Now, Japan Asks China to pay for repairs to the two coast guard ships damaged by the trawler.

Chinese-Japanese tensions over the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain re-escalated on Monday when Japan said it would ask China to pay for repairs to two coast guard ships damaged by the trawler.

The Japanese request was effectively a retort to China’s demand that Japan apologize and offer compensation for the episode, even after Japan had freed the captain last Friday in what was widely seen as a capitulation to placate an increasingly assertive China.

On Sunday, Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, called China’s latest demands “unthinkable,” a sign of his sensitivity to criticism that Japan had shown timidity to Chinese bullying.

“Naturally, we will be asking for the boats to be returned to their original condition,” the chief cabinet secretary, Yoshito Sengoku, told a news conference here on Monday.

The Japanese release of the captain seemed aimed at defusing a heated standoff in which China had imposed economic sanctions and even detained four Japanese.

But the Japanese were clearly surprised when China then said that Tokyo must offer an apology and unspecified compensation over the arrest, which took place almost three weeks ago and aroused deep anger in China.

The demands have forced Mr. Kan to decide once again whether Tokyo will stand up to Beijing, which in recent years has appeared to be testing Japan’s resolve to back its territorial claims in the East China Sea.

In the days leading up to the captain’s release, the Chinese curtailed tourism to Japan, suspended many political and cultural ties, and took unannounced steps to restrict shipments to Japan of rare-earth minerals, which are important components for a range of industrial products.

But the move that Japan found most alarming was the detention in the northern city of Shijiazhuang of the four Japanese citizens, accused of photographing military sites.

The dispute illustrated the difficulty of overcoming nationalistic sentiments stirred up by the trawler episode, which is affecting the deeply intertwined ties between the two neighbors, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, after that of the United States. It also raised concern across Asia about China’s willingness to use its growing economic clout for political gains.

Japanese leaders had sought to minimize the episode, saying that the Chinese captain’s release was a decision made by local prosecutors. Those assertions were met with broad skepticism, with many here holding the view that Japan capitulated to aggressive Chinese pressure.

This has led to growing criticism in Japan that Mr. Kan’s government showed weakness. “It looks like Japan caved in,” said Sadakazu Tanigaki, the head of the largest opposition party, the Liberal Democrats. “That sends the wrong signal to China.”

(From The New York Times)

Remembering Tiananmen Square massacre, 20 years on !

The massacre in Beijing, 20 years ago, is officially a non-event but in reality it was a crucial moment in China's history.








What happened that night is a non-event as far as the rulers of China are concerned; commemoration is suppressed and, if it is remembered at all, the occasion is portrayed as a glorious defence of the people's true interests by the army. How many people died remains unknown, though what is clear is that most were not students in Tiananmen, but ordinary citizens of the capital trying to stop the armoured vehicles after previous successes at blocking their progress to the square.

The student demonstrators in the square may have lacked a coherent message. The atmosphere may have taken on aspects of a carnival. But, underlying it all, was a basic questioning of the right of the Communist Party to exercise monopoly power, a demand for discussion and plurality.

Twenty years ago tanks rolled into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to crush the biggest pro-democracy movement in history. Hundreds were killed, thousands jailed and many fled to escape persecution. Here exiled leaders of the student revolution tell their remarkable stories and reveal how, after being forced to build new lives, they remain haunted by its bloody legacy.

Over seven tumultuous weeks of nationwide demonstrations and protests, beginning with the death of the sacked reformer, Hu Yaobang, on 15 April 1989 and ending with the movement's violent suppression on 4 June, an estimated 100 million people across China demonstrated in support of political reform. The movement was inchoate, contradictory and politically confused but it remains the biggest peaceful pro-democracy movement in human history. For the millions who took part, life would never be the same again.





It's been two decades since that lone protester defied a column of tanks on Beijing's Avenue of Eternal Peace, before vanishing, never to be identified. Since that time, China has prospered economically. The party has embraced the market and traded the socialist system it claimed to defend for the pleasures of getting rich. Younger generations are vague about a movement that still cannot be publicly discussed or documented. But the suppression at Tiananmen continues to exact a high price: the constant falsification of history, a political system frozen by the fear of the people's judgment, and a leadership that sees the ghosts of Tiananmen wherever voices call for political reform.

