Apparently the Chinese academic community is in a bit of an uproar now that the CCP has ordered the shutdown of the much esteemed Strategy and Management journal after it published an article on North Korea.
A leading academic journal that covered diplomacy, domestic politics and economics, Strategy and Management was respected at home and abroad for publishing thought-provoking, independent views that sometimes challenged government policies.
One of the editors said it was ordered to stop publication because of an article in its fourth issue this year that was highly critical of North Korea. The editor did not specify which article. “It may be stopped forever,” the editor said. “It was the State Press and Publication Administration that informed us.”
….”If it’s been asked to stop for good, I think that will be a very, very bad case,” said a Chinese foreign relations expert at a prestigious university in Beijing who declined to be named.
“It could indicate a tightening of political censorship,” said the scholar, who had published several articles in Strategy and Management.
Foreign news reports said the article pinned the blame for the nuclear crisis on the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, and criticized him for trying to maintain a system of “dynastic rule.”
The magazine’s closure highlights how sensitive relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have become.
….The article was so sensitive that all copies of the issue were recalled. “The magazines arrived on Aug. 17, but we were asked not to distribute them,” said Gu Lei, an official at the International Post Office in Beijing, which distributes magazines and newspapers.
Let’s hope the reforms continue, and thanks to the reader who clued me into this story.
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By kevin
I was taking a class in Foreign Relations here in China about 2 years ago, when the nuclear crisis had just begun. I decided to write my final paper on Sino-NK relations. My teacher was really supportive, but it was nearly impossible to obtain useful materials. I ended up using all internationally published english materials, because the Chinese language material was total crap, as my teacher had warned me it would be. Perceptions of NK are strange in China, everyone seems to know that it is kind of a mess, but there are two approaches, both of which are common reactions to things here in china: a) a push to just not talk about it all or b) a push to put a better face on it. I recently watched a TV show that was about a South Korean who opened an internet bar in Pyongyang, and then it talked about how the supermarkets in Pyongyang have anything, all kinds of fancy imported products. Again, i don’t know who is being fooled by the silence/ optimizing scheme, but I do think that China needs to face the North Korean issue more directly.
As does the United States.
September 22, 2004 @ 8:24 pm | Comment
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By richard
Don’t say anything — maybe it’ll just go away.
September 22, 2004 @ 8:39 pm | Comment
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By Simon World
Asia by Blog
All the news that’s fit to post… Hong Kong, Taiwan and China With the peaceful rise of Hu Jintao, Richard has a good look on what it all means, although CDN contends Hu has sold his soul. At the same time some things haven’t changed (the article in q…
September 23, 2004 @ 12:52 am | Comment
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By Simon World
Asia by Blog – Month in Review
This is cross-posted at Winds of Change. Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Mondays and Thursdays (the latest edition is here). You can be notified by email when it is updated, just drop me an email at simon-[at]-simonworld-[dot]-mu-[dot…
September 28, 2004 @ 12:52 am | Comment
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By Simon World
Asia by Blog – Month in Review
This is cross-posted at Winds of Change. Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Mondays and Thursdays (the latest edition is here). You can be notified by email when it is updated, just drop me an email at simon-[at]-simonworld-[dot]-mu-[dot…
September 28, 2004 @ 12:57 am | Comment
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By Winds of Change.NET
Simon’s E. Asia Overview & PRC News: Sep 28/04
It’s time to have a look at East Asia and what’s been making the news in Asian blogs over the past month. We cover China (in depth), as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore et. al).
September 28, 2004 @ 1:09 am | Comment
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By Winds of Change.NET
Simon’s E. Asia Overview & PRC News: Sep 28/04
It’s time to have a look at East Asia and what’s been making the news in Asian blogs over the past month. We cover China (in depth), as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore et. al).
September 28, 2004 @ 1:15 am | Comment