via SCMP, 12 March, 2005
Dissident journalist Shi Tao is expected to receive a 10-year imprisonment after a secret trial ended yesterday. Shi is charged with illegally revealing state secrets.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=21747


News

Corruption / law – legal profession
Heilongjiang judge and procurator expelled from CCP and under disciplinary investigation for corruption
黑龙江省检院原检察长徐发、省法院原院长徐衍东被双开
Chinesenewsnet.com, March 16, 2005
http://www1.chinesenewsnet.com/gb/MainNews/SinoNews/Main
land/xhw_2005_03_15_23_05_17_468.html

Death Penalty
Abolishment of death penalty should be a gradual process, says expert
死刑的限制與廢除需要一個漸進的過程
YahooNews.com (Chinese edition), 16 March, 2005
http://cn.news.yahoo.com/050315/346/29y0d.html

Detention –Yan Zhengxue (嚴正學)
Chinese Writer Yan Zhengxue missing after clashes with Zhejiang court
獨立中文作家筆會成員嚴正學在與浙江台州法院發生衝突後失蹤
Radio Free Asia, 15 March, 2005
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/xinwen/2005/03/15/china_int
ellectual/

Education
Equal Opportunities for Quality Education
China Daily March 16, 2005
http://china.org.cn/english/China/123027.htm

Environment
China committed to building lower carbon economy
Xinhuanet.com, March 16, 2005
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/16/content_2703
458.htm

The state of pollution
Asia Times Online, March 15, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GC16Ad01.html

Wrangle over green GDP
Asia Times Online, March 16, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GC16Ad02.html

June 4th – EU arms ban
In Washington, EU Delegation Finds Resistance to Lifting China Arms Embargo
Voice of America, 15 March, 2005
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-15-voa58.cfm

Chinese foreign minister brands EU arms embargo as 'discrimination'
Australian Broadcasting Company, 16/03/2005 http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1325189.htm

EU fails to sway US on China arms ban
Financial Times, 16 March 2005
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bc7f458-9582-11d9-bc72-00000e
2511c8.html

Labor - Disasters
Chinese rescuers save six miners trapped underground by mudflow
Reuters, 16 March 2005
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK352485.htm

Media- Internet
Political concerns go public as China's Net users find their voice
SCMP, 16 March, 2005
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZR10E456E.html

Media – Press Freedom
China top the “Attack on the Press” list for 6 consecutive years, say CPJ report
中國連續六年被列為關押記者最多的國家
Radio Free Asia, 15 March, 2005
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/xinwen/2005/03/15/china_jour
nalist/

Ex-editor kicked off advisory body
SCMP, March 16, 2005
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZU6YJ456E.html

Labour - law
Revising Labour Law to meet the need of building a harmonious society, says Guangdong senior official
修改《劳动法》是建设和谐社会的需要
People’s Daily, March 16, 2005
http://legal.people.com.cn/GB/42735/3247487.html

Population - urbanization
Urbanization the way to resolve rural problems
城市化战略是解决“三农”问题的重要出路
Chinesenewsnet.com, March 15, 2005
http://www1.chinesenewsnet.com/gb/MainNews/SinoNews/Main
land/xhw_2005_03_15_23_05_30_799.html

Public health
Search for Regular and Willing Blood Donors
China Daily March 16, 2005
http://china.org.cn/english/China/123029.htm

Abortion Pills Banned from Pharmacies
Shenzhen Daily March 16, 2005
Shenzhen has banned retail drugstores from selling abortion pills.
http://china.org.cn/english/China/123031.htm

Society

China rediscovers Confucius in drive for social harmony
Beijing, Telegraph, March 16, 2005
Zou Jing has a cheeky smile and fights with friends in his school playground just like most other eight-year-old Chinese boys. But unlike most of his contemporaries, in class he also recites the Analects of Confucius off by heart.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005
/03/16/wchina16.xml

Taiwan
Is the Empire Striking Back?New York Times March 16, 2005HALFWAY though the 10th paragraph of an otherwise bland statement issued last month by the United States and Japan is a historic sentence. Among the "common strategic objectives" of the two nations, it reads, is "the peaceful resolution of issues concerning the Taiwan Strait."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/opinion/16xue.html?ex=1268629200&en=f7cc8480fe48a554&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt

Tibet
China Chooses Nortel for Tibet Railway
AP, 3.16.2005
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050316/ap_on_hi_te/china_nortel_tibet_railway

Xinjiang
Elsewhere on RFA: Human Rights in China‘s Muslim Northwest
Radio Free Asia, 16 March, 2005
http://www.rfa.org/english/promos/human_rights/

Uighurs face return to China from Guantanamo
Financial Times, March 16, 2005
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3b486478-95c0-11d9-bc72-00000
e2511c8.html