The secret memoirs of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party leader ousted for opposing the military crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square, exploded into the open yesterday, four years after his death.

Dictated during his years of house arrest and smuggled out on cassettes disguised as children's music or Peking opera, the book will be pored over for clues about the workings of the secretive group of men who make up the inner core of China's Communist Party. The decisions made in Beijing's Zhongnanhai compound have global impact as China is an emerging superpower, but little is known about how it functions. Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Zhao Ziyang may change all that.

As the tanks rolled into central Beijing on 3 June Mr Zhao writes: "While sitting in the courtyard with my family, I heard intense gunfire. A tragedy to shock the world had not been averted, and was happening after all."

The current Chinese leadership says the crackdown was a "disturbance" by "hooligans" and says crushing the revolt was essential to ensure a stable foundation for the country's economic growth. Mr Zhao takes the opposite view. "I had said at the time that most people were only asking us to correct our flaws, not attempting to overthrow our political system," he wrote.


Prisoner of State: Extracts from the book

On the 17 May meeting "I walked out as soon as the meeting adjourned. At that moment, I was extremely upset. I told myself that no matter what, I refused to become the General Secretary who mobilised the military to crack down on students."

On the Tiananmen crackdown "On the night of June 3rd, while sitting in the courtyard with my family, I heard intense gunfire. A tragedy to shock the world had not been averted, and was happening after all... First, it was determined then that the student movement was a planned conspiracy of anti-Party, anti-socialist elements with leadership. So now we must ask, who were these leaders? What was the plan? What was the conspiracy? What evidence exists to support this? Second, it was said that this event was aimed at overthrowing the People's Republic and the Communist Party. Where is the evidence? I had said at the time that most people were only asking us to correct our flaws, not attempting to overthrow our political system."

On democracy "It would be wrong if our Party never makes the transition from a state that was suitable in a time of war to a state more suitable to a democracy society... The ruling Party must achieve two breakthroughs. One is to allow other political parties and a free press to exist. The second... is, the Party needs to adopt democratic procedures and use democratic means to reform itself... Different opinions must be allowed to exist, and different factions should be made legitimate."

The last word "Whether the Communist Party persists should be determined by the consequences of society's political openness and the competition between the Communist Party and other political powers (...) The trend is irrefutable, that the fittest will survive."

The Tiananmen Legacy

Human Rights Watch Recommendations

To the Chinese Government:

* The Chinese government should issue an immediate amnesty for those still imprisoned on charges related to the events of June 1989 and launch an independent review of their cases to determine possible miscarriages of justice in terms of violations of due legal process. The government should absolve and compensate those individuals determined to have been unfairly or illegally imprisoned.

* The Chinese government should immediately permit the unimpeded return of Chinese citizens exiled due to their connections to the events of June 1989.

* The Chinese government should respect and enforce citizens' rights to freedom of speech and expression and cease the detention and harassment of individuals who challenge the official account of the events of June 1989.

* The Chinese government should permit an independent inquiry into the events of June 1989. Such an inquiry should be open to the public, allow the participation of victims' families, including the Tiananmen Mothers, and the substance of its proceedings and conclusions should be made public in a complete and timely manner. Such an inquiry is obviously impossible until the government stops harassing and silencing the victims of the events of June 1989 and takes substantive steps to preserve the historical record of what transpired at that time. When these prerequisites have been met, the Chinese government should issue and uphold explicit public guarantees that participants will not be subject to official reprisals.

* The Chinese government should initiate a mechanism for victims of the violence of June 1989 and/or their family members to claim official compensation for their losses.

* The Chinese government should launch criminal proceedings against any government and military officials who gave the orders for and/or participated in the use of lethal force against unarmed civilians in Beijing and other major cities in June 1989.

* The government should amend its recently released National Action Plan for Human Rights to include specific references which stipulate respect for the rights of the victims of June 1989 and their families.


To the International Community

* The European Union should resist calls to lift its arms embargo until the Chinese government completes an independent public investigation of the crackdown and holds accountable those government and military officials responsible for the use of lethal force against unarmed civilians. In addition, the EU should insist on a general amnesty for all those jailed for all forms of peaceful protest in China. Those convictions should be reviewed and overturned if there were procedural safeguards or lack of evidence of serious criminal acts.

