RFA Unplugged

Archive for February, 2008

China: Strikes in Dongguan test new labor law

Konica Minolta Business Technologies and Sankyo Seiko Science & Technology are two neighboring factories in Shilong township, Dongguan. Strikes began Thursday in the Sankyo plant after a pay dispute involving some 3,000 workers who complained their salaries were too low because the overtime pay they were getting didn’t comply with China’s Labor Contract Law. One [...]

China: "Help us, journalists!"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TLdAUmnoPQ] From RFA’s Mandarin service (in Chinese): In recent days around 1,200 petitioners have penned an open letter to China’s parliament calling for greater recognition of the rights violations they say they suffered at the hands of officials. Several hundred petitioners marched towards Gongyi East overpass Thursday hoping to meet with foreign journalists, but the [...]

Laos: Witnesses dispute accounts of 'voluntary' repatriation

The Lao Hmong asylum-seekers dragged onto trucks this week to be sent back to Laos were lucky, according to a senior Thai military official. “It was a good opportunity for them because they are the first group who wholeheartedly volunteered to go back to their country, without any kind of pressure,” Department of Border Affairs [...]

Tibet: Life in Lhasa under Chinese rule

“Before the Chinese came, the Tibetans had freedom,” Tubten Khetsun said recently, at an event marking the publication of his new book Memories of Life in Lhasa Under Chinese Rule. “Rich or poor, the most important thing is that they were free to live their lives, to do their everyday tasks. Before the Chinese came, [...]

Vietnam: Dissidents' jail terms upheld

Vietnam, in the Western world, used to evoke a war. Now it conjures up inflation, productivity, WTO membership, and unapologetic animosity toward free expression. How do we know this? This week, a Vietnamese appeals court upheld the sentences of four men convicted of collecting complaints against the government and sharing them with Western news organizations, [...]

China: Well-heeled Beijing residents battle incinerator

Here is a full English translation of a recent edition of RFA Mandarin’s Investigative Report (in Chinese): The residents were not given any direct response to their voiced concerns.  Ask them to give us the report on environment protection, and they refuse on grounds that it is internal information and involves technology secrets.  What secrets?  [...]

China: Clashes with the chengguan in two cities

RFA/Mandarin — Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. From Hong Kong-based reporter Qiao Long: Last week in southern China’s Nanning city, a vegetable peddler was beaten up by urban management officers, triggering confrontation between angry bystanders and the officers for about two hours. According to China’s Nanguo Zaobao newspaper, on the afternoon of Feb. 23, urban management [...]

A harmonic convergence in North Korea?

The musical puns are almost too good to resist, but I’ll do my best. The New York Philharmonic, America’s oldest symphony orchestra, played a concert today. They do that a lot, being an orchestra and all. But this concert was extraordinary, because it occurred in Pyongyang—possibly the most repressive country on Earth, and not known [...]

South China Villagers Slam Pollution From Rare Earth Mine

Guangdong. We all love Guangdong. The shopping. The tourism. The factories. The people. The Guangzhou zoo. The…rare-earth minerals? This week, we learn through RFA’s Cantonese service, Guangdong villagers are fighting an illegal rare-earth mine in their neighborhood which they say has poisoned the local water supply and wiped out their fish-farm stock and rice crops.

Tibetans, Chinese police clash at festival

Asian news aficionados may recall a certain fracas in Tibet (2006) over the wearing of fur, or rather over the Dalai Lama saying Tibetans shouldn’t wear it…and the authorities then requiring Tibetan broadcasters to adorn themselves in animal pelts on-air (in a gesture of absolute insouciance to His Holiness). That all started in Rebkong. And [...]