Author: John Kennedy

  • China: Verdict postponed in Fujian netizen trial

    A long overdue verdict was expected today in the “false accusations” trial of activists Fan Yanqiong (范燕琼), You Jingyou (游精佑) and Wu Huaying (吴华英) who have remained in police custody in Fuzhou since their arrests last summer.

    The charges against them stem from a filmed interview with Lin Xiuying in which she details her suspicions that her daughter, Yan Xiaoling, was murdered after being gang-raped at the hands of police. The footage was put online and passed around, leading to a number of arrests of netizens beginning in June 2009; while several were soon released, as for the two women and one man still in custody, noted in the EastSouthWestNorth blog post linked to above, “Lin Xiuying has said many times that the defendants were arrested for helping her.”

    A number of netizens gathered at the courthouse in Fuzhou's Mawei district prior to the trial this morning to report the outcome via microblog. Among those was well-known citizen journalist and poverty activist Tiger Temple (Laohu Miao) who shortly after nine a.m. tweeted [zh] that the court session had lasted only a minute, with the judge choosing to postpone the verdict pending further investigation.

    Lawyer for the three netizens, Liu Xiaoyuan, who has written nearly 200 blog posts on developments in the case, stated in an interview with the Chinese Human Rights Defenders website shortly after the trial that, having just been barred from entering the local petition office, his next step would be to file a complaint with the procuratorate, citing lack of evidence. Liu also pointed out in the interview that results of the judge's earlier call for further investigation had not been made known to him.

    Outside the courthouse following the trial, those present estimated a crowd of nearly a thousand; scuffles with police and security personnel reportedly took place with cameras being confiscated and photos deleted. Several which were earlier accessible on Chinese microblogging platform Zuosa can no longer be viewed, while others from Tiger Temple remain:

    anothermother

    现场来了一个母亲控诉福州司法黑暗。

    One mother at the scene came forward to denounce judiciary in Fuzhou for their shady behavior.

    whydaughter

    WHY女儿杜梅控诉流氓打人和抢走相机和手机,现在还没归还。

    Wu Huaying's daughter Du Mei denounced the hired thugs for hitting her and snatching away her camera and cellphone, which they've yet to return

    [update: more photos from outside the courtroom can be seen here]

    Currently on Tiger Temple's blog is a video clip in which Lin Xiuying presents the many developments and documents related to the case, including photos of her daughter's corpse.

  • China: Journalists unite to demand governor’s resignation

    Public anger continues to spread following the incident which saw governor of Hubei province Li Hongzhong [de] snatch a recording device out of the hands of reporter Liu Jie in between sessions at the ongoing Lianghui.

    Taking their cue from a speech from Prime Minister Wen Jiabao leading up to the Lunar New Year about people's need for greater dignity and another last week calling for greater public supervision of the government, journalists, academics and others from across the country have launched a petition demanding Li Hongzhong's resignation.

    This follows growing, since rejected, demand since the incident for an apology from Li, perhaps most notably in a March 8 editorial (now harmonious) from Caijing magazine, ‘Would Governor Li please apologize?”. Sophie Beach at China Digital Times has a thorough roundup of the various facets to the story so far.

    penrecorder
    “This ‘Two Sessions’ recorder is stealing-, grabbing- and governor-proof, perfect for you female reporters…”

    The petition was launched Saturday morning with a number of prominent names and over 200 signatories in total by the latest tally; the number keeps growing on a Google Buzz thread, where an English translation of the petition has appeared, reading in part:

    In their many weighty opinions on this matter, those from both the news and academic worlds speak now with the same voice, having found, in the shared shame this incident has brought upon them, the resolve to unite in condemning the terrific impact the Li Hongzhong incident has had. Regardless of your medium, be that newspaper, magazine, television, radio or microblog, or be you journalist from north or south, please do not hesitate in your resolve to continue reporting this story as it develops, as this is a battle for all of our rights.

    We look to news workers to raise your arms and voice your concerns, at the same time that we welcome citizens to second the points made within this petition. Our tolerance has run its length and extends no further. People need to be reminded that journalists still exist in this world, as well as to be reminded what being a journalist means; more importantly, people need to know that their civil rights still belong to them and them alone. Having witnessed senior official Li's rage, the time has now come for him to see and hear the fury of the news media profession and how far that fury has now spread.

    Beijing-based writer, blogger, publisher and Twitter fiend Mo Zhixu offers a bit more perspective on the backlash against Li:

    12:38 AM Mar 12th 我觉得吧,省长抢笔事件在推特上也不要太追究了,说到底这事情跟新闻自由也没多大关系,不过是地方大员藐视了一哈中央媒体权威,如果两会自由采访,抢笔事件才与自由言论有关吧

    I think with this Governor Li pen recorder-snatching incident, people here on Twitter shouldn't take it too far. All in all, this doesn't really have too much to do with press freedom, it's just a matter of a local government big shot being contemptuous of the authority of central government media. If there were in fact press freedom at Lianghui, then snatching someone's pen recorder would have something to do with freedom of speech.

    12:39 AM Mar 12th 没日人民报的证件,连被抢的资格都没有,所以,这事件提升到新闻自由的高度,我看也不靠谱

    If you don't carry People's Daily ID, then you don't even qualify to have your recording equipment snatched away. Which is why I think it's way off-base to play this up into an incident of press freedom [infringement]

    1:04 AM Mar 12th 我并没有说不应该关注抢笔事件,我只是强调,这事情跟新闻自由关系不大。通过掩盖当下媒体的权力属性,将这个事件包装成新闻自由事件,在我看来是不成立的

    I'm not saying attention shouldn't be paid this pen recorder-snatching incident, I'm only emphasizing that it doesn't have much concern with press freedom. It's hard to make that case if you deny the power that [certain] media currently have and repackage this as a press freedom incident
  • China: Provincial governor threatens questioning reporter

    Lianghui is in full swing, and media continue to find creative ways to report on the latest developments.

