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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Chinese elders call for free press |
| 2010-10-14 |
| [Al Jazeera] Twenty-three senior members of the Chinese Communist Party have called on the government to lift the restrictions on freedom of speech in China. In an open letter dated October 1, the members who earlier held senior positions either in the party or in government apparatus, pointed out that though the country's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, it is not allowed to be exercised. The letter circulated online on October 11 comes days after Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned Chinese dissident, was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Liu, a 54-year-old literary critic, is now in the second year of an 11-year prison term after being convicted of inciting subversion over his role in writing an influential 2008 manifesto for political reform. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Nicholas Bequelin, a China expert with Human Rights Watch, said that the Chinese elders have timed their call for more freedom of speech because of the publicity surrounding the jailed Xiaobo. "It's not coincidental, they decided to go ahead and make this bold call for freedom of the press and freedom of expression precisely because all the attention is on Liu Xiaobo serving a prison term while he just received a Nobel Peace Prize." China's government has denounced Liu's prize as an interference in its political and legal systems and warned that it would harm relations with Norway, where an independent committee presents the Nobel Peace Prize each year. 'Scandal' The authors of the letter have said that China's current censorship policy is "a scandal in the history of democracy. Not even the nation's premier has freedom of publication". It called on the National People's Congress, China's legislature, to abolish restrictions on publication. "Our current system of censoring news and publications is 315 years behind Britain and 129 years behind France," the elders said in the letter. China quite often implements unwritten rules and regulations on what can or cannot be published, but the final call is made by the Communist Party's shadowy central propaganda department. Members of the department regularly notify editors about the topics that are taboo, usually by telephone to avoid leaving any documentary evidence, with the list changing constantly depending on events. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-10-14 16:35 |
| #3 I'm an elder in the U.S. I call for a free press in the United States. I have never seen such a bunch of agenda-driven garbage as comes out of the lamestream media. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-10-14 15:41 |
| #2 Twenty-three senior members of the Chinese Communist Party have called on the government to lift the restrictions on freedom of speech in China. Been done before. The Party tolerates no competition. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-10-14 10:49 |
| #1 ION WAFF > {YouTube] CHINA MISSED ITS TENTH CENTURY INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. * CHINESE MIL FORUM POSTER THREAD > CHINESE [may] COMPRISE AS MUSHC AS ONE-THIRD OF PANAMA'S POPULATION [5-6% to 1/3rd]: TIME TO DUMP TAWAIN + RECOGNIZE THE PRC [PRC = mainland China]. OTHER CMF POSTERS - GROWING GLOBAL CHINESE POPULATION WILL [eventually] CONTROL AUSTRALIA, INDONESIA, + PANAMA. NO need for China to wage major war as various Non-Chin ethnic groups are already unilaterally destroying themselves via low Birth Rates = Rates of Substitution-Replacement, thus all but absolut guaranteeing future Chin genetic conquest or dominance??? * CHINESE MIL FORUM > [Washington Times]CHINA + START: CHIN MISSLE BUILDUP MAY SURPASS BOTH USA, RUSSIA AS THEY [mutually or unilater]DENUCLEARIZE. * BHARAT RAKSHAK > FOREIGN AFFAIRS: KEEPING THE PACIFIC PACIFIC: THE LOOMING US-CHINESE NAVAL RIVALRY. VARIOUS PERTS > GUAM-WESTPAC may in future becom a MILPOL "NO-MANS-LAND" [Star-Trek style "Neutral Zone"] FOR THE US + CHINA. COLD WAR "FULDA GAP". A prob for RUSSIA as RISING CHINA does not see itself as a #2 behind the USA, nor a #3 behind the US + Russia, etc. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-10-14 00:44 |