CHINA - HARASS REPORTERS, JAIL THOUGHTCRIMINALS; TIBET - REVOLUTION GOES ON

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wo important opinion pieces for you this afternoon, with a little dose of Chinese Communist Party harassment for introduction.

Western journalists who took part in the Chinese government's press tour / stage show last week are being harassed and threatened by ... well, nobody really knows. United Front Works Department cadres? Net loons? Patriotic Han chauvinists? I read the article this morning on Wall Street Journal's own site, but now it's been truncated. So I give it to you via Phayul's page.

The intimidation efforts have included hundreds of calls and text messages to the cellphones of reporters who took part in the government-arranged Lhasa trip late last month, including correspondents from The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Associated Press. The flood of threats began this past week after the cellphone numbers, Chinese names, and brief descriptions of several of the correspondents were published on a military-themed Internet bulletin board. Contributors to that site have boasted of making harassing phone calls, and posted their own violent threats. "Beat to death these unjust, conscienceless criminals," wrote one.

Like I'm always sayin', be careful out there.

Tibetan writer and intellectual Jamyang Norbu has a very powerful piece published at Phayul News. If this is any indication of what many exiles are feeling, it sounds like the Tibetan Government is losing its influence almost as rapidly as the Chinese government. No quote this time, I can't select any stand-alone passage from this one. It's too late to turn back now. Go thou and read.

Hu Jia has just been sentenced in Beijing to a prison term for thoughtcrime. His essay, co-authored with Teng Biao, is an open letter on human rights in China. The Washington Post provides a full translation of this dangerous document.

Labels: China, Tibet

- posted by Agam @ 6:11 PM 0 comments

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