    Journalists present at the meetings don't get many opportunities to interview higher-up representatives or committee members. A chance yesterday to put questions to governor of Hubei province Li Hongzhong ended for one reporter when he responded to hers by threatening to complain to her boss; below is constitutional lawyer and blogger Liu Xiaoyuan's post on what took place, borrowing heavily from blogger and Southern Media Group journalist Shi Feike:

    据新浪微博披露,3月7日,湖北代表团开放团组。大批记者涌入。开放会议结束后,湖北省长李鸿忠步进贵宾厅接受央视“小撒探会”专访。节目录制中,各路记者围团等候。毕。马上采访。第一财经的问题回答完毕、新华社的回答完毕。省长洋洋洒洒,大谈湖北各种优势,发展势头良好。

    According to word on the Sina microblogs, on March 7 the delegation of Hubei representatives held an open group meeting. A pack of reporters flooded in. After the meeting wrapped up, Hubei governor Li Hongzhong stepped into the VIP hall to be interviewed for a CCTV feature. While the program was being filmed, reporters from different media waited on the sidelines. When that wrapped up, their interviews immediately began. When the question from China Business News was answered, and the question from Xinhua News Agency was answered, the governor waxed eloquent on the many attractive features of Hubei province, its stellar economic growth.

    工作人员正欲开道护送省长离开。一京华时报女记者急切的问:省长,您怎么看待邓玉娇?李鸿忠大怒,脸色在0。1秒内阴沉下来,怒视着该记者。更是在大把握着录音笔的手中准确找到该记者的录音笔,动作隐蔽但坚定的将其夺下。随后愤愤步向走廊。在大门处,李又停下来,怒视该记者“你是哪个媒体的?”“我是人民日报的”(注:京华时报乃人民日报下属市场报)。“你还是党报的!党报怎么舆论导向的?我找你社长去!!”然后李鸿忠头也不回走向电梯回房。一众记者傻眼。据说,此时,这位女记者眼圈当场就红了,很委屈。

    Then the workers began trying to clear a path for the governor to leave. One reporter from Beijing Times hurriedly asked: Governor, what are your thoughts on Deng Yujiao? Li Hongzhong became enraged, and his face went cloudy in 0.1 seconds flat as he scowled at this reporter. He looked at the pen recorder and the hands holding it and, moving subtly but firmly, grabbed hold of them. He then stormed out into the hall. At the main door, Li stopped and asked furiously of this reporter, “which media are you from?” “I'm from People's Daily” (note: Beijing Times is a commercial paper affiliate of People's Daily). “And you're a Party paper! This isn't how a Party paper handles opinion guidance! I'm going to your publisher!!” And then without looking back, Li Hongzhong went to the elevator and back to his room. The reporters standing around looked on, dumbfounded. Reportedly, at this time, this female reporter began to tear up, feeling hurt.

    而现场记者还透露,湖北省政府的工作人员也许是担心李鸿忠省长的失态之语被发布,还抢走了这位女记者的录音笔,是否归还不知道。(出处http://shifeike.blog125.fc2.com/blog-entry-84.html)

    Reporters at the scene have gone on to reveal that, perhaps out of worry that recording of Governor Li Hongzhong's lapse would leak out, workers from the Hubei provincial government office grabbed this reporter's pen recorder, and whether or not it has been returned is unknown. (via Shi Feike's blog)

    Toward the end of the post, Liu himself writes:

    一个省长如此失态对待记者,责疑记者“怎么引导舆论导向”,李鸿忠的行为,与去年逯军责疑记者为谁说话,其实是如出一辙。省长也蛮横对待记者,失去的不只是官员风度还有民心。

    For a governor to lose composure and treat a reporter like this, accosting a reporter for their ‘handling of opinion guidance'; Li Hongzhong's behavior as such is similar to last year's incident in which Lu Jun questioned a reporter, ‘who do you speak for?'. For a provincial governor to treat a reporter just as outrageously, what's lost is not just official composure, but public morality as well.

    In the Shi Feike post linked to by Liu, there's this audio recording of the altercation between Li and the reporter. Regarding the incident, Phoenix Television news editor and reporter Rose Luqiu Luwei wrote today on Twitter:

    和被李鸿忠责骂的记者聊过,还好,她的上司不觉得她有错,大家都觉得奇怪,邓玉娇又不是敏感问题,爲何对方如此大动肝火?至于说记者“欺骗”,京华时报确实是人民日报的子报,这些记者外出采访,通常会戴上人民日报集团这样的大帽子,方便采访,不然那些封疆大吏不会理睬这些地方报纸。

    I just spoke with the journalist who got chewed out by Li Hongzhong. She's okay, her superior doesn't feel she did anything wrong. People find it strange that someone would get so worked up, because Deng Yujiao isn't a sensitive issue. As for those saying she “deceived”, Beijing Times is in fact a child paper of People's Daily; when these reporters head out for interviews, they'll often identify themselves as from the People's Daily newspaper group, it helps secure interviews. Otherwise, provincial magnates would just ignore a local newspaper like this.
  • China: Proposal for corporate innovation before annual political gathering

    As China's annual Lianghui began today, online discussions abound with some of the more colorful motions to be debated over the coming days, such as that from blogging CPPCC member Zhang Xiaomei which seeks to have married men pay (indentured?) wives wages in exchange for housekeeping duties peformed. A large number of blog posts have focused on market fluctuations expected to accompany the political gathering.

    A post at Cricketdiane's WordPress blog has aggregated a number of articles from Chinese state media regarding this round of the Two Meetings.

    And while CCTV personality Wang Xiaoya was the go-to blogger for the inside scoop from the past several Lianghui, this year she seems to have traded blogging from the sessions for a project with Sohu in fielding questions and views across the Internet company's microblogging platform.

    Wang's move comes as more delegates than used to are blogging their own way to the meetings. For starters, there's Sina blogger Patriotic CEO (of aigo electronics) Feng Jun, who in a March 1 post decided to give readers a teaser on his proposal:

    “两会”即将召开,作为政协委员,我最近尝试通过微博征求大家的建设性意见,看到那么多畅所欲言的建议很感动,也感谢大伙对我的信任!在这里提前给大家透露一下,此次两会我提案的核心将放在“如何进一步促进民族品牌自主创新”方面。

    With Lianghui soon set to begin, as a CPPCC delegate I've been trying recently to gather people's constructive views via microblog. Seeing all those willing to speak freely with their suggestions, I was very moved, and I'm deeply thankful that you all have trust in me! So now I'd like to give everyone a sneak peek, and reveal that the focus of my Lianghui proposal is in “how to promote innovative autonomy in nation-branding”.

