Martin Stabe » China

New York Times: China Tracks Foreign Journalists, Unnerved by Mideast Tumult

Martin Stabe — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:49:02 +0000

"On Sunday, about a dozen European and Japanese journalists in Shanghai were herded into an underground bunkerlike room and kept for two hours after they sought to monitor the response to calls on an anonymous Internet site for Chinese citizens to conduct a “strolling” protest against the government outside the Peace Cinema, near People’s Square in Shanghai. "

My heart’s in Accra » MSM love for the bridgebloggers

Martin Stabe — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:17:09 +0000

Ethan Zuckerman:"Two excellent articles in major American newspapers recognize the importance of bloggers and online authors in building bridges between people in different countries. If you want to understand what’s going on in other parts of the world, it helps to read not just stories about those countries, but the stories people in those countries are telling..."

The Australian: Bloggers of the world, let’s shop!

Martin Stabe — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:44:57 +0000

Online culture is thriving in almost every country I visited. The exception is Cuba ... Most bloggers prefer to protest privately, anonymously or not at all ... Despite their relatively small numbers and the penalties they attract, dissenting bloggers are playing havoc with the established order. According to Human Rights Watch researcher Elijah Zarwan, "bloggers have succeeded in doing something that years of standing on the street corner and shouting 'No to torture' or 'No to the interior ministry' has never managed to accomplish": putting these issues on the public agenda."

FT.com: Attack on journalists puts China under fire

Martin Stabe — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:15:11 +0000

"China suffered a potentially heavy public relations blow yesterday ahead of the Olympics after police were caught on camera manhand-ling Hong Kong journalists."

Forbes.com: Dark Journalism

Martin Stabe — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:45:47 +0000

"In China's world of black journalism countless smaller tragedies routinely get shoved under the rug. Reporters race to the scene of coal mine accidents not to investigate them but to collect hush money."

Telegraph: Pearson goes back to school with China deal

Martin Stabe — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:20:09 +0000

Pearson, the publisher of the Financial Times, is accelerating efforts to expand its business in China ... [and] is near to finalising a deal to buy LEC, a group of 15 Shanghai private schools, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

Reuters: Japan’s high-tech displays give paper a cutting edge

Martin Stabe — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:40:54 +0000

"Electronic paper is Japan's answer to rising raw material costs, depleted resources and booming demand for printed matter from emerging markets such as China and India."

The Lede: A Railroad Rarity: Train Arrives Five Days Early

Martin Stabe — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 11:54:53 +0000

Beijing to Hamburg in 15 days by rail. Biggest snag: the switch between standard-gauge to Russian-gauge at the Chinese-Mongolian and Belarusia-Polish borders.

Times Online: Facebook’s hopes to enter the tangled web of China gain momentum

Martin Stabe — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:05:13 +0000

"Facebook is reported to have offered $85 million (£41 million) to buy Zhanzuo.com, its largest Chinese counterpart, which has an estimated seven million active users and a popular base among students..."

FT.com: Yahoo settles China dissident case

Martin Stabe — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:06:01 +0000

"Yahoo on Tuesday reached an out-of-court settlement with the families of two Chinese journalists who were jailed in their home country after the internet company identified their online activities to the authorities."

Reuters: China’s "citizen" reporters dodge censors and critics

Martin Stabe — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:15:20 +0000

"China's muzzled press and burgeoning Internet have given citizen reporters an audience and an opportunity -- however fleeting -- to spread news quicker than government censors can control it."

San Francicsco Chronicle: How China clamps down on the Internet

Martin Stabe — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 06:53:07 +0000

"A report released today provides a highly detailed account of how the government there keeps a tight lid on online information, including quoting from orders officials sent to various Chinese Web sites to remove objectionable news stories."

Reuters: Internet ‘has freed up discussion in China’

Martin Stabe — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 08:43:46 +0000

"The internet in China is not as restricted as sometimes believed in the West, with most controls actually coming from sites practicing self-censorship, an academic who studies the Chinese web has said."

AP: WSJ editor says Murdoch’s buyout won’t affect China coverage

Martin Stabe — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 10:43:17 +0000

"Rupert Murdoch's takeover of The Wall Street Journal will not affect its coverage of China, the newspaper's editor said Tuesday."

China getting ready to play ball

Martin Stabe — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 23:29:15 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve endulged my esoteric interest in international baseball on this blog, so here goes: the members of the Chinese national team are preparing for the 2008 Olympics. As the hosts, China will automatically qualify. Although I’m generally sceptical of the London 2012 bid, securing automatic qualification for the Great Britain National Baseball Team would be a certain bonus. [ADDED 13.1.2006]

China-Japan tensions

Martin Stabe — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 15:09:24 +0000

With all the attention on North Korea, perhaps Eurocentric blogs like this one should be keeping a closer eye on the increasing “bilateral estrangement” between China and Japan.

The tensions are palpable at the elite level, such as the recent tensions over the Senkaku Islands near Taiwan. A lot of this has to do with access to potential oil reserves in the area.

But they are even more serious at the cultural level. Football matches between the two countries are not a pretty sight, and there are suggestions that “anti-Japanese nationalist sentiment is now being exploited to boost the Communist leadership’s waning ideological authority”.

Much of the Chinese anger geared towards Japan relates to the sense that Japan has not adequatly atoned for its crimes during the Second World War. A major sticking point is Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the Yasakuni Shrine in Tokyo, where Japanese war dead, including a number considered war criminals, are buried.

The Japanese are concerned about the Chinese military and arms sales to it by Israel and the European Union. And according to Simon Tisdall in the Guardian, Russia is siding with Japan because it shares this concern.

Chinese Chery to export to Europe

Martin Stabe — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:15:56 +0000

Some more evidence of China beginning to punch in its economic weight-class: the state-owned Chery Automobile company plans to begin exporting to Europe in 2007.

Keeping China in perspective

Martin Stabe — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 13:06:23 +0000

Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution quotes the following “fact of the day” from the Wall Street Journal:

…at $1.2 trillion, Italian GDP is roughly the size of China’s, and Italy’s total foreign-trade value of $750 billion is only slightly smaller than that of the mainland.

Laugh or cry — you decide

Martin Stabe — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 19:16:56 +0000

I’m really not sure what the appropriate reaction is to this post from Atrios.