I am deeply honored to see my name up at the top of this list, though I have no idea how it got there. Please consider voting for me, though with competition like the great Riverbend and Needlenose, the odds are better that Hu will dismantle the Great Firewall of China before I win.
There is no denying it. China is making enormous and rapid strides in improving its image as a persecutor of those who practice religions not wholly approved by the state. This is just one of several recent stories that indicate a real breakthrough that has the potential to shift world opinion and help cast Hu Jintao as a true reformer and purveyor of increased freedom in China.
Hong Kong’s new cardinal said the Vatican and China are holding “real talks” in Rome about normalizing formal relations that were cut off more than five decades ago when the communists took over the mainland.
Cardinal Joseph Zen’s comments on the Sunday TV talkshow “Newsline” on Hong Kong’s ATV World were among the most detailed he has made about the nature of the meetings between the Beijing and Catholic leaders in Rome.
The show’s host, veteran journalist Frank Ching, noted that a senior Chinese religious official, Ye Xiaowen, recently said Beijing and the Vatican have only been in “contact” about the issue of forging new relations.
But the outspoken Zen insisted the meetings were much more substantial than mere contacts.
“My impression is that they’ve entered into real talks,” Zen said, adding that negotiators were meeting in Rome.
Stay tuned. The Peking Duck is reconsidering his long-time stance on Hu, who just might end up living up to the original hopes of his being a reformer – at least in some respects. The jury is still out, but there’s definitely tantalizing evidence to consider. Whether these breakthroughs derive from Hu’s sense of altruisim and universal brotherhood or his desire to maintain the Paryty’s grip on power is another issue. But there’s no denying that, no matter his motivation, he’s willing to take major steps to transform China’s image of mindless intolerance. And that’s good for China, and the Chinese people.
Update: I mentioned the Dalai Lama in the headline; there are interesting stories about Hu reaching out to him, as well, but I’ll have to cover them when I have a little more time. It may be pure Machiavellianism, but I see it as shrewd and smart.
This was so nice to read, and must have been apoplexy-inducing to the Minuteman-adoring anti-immigration “patriots.”
Wearing a bright green T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Mexico,” 18-year-old Marco Tapia couldn’t wait to join the biggest march for immigrants he had ever seen. The Mexican-born high school senior was among about 30,000 who marched through St. Paul in support of immigrant rights, and among more than half a million people who rallied Sunday in 10 states. Dozens more marches were planned nationwide Monday.
“Hopefully this will change the way America thinks,” said Tapia, a high school senior who is living illegally in Minneapolis with his mother and sister. “We’re not criminals. We’re just regular people like everybody else here.”
With an overhaul of immigration law stalled in Congress, demonstrators urged lawmakers to help an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants settle legally in the United States. The massive turnout at Sunday’s protests — police estimated 350,000 to 500,000 in Dallas — continued to surprise organizers and police.
“This is a force, an energy here,” said Amir Krummell, a U.S. citizen born in Panama, who marched to Dallas’ city hall amid shouts of “Si Se Puede!”, Spanish for “Yes, we can!”
America loves immigrants. America is immigrants. We need secure borders and sensible regulations. But to make it a crime to help undocumented immigrants and a felony to be in the country illegally — don’t we have more important, more pressing issues to concern ourselves with? Most of these people are looking for a better life, and most pay taxes, too. Criminalizing them is just plain wrong.
As America prepares to invade Iran, this brutally honest column makes for some fine reading. Can you really imagine a second war – one that’s guaranteed to be bloodier and more devastating than that other needless war we’re caught up in, and that would serve no purpose except to help get Bush out of his political mess (at least temporarily)?
Yes He Would
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 10, 2006
“But he wouldn’t do that.” That sentiment is what made it possible for President Bush to stampede America into the Iraq war and to fend off hard questions about the reasons for that war until after the 2004 election. Many people just didn’t want to believe that an American president would deliberately mislead the nation on matters of war and peace.
One of this site’s most intelligent commenters now has her own blog She has translated a long post from Hao Wu’s sister, and it looks like she might have the skills and the patience to become another ESWN.
I’m still in Hong Kong; blogging should get back up to speed this week.
The first time I was in China, back when there was no doubt you were living in a totalitarian state, albeit one that was struggling to come back to life after the horrors of the Cultural Revolution, a friend sent us a special baseball cap to wear. It had the word “Kafka” embroidered in red across the front. We thought that was pretty damn funny at the time.
Unfortunately there’s no new news on Hao’s situation. His sister, Nina (Wu Na) continues to blog about her efforts to get justice for her brother. The term “Kafkaesque” could have been coined just to describe some of the situations in which she has found herself.
Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Beijing Petition Office clutching my last strand of hope. On arriving I was startled by the number of police cars parked at the gate. Were there normally so many police there for protection? Were they afraid of someone causing trouble? The petition office was much noisier than the Public Security Bureau. Most of the people were white-haired elderly women. When I was almost to the front of the line, a few bright-eyed and strapping men, whispering to each other, suddenly appeared in the main hall. Their arrival was clearly incompatible with the atmosphere of the hall. Before I had finished explaining the situation, the petition receptionist told me that the Beijing Public Security Bureau was a specialized organization, and the Beijing city government could not exercise supervision over it. In reply, I told her that my brother lived in Beijing, and was taken away by Beijing police, why couldn’t they exercise supervision over this? The receptionist helplessly answered that the Beijing Public Security Bureau is under the direct jurisdiction of higher authorities. Did this mean that the city government did not even have the right of inquiry regarding its actions? Under duress from me, she gave me a suggestion: report the situation to the Procuratorate [the prosecutor’s office]. The Procuratorate should be able to supervise the Public Security Bureau. It appears that the petition offices of all government organs only serve as windows. None of them can solve real problems. They can’t even accept materials. Looking at the two sparse lines of characters on their petition registration form, and the employee next to it typing at a computer, my heart was overcome with despair. In the end, would this all just become a record in some computer?
For someone who doesn’t consider herself a writer, I’m really impressed by Nina’s ability to clearly and eloquently express herself in such unbelievably stressful circumstances. It must run in the family.
The only remotely positive thing I can find in this wretched situation is the way that Hao’s plight has raised the consciousness of the people around him (and that’s not much consolation). Here’s Nina’s account of an email she received from a friend of Hao’s:
“I was your brother’s classmate at the University of Science and Technology. We haven’t been in touch for fourteen years, but I remember your brother’s lively and optimistic personality!
Today, by chance I read on the Internet that he had been arrested. I was shocked. I also finally learned about his lifestyle and thinking these last few years. I am very proud to have that kind of friend.
As a Chinese person, I am also grieved that our country is still unable to guarantee the basic legal rights of its citizens!
Every time the west discusses freedom of speech, I always think they’re being meddlesome. Today I finally have a personal understanding; if a country cannot guarantee the basic rights of its citizens, it concerns each and every one of us!
This is the country of us, the Chinese people. These are our legal rights. We need to strive for them ourselves!
I hope your family can realize that Hao Wu’s arrest, and failure to receive normal trial procedure and legal defense is not an injustice for him alone. Many conscientious, just-minded Chinese people also deeply feel this injustice. We support the efforts of you and your family, and extend our respect!�
Nina’s own thoughts at the end of this post are especially poignant:
In fact, before this happened to my brother, I felt that I had it all: family, friends, a job I liked, and a typical Shanghai “little capitalist� life. I felt that I had the ability to control everything. I could choose the lifestyle I wanted; I could choose my circle of friends…in fact this was just what it looked like. It is so easy for someone to lose his or her privileges. An ordinary person can very easily be taken from his or her daily life. It doesn’t require any warning or reason, and of course it doesn’t require the assent of that person. Legal help is also unavailable. Even though the thirty-sixth clause of the Constitution states, “The physical freedom of the citizens of the People’s Republic of China cannot be violated…it is forbidden to detain or use other methods to take away or limit the physical freedom of a citizen; it is forbidden to illegally search the body of a citizen,� my brother has already lost his freedom. The staff of the Procuratorate did not deny that laws were being broken in the current stage, but no organization or person has stopped these illegal phenomena from continuing.
Really, only when your own rights are violated do you realize their importance to you. I am now beginning to pay attention to law, beginning to look for rights I might have. I hope that it isn’t all too late.
At the same time, I know that I already have lost my right to privacy. I know that they know my every movement. Actually, when you act magnanimously, there is nothing to conceal. I haven’t done anything that I’d be ashamed to show others. I will continue to strive for my brother’s early release. It’s just that I don’t know: when all the legal channels have been exhausted, will anything be left?
What a brave woman. I hope that you’ll take a moment to visit freehaowu and leave your comments of support. Or if you have a blog, and these words inspire you to post about Hao and Nina, please write about them. It feels like a straw in the wind, but we need to keep their story alive.
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Friedman’s changing his tune fast. He always used to see a “window of possibility” when it came to Iraq. Reading this, you can only conclude he now sees that window as nailed shut. All because of our arrogance in going in without a strategy for keeping Iraq functional after the fall of Saddam.
Condi and Rummy
By Thomas L. Friedman
It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry when you read about the spat between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over whether the U.S. committed any “tactical” errors in the Iraq war.
In case you missed it, Secretary Rice told reporters in Britain last Friday that “I know we’ve made tactical errors, thousands of them I’m sure,” but that the big strategic decision to take down Saddam Hussein will be seen by future historians as correct.
High Fence and Big Gate
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: April 5, 2006
America today is struggling to find the right balance of policies on immigration. Personally, I favor a very high fence, with a very big gate.
So far, neither President Bush’s proposal to allow the nation’s millions of illegal immigrants to stay temporarily on work visas, nor the most hard-line G.O.P. counterproposal, which focuses only on border security, leaves me satisfied. We need a better blend of the two — a blend that will keep America the world’s greatest magnet for immigrants. Why?”
Two Worn-Out Diplomats, One Fold-Out Bed
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: April 5, 2006
I’m just back from London, where the Brits were fascinated with the Condi Rice and Jack Straw two-for-the-road odyssey, the exchange of visits to their hometowns, Birmingham and Blackburn, and the rebuff of Condi by Paul McCartney and a Blackburn mosque.
British journalists loved hearing about how Condi exercises alongside diplomatic reporters in hotel gyms, not at all self-conscious about working out in form-fitting shorts and T-shirts.
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