    三十年河东,三十年河西,知道的朋友应该理解,2010年将是中华民族从自信走向自豪的最关键的元年。2008年的奥运会和建国60周年庆典成功举办,尤其在全球经济危机的环境下,我们2009年的 GDP依然实现了8.7%的高增长,可以说现在咱们全民族的自信心和团队精神达都到了一个全新的高度。而且去年年底,国家领导人也正是号召要从“中国制造”转向“中国创造”,现在从天时地利人和来讲,现在是条件最好的。后续我会把提案的详细内容发上来,里面会涉及到舆论、知识产权、走出去等多个方面,欢迎各位网友多提意见,共同为中国的自主创新建言献策。

    Thirty years west of the river, thirty years east; people who agree should be able to understand that 2010 will be the year in which the Chinese nation moves from confidence onto pride. With the successful holding of both the Olympics and 60th anniversary of the PRC in 2008, particularly given the ongoing global economic crisis, and with our GDP maintaining 8.7% continued growth throughout 2009, you can say that the sense of confidence and unity of our entire nation has reached an all-time high. Further, at the end of last year, our national leaders made the call for a move from “made in China” to “created in China”. Now, given these favorable conditions and widespread popular support, our time has come. Later, I'll post the contents of my proposal here, which will deal with discussion, intellectual property, going global and other aspects. I welcome all netizens' views. Together, we will work out suggestions for China's innovative autonomy.

    The first of 100 comments on Feng's post reads:

    啥时候发文章发回复不被审核不被删了.中国创造才有戏.审核是创新的死敌.电影要审核,游戏要审核,网站要审核,连发个回复都要审核.还创新个屁

    When we can publish blog posts or leave comments without needing approval or getting deleted, ‘created in China' might have a chance. Censorship is the mortal enemy of innovation. Movies need to be approved, computer games need to be approved, websites need to be approved, even posting comments needs approval. Innovation my butt.
  • China: What will shutting down Beijing’s liaison offices do for petitioners?

    It's last month's news, but the story first reported by Outlook Weekly that most of China's version of K Street, several thousand ‘Beijing liaison offices' scattered throughout the city, will be shut down before July, has potentially wider impact than just helping to curb rampant corruption.

    Facilities initially set up to handle relations between Beijing and local governments, the introduction of market economy policies saw a surge of the ‘liaison' offices into Beijing during the nineties, from inland cities to rural conglomerates to universities across the country, each representing various interests in lobbying for greater funding from the central government.

    The goal of the State Council now, by planning to shift that role upward to provincial-level representative offices, seems to be to bring more transparency and oversight to China's lobbying sector. Many of the larger liaison offices are best known for their own restaurants and other extravagant entertainment facilities used in lobbying efforts.

    Vice Dean of the department of agriculture and country development at Renmin University Zheng Fengtian wrote about the move in a much-read post [zh] from January. Like many people, he strongly doubts that many of Beijing's various liaison offices will ultimately be sent packing. He identifies four groups of people who stand to lose out, given such a move:

    1. Beijing's local government and service industry, departments of GDP statistics, the realty sector, hotels, halls, restaurants, commercial buildings and entertainment clubs, etc. “All the eggs will be broken when this nest gets raided, even suppliers of fake Moutai liquor stand to lose,” for all the ‘contributions' liaison offices make to the Beijing economy.

    2. Ministry and commission cadres, who won't know how to decide who deserves how much of all their earmarked funding.

    3. Local government officials and their families who love Beijing so much; they might still have time to come in from the countryside to go shopping or party it up on official business, they'll just have to find their own places to stay.

    On a more serious note, Zheng's fourth group refers to the more recent role that, through redundancy and ending of practices such as custody and repatriation, liaison offices now find themselves devoting most of their time to—what China Daily calls ‘maintaining stability' and Human Rights Watch explains as the dissuading, intercepting and sometimes kidnapping of petitioners having traveled to Beijing from each liaison office's home jurisdiction:

    驻京办不能拆的另外一个主要工作是担负维稳工作,目前已演变成驻京办工作的重中之重。过去那些受冤的小民,在紧要关头一般都要到京告状。各地乡长镇长局长们也要来辨认领回,驻京办应该是一个好场所,最少能够让领导们好好休息休息。据透露,每年仅全国“两会”期,各省市区驻京办成功劝访人数达十多万人。如果驻京办给关了,那些来京人员就要与访民们同住信访村了,这不间接挤占了本已拥挤不堪的信访村了?也许驻京办关了以后访民们有冤了就因此不会再选择到京告状了,因为没有驻京办宽阔的住宿,太挤了。

    Another main reason why Beijing liaison offices won't get shut down lies with their responsibilities in maintaining social stability, which currently has already become the priority in the work Beijing liaison offices do.

    In the past, citizens who suffered injustice would usually have no choice but to turn to Beijing to seek redress. For heads of the various townships, towns and departments out to track them down and bring them home, Beijing liaison offices were a good place to start, or at the very least were a place for such leaders to get some good rest.

    According to those supposedly in the know, every year, the various provincial, municipal and regional liaison offices in Beijing during the annual session of the Two Meetings alone successfully discourage more than a hundred thousand people from petitioning. If these Beijing liaison offices get shut down, those people stationed in Beijing might just have to start living with petitioners there in petition villages, but then wouldn't that then just be taking up space in petition villages which already don't have any left to spare?

    Perhaps for that very reason, once the Beijing liaison offices get shut down, petitioners with their cases of injustice will just stop coming to Beijing to seek redress. Without those space Beijing liaison office dormitories, it'd just be too crowded.

    Some of the comments on Zheng's post:

    大哥,你不要命啦?!
    这个也是你能说的话?
    和谐设备,小心

    Bro, are you trying to get yourself in trouble?!
    Can you even say stuff like that?
    Harmonious society…watch yourself

    你要上访吗?第一次劝诫,第二次拘留,第三次劳教。某地方电视台公然打出这样宣传口号

    You gonna go petition now? The first time, they'll try and talk you out of it. Second time, you get detained. Third time, off to re-education through labor. I actually saw this on one television station that used it as a propaganda slogan.

    支持 说的太好了 腐败太重了哦

    Nice, well-put. Corruption is way out of hand.

    国家是谁的?是人民的!国家的财富是谁的?还是是人民的!她不是某几个领导人的!也不是少数利益集团的!更不是某个人数众多的党派的!而是中国人民的!每个人民都有一份!每个中国人的利益都应该得到尊重!因此人民的利益高于一切!

