People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

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rsingh
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by rsingh »

Philip wrote:How swiftly does memory fade,esp. of such a diabolic attack on human life and dignity.The picture of an ordinary Chinese stopping a column of tanks by just standing in their way can never be erased from human memory ,just as the shot of a totally naked little girl running in pain on a roadway after an American napalm attack in the Vietnam War,stirred the conscience of America. So too was the picture of the little child buried in the earth,with only the face and its lifeless eyes open,as testament to the unholy Bhopal gas disaster,where Warren Anderson,the then chairman of Union Carbide,lives in luxury,safe from justice while lakhs of sufferers have yet to get relief from their aftereffects that have debilitated their lives.

Tian Men was one such moment in time,forever frozen as the event that exposed China's hypocrisy and savagery.

25 years on from a day that shamed a nation: Tiananmen square massacre – as it happened
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 81466.html

It is a quarter of a century since the People's Army put down China's incipient protest movement with shocking brutality. Michael Fathers, The Independent's then Asia Editor, was there. These were his dispatches from the atrocity
Michael Fathers

Tuesday 03 June 2014
Michael Fathers, who was beaten up by frenzied troops, reports on how China's leaders broke faith with their people.

I was at the southern end of the square at midnight, walking along the main boulevard to see the student barricades. Suddenly, out of the night, two Armoured Personnel Carriers appeared from a side street and roared down the boulevard, one behind the other, smashing through the barriers. They were followed by about 3,000 soldiers who positioned themselves near the square. One APC stalled and was set on fire by the mob.

I kept walking towards a barricade of buses a mile away, where four lorries with troops and two earth-moving vehicles were trapped on either side by buses and people. Then flares and tracer bullets shone from behind me and the cracks of automatic gunfire could be heard. The troops were advancing on the square. My colleague, Andrew Higgins, was behind at Qianmen Gate, the front entrance to the square. He said the troops surged past the Roast Duck restaurant and were met with a hail of bricks and stones before they opened fire. Everyone fled but then regrouped.

To the north, more gunfire could be heard. I moved up a side street heading for the Avenue of Eternal Peace, where tanks had broken through a barrier of burning buses. It was 1.30am and the start of a huge troop advance to the square. About 50 Chinese and I hid at the entrance to a tiny lane and watched them. Other people were on the roofs of the houses. The armour was followed by troop trucks, scores of lorries, interspersed with petrol tankers, lorries with mesh trailers for prisoners and some stores.

How The Independent reported the massacre at the time How The Independent reported the massacre at the time Having successfully walked past the soldiers as they moved to the square in the south, I decided to leave the lane and follow this other army to Tiananmen, about half a mile away. The Avenue of Eternal Peace was deserted. Cracks of gunfire mingled with explosions from two burning buses behind me, a military lorry and two Jeeps ahead of me. Further towards the square, on the northern side of the avenue, was New China Gate, the entrance to Zhongnanhai, the compound of China's Communist Party leaders beside the Forbidden City.

I looked behind as I walked along the pavement on the opposite side. A squad of army goons, waving pistols, electric cattle prods and batons were running towards me. They jumped me, screamed at me, pointed a pistol at my head, beat me about the legs with their batons and dragged me across to New China Gate. Several soldiers broke ranks and ran to me, punching me, kicking me with karate leaps in the back, thighs and chest. There was pure hatred in their eyes.

They pushed me down into a kneeling position and had another go at me, whacking me across the back with their rods and kicking, always kicking, until I fell over. They pulled off my spectacles and crushed them into the ground. They screamed at me. Then they took me behind a stone lion guarding the gate. Their first thought was that I was an American. One man who spoke some English realised I wasn't. They put two guards beside me.

Backlash: the army responded with violence to peaceful protests (Corbis) Backlash: the army responded with violence to peaceful protests (Corbis)
If this is the People's Army, God spare China. They behaved like the Red Guards, with a systematic and frenzied brutality. They were the very institution that was once called out to protect China from the Red Guard excesses. Now they are killing civilians.

The smooth face of the Chinese Communist establishment appeared two hours later, dressed in cream flannels and a pastel T-shirt, the very image of "moderation" that the Foreign Office has come to believe is the new China and whom it can trust over Hong Kong. "You have committed an unfriendly act," he said. I thought that was a bit much. "You fell over, didn't you? That's why you have that bruise on your arm." I also had boot marks and bloodstains on my shirt from a baton blow. My right knee was swollen, my hips were aching, my trousers were ripped. He confiscated my notebook and gave me a receipt and a written pass to get beyond the army lines into a side street.

