Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1368

Labor Program in China Moves to Scatter Uighurs Across Han Territory

As a winter chill settled across China’s far northwest, 489 people boarded a chartered train in the city of Urumqi for the 50-hour ride to the country’s opposite corner, in semitropical Guangdong Province, to take up new factory jobs. Read more

To Impress APEC Leaders, China Cracks Down on Beijing Life

Thousands of factories have closed and thousands more have been ordered to reduce emissions by 30 percent. Across a nearly California-sized area around Beijing, tens of millions of people in 17 major cities can drive only on alternate days. Read more

China and Japan Reach Accord on Disputed Islands: Let’s Agree to Disagree

Signaling a potential thaw in their long-frozen relations, Chinaand Japan announced Friday that they had effectively agreed to disagree over the sovereignty of disputed islands in the East China Sea and to gradually resume diplomatic and security discussions. Read more

Chinese President’s Delegation Tied to Illegal Ivory Purchases During Africa Visit

Members of the delegation used Mr. Xi Jinping's visit as an opportunity to procure so much illegal ivory that local prices doubled to $700 per kilogram, or about $318 per pound. Read more

The Sinocism China Newsletter, October 6 2014

Get smarter about China. Read more

Guo Jian on his Tiananmen Square stand: 'I'm so proud of what I did'

Despite the  five years stipulated for his banishment, Guo has significant doubts as to whether he will ever return to China to live and work. Read more

Beijing attempts to cut air pollution for Apec summit

More than 20 world leaders, including Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Shinzo Abe of Japan, will attend the major international meeting to discuss regional trade and investment deals. Beijing officials will not stand to see them photographed in masks. Read more

Britain soft on China over Hong Kong crisis, says Chris Patten

Britain is not putting enough pressure on China to stick to its side of an agreement on the transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty because it is worried about damaging trade links, the former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten has said. Read more

Myanmar er inne i en kritisk fase

Skal, skal ikke? Lederne i Myanmar nøler med å ta de siste stegene mot demokrati. Om ett år skal det holdes valg i landet. Men ennå er det uklart om Aung San Suu Kyi får lov til å kjempe om presidentvervet. Les Torbjørn Færøviks kommentar i Dagsavisen

Chinese Communist Party’s great leap backward

President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign was supposed to signify a shift toward a more transparent system based on the rule of law. But the fact is that the officials who have been purged so far have been Xi’s political adversaries, and the entire enterprise has served to consolidate his power, writes Xia Yeliang, a former professor of economics at Peking University. Read more