    “让一部分人先富起来”的话,不过是给自己混点实惠!富得只是他们自己,没有看到带动广大人民群众共同致富!从历史上看人就是有穷有福的,好不容易伟大领袖毛主席让人人平等了,结果又让这些乱臣贼子给弄成贫富差距巨大了!实际上不是他们富了,而是广大人民群众变穷了。

    钱是有数的,不在老百姓的兜里,就在那些当权者兜里!就在那些执政者兜里!这不过是一场财富的再分配!这是对人民的犯罪!

    Who does the country belong to? The people! Who does the country's finances belong to? Also the people! Not just to a few leaders! And not just to a small number of special interest groups! And especially not just to the many members of one high-membership party! It belongs to the Chinese people! The interests of each and every Chinese person deserve to be respected! The interests of the People come before everything else!

    “Let some people get rich first,” they're just padding their own pockets! The only ones getting rich are themselves, because I don't see any signs of the vast masses getting wealthy together! Judging from history, there are two kinds of people: rich and poor. Look what it took for our great leader Chairman Mao to give everyone equality, and now the result is that these traitors have created this enormous gap between the rich and the poor! When actually it's not that they're getting richer, it's that the masses are getting poorer.

    Money is finite; if it's not in the pockets of the people, then it's going into the pockets of the rulers! In the pockets of those in power! This isn't just a redistribution of wealth! This is a crime against the people!

    上访者更能表达民情了吧

    Petitioners are much better at expressing the feelings of the people

    什么劝访,就是强制押回关押,南通就常有这样的是发生,关闭驻京办老百姓举手赞诚。

    What are you talking about, discouraging them. They either get forcibly returned home or else locked up. Stuff like this happens in Nantong all the time. The people raise their hands in support of shutting down the Beijing liaison offices.
  • China: Turning Buzz back on

    With Google having fixed privacy issues in Buzz, Rebecca MacKinnon opted back in to the service today and has shared her observations on how Buzz is being received by Chinese users.

  • China: Photos from outside the Tan Zuoren trial

    Media, diplomats and even a monk were present at activist Tan Zuoren's trial yesterday where he was sentenced to five years in prison. Media activist Yang Licai today uploaded his photos from outside the courthouse.

  • China: Let Feng Zhenghu come home, to jail time

    Feng Zhenghu's 92-day protest in Narita airport has ended and he now has a flight back to Shanghai booked for this Friday, just in time for Chinese New Year, but updates [zh] to his Twitter account over the past weekend suggest that Feng remains unsure over whether he'll be let back into China. This Friday at noon will be his ninth consecutive attempt to return home.

    fzhu92

    Why hasn't Feng, with his valid passport, been allowed to return to China, a right supposedly afforded to all Chinese citizens? In the absence of an explanation from Beijing, many have looked to Shanghai and see Feng's story as part of a larger trend of local authorities' growing willingness to violate rule of law with disregard to response from the Central government.

    Mainland Chinese media aren't reporting on Feng's current forced exile, and many blog posts and BBS threads on the topic have been harmonized; sentiment within China's virtual (self-imposed) exile community on Twitter stands quite strongly in Feng's favor, but in a case this like what more is there really to say?

    A lot it turns out, judging from this archived Anti-CNN thread which dates back to December and runs on for five pages; comments from the first page illustrate a seldom-heard perspective on the larger story behind Feng's situation, that of the plight of figures in China's exiled democracy movement, several of whom have recently begun using sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with a growing number of mainland netizens:

    为你而注册:
    冯正虎的事情,我好像叛变了
    他还是有点钱的,要说他是美分党很难让人相信。
    他没有任何组织,说他是民运,也没人相信。
    555回不了国。连一个理由都没有。
    上海怎么了?

    I Signed up 4u:

    WRT Feng Zhenghu's case, I think I've switched sides
    You know he does have a fair amount of his own money, nobody's really going to believe that he's bankrolled by the US gov.

    He's not affiliated with any groups, so it's hard to paint him as part of the democracy movement.
    They won't let him come home, and he hasn't even been given a reason.

    Just what is going on there in Shanghai?

    liuyw2009:
    你凭什么认为自己了解他?你认识他?

    liuyw2009:

    Who are you to speak up for him? Do you know him?

    为你而注册:
    我不了解他。
    就是因为不了解才好奇。究竟什么原因?
    难道不需要任何理由,就可以采取这种方式?
    这才是让人恐惧的地方。

    I Signed up 4u:

    No, I don't.

    But it's because I don't know him that I'm curious. I want to know what this is all about.
    I mean they have to have some sort of reason to take steps like this, no?

    That's the scary part.

    shangqunsheng:
    据了解,冯正虎拥有日本居留签证,日本入国管理局多次劝他入境。(摘自南海网)
    日本人吗?仍是中国籍吗?如不是中国人当然可以拒绝入境。

    shangqunsheng:

    From what I know, Feng Zhenghu has a Japanese residency visa, the Immigration Bureau of Japan has let him enter the country numberous times. (according to HainanNet)

    wilkins:
    据称,他是三股势力的其中之一。
    众人恍然大悟,明白了。

    wilkins:

    They say he's mixed in with one of the Three Evils.
    The people's eyes have been opened, they understand now.

    shangqunsheng:
    问:因为被中国相关部门拒绝入境,中国公民冯正虎至今仍在日本机场滞留。为什么他作为中国公民却不被允许入境?如果他被允许回到中国,中方将如何处置他?
    答:中国有关部门根据相关法律,如《中华人民共和国公民出境入境管理法》来处理。具体情况请你向有关部门去了解。(中国外交部答记者问)
    以往是中国人,目前可能不是中国人。只是华裔而已。

    shangqunsheng:

    Q: Chinese citizen Feng Zhenghu, having been refused entry to China by the relevant authorities, to his day has been taking abode in Japan's Narita Airport. As a Chinese citizen, why is he not being allowed to enter China? Also, if he is allowed to return to China, how will he be treated?

