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Censorship In China
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Have a look at
this Businessweek article:
a site was partly censored for 15 days because of a post uncomfortable to the Chinese government, and
this Mercury Center article
that proposes a more global view of the China/Taiwan issue. Surprisingly, both articles suggest that things are going better and better."
Very topical; the U.S. vote on
permanent normalized trade relations
is scheduled for today.
>I don't think Cuba poses much of a threat to the
>country with the largest military in the world
The US does NOT have the largest military in the world.
Know who does? China!
I don't have current numbers, but as of Desert Storm, the US was not even in the top five. There was a big stink about how we were facing the "mother of all wars" against Iraq, which, at the time, and the fourth largest military in the world.
At the time we were number seven. Ahead of Iraq was china, Russia, and vietnam. Desert Storm prolly bumped Iraq out of the picture and upped us to number six.
But then, we've done nothing but cut back the military ever since Desert Storm, so I really doubt that we're still that high. And we certianly do NOT have the largest military in the world. That dubious honor still goes to china.
john
Imagine all the people...
If intimidation (sending a threatening letter with the understanding that you can outspend the victim in courts) counts as "due process of law", then I'm not surprised that no one is able to respect the law anymore.
Any American who still finds comfort in the fact that he can't be attacked without "due process" is deluding himself. Is there any connection remaining between the process and justice? All that seperates us from the Chinese are a few words on a page that no one takes seriously anymore anyway.
---
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
So what's the difference between a web site being shut down because it carried information the government didn't like, and being shut down because it carried information some large company didn't like?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
who think trading with China is a *good thing*.
How can you justify trading with a Chinese Communist government, still unapologetic about human rights violations (i.e. Tienemen Square), when you won't trade with Fidel Castro's Communist Cuba for the same reason?
I know this sounds very argumentative, but if money and market size is truly your motivation, then why no lift those same embargoes against Cuba? Standing on moral ground until the market is large enough just looks very hypocritical.
While I agree that China has made significant progress in the past 10 years, we still have to remember we are dealing with a country whose government is ideologically opposed to the United States.
On the plus side, China is going about with their reform in a very positive way. Unlike Russia, China is slowly moving towards a more capitalistic society... but sometimes I wonder if it's at the expense of it's citizens.
Ofcourse, if you look at recent events in the US in regards to the WTO meetings and the way the protestors were handled... perhaps we're not much different than China... and maybe we deserve eachother.
On an interesting note, it appears the the FBI considers TAIWAN a priority in counter-intelligence activities, and a hostile intelligence threat to the United States. Reno calls Taiwan an intelligence threat
Humorless sig goes here.
China is... interesting. I spent 4 1/2 months there doing work on a feed mill in Langfang, PRC. (About 2 hours out of Bejing) Being very used to America, going to China was a real eye-opener. Porn? Forget it - it exists, but it's pretty rare. Don't even think about throwing a couple of playboys in your luggage and taking them with you either. (I didn't try it myself.)
Bibles? Forget it. A guy I knew would take a couple with him - but definitely not more than two or three. He was very religious, and didn't typically try and 'convert' the locals, but took some in case anyone was interested in reading about the Christian concepts. If they think you are planning on distributing religious materials, you can find yourself in hot-water quickly.
Don't talk bad about the govornment there. While here in the US there was always the half-joking concept of a 'card carrying communist' it's not much of a joke there. You won't know who is or isn't communist there, unless they pull out thier little red party book. And, talkin' bad about the Chineese govorment is a good way of attracting lots of unwanted attention.
There's lots of things not to take pictures of there. Don't have your pics developed in China - wait until you get home. I learned that one - some of the film I had developed never came back from the photo-developer there in China. I still have no idea what was objectionable in them...
It boils down to: No discussion on govornment. No discussion on religion. No discussion on sex. That's pretty much the rules I learned while I was there.
One other thing of note that's just completely strange to an American - here we are used to hearing what happens everywhere else in the world, and particularly, all the other sections of our own country. In China, it's much, MUCH slower for information to get around - most of it is still word of mouth the last time I was there. Newspapers and TV are a joke, as only 'approved' stuff get through.
Granted - this was also 4 years ago that I was there. Things may well have changed by now.
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
Chi na bans Taiwan's Madonna
Beijing has banned one of Taiwan's top pop
stars after she sang the island's national
anthem at last Saturday's inauguration of
President Chen Shui-bian.
A-Mei, who is wildly popular on the mainland,
has been permanently blacklisted in China,
officials said.
US soft drinks giant
Coca-Cola has been
forced to drop a
multi-million dollar
advertising campaign in
China featuring A-Mei.
Sigged!
future headlines:
Vanity in Hollywood!
Pot in Amsterdam!
Greed on Wall Street!
Mounties in Canada!
/. : News for Shut-ins. Stuff that's obvious.
Hmmm, let's see: In Miami, many Cuban performers cannot perform at local theatres because of the outrage from the Cuban-exile community. I was spat upon when trying to catch a piano recital from a person who had once visited Cuba. Art studios locally have banned Cuban artists. Some have protested Borges in school libraries. Some have said that the difference here is that in China censorship is government approved and in Miami not so. Nope. The politicians here look the other way.
As a person with Hispanic and Asian roots it is doubly difficult to condemn other countries when ideals of freedom, the basis for the Constitution, are being trampled locally.
Even something as simple and innocent as a nude photograph can be prohibited here. Because of a vocal minority, a black & white nude photograph was censored from a local high school art show. Not long ago, a nude, non-erotic sculpture was also censored. Though I respect the right of a school administrator to maintain order, at what point is it crossing the line to some nightmarish Orwellian vision?
As much as I despise censorship, it is somewhat disingenuous to decry foreign violations when we (at least in Miami) are as guilty.
If anyone cares, here is a list of countries currently under embargo by the U.S.:
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China (PRC), Cuba, Estonia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Macao (Macau), Moldova, North Korea, Romania, Russia, Syria, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Yugoslavia (Serbia), Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
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