All the while the lorries kept rumbling forward, stopping from time to time until the citizens of Peking were pushed back from the northern end of the square by the entrance to the Forbidden City.

Andrew Higgins was by now crawling in the mud in front of the vermilion-painted grandstands beside Mao's portrait at the Gate of Heavenly Peace, as bullets whizzed over his head. At first, he said, there was some panic among the young soldiers when they saw the huge crowd. But they were ordered to open fire. An APC was set alight by a youth who climbed on to it when it stopped. The crew were pulled out and beaten, but students intervened and rescued them.

A celebrated image of a man trying to stop the tanks entering the square (AP) A celebrated image of a man trying to stop the tanks entering the square (AP)
The army had nabbed me at 2am. By 4am when they let me go, the gunfire could still be heard from the square. At one stage some students came from side streets, shouting "go home, go home" to stalled lorries outside the leadership compound. They were scattered by militia men with clubs like axe-handles, which cracked a few skulls. It was probably the one occasion during the night when they did not use guns.

Along the tree-lined streets beside the Forbidden City, groups of people were talking softly, scared but curious. They treated me as a bit of a hero when they saw my bruises and carried me on the backs of their bicycles for about a mile to the rear entrance of the Peking Hotel, on the other end of the square. Soon after I arrived, about 10 tanks and 20 APCs rumbled past the hotel. About half an hour later some of the armour returned again from the square, and in a continuing moving circle, they opened fire all around. Two buses were smouldering outside the hotel.

It was a battlefield. It was a lesson in brute power. I blubbed when I got back to my hotel near midday. I couldn't stop. Perhaps it was shock, or maybe it was because of the carnage. I was weeping for the people of Peking. I cannot see how they are ever likely to trust their leaders again.

***

The rape of Peking

By Michael Fathers and Andrew Higgins

It was the worst single act of violence against the Chinese people since the Communist Party took power in Peking 40 years ago. Hundreds were dead, many more were wounded and still the People's Liberation Army continued throughout yesterday and into the early hours of this morning to fire on the capital's citizens.

Tanks and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) which had blasted their way into Tiananmen Square spread out across the centre of the city, opening fire from time to time with machine guns at groups of people who were on the streets. From 3am onwards, nearly 90 fresh tanks roared in from the city's eastern suburbs along the main boulevard past Tiananmen Square to reinforce those already in Peking.

The capital had become a city under siege. Fires could be seen burning in the south of Peking early this morning. The chatter of gunfire and the thunder of an electric storm shook the night. The people of Peking, outraged by the bloodletting, continued to challenge the military despite the massive forces arrayed against them. Students, whose seven-week campaign for political change triggered the onslaught, yesterday displayed the grisly evidence of the killing. They paraded corpses of fallen comrades at their universities.

Crushing blow: soldiers in armoured vehicles fired on the public in Tiananmen Square (Corbis) Crushing blow: soldiers in armoured vehicles fired on the public in Tiananmen Square (Corbis)

In Hong Kong more than 200,000 nervous residents appeared at a rally to mourn the dead in Peking and called for a general strike on Wednesday. "What happened in Peking has broken confidence in Hong Kong's future," said Elsie Elliott Tu, a member of the Legislative Council. Margaret Thatcher, in a statement from Downing Street, said she had been "appalled by the indiscriminate shooting of unarmed people". Although she could "understand the deep anxiety" felt in Hong Kong, which reverts to China in 1997, Britain would "continue to stand by its commitment to a secure future" for the colony and was "confident" China would do the same.

Students in Shanghai erected barricades and bus drivers went on strike. Roads leading to Fudan University and Tongji University and those to the waterfront by the Peace Hotel were blocked. The streets of central Peking were covered with bloodstains, rubble and the wreckage of Saturday night's pitched battle. At the far western end of the Avenue of Eternal Peace, a long line of APCs were gutted and smoking. Several miles in the other direction, the burned body of a soldier was strung up and dangled from an overpass. Headless corpses, crushed by tanks and APCs, were lying on other roads.