    A: The relevant Chinese authorities will deal with this according to the relevant Chinese laws, such as . For the exact details you can contact the relevant departments. (response to a journalist's question at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference)

    He used to be a Chinese citizen, now all he might be is just an ethnic Chinese.

    woshizx:
    [b]中华人民共和国公民出境入境管理法实施细则[/b]
    http://www.gov.cn/banshi/2005-08/31/content_27719.htm
    第十五条 有下列情形之一的,边防检查站有权阻止出境、入境:
    […]
    (二)持用无效护照或者其他无效出境入境证件的;
    […]
    第二十二条 中华人民共和国护照和其他出境入境证件的持有人有下列情形之一的,其护照、出境入境证件应予以吊销或者宣布作废:
    […]
    (三)从事危害国家安全、荣誉和利益的活动的。
    […]

    I am ZX:

    Details on implementation of the Law of the PRC on the Control of the Exit and Entry of Citizens

    Article 15 Under any of the following circumstances, border inspection points have the authority to refuse entry or exit:
    […]
    2. Possession of an invalid passport or other invalid entry/exit document;
    […]
    Article 22 PRC passports and other entry/exit documents will under any of the following circumstances be revoked or declared invalid:
    […]
    3. A Chinese citizens commits an act harmful to the security, honor or interests of the country.
    […]

    为你而注册:
    (三)从事危害国家安全、荣誉和利益的活动的。
    ——————————————————-
    依据这条?
    那就宣布护照吊销就完了。搞得满城风雨。

    I Signed up 4u:

    3. A Chinese citizens commits an act harmful to the security, honor or interests of the country.

    So it was based on this?
    So then declare his passport invalid and be done with it, no need for all this fuss.

    kachemi:
    喜欢美国去美国啊 不要回来装民主的精蝇

    kachemi:

    If he likes America so much he should just go there, don't coming back pretending to be a democracy leader or whatever

    woshizx:
    依据这条?
    那就宣布护照吊销就完了。搞得满城风雨。

    冯的护照早就过期了,他自己说过中国驻日本大使馆不给他续签。
    政府基本上一句话不说应该是想冷处理这种事,这种的事情你一旦回应就被黏上了,到时候什么西媒、什么NGO、什么“不同政见者”甚至这个那个国家的外交部、议会都会卷进来,所以干脆不回应。
    他有本事就连续几年在东京成田机场耗着,到时候看到底是中国政府着急还是日本政府着急。
    这个人早年反对1989年那起风波里政府的决策,这次美国总统来访又公开呼吁奥巴马在人权问题上要向中国施压。
    还有其他,不一而足。

    I am ZX:

    So it was based on this?
    So then declare his passport invalid and be done with it, no need for all this fuss.

    Feng's passport expired a long time ago, he said himself that the Chinese embassy in Japan wouldn't renew his visa.
    By staying silent, the Chinese government probably just wants this to blow over; the minute you start responding to things like this, then you're in it, and Western media, NGOs, ‘dissidents' or whatever, even foreign ministries from this or that country, they all get involved. Which is why no response whatsoever should be given.

    If he's so smart, let him spend a few more years in Narita Airport, then we'll see who's really worked up over this, the Chinese government, or Japan's.

    First he opposed the government's policies during that storm in 1989, now when the American President came to visit he openly called on Obama to put pressure on China for its human rights issues.

    There's more, that's not all he's done.

    为你而注册:
    这件事情我感觉不好处理。这个人和海外民运还是有本质区别,他的所谓反对政府的事情更多的是观点而不是行动。
    感觉上海方面把对付海外民运那套滥用了。网络舆情不利于政府的。

    I Signed up 4u:

    I just feel like there's no simple way to handle this. He's obviously different from those in the overseas democracy movement, even his so-called opposition to the government at most is just a point of view and not yet an action.

    It feels like Shanghai is just bringing the overseas democracy movement into this as an excuse to deal with him. Online opinion on this is not in the government's favor.

    木兰歌:
    又一标准的送礼出境。

    Song of Mulan:

    Another classic example of sending gifts to other countries.

    相逢于海上:
    即使是民运、轮轮
    也应该让他回国,他要回来坐牢,你凭什么不让他坐牢。

    Met on the Sea:

    Even if he is part of the democracy movement or an FLGer
    They should still let him come back. If he wants to come back and go to prison, who are you to stop him?

    为你而注册:
    [quote]即使是民运、轮轮
    也应该让他回国,他要回来坐牢,你凭什么不让他坐牢。[/quote]
    还是有区别的,民运、轮轮这些说实话是真的对中国没有一点积极意义。
    这个冯的事情,他是明显的思想上是比较偏右的,但是行动上是比较温和的。也就是说说,然后帮别人维权提供法律帮组。
    其实像冯这样的很多。
    把他等同于海外民运、轮轮处理。
    会导致人人自危。
    温和右派有多少人?
    算1%吧,也是上千万。
    人人自危的结果。不妙!
    这件事情的处理感觉很不妥当。

    I Signed up 4u:

    Even if he is a democracy activist or FLGer
    They should still let him come back. If he wants to come back and go to prison, who are you to stop him?

    There's a difference. Those in the democracy movement, FLGers, to be honest they don't do China an inch of good.
    But with Feng, while his views are obviously pretty right wing, his actions are moderate enough. He'll talk a lot, but then he goes and helps people uphold their rights or provides legal support.

    Actually there's a lot of people like Feng.

    If we treated them all like democracy activists or FLGers, a lot of people would feel threatened.
    How many people would you say belong to the moderate right?
    Let's say about 1%, that's still in the tens of millions.
    Putting the fear into that many people? Bad idea!
    The way this is being handled just doesn't feel right.

    woshizx:
    [quote]即使是民运、轮轮
    也应该让他回国,他要回来坐牢,你凭什么不让他坐牢。[/quote]
    那不正好成就一帮所谓“义士”?
    撑死了最多关几年然后放出来,不正好给他们活动资本吗?然后造就一群达赖喇嘛第二?

    I am ZX:

    Even if he is part of the democracy movement or an FLGer
    They should still let him come back. If he wants to come back and go to prison, who are you to stop him?

    Wouldn't that then make them all a bunch of so-called ‘righteous knights'?