* Governments, particularly those that have bilateral human rights dialogues with the Chinese government, should make their concerns about the 1989 crackdown and its legacy a touchstone of its engagement with the Chinese government on human rights, and establish measurable benchmarks and timelines for the Chinese government to address the rights abuses, past and present, connected to the events of 1989.

* Foreign governments should urge China to amend its recently released National Action Plan for Human Rights to include specific references which stipulate respect for the rights of the victims of June 1989 and their families and actionable targets and deadlines to ensure those rights are respected.

* Foreign governments should publicly observe the 20th anniversary of the events of June 1989 by opening their embassies in Beijing to the general public on June 3-4, 2009, as safe zones where Chinese citizens could access uncensored information about the events of June 1989, and engage in discussions about those events and their legacy.

* Those countries with bilateral human rights dialogues with China should make these recommendations a key component of their human rights engagement with China in 2009.

Member states of the Berne Process for human rights engagement with China should reconvene on or around June 3-4 to discuss means to adopt and implement these recommendations.

Jailed for her religion, forced to work 19-hour days making cotton buds

The story of Chen Zhenping

Ever wondered where your cotton buds come from? (that’s Q-tips for American readers – the things you clean your ears out with but aren’t really meant to).
No, me neither. Maybe we should.

Amnesty’s just heard about the case of Chen Zhenping, an imprisoned Chinese woman who follows the Falun Gong spiritual movement (basically a fusion of Buddhism and Tai Chi – very popular in China, but banned by the government as an ‘evil cult’).

A fellow inmate told us that Chen is being forced to work a 19-hour day making cotton buds and rugs, with beatings if she fails to reach production targets. The remaining five hours are spent sleeping on the floor of a cell she shares with over 30 other prisoners.

Chen was arrested on 9 July, without a warrant. We suspect she had no legal representation at her trial. Her family have not been allowed to see her since the arrest, but they’ve been told that she was sentenced to between 7 and 15 years’ imprisonment (though no official notification has been sent to them).

It’s a really upsetting story, the worst I’ve heard from China for some time.

Her family are very worried about her, as they heard on 28 October that Chen’s signature had been forged in a register that detainees have to sign when they receive food from relatives. If she is being deprived of food, it sadly wouldn’t be untypical of the treatment of Falun Gong prisoners.

Falun Gong practitioners are frequently subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Many are held in Re-education through Labour camps, where people can be locked up without trial for up to four years. Falun Gong sources reported over 8,000 arrests of practitioners nationwide in the run-up to the Olympics, and say that in 2007 over 100 of them died in detention or shortly after being released due to torture, starvation and lack of medicine.

Amnesty members are writing to the Chinese authorities demanding guarantees of Chen’s safety, pending her unconditional release unless she’s charged with a criminal offence and give a fair trial.

I’m not suggesting a boycott of Chinese-made cotton buds, by the way – responsibility for what’s happened to Chen sits squarely with the Chinese authorities. But it does raise a few questions for consumers and retailers. I have no idea but I wonder how many of the big UK outlets do get their cotton buds from China? And of those, I wonder how many can demonstrate where theirs are made, and that people like Chen Zhenping aren’t making them?

Curbs Imposed on Muslims in Western China During Ramadan

When in Malaysia, Ahmad Ismail's racist remarks came just as the fasting month of Ramadhan was beginning. This, being a holy month where patience and forebearance are lauded above all, made the timing of his press conference and abusive remarks all the more pointed and bitter.

In China, local governments in a Muslim desert region in western China have imposed strict limits on religious practices during the traditional Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began last week, according to the Web sites of four of those governments.

The rules include prohibiting women from wearing veils and men from growing beards, as well as barring government officials from observing Ramadan. One town, Yingmaili, requires that local officials check up on mosques at least twice a week during Ramadan.

The local governments administer areas in the western part of Xinjiang, a vast autonomous region that is home to the Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic people who often chafe under rule by the ethnic Han Chinese. In August, a wave of attacks swept through Xinjiang, the largest surge of violence in the region in years. Some local officials blamed separatist groups for the instability, and the central government sent security forces to the area.

The limits on religious practices put in place by local governments appear to be part of the broader security crackdown. The areas affected by the new rules are near Kuqa, a town struck by multiple bombings on Aug. 10.