State radio, quoting the army newspaper, Liberation Army Daily, said the armed forces had achieved a great victory and crushed counter-revolutionary violence. The official media gave detailed accounts of military casualties, saying 1,000 soldiers had been hurt. It acknowledged only that there had been some civilian casualties. Reports in Peking said the civilian death toll could be as many as 1,400. Across the city, hospitals were overflowing with bodies lying in blood-smeared corridors. Doctors said they were unable to cope with the carnage and many injured were likely to die for lack of attention. In one hospital, a power cut forced surgeons to operate by torchlight to remove bullets.

The state radio unconsciously mimicked the infamous American adage in Vietnam that to save the village you had to destroy it. In explaining the military assault on Peking, the radio said: "It was necessary to undertake that action to save lives and property."

The troops control Tiananmen Square, the site of the student protest and now the focus of a massive military build-up. More than 100 tanks, dozens of APCs and tens of thousands of troops occupied the square and its surroundings. Throughout the day a helicopter acted as a spotter for the army, taking off and landing in the square repeatedly, and apparently tipping off troops at any sign of a large gathering of civilians.

The square was the army's, but the battle for the streets had yet to be won. The fight for the hearts and minds of Peking's citizens seems already lost. Students and an independent and illegal workers' union have called for a general strike today to express public outrage. However, work already seems to have stopped. Public transport is not operating, many people, frightened and appalled by the violence, have kept away from work.

Activists duck for cover during the Chinese crackdown (Corbis) Activists duck for cover during the Chinese crackdown (Corbis)
New violence seems likely after the capture of an APC by the students and reports that they are building an arsenal of their own from captured weapons. Several university campuses have been surrounded by troops and armoured vehicles. Student leaders urged their colleages to stay indoors, but they seemed to be losing control as anger over the military onslaught on their peaceful movement replaced the carnival mood of previous weeks.

Ordinary citizens taunted the troops with chants of "fascists", "murderers go home". Slogans attacking Li Peng, the Prime Minister, had been daubed in blood on buses and walls. "Li Peng, you will never be at peace," read one message in fresh blood on the side of a booth. Others condemned 84-year-old Deng Xiaoping, China's paramount leader. According to one report Mr Deng, although in serious condition in hospital, had given the order for the troop advance into the capital, saying that the youth movement had to be suppressed "even if they are protesting out of ignorance". Acknowledging that many ordinary people had joined the student cause, he is alleged to have said: "In China even one million people is still only a small number."

The savagery of the army's action came against a background of political turmoil brought about by the impending succession. How ill Mr Deng is remains unclear, but factions within the party and the military have already begun to stake their claim to lead China when Mr Deng does finally leave the scene. How to handle the students' Democracy Movement became the focus of the battle for future supremacy. Mr Deng's once-ordained successor, Zhao Ziyang, the party General Secretary, called for moderation towards the students and has been stripped of his authority, though not yet his title.

Opposing him and, for the moment victorious, is Li Peng. The final outcome is far from certain and he is now not only reviled by Chinese people as a butcher, but totally dependent on the fickle loyalties of the military.
Sir that picture was of baby buried by Gujrat Earthquake IIRC.
Agnimitra
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by Agnimitra »

A good article here:

China’s Language Policy goes global

- China's push to make Mandarin the co-equal language of international business and politics.
- China's strategic use of English-learning within its own territories - as a way to deracinate ethnic minorities and finish off their regional language chauvinism. Where imposition of Mandarin and denial of other languages in schools is being resisted, Anglicization is proving to be a better way to deracinate. Same way Chinese govt. facilitates Western Christian missionaries to target religions rooted in certain regions in its sphere of influence/control - e.g. Tibetan Buddhists.

So in language and religious policy - as in several other areas - China has a dual technique in its competition with the Anglosphere -- compete with them on a global stage, while using their current penetrative influence to finish off nationalisms within Chinese sphere of influence and then consolidate it with Sinification. China will "cooperate" with the US to finish off smaller players, and make it a playing field with just two competitors...
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by Philip »

Tx RS for pointing out that error.There was another of Bhopal which I shall try and locate.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 88582.html
Tiananmen Square 25 years on: Thousands hold candlelight vigil to remember the dead

Tens of thousands of people have held a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong to mark the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters 25 years ago in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, while mainland China authorities sought to whitewash the 1989 event.