    If at most all you do is lock them up for a few years then let them out, isn't that just giving them political capital? Then wouldn't you just be making a bunch more Dalai Lama types?

    woshizx:
    [quote]还是有区别的,民运、轮轮这些说实话是真的对中国没有一点积极意义。
    这个冯的事情,他是明显的思想上是比较偏右的,但是行动上是比较温和的。也就是说说,然后帮别人维权提供法律帮组。
    其实像冯这样的很多。[/quote]
    也许,这个人做的事情不仅仅是现在媒体上公开的那些那么简单?
    类似的例子不是没有,比如沃维汉事件。

    I am ZX:

    There's a difference. Those in the democracy movement, FLGers, to be honest they don't do China an inch of good.

    But with Feng, while his views are obviously pretty right wing, his actions are moderate enough. He'll talk a lot, but then he goes and helps people uphold their rights or provides legal support.
    Actually there's a lot of people like Feng.

    Have you considered that maybe the things this guy has done aren't as simple as what's been openly put in media?
    It's not like there aren't any similar cases, like the Wo Weihan incident.

    wilkins:
    社会的改变,哪次不需要血来改变。
    就那么轻轻松松想翻了案,哪有那么容易

    wilkins:

    Since when has there been social change that hasn't had a cost in blood?
    You want his case to just be overturned like that? It's not that easy.

    相逢于海上:
    法律本来就是针对行为而不是针对某个主体的
    不管你是谁,犯了这个事情,就让你接受法律的处罚,你接受完处罚了,你就是正常的人了,该干嘛干嘛去。
    如果没犯这个事,不管你是什么身份,都不得处罚。
    坐牢的过程就是把你对社会做的恶都抵消了,抵消完了,就两不亏欠了,坐完牢,又是一条好汉。
    就像台湾的施明德,第一次犯事被关了12年,一出来马上又犯事,又关12年
    人家有种,愿意坐牢,你总不能为了防止他犯事,在坐完牢,和社会两不亏欠的情况下,把他关起来或者把他移送出境吧。人家和社会两不亏欠,是个正常人,你凭什么这么对待人家?
    凡是不以行为定罪,而以主体定罪的,皆是恶法,不值得遵守。
    所以,如果中国真的讲法治的话,应该是千方百计让所有的轮轮、民运引渡回国让他们接受法律的审判,审判完了,他们坐完牢了,又可以在中国自由活动了,如果再犯事再抓。顶多是第二次抓按照累犯从重处罚。
    如果中国政府不让他们回国,只能说明中国不是法治,而是人治。

    Met on the Sea:

    Law to begin with is used again specific actions, and not certain groups of people.

    It doesn't matter who you are, if you break the law, then you have to accept the legal punishment, and once you've done so, then you get to be a civilian again, that's how it goes.

    If you haven't broken the law, then regardless who you are, you shouldn't be punished.
    The process of sending people to prison is to cancel out the evil they've done to society. Once that's done, then nobody's owed anything. Once you've done your time, you get to be a man again.

    Just like Shih Ming-teh in Taiwan, he did 12 years for his first offense, then as soon as he got out, 12 more years for another.

    If people have the guts, and are willing to—and do—serve time, once they've repaid their debt to society, you can't just lock them up again or kick them out of the country just to stop them from doing the same thing again. When people have repaid their debt to society, they're free. Just where do you get off wanting to treat people like that?
    Any law which criminalizes people for things other than their actions, and seeks to criminalize entire communities, is inevitably a bad law, and one that doesn't deserve to be respected.

    Thus, if China is truly serious about implementing rule of law, it should do everything it can to extradite all FLGers and pro-democracy activists, give them all trials; when those are over, let them carry out their sentences, and be free to move around inside China again. If they continue to break the law, they'll be arrested again. If they get arrested a second time, at most they'll be sentenced as any repeat offenders would.

    If the Chinese government doesn't let them return, then all I can say is that China is not ruled by law, but by man.

    再大的罪恶也没有前线军官投敌叛变的罪恶大了,就是说林毅夫。
    可是台湾的“国防部”有说不许林毅夫回台湾吗?他们只是说林毅夫如果回台湾,就得接受法律的处罚,并不是一概拒绝他回台湾。
    林毅夫如果愿意坐牢,当然可以回去,坐完牢,他又可以在台湾自由活动了。
    可是我们呢?民运、轮轮,犯的事比的上林毅夫么?居然说一概不允许回来,人家愿意回来坐牢都不行,这是什么法治?分明是人治。

    In any case, there isn't any crime worse than high-ranking military officials turning traitor and going over to the other side, by which I'm referring to Justin Lin.

    But then hasn't Taiwan's “Ministry of Defense” said it won't let him return to Taiwan? By that they mean, if Justin Lin does return to Taiwan, he'll be subject to legal punishment, and not that they refuse to allow him to return.

    If Lin is willing to serve time, of course he can go back, go to prison, and then he'll be free to live in Taiwan again.

    But us? Do the crimes of the democracy movement or FLG compare to Justin Lin's? To go so far as to unconditionally not allow them to return, even if they're willing to go to prison for it, what kind of rule of law is that? Clearly, it's just rule of man.

    net2003:
    美国可以有叛国罪,为何中国不可有。
    为何中国的叛国者,总是可以厚着脸和中国谈人权讲法律,还那么的理直气壮。

    net2003:

    Treason is a crime in America, why can't it be in China?

    Why are China's traitors also so brazen about talking to China about human rights, about law, as if they're so convinced that they're in the right?

    woshizx:
    [quote]法律本来就是针对行为而不是针对某个主体的
    不管你是谁,犯了这个事情,就让你接受法律的处罚,你接受完处罚了,你就是正常的人了,该干嘛干嘛去。
    如果没犯这个事,不管你是什么身份,都不得处罚。
    坐牢的过程就是 …[/quote]
    不准回国也是有法律依据可循的。
    想回国?可以,登报声明反省,并且以实际行动证明不再从事危害国家安全活动。
    对违法行为的惩治手段并不是只有判刑一种,不准回国也是一种惩治措施。这种措施对于维护法律实施具有更好的效果,那就完全可以采用。

    I am ZX:

    Law to begin with is used again specific actions, and not certain groups of people.

    It doesn't matter who you are, if you break the law, then you have to accept the legal punishment, and once you've done so, then you get to be a civilian again, that's how it goes.

    If you haven't broken the law, then regardless who you are, you shouldn't be punished.

    The process of sending people to prison is to cancel out the evil they've done to society. Once that's done, then nobody's owed anything. Once you've done your time, you get to be a man again.

    Actually there is legal basis in not letting them return to China.

