US President Barack Obama’s trip to China is one of the highlights in this coming week.
The purpose of this visit is for President Obama to address the economic relationship between the two countries and the environmental issues, which are believed to be the most urgent ones.
However, the issue of human rights is also one that should not be left out of the big picture. The suppress of freedom of expression in China is severe and is a fundamental problem of this country.
The following extract is taken from The Daily Beast, which sums up all the points so far regarding Obama and his fail to tackle human rights abuses in China.
Last month, President Obama snubbed the Dalai Lama when the exiled Tibetan leader came through Washington. It was a strategic move to placate China, where Obama is now on a three-day visit to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao to address economic issues. Such actions have led some to think that Obama is brushing human-rights issues under the rug. So far on his Tour de Asia, Obama has failed to bring attention to Tibet or Xinjian, two embattled minority regions in China. (Although he did call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese dissident leader under house arrest.) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also implied that, at the moment, the economy and climate change are more pressing issues than human rights. A former Bush administration Asia adviser said, “I really hope that on this trip the president not only presses privately but makes it clear publicly his support for the Dalai Lama… It’s not just about an important international spiritual leader; it’s a measure of how China will treat the weak as it grows more powerful.” Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama after he returns from China.
Other readings:
“Barack Obama criticises internet censorship at meeting in China” – The Guardian
“Obama reaches out to China in first visit” – The Washington Post
“Five things the U.S. and China actually agree on” – The Time
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China is notorious for its reputation of censorship, most dominantly in the press. The recent resignation of Caijing magazine’s founder and editor, Hu Shuli, is a tip of an iceberg for the freedom of media in this country.
Caijing's cover on November 9. WSJ.
Caijing, meaning “Finance and Economics”, is an independent publication based in Beijing. It is a pioneer in reporting finance, economics and politics in China. Started in 1998, the bi-weekly news magazine is widely praised for its bold, investigative and influential coverage of China’s controversial economical and political issues.
Hu has always been credited for the reputation of Caijing magazine and websites. Zhang Hong, a Chinese commentator on the Economic Observer, said: “The success of both Hu Shuli and Caijing, lay in her ability to clearly understand the size of the cage and also the position of her “bird” within the cage.”
Since her decision to quit broke out on Monday, commentaries have been circulating on the internet over what the departure of Hu and her editorial team means for the future of Caijing and what impacts this has on the issue of press freedom in China.
In an article on the Huffington Post, Goldkorn, editor in chief of Danwei, a website that covers China’s media industry, said: “No one will take Caijing seriously now. Hu Shuli is almost half the brand, if not more.”
The CPJ’s blog credited the magazine as “a prime example of just how good journalism in China could be if a publication has good reporters and editors and enough political protection.”
Another commentator on Foreign Policy wrote a throughout article on this issue, explaining what it shows us about “how Chinese bureaucracy and censorship works that she wasn’t fired.”
A Wall Street Journal’s journalist blogged about Hu’s article published on Caijing’s latest issue. It was a piece takes on ChiNext, “China’s new exchange for startup companies, whose opening two weeks ago was seen by many observers as an almost farcical example of Chinese trading run amok.”
In the conclusion, he said:
Hu’s swan song for Caijing shows why she’ll be missed by its readers. The piece demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how markets are supposed to work, which often seems lacking in the Chinese financial press, but also a subtle grasp of the larger forces at work in China, often missing in Western commentaries. Above all, what stands out is her willingness to call out Beijing on its mistakes.
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Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Manchester, north-west England (AFP)
This is a prominent example of how the press is heavily, if not entirely, controlled by its government in East Asia.
The Times online today published an article reporting about the former Thai prime minister being under jail threat for calling for a reform of institutions and for speaking of “information unflattering to the monarchy.”
In the interview with the Times, Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai PM, said: “Thailand needs to have a monarchy but it should not be abused or played by the palace circles.”
The Thai government took his words as offensive.
“I would like to say that Thaksin’s interview violates the monarchy, which is the country’s main institution,” Kasit Piromya, Thailand’s foreign minister, said to reporters in Bangkok.
“I wonder what the hidden agenda was that caused him to make this inappropriate move. In his interview there are several parts referring to His Majesty the King, the Crown Prince and the monarchy, and [they] also refer to His Majesty’s role in politics.”
He said that the country’s justice ministry would consider whether to charge Mr Thaksin with lèse majesté, on top of the two-year prison sentence imposed upon him in absentia for a corrupt land deal transacted during his five years as prime minister.
According to the Times, Mr Thaksin reacted in defence followed an uproar in Thailand by issuing a statement saying that The Times’s report was “distorted” and “untrue”.
However, the Times claimed that “the text of the interview, posted on Times Online, matches the recording of the conversation and was transcribed by a press representative of Mr Thaksin.”
Have your own thoughts on Mr Thaksin’s answers and comments in the full interview transcript.
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Info-activism is increasingly becoming the next powerful thing in this decade, though this term has yet to be well-known.
With the exponentially development of technology, multiple social networking sites available in different platforms, the impact of living in this digital era is immense on people’s lives around the world.
“Info-activism is about turning information into action.”
So how effective could it be in terms of practicing freedom of expression?
It is about using information and technological tools to make a difference, which includes spreading news and knowledge which are forbidden or suppressed in the press to the public who have the rights to know.
Whether it is via blogging or Twitter, people’s lives are effected by this wave of info-activism in many places around the world, e.g. India, Egypt, Cambodia and Iran.
I first caught sight of the term while skimming through events on the Front Line Club website, a London-based media club supporting independent journalism.
On December 4, the 50-minute documentary, 10 Tactics, will be showed at the Front Line Club, which will be followed by worldwide screenings.
This film is the project of Tactical Technology Collective. According to its own definition, it is “an international NGO helping human rights advocates use information, communications and digital technologies to maximise the impact of their advocacy work.”
10 Tactics will feature 35 interviews with human rights advocates around the world, as well as 10 tactics for turning information into action.
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A little note
November 14, 2009 in Commentary with Leave a Comment
Tags: journalism, student
Since the start of this blog, I have been actively reading and researching for anything remotely related to the subject of freedom of the press.
Being a journalism student myself, what I have been reading about does more to make me believe that the notion of press freedom cannot afford to be unnoticed to the public, to news readers, to students, to members of the government…
But this sadly is the case in so many countries.
I know that if it is not for these kinds of issue, I would not be sitting here and blogging about it. And then would not feel so frustrated.