In Beijing, police flooded the streets around the square, scene of the worst of the violence a quarter of a century ago, and censors scrubbed the internet clean of any mention of the rare display of open defiance against authority.

In Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but retains some independence, demonstrators holding candles and clad mainly in black gathered in a downtown park and called on Beijing to atone for the killings. A large number of mainland Chinese also flocked to commemorate the crackdown in the former British territory, where a vigil has been held every year since the massacre. Organisers said some 180,000 people took part.

“Hong Kong is a free society where you can speak out. In China, the Communist Party dictates everything,” said Chen Jing Gen, in his 60s, who travelled from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen to attend the vigil. “People in mainland China are mostly aware of 4 June, but due to the control of the Party no one dares to talk about it.”

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama also used the anniversary to call on China to embrace democracy. China has never released a death toll from the crackdown after troops shot their way into central Beijing, but estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand.


Public discussion of Tiananmen is forbidden in China and online references to it are heavily censored, leaving many of the country’s youth ignorant of what happened.

“I had never heard of the Tiananmen incident until I was studying in the United States when I was 18,” said a 25-year-old woman surnamed Lan, who was visiting Hong Kong from Beijing.

In mainland China, police, soldiers and plain clothes security personnel enveloped Tiananmen Square, checking identity cards and rummaging through bags looking for any hint that people might try to commemorate the event.

Police escorted a Reuters reporter off the square, which was thronging with tourists, saying it was closed to foreign media. Police also detained another Reuters journalist for trying to report on the anniversary in one of Beijing’s university districts, releasing him after a few hours.

Tens of thousands of people attend a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong (AP) Tens of thousands of people attend a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong (AP)
“They have covered up history. They don’t want people to know the truth of what they did,” veteran activist Hu Jia told Reuters from his home in Beijing. He said police had prevented him from leaving.

“Nobody would have confidence in them if they knew what they did... They should have fallen because of what they did,” he added, speaking by mobile telephone.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday defended the crackdown, saying the government had chosen the correct path for the sake of the people.

The protests began in April 1989 as a demonstration by university students in Beijing to mourn the death of Hu Yaobang, the reformist Communist Party chief who had been ousted by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. They grew into broader demands for an end to corruption as well as calls for democracy.
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by arun »

Ram Madhav, member of the Central Executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) writing on relations with P.R. China and her client state the Islamic Republic of Pakistan:

The other neighbour
Philip
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by Philip »

Media reports indicate hectic Chinese build up of troops.engineers,etc. in POK.SS must tell her Chinese counterpart that POK is Indian territory and that PLA troops,etc., should leave forthwith.Relations will be judged upon the manner in which it supports Pak's N-weapons programme,attempts to militarise the IOR and treatment of the Tibetans.
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by RoyG »

Doval has met with Wang Yi. The game is on now. We have to get all our gears running to beat them. The elephant is waking up and when it charges it is going to be unstoppable.
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by Christopher Sidor »

There is a Chinese saying, Money hides a thousand flaws. Well CPC is buying the loyalty of its citizens by giving them growth, now that growth is slowing it attempting to buy the loyalty in the name of nationalism. First it was communism, then was robber-capitalism and now nationalism. Wonder what will happen when the music stops. In india we have demonstrated repeated smooth and violence free transfer of power when our rulers have made a mess of the economy, recall the recent elections and the 1995-96 debacle of Congress rule. PRC has no such mechanism in place.
Suraj
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by Suraj »

I'm surprised this gets no coverage here:
China’s big bust shocks the nation
After months of rumors that such a move was coming, China’s top leadership body said Tuesday night that it had launched an investigation into one of its own former members, the highest-level official to face such a probe in a generation.

The object of possible criminal charges is 71-year-old Zhou Yongkang, the nation’s former security chief and an ex-member of the Politburo Standing Committee, which runs China’s ruling Communist Party.

A state-media report on the investigation didn’t specify what crimes Zhou may have committed, saying only that he was accused of “serious violations of Party discipline,” though other media accounts indicated the case would likely involve alleged graft and other crimes.

Nonetheless, the investigation could result in the highest-level Chinese official to be prosecuted since Mao Zedong’s widow Jiang Qing and her associates in the “Gang of Four” were jailed in the early 1980s for their roles in the Cultural Revolution.

