Amnesty International Australia

Politics and sports mix for Taiwanese athletes

Despite the recent thawing of the relationship between Taiwan and China, the island's Olympic athletes must compete under a special set of rules.

China in the headlines – 21 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Foreign journalists are getting more and more frustrated with some of the answers they are getting from Olympic organisers.

• Journalist and analyst from the China Media Project, David Bandurski, looks at what impact the Olympics will have on press freedoms for Chinese reporters.

• Tibetan protestors are reportedly shot dead in Tibet, while six US protestors are missing.

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Tibet open to visitors but with strict controls

After months of lockdown foreign tourists are finally being allowed back into Tibet, but authorities are watching their every move.

China in the headlines – 20 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Experts compare Internet access inside the Olympic Press Centre with access in other parts of Beijing.

• Chinese censors may have unblocked websites, but they are still jamming some broadcasts from several international radio stations – so much for media freedom.

• A New York Times journalist videoed what happened when he applied for permission to protest in one of the so far unused Olympic protest parks.

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US magazine puts China’s laws under the spotlight

What are China's 10 worst laws? – here's the lowdown according to reporters from US-based magazine Foreign Policy.

Would-be protestors missing, detained

Chinese authorities haven't approved any of the 77 applications from people who wanted to hold protests in the three specially designated zones during the Olympics. Some of those who applied have been detained or forced out of the city, and at least one is missing.

China in the headlines – 19 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• A human rights group wants sponsors to call on the International Olympic Committee to set up a permanent body to monitor rights abuses at future Games.

• The Guardian looks at how western technology firms have helped the Chinese censor the Internet.

• Chinese farmer Gao Chuancai has been jailed dozen of times during his decade long fight against corruption – now he is one of the would-be protestors detained after applying to use an official Olympic protest zone.

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China’s undesirables not welcome at the Olympics

Hawkers, beggars, petitioners and scrap collectors have all been forced out of Beijing for the duration of the Olympics. And now apparently psychiatric patients are being kept out of sight as well.

Religious persecution in China

Christian activist Hua Huiqi remains in hiding after escaping from the police, though his family say he is safe and is being looked after.

China in the headlines – 18 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Daily press briefs between journalists and Olympic officials have been cancelled for the second day in a row.

• The Dalai Lama says China is mistreating and torturing civilians in Tibet during the Olympics.

• Chinese customs officials confiscate hundreds of bibles, from a group of Americans who arrived in the country at the weekend.

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Sparks fly at Olympic press conference

Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, Tim Johnson, has blogged his transcript of a heated exchange between a UK journalist and two Olympic reps at a fiery press conference yesterday.

Journalist manhandled, blogger detained

On the same day UK journalist was manhandled by police in Beijing, in another part of the country well known Chinese citizen reporter Zhou Shuguang was being detained by officials.

All smiles for daily Olympic question time

Everyday officials from the Beijing Olympic organising committee and the International Olympic Committee, along with a couple of special guests, hold a press briefing. Here's what Marina Hyde, from the UK's Guardian newspaper, thinks about it all:

China in the headlines – 15 August 2008

China in the headlines – 15 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Foreign journalists and China's Olympic officials in a fiery clash at a news conference.

• The censorship foreigners don't see.

• Do showy protests about China's human rights record make any difference? Or do quieter tactics pay better dividends?

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The blacklist – rules for journalists

The Sydney Morning Herald has managed to get hold of a copy of 21 rules for local journalists, issued the Chinese Government's propaganda bureau.

Life behind bars: Journalist Ching Cheong

Journalist Ching Cheong, who worked in China as a correspondent for the Singapore Strait Times, spent 1000 days in a Chinese jail accused of spying for Taiwan. He was released earlier this year. Check out his interview with Al Jazeera English.

China in the headlines – 14 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Another Chinese activist is taken away by police after applying for permission use one of the Olympic protest zones.

• Monks in Tibet have been confined to their monasteries and forbidden from travelling to Beijing during the Games.

• A security expert discusses some recent Internet-attacks on groups working on human rights, press freedom and Tibetan independence.

Plus …

New reporting rules for Chinese journalists

Chinese authorities promises of media freedom seem pretty empty right about now – especially for Chinese journalists.

Deported from China after filming protestors

There's a bit of interesting news about an American who was deported from China after filming and posting on the web footage of Free Tibet protestors in Beijing last week ...

China in the headlines – 13 August 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• A website has been launched to organise a collective lawsuit against Internet censorship in China.

• Chinese journalists had their notebooks confiscated when US athletes begun discussing the Beijing murder of their coach's father-in-law.

• The story of a Taiwanese-American woman arrested in Tibet and accused of 'illegally possessing state secrets'.

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