    You want to come back? Fine, declare it in the newspaper that you've changed your ways, and put action to your words to prove that you won't commit any more acts harmful to the security of the country.

    Jail time isn't the only means by which to punish illegal behavior, not letting them return to China is one too. If there are other methods which will have a better effect in upholding the law, then there's no reason why they can't be used.

    相逢于海上:
    [quote]美国可以有叛国罪,为何中国不可有。
    为何中国的叛国者,总是可以厚着脸和中国谈人权讲法律,还那么的理直气壮。[/quote]
    一个美国人犯了叛国罪逃亡在外
    美国政府一定是千方百计把他引渡回来,判处刑罚
    假如判处的有期徒刑不是太长,这个人坐完牢了还没死,一定是又放出来,成为一个正常的美国公民。
    绝对不是说,犯了事,拒绝你回国,也不给你判刑。

    Met on the Sea:

    Treason is a crime in America, why can't it be in China?

    Why are China's traitors also so brazen about talking to China about human rights, about law, as if they're so convinced that they're in the right?

    If an American commits treason and then flees the country

    The American government would certainly do everything in its power to extradite and them convict him.

    Say though that the sentence wasn't that long, that this person finishes his sentence and is still alive. He'd certainly be let out, and then revert to being a normal American citizen.

    They would never say, we'll you've committed a crime so we won't let you come back, and we won't sentence you either.

    woshizx:
    他们和中国谈人权讲法律,就真的是人权卫士护法先锋了?
    哪个家伙跟自己的国家为敌的时候,不是搞一堆冠冕堂皇的理由作为挡箭牌的?

    I am ZX:

    These people talking to the Chinese government about human rights and rule of law, are they really human rights defenders or the avant-garde in defending Falun Gong?

    Who hasn't, when going against his own country, come up with a hundred fancy reasons to serve as a pretext?

    net2003:
    美国的叛国罪应该是他们最严重的罪了。是可以定死刑的。

    net2003:

    I think treason is the most serious crime there is in America, punishable by death.

    相逢于海上:
    [quote]不准回国也是有法律依据可循的。
    想回国?可以,登报声明反省,并且以实际行动证明不再从事危害国家安全活动。
    对违法行为的惩治手段并不是只有判刑一种,不准回国也是一种惩治措施。这种措施对于维护法律实施具 …[/quote]
    我暂时无法知道是否有这样的处罚措施
    但是假如真的有的话,这样也是十分不人道的
    这样会导致他一辈子无法跟家人团聚
    除非他家人有本事全都移民出国

    Met on the Sea:

    Actually there is legal basis in not letting them return to China.

    You want to come back? Fine, declare it in the newspaper that you've changed your ways, and put action to your words to prove that you won't commit any more acts harmful to the security of the country.

    I can't say that I've ever heard of any steps like this ever having been taken.

    But to allow for a moment that they could, to do so would be completely inhumane.

    He'd be kept apart from his family for the rest of his life

    Unless his family has the wherewithal too immigrate elsewhere

    woshizx:
    [quote]一个美国人犯了叛国罪逃亡在外
    美国政府一定是千方百计把他引渡回来,判处刑罚
    假如判处的有期徒刑不是太长,这个人坐完牢了还没死,一定是又放出来,成为一个正常的美国公民。
    绝对不是说,犯了事,拒绝你回国,也 …[/quote]
    美国有美国的现实,中国有中国的国情。
    社会基础不一样,当然有不同的政策,包括法律适用的政策。

    I am ZX:

    If an American commits treason and then flees the country

    The American government would certainly do everything in its power to extradite and them convict him.
    Say though that the sentence wasn't that long, that this person finishes his sentence and is still alive. He'd certainly be let out, and then revert to being a normal American citizen…

    American has America's reality, China has China's national condition.

    The social foundations are different, of course they have different policies, including policies for application of the law.

    相逢于海上:
    [quote]美国的叛国罪应该是他们最严重的罪了。是可以定死刑的。[/quote]
    总之,一定是千方百计把犯了叛国罪的人引渡回来判处刑罚
    我们一样可以把冯正虎搞回来判刑
    他自己愿意回来坐牢
    我们的政府为何要让他逍遥法外,我怀疑政府包庇他,或者政府心虚

    Met on the Sea:

    I think treason is the most serious crime there is in America, punishable by death.

    Anyway, they'd still do everything they could to extradite a person who commits treason back for sentencing.
    We should bring Feng Zhenghu back for punishment the same way.

    He said he's willing to do jail time.

    So why does our government let him stay at large? I suspect the government's protecting him from something, either that or it itself is guilty.

    woshizx:
    [quote]我暂时无法知道是否有这样的处罚措施
    但是假如真的有的话,这样也是十分不人道的
    这样会导致他一辈子无法跟家人团聚
    除非他家人有本事全都移民出国 …[/quote]
    最有名的有家不能回的中国人,估计就是达赖喇嘛了。
    这个人当年从中印边境出逃的时候,我空军完全有实力把他炸死,实际上当时空军的飞机已经发现他了——但结果是毛泽东亲自决策把他放出去了。
    历史证明当时把达赖放出去是完全正确的。

    I am ZX:

    I can't say that I've ever heard of any steps like this ever having been taken.
    But to allow for a moment that they could, to do so would be completely inhumane.

    He'd be kept apart from his family for the rest of his life

    Unless his family has the wherewithal too immigrate elsewhere

    The most well-known Chinese person who can't go back to his own home, has probably got to be the Dalai Lama.
    At the time when he fled across the border into India, it was completely within the power of our air force to blow him up, in fact our air force planes at the time even saw him, only Mao Zedong himself decided to let him let him go.

    History has proven that letting him go at the time was completely the right decision.

    net2003:
    既然冯先生选择了那条路,一定是经过深思熟虑的。
    至于家庭什么的其它问题,一定是经过考虑了的。用不着我们操心。
    我精神上支持他,要鼓起勇气继续走下去。

    net2003:

    Seeing as how Mr. Feng has chosen the path he has taken, that can only have been after serious contemplation.

    As for his family and other such problems, he must have taken those into consideration as well, so it's not worth us sweating over.

    I support him, and I encourage him to be brave and continue to carry on.