And not surprisingly, the news has caused a storm of excitement on China’s social-media platforms, with The Wall Street Journal reporting Zhou’s investigation was the top trending item on the Sina SINA +1.38% Weibo microblogging service.

But beyond offering a look at the workings of China’s political leadership, the move has wider implications for the Chinese economy as well.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu puts it this way: “We ... understand that names of Chinese politicians are hard to remember. But you cannot afford to miss this piece of news, and I cannot afford not to comment on it either, even [though] I am on vacation in mountainous central Taiwan with a poor Internet connection.”

Lu cites three reasons why the decision to announce the Zhou investigation publicly is so important, with the first being its implications for President Xi Jinping.

Various reports from outside of China have suggested that Zhou, a former party boss in Sichuan, was part of a clique including now-jailed senior Sichuan leader Bo Xilai and others, which competed against President Xi.

As a result, the public investigation “implies that the new government led by Mr. Xi has made significant progress in power consolidation, which could be positive for the Chinese economy and financial markets,” wrote Merrill Lynch’s Lu.

More broadly, the move against Zhou — whom critics have accused of everything from plotting a coup to ordering the organ-harvesting of members of the banned Falun Gong movement — shows China’s government is serious about reform.
PRC is slowly devolving away from rule by committee, back towards authoritarian rule by a paramount leader.
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People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by Peregrine »

Uighur group says nearly 100 casualties in China clash

BEIJING: A clash in Xinjiang, home to China's mostly Muslim Uighur minority, left nearly 100 people dead or wounded, an exile group said on Wednesday after what authorities called a "terror attack" on a police station and township.

Dozens of civilians and assailants were killed and injured in the attack by a gang armed with knives and axes, Chinese state media reported late on Tuesday.

"Police officers at the scene shot dead dozens of members of the mob," the official news agency Xinhua said.

It did not give a precise breakdown of the casualties from the incident on Monday — the day before Muslims in China marked the Eid festival — and information in Xinjiang is often difficult to verify independently.

Xinjiang's government web portal Tianshan on Wednesday described the violence as a "terror attack" that killed or wounded "several tens" of Uighur and Han.

The Han are China's largest ethnic group, whose members have migrated in large numbers to Xinjiang in recent decades.

Citing local Uighur sources, Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group, said in an e-mail: "Nearly 100 people were killed and wounded during the clash."

The violence came, he added, when "Uighurs rose up to resist China's extreme ruling policy and were met with armed repression resulting in dead and injured on both sides".

Raxit had earlier said more than 20 Uighurs were killed and 10 wounded, while a total of 13 armed Chinese personnel died or were injured and about 67 people were arrested.

The violence took place in Shache county, or Yarkand in the Uighur language, near the edge of the Taklamakan desert in the west of the vast region.

According to Xinhua, it was "organised and premeditated". The Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist Party, cited unnamed sources as saying police had intensified security checks in the Kashgar area, which includes Yarkand, because of a trade fair, and clashed with "thugs" found in possession of explosive materials.

Some escaped and later "incited" others to attack the local government facilities and police station, the report said, adding they also hijacked a coach and held passengers hostage.

In a bylined commentary late Tuesday, Xinhua said the assailants were "committing blasphemy against Islam, 'the religion of peace'."

"Police shooting dead of the mobsters was decisive and well justified," it added.

Beijing commonly blames separatists from Xinjiang for carrying out terror attacks which have grown in scale over the past year and spread outside the restive and resource-rich region.

Among the most shocking incidents were a market attack in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi in May in which 39 people were killed, and a deadly rampage by knife-wielding assailants at a train station at Kunming in China's southwest in March, which left 29 dead.

They came after a fiery vehicle crash at Tiananmen Square, Beijing's symbolic heart, in October last year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited Xinjiang in late April, ordered a crackdown after a stabbing spree and explosion at an Urumqi railway station left three people dead and 79 wounded on the last day of his trip.

During the visit he had called for a "strike first" strategy to fight terrorism and called the Kashgar area China's "front line in anti-terrorist efforts".

Rights groups and analysts accuse China's government of cultural and religious repression which they say fuels unrest in Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia.

The government, however, argues it has boosted economic development in the area and that it upholds minority rights in a country with 56 recognised ethnic groups.

