Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1436

China’s Crackdown on the Foreign Press

The Chinese government is threatening to expel nearly two dozen foreign correspondents, working for the Times and Bloomberg News, in retaliation for investigations that exposed the private wealth of Chinese leaders. It is the Chinese government’s most dramatic attempt to insulate itself from scrutiny in the thirty-five years since China began opening to the world. Read more

Will China Shut Out the Foreign Press?

Some two dozen journalists employed by The New York Times and Bloomberg News have not yet received the visas they need to continue to report and live in China after the end of this year. Without them, they will effectively be expelled from the country. Visiting Beijing earlier this week, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden met reporters from The Times and Bloomberg and told them he had raised the

Decades After the Cultural Revolution, a Rare Letter of Remorse

In an apology for his actions as a student during the Cultural Revolution, Chen Xiaolu, the son of China’s famed Foreign Minister, Chen Yi, published a notice in his school alumni blog in August. A profile based on interviews with Mr. Chen in the Saturday editions of the New York Times and the International New York Times refers to the apology, a rare expression of remorse from someone involved

JP Morgan and the children of China’s ruling elite

Federal authorities have obtained confidential documents that shed new light on JPMorgan Chase’s decision to hire the children of China’s ruling elite, securing emails that show how the bank linked one prominent hire to “existing and potential business opportunities” from a Chinese government-run company. Read more

Sør-Korea oppretter sin egen luftforsvarssone

Regjeringen i Seoul har besluttet å opprette en luftforsvarssone i Kinahavet. Deler av den overlapper med den sonen Kina har etablert. Dermed er det duket for en ny runde i den betente havstriden. Les mer

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Calls for China Talks

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to reset relations after an escalation in bilateral tensions, invoking a 2006 visit to Beijing during his first administration. “Since there are issues, it is all the more important to have a leaders’ meeting,” Abe said in an interview in the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo. Read more

Bildene som ikke vil forsvinne

Bildene har satt seg fast. Hver eneste morgen de siste ukene våkner jeg av at filmen inne i hodet ebber ut. Scener fra Tacloban, Filippinene, etter den tropiske syklonens herjinger. Korrespondentbrev fra NRKs Anders Magnus

Chinese Police Recommend Trial for Rights Advocate

The police in Beijing have recommended that one of China’s most prominent human rights advocates, Xu Zhiyong, be tried for his role in organizing demonstrations demanding that the Communist Party disclose officials’ wealth and provide equal educational opportunities, his lawyer and a friend said Friday. Read more

China Pressures U.S. Journalists, Prompting Warning From Biden

China appears ready to force nearly two dozen journalists from American news organizations to leave the country by the end of the year, a significant increase in pressure on foreign news media that has prompted the American government’s first public warning about repercussions. Read more

Should we fear the growth of Huawei?

First of all, who and what is Huawei? It has 150,000 employees, and a
worldwide business-customer base. Yet even its top executives admit it's the
least famous big company in the world. The company started life in Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong, in 1987. Its shy
founder, Ren Zhengfei (still in charge), was a former engineer with the Chinese
army who saw a unique opportunity developing in