    朝浪无语:
    某些人既然喜欢拿美国与中国来对比,但不愿意承认两者之间国情不同。那么我倒想问问:
    某人凭什么臆想美国会如何如何?
    驱逐出境是不是惩治?禁止入境是不是惩治?美国没有用这几招?何必一厢情愿的给自己圆谎?

    Silent Rising Wave:

    Since some people like to compare China to America, but aren't willing to admit any difference in national condition between these two countries, I just want to ask:

    On what are you basing your conjecture in saying America is such-and-such?

    Do you feel that expelling people from the country is a punishment or not? And barring them from entering the country? Hasn't America done precisely both of these things? Why should only one of these countries have to cover up its own hypocrisy?

    相逢于海上:
    [quote]某些人既然喜欢拿美国与中国来对比,但不愿意承认两者之间国情不同。那么我倒想问问:
    某人凭什么臆想美国会如何如何?
    驱逐出境是不是惩治?禁止入境是不是惩治?美国没有用这几招?何必一厢情愿的给自己圆谎? …[/quote]
    我只知道驱逐出境、禁止入境是针对外国人的
    还真没听说这个可以用来对付本国公民

    Met on the Sea:

    Since some people like to compare China to America, but aren't willing to admit any difference in national condition between these two countries, I just want to ask:

    On what are you basing your conjecture in saying America is such-and-such?

    Do you feel that expelling people from the country is a punishment or not? And barring them from entering the country? Hasn't America done precisely both of these things? Why should only one of these countries have to cover up its own hypocrisy?

    All I know is that deporting or barring people from the country is only used on foreigners.
    I've really never heard of this being used on a country's own citizens.

    朝浪无语:
    [quote]
    我只知道驱逐出境、禁止入境是针对外国人的
    还真没听说这个可以用来对付本国公民[/quote]
    我就知道某些人就是凭主观臆想大放厥词,已经习惯了

    Silent Rising Wave:

    All I know is that deporting or barring people from the country is only used on foreigners.
    I've really never heard of this being used on a country's own citizens.

    You see, some people can only resort to subjective assumptions and babble, not like I've never seen that before.

    相逢于海上:
    只要他没有加入外国国籍
    他就是拥有中国国籍的中国公民

    Met on the Sea:

    As long as he hasn't acquired foreign citizenship
    He's still a Chinese citizen with Chinese citizenship

  • China: Threatened by American Internet censorship

    Just days after American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech on Internet freedom, open source source code repository SourceForge.net blocked access to IP addresses originating in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

    SourceForge justifies the move saying they are only following American law. Which is more or less the same argument Chinese government spokespeople make when questioned about their country's Internet censorship.

    SourceForge has been blocked by China before. Hearing word of this new Great Firewall of America left some Chinese coders wondering if they might now start getting blocked from the other end and what can be done about it.

    sourceforgeblock

    Photo from William Lone's Moonlight Blog.

    At CNBeta on the day the news broke, ugmbbc wrote:

    在今天,开源精神遭到了践踏,SourceForge会因为他们被要求屏蔽流氓国家而去美国国会抗议么?

    这是个棘手的问题,难道仅仅因为这几个国家的极少数的一部分人的极端行为,就要整个国家遭到惩罚么?开源软件为这些受到压迫和发展中的国家提供了重要的基础设施。希望美国政府能够看到对这些国家基础设施和羽翼未丰的产业带来的打击。

    Open source culture got trampled today. Having been required to blocked these rogue nations, will SourceForge go protest to the American Congress?

    It's a tricky situation, but does an entire country have to be punished just because of the extreme actions of a tiny minority of the people in these countries? Open source software provides important infrastructure to these oppressed and developing nations. I hope the American government can see what a blow this is to the infrastructure and fledgling industries in these countries.

    Over at geek community Solidot, free-as-in-freedom notes that this move by SourceForge follows earlier restrictions on users from these five countries, allowing them to browse the site and download source code, but barring them from contributing any. Comments there include:

    Alpha.Roc:
    SourceForge 还是要遵守美国法律的呀?

    SourceForge has to abide by American laws!

    alvan:
    SourceForge为什么一定要遵从自由软件精神?软件只是代码,所以可以自由中立;但是网站是离不开服务器的,你的服务器放在哪个国家,就要遵从这个国家的法律——这个天经地义呀。

    Why should SourceForge stay true to open source culture? Software is just code, which makes it both free and neutral; but websites can't escape the servers which host them, and you have to obey the laws of whichever country your server is situated in, that's just how it goes.

    pynets:
    这是人家的自由

    It is their freedom

    erlv at his technical blog LingCC looks at the implications of politics encroaching upon the open source movement:

    每个喜欢互联网技术,拥护开源的人都不想让开源沦为政治工具,但这是一个政治主导的世界,你得听政府的,政府是老大,你在政府的地盘上混,管你什么道义,什么自由,什么开源,统统只是工具。

    我不是在鼓吹网络长城多么利国利民,但我们确实需要一种手段,让我们与国外能自由交流的同时,能摆脱对他们的依赖。正如现在国内,开源爱好者们都很乐于将自己的代码贡献出来,给开源社区,但当它变成政治工具的时候,我们如何取得该属于我们的权利?

    SourceForge.net好像在国内还没有官方的镜像服务器. 如果我们的官老爷们真的为我国的信息产业处心积虑,鞠躬尽瘁的话,倒不如拿支持防火长城项目1%的钱,作为政府鼎力支持,在国内建几个开源镜像服务器,这样,至少我们还能有所有的源码,至少我们有了独立自主!

    Nobody who's a fan of technology or supports open source wants to see open source become a political tool, but then this is a world ruled by politics; you can say all you want about principles, freedom or open source, but when you're on the government's turf, the government calls the shots, so you better listen: those are just tools.

    I'm not saying the GFW is good for the country or the people, rather that we need to take some steps to ensure that at the same time we're able to freely communicate with those overseas, we can stop having to rely on them. Here now in the mainland, for instance, all open source fans are happy to contribute their code with the rest of the open source community. But when that becomes a political tool, how are we supposed to obtain those rights that belong to us?

    I don't think SourceForge has any mirror servers in China. If those in charge really wanted to scheme on behalf of our country's information industries and were willing to do what it takes, it wouldn't hurt for them to take 1% of the money they spend on the GFW, as sincere support from the government, and set up a few mirror servers inside the country. At least this way, we'd still have all our own code. At least we'd still have our own independence!