Beijing has also suggested that extremists in Xinjiang are influenced by radical groups outside China, though many foreign analysts are sceptical, pointing instead to Uighur dissatisfaction.

Deadly clashes involving Uighurs and local police and security personnel are not unusual.

Last month, regional authorities said that police shot dead 13 people after they drove into a police building and set off an explosion.

And in June last year at least 35 people were killed when, according to state media, "knife-wielding mobs" attacked police stations, drawing fire from security personnel.

Cheers Image
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by SSridhar »

China bans Beards, Veils in Xinjiang city buses in a security bid - Straits Times
A city in China's restive western region of Xinjiang has banned people with head scarves, veils and long beards from boarding buses, as the government battles unrest with a policy that critics said discriminates against Muslims.

Authorities will prohibit five types of passengers - those who wear veils, head scarves, a loose-fitting garment called a jilbab, clothing with the crescent moon and star, and those with long beards - from boarding buses in the north-western city of Karamay, state media said.

The crescent moon and star symbol of Islam features on many national flags, besides being used by groups that China says want to set up an independent state called East Turkestan.

The rules were intended to help strengthen security through August 20 during an athletics event and would be enforced by security teams, the ruling Communist Party-run Karamay Daily said on Monday.

"Those who do not comply, especially those five types of passengers, will be reported to the police," the paper said.

In July, authorities in Xinjiang's capital Urumqi banned bus passengers from carrying items ranging from cigarette lighters to yogurt and water, in a bid to prevent violent attacks.

Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say the government's repressive policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam, have provoked unrest, a claim Beijing denies.

"Officials in Karamay city are endorsing an openly racist and discriminatory policy aimed at ordinary Uighur people," Alim Seytoff, the president of the Washington-based Uyghur American Association, said in an emailed statement.

While many Uighur women dress in much the same casual style as those elsewhere in China, some have begun to wear the full veil, a garment more common in Pakistan or Afghanistan than in Xinjiang.

Police have offered money for tips on everything from "violent terrorism training" to individuals who grow long beards.

Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people who speak a Turkic language, has been beset for years by violence that the government blames on Islamist militants or separatists.

Hundreds have died in the past 18 months, but tight security makes it almost impossible for journalists to make independent assessments of the violence.

About 100 people were killed when knife-wielding attackers staged assaults in two towns in the region's south in late July, state media said, The dead included 59 "terrorists" shot dead by police. A suicide bombing killed 39 people at a market in Urumqi in May.
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Re: People's Republic of China, Dec. 27 2011

Post by kish »

Comparison between Indian & Chinese economy. Chinese get jittery, jerky when they hear the words like freedom, democracy

Check out the comments section Michael, Tony, Johny, Karl are defending the communist rule :D



Beware, China: India's Economy Could Have an Even Brighter Future
Mindful of the differences in the two political economies, India’s growth may seem lower than that of China, but a close examination of the comparison is revealing. In 2014, India’s rate of growth in GDP slowed to less than 5 percent, well below the hopes and expectations of investors and analysts. Meanwhile, China claims a growth rate of over 7.5 percent in the second quarter of 2014—if you believe the official statistics :mrgreen: . The quality of India’s growth, however, is arguably superior and may suggest bright prospects for the future.
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Veteran Asia watcher James Gruber, writing in Forbes, argues that India will soon outpace China in terms of real economic growth. He writes:

Dig a little deeper though and the picture doesn’t appear as favourable for China’s economic prospects vis-a-vis India’s. First, it’s highly probable that China’s GDP growth rate is slowing much more than the fraudulent figures put out by the government :rotfl: (I’m not picking on China here as many governments are guilty of this). Second, credit tightening in China will almost certainly take years rather than months given the boom which preceded it. Third, Chinese economic reform will be a drag on growth in the near-term, as can already be evidenced by the crackdown on corruption and its impact on retail consumption.

The key aspect of the China-India comparison is that the former is a highly controlled society where market forces play little role in the country’s economic life. India is a chaotic, messy democracy where social upheaval is a regular feature of the social fabric—but is accepted as such. China’s rulers, on the other hand, fear social unrest, as illustrated by the protests in Tiananmen Square, which were crushed by the People’s Liberation Army on June 4, 1989. So fragile was the Chinese Communist rulers’ grip on power that they used armed troops to suppress a demonstration that originated with public antipathy to rising food prices.
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