Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1488

Calls For Transparency in China Labor Camp Reform

Chinese authorities are quietly reforming the country's controversial "re-education through labor" system amid growing calls for public information on the process, activists said on Thursday. The government is turning many of the existing facilities into drug rehabilitation units, the U.S.-based Duihua Foundation said in an article on its website. Read more

China's state newspaper praises Edward Snowden

China's top state newspaper has praised the fugitive US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden for "tearing off Washington's sanctimonious mask" and rejected accusations Beijing had facilitated his departure from Hong Kong. The strongly worded front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist party, responded to harsh criticism of

- Kina-krise vil ramme hele verden

Kinas økonomi utgjør bare 15 prosent av den globale økonomien, men Kinas vekst står for hele 30 prosent. Det betyr at alle som har med landet å gjøre, vil merke den varslede nedgangen, skriver Dagens Næringsliv. Les mer

Hva betyr Kinas "fall" for Norge?

Kinas sterke vekstperiode ser ut til å være over. Befolkningen eldes og arbeidskraften blir dyrere. Resulatet er svekket konkurranseevne. Det betyr at Kina må ta nye grep, men også alle andre land som har med Kina å gjøre. Også Norge, skriver sjeføkonom Jan L. Andersen. Les mer

Tragedien i India - skapt av mennesker?

Det voldsomme regnværet som de siste dagene har rammet det nordlige India, har medført store tap av liv og eiendom. Ennå sitter 40 000 mennesker fast i de flomherjede områdene. Har menneskers tukling med den sårbare naturen i Himalaya gjort vondt verre? Les Torbjørn Færøviks kommentar i Dagsavisen

Secret Societies Mushroom in Southern China

Authorities in southern China are increasingly worried about a growing number of secret, mutual assistance societies that have sprung up in recent years to address growing social inequalities, official media reports say. Southern and eastern China is the traditional home of secret societies, known in Western popular culture as "triads." Read more

Chinese Activist Praises Taiwan’s Democracy

Chen Guangcheng, the legal activist who left China with his family amid a diplomatic crisis last year, praised Taiwanese democracy on Monday while refusing to talk about controversies in the United States.

Read more

Australia: Closer to China by degrees

Recent news from China and America has caused some panic around the world and should reinforce the view that the Australian economy of the early 2000s will not come back, regardless of who is in power after 14 September. Read more

- China must end silence on injustice

Jia Zhangke, a leading Chinese director has warned the country faces a rising tide of violence unless it tackles its social problems, as he discussed his graphic new film. While A Touch of Sin's themes of injustice and exploitation are familiar territory for Jia Zhangke, its style is a stark departure from his usual contemplative tone. Critics have described it as "ultra violent" and compared it

Inside the secret Chinese jails that strike fear into the Communist Party

The Communist Party is notorious for the ruthlessness with which it pursues its
opponents. But what is less well known is how viciously it sometimes treats its
own members. Read more