It was unclear whether the rules would be relaxed after Ramadan, an observance that some Islamic extremists have used elsewhere as a symbolic backdrop for attacks on their perceived enemies. It was also unclear how the Chinese authorities intended to enforce the rules, which appeared to run the risk of antagonizing devout Muslims who present no obvious security threat.

The Web site of the town of Yingmaili lists nine rules put in place to “maintain stability during Ramadan.”

They include barring teachers and students from observing Ramadan, prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques and requiring men to shave off beards and women to doff veils. Mosques cannot let people from outside of town stay overnight and restaurants must maintain normal hours of business. Because of the sunrise-to-sunset fasting, many restaurants would normally close during daytime for Ramadan.

In nearby Xinhe County, the government has decreed that Communist Party members, civil servants and retired officials must not observe Ramadan, enter mosques or take part in any religious activities during the month. Worshipers cannot make pilgrimages to tombs, so as “to avoid any group event that might harm social stability,” according to the Xinhe government’s Web site.

In addition, children and students cannot be forced to attend religious activities, and women cannot be forced to wear veils.

County rules also emphasize the need to maintain a strict watch over migrant workers and visitors from outside the county. Companies and families that have workers or visitors from outside the county are required to register the outsiders with the nearest police station and have them sign an agreement “on maintaining social stability.”

Shayar County, which includes the town of Yingmaili, said on its Web site that migrants must register with the police, and that any missionary work by outsiders was banned.

By EDWARD WONG
The New York Times.

Fresh Tibet unrest as Olympic torch nears Beijing

A melee in Tibet's capital appeared to have been sparked by attempts by police to carry out security checks, indicating the tension and volatility remaining in Lhasa weeks after an anti-government riot.

A mobile phone text message to Lhasa residents from the local police said security checks carried out on Saturday had "frightened citizens" and caused panic in the city centre.

"Please obey the law and please follow the rules, don't create rumors, don't believe rumors, don't spread rumors," read the text message, which was reprinted by the Free Tibet Campaign and International Campaign for Tibet.

"Severely battle any creation or any spreading of rumors that would upset or frighten people or cause social disorder or illegal criminal behavior that could damage social stability," the message read.

"Although full details could not be confirmed, reliable reports indicated that a new protest occurred involving many Tibetans, possibly linked to an attempt by armed police to detain Tibetans ... in central Lhasa," the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement.

The fresh tensions come as China prepares to receive the Olympic flame in its capital Beijing on Monday, for the start of a domestic and international relay that the government hoped would symbolize national unity ahead of the August Games.

Instead, China finds itself deflecting criticism over its policies in Tibet and its response to unrest there, and facing the prospect of weeks of protests as the Olympic flame circles the globe.

The unrest began with days of peaceful, monk-led protests in Lhasa that spiraled into a citywide riot on March 14 that the government says killed 18 civilians and was masterminded by the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader.

The Dalai Lama, who fled China in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule, denies he is behind the unrest, which his representatives say has claimed some 140 lives.

The protests also spread to ethnic Tibetan areas of China.







Eight pro-Tibetan demonstrators have been arrested in Greece on charges of attempting to disrupt the official flame-lighting ceremony which marks the start of the torch relay that leads up to the Beijing Olympics.

Two protestors breached a cordon of about 1,000 police officers at Ancient Olympia to display a flag demanding a boycott of the Olympics amid mounting controversy over China's crackdown in Tibet.

The men, believed to be associated with the French human rights group Reporters Without Borders, ran up behind Liu Qi, the head of the Beijing Olympic organising committee, as he spoke before the flame was lit.






One man unfurled a black flag portraying the Olympic rings made from handcuffs. Another tried to grab the microphone from Mr Liu and shouted "freedom, freedom".

Meanwhile Malaysia believes the Beijing Olympics should not be politicised and remains confident it will be successfully held in August.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said Malaysia was also pleased to note that the Chinese government was able to maintain stability and protect the lives of innocent people in Tibet.

"We are relieved to learn that the situation there is returning back to normal," he said in a statement here Saturday.

The Tibetan protesters, mostly monks and nuns, began their march early this month on the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959, which led to the exile of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader.

The march is one of several international protests related to Chinese rule in Tibet that are under way before the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August.

Rais said the country believed the Chinese government would undertake action which was in the best interest of its people to ensure safety, security and territorial integrity.

"We also welcome the offer by the Chinese government to talk with the Dalai Lama," he said.