News

The renewal of a satellite contract between an independent TV station and Taiwan’s largest telecommunications company is in the public eye in Taiwan, with increasingly vocal support from viewers and politicians who wish to see press freedom in mainland China.

The Obama administration has for the first time publicly identified the Chinese regime as the source of a wide ranging campaign of cyberespionage, as part of an annual report, almost double the length of last year’s, on the growing military power of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The report published by the Department of Defense also draws attention to China’s implementation of advanced technology to keep pace with U.S. weapons, and includes a special section on China’s remote sensing satellite capabilities.

Liaoning authorities announced on April 8 that they are investigating the torture of detainees in Masanjia Labor Camp reported by Chinese media Lens Magazine, but China experts said police are actually trying to silence the victims.

State media People’s Daily reported that Liaoning provincial Justice Department, provincial Bureau of Re-education through Labor, and Procuratorial Units have teamed up to look into the reports of torture.

Beijing rights defense lawyer Wang Quanzhang went to court to act as a defense counsel—but ending up being thrown into detention himself. The 10-day detention was cut short, however, after lawyers and citizens protested outside the court and detention center.

The case is the first of its kind where a judge, in open court, has ordered that a working lawyer be detained, according to analyses on Chinese dissident websites, and it has attracted the widespread criticism from civil rights lawyers in China.

It’s like clockwork in China: the Communist Party holds a large political meeting in Beijing, and all around the country security forces are mobilized to arrest, harass, and detain, anyone considered a threat to what the Party calls stability. This is often mixed with directed propaganda messages to media, and censorship on what they can and cannot report.

Chinese scholars, dissidents, and bloggers this week condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s official reaction to the North Korean nuclear test that took place Tuesday after the Party offered up a lukewarm response to Pyongyang’s testing just miles from the border.

The Party also did not inform some residents on the border that an explosion took place, with some local Chinese thinking that the nuclear-triggered aftershock was an earthquake.

Chinese who are tired of unremitting food scandals, and fearful that the next milk or meat purchased might have unknown industrial chemicals in it, now have a new option: an at-home testing kit which can determine if their food is toxic.

The kit was developed at Tianjin University of Science and Technology in northern China by researchers, reported the state-run Xinhua News Agency. It gives a result in a few minutes.

Over 1,900 Chinese people in northeastern China have signed a petition calling for the release of two elderly women who were jailed for several years for practicing Falun Gong, a traditional spiritual practice that has been persecuted for over 13 years.

A senior Chinese propaganda official was removed from his post shortly after his jilted mistress posted a detailed account of their affair online. While it seems like a mere sex scandal, the quick removal of the official is believed to be an effort by China’s new leadership to take over the state’s propaganda apparatus.

Yi Junqing, director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was removed from his post because of an “improper life style,” state media Xinhua reported on Jan. 17.

Chinese academics, bloggers, and even some state-run media have urged the ruling Communist Party to loosen its grip on state agencies to more accurately report on pollution and smog that has enveloped Beijing and dozens of other cities in recent days.

According to reports, China experienced some of its worst air pollution on record over the weekend, prompting calls for the official Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science to revoke its status as a monitoring station.

More than 30 cities, including Beijing, have been covered in dense smog over the past several days.