China’s Crackdown on the Foreign Press

The Chinese government is threatening to expel nearly two dozen foreign correspondents, working for the Times and Bloomberg News, in retaliation for investigations that exposed the private wealth of Chinese leaders. It is the Chinese government’s most dramatic attempt to insulate itself from scrutiny in the thirty-five years since China began opening to the world. Read more

Will China Shut Out the Foreign Press?

Some two dozen journalists employed by The New York Times and Bloomberg News have not yet received the visas they need to continue to report and live in China after the end of this year. Without them, they will effectively be expelled from the country. Visiting Beijing earlier this week, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden met reporters from The Times and Bloomberg and told them he had raised the issue in his meeting with China’s top leaders. Read now

Decades After the Cultural Revolution, a Rare Letter of Remorse

In an apology for his actions as a student during the Cultural Revolution, Chen Xiaolu, the son of China’s famed Foreign Minister, Chen Yi, published a notice in his school alumni blog in August. A profile based on interviews with Mr. Chen in the Saturday editions of the New York Times and the International New York Times refers to the apology, a rare expression of remorse from someone involved in carrying out Mao’s orders. Read more

JP Morgan and the children of China’s ruling elite

Federal authorities have obtained confidential documents that shed new light on JPMorgan Chase’s decision to hire the children of China’s ruling elite, securing emails that show how the bank linked one prominent hire to “existing and potential business opportunities” from a Chinese government-run company. Read more

Sør-Korea oppretter sin egen luftforsvarssone

Regjeringen i Seoul har besluttet å opprette en luftforsvarssone i Kinahavet. Deler av den overlapper med den sonen Kina har etablert. Dermed er det duket for en ny runde i den betente havstriden. Les mer

Kinesere på eiendomsjakt i USA

Rike kinesere kjøpte i fjor eiendom i USA for 50 milliarder dollar.  Mange av eiendommene ble kjøpt usett. Les mer

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Calls for China Talks

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to reset relations after an escalation in bilateral tensions, invoking a 2006 visit to Beijing during his first administration. “Since there are issues, it is all the more important to have a leaders’ meeting,” Abe said in an interview in the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo. Read more

Bildene som ikke vil forsvinne

Bildene har satt seg fast. Hver eneste morgen de siste ukene våkner jeg av at filmen inne i hodet ebber ut. Scener fra Tacloban, Filippinene, etter den tropiske syklonens herjinger. Korrespondentbrev fra NRKs Anders Magnus

Chinese Police Recommend Trial for Rights Advocate

The police in Beijing have recommended that one of China’s most prominent human rights advocates, Xu Zhiyong, be tried for his role in organizing demonstrations demanding that the Communist Party disclose officials’ wealth and provide equal educational opportunities, his lawyer and a friend said Friday. Read more

China Pressures U.S. Journalists, Prompting Warning From Biden

China appears ready to force nearly two dozen journalists from American news organizations to leave the country by the end of the year, a significant increase in pressure on foreign news media that has prompted the American government’s first public warning about repercussions. Read more

Should we fear the growth of Huawei?

First of all, who and what is Huawei? It has 150,000 employees, and a worldwide business-customer base. Yet even its top executives admit it's the least famous big company in the world. The company started life in Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong, in 1987. Its shy founder, Ren Zhengfei (still in charge), was a former engineer with the Chinese army who saw a unique opportunity developing in China's non-metropolitan areas. Read more

Mao Zedong's birthday party: Merry Mao-mas

THE village of Shaoshan in the green hills of Hunan province in east-central China is gearing up for a big party on December 26th: the 120th birthday of its most famous son, Mao Zedong. Debate rages in China over Mao’s historical role. Some call him a tyrant for the violence he put at the heart of his rule, causing the deaths of tens of millions of people. Others worship him almost as a god. In Shaoshan he is a money-spinner, with the farmhouse where he was born attracting millions of Chinese tourists every year. Read more

Mao's birthday: Party time

THERE was a time, just a few months ago, when some analysts were speculating that new leaders preparing to take over in China wanted to abandon Mao. If it ever seemed likely then, it is looking far less so now. The new helmsman, Xi Jinping, has been showing no sign of squeamishness about the horrors of that era. Preparations are under way for big celebrations of Mao’s 120th birthday on December 26th. Mr Xi will likely use the occasion to pay fulsome homage. Read more

- Stopp Kinas grove misbruk av Falungong-fanger

Den kanadiske menneskerettighetsforkjemperen David Kilgour har i en årrekke forsøkt å rette søkelyset mot Kinas organinnhøsting av innsatte Falungong-aktivister. For noen dager siden talte han på et seminar i Oslo i regi av tenketanken Civita. Les mer

Tibetan Who Self-Immolated Dies on Way to Hospital

A Tibetan herdsman who self-immolated in protest against Chinese rule at a town center in Sichuan province has died and his remains have been secretly cremated by the authorities, an ex-Tibetan political prisoner living in exile in India said Thursday. Read more

China's Toxic Smog Creeps South Amid Growing Health Fears

Much of eastern China was choking under a thick blanket of yellow smog on Thursday, with schools closing and visibility down to just 500 meters amid widespread health concerns. The foul-smelling smog began to thicken late on Wednesday, and readings of the smallest and most harmful form particulate matter, PM2.5, reached 300-500 micrograms per cubic meter, levels considered hazardous to health by international standards. Read more

Biden: US and China in 'very direct' air zone talks

The US and China have had "very direct" talks about concerns over China's new air defence identification zone, US Vice-President Joe Biden said. Speaking after meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Mr Biden said the zone had caused "apprehension" in Asia. Read more

Beijing Review: The Hot Zone

ADIZ is an early-warning air defense concept. It is a zone that can extend in some cases up to 300 miles beyond the territorial sea. Some maritime nations establish such zones off their coasts for security purposes such as guarding against potential air threats. When entering the zone, all aircraft are required to identify themselves, report flight plans, and inform ground control of their exact position, says the official Beijing Review magazine. Read more