«Honningfeller», avlyttede hotellrom og skadelige minnepinner er blant midlene Kina bruker for å få tak i britiske hemmeligheter, avslører etterretningstjenesten MI5.
Aftenposten 2/2/10
Er det én ting britiske toppsjefer har lært om Kina etter å ha lest avisen den siste uken, er det dette: Vær forsiktig når du mottar en minnepinne som gave fra en kinesisk handelsforbindelse.
I en rapport fra den britiske etterretningstjenesten MI5 som nylig ble lekket til avisen The Times kommer det nemlig frem at slike minnepinner – eller andre elektroniske duppedingser – kan inneholde virusprogrammer som gjør at kinesiske spioner får tilgang på innholdet i PC-en til gavemottakeren.
Metoden er bare én av flere som avsløres i den pikante rapporten, som forventes å kjøle ned forholdet mellom Storbritannia og Kina betraktelig. Dette forholdet er allerede kjølig etter at Kina i desember valgte å henrette en britisk borger for narkotikasmugling – på tross av heftige protester fra statsminister Gordon Brown.
Den 14 sider lange rapporten, som opprinnelig var strengt hemmeligstemplet, oppfordrer også britiske forretningsfolk til å vokte seg på hotellrommet når de er på besøk i Kina.
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One more sign that the territory is bowing to China’s mandarins.
Wall Street Journal – 1/2/10
In New York last month to promote the West Kowloon Cultural District development, Hong Kong Chief Secretary Henry Tang declared that the territory was poised to become “Asia’s cultural hub.” Earlier this week, Hong Kongers got a taste of the kind of “culture” they can expect.
Sunday was to be the triumphant closing of New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts’ seven-show, sold-out Hong Kong tour. Instead, the curtains at Lyric Theatre remained closed. Just two days before the company was to embark on its trip, six “core production team members” were denied work visas, including the stage manager and a lighting engineer.
The Hong Kong Immigration Department has remained silent on the matter, saying only that it doesn’t comment on individual cases. But according to Shen Yun officials, government authorities felt that these crew members were locally replaceable. So much for pro-competition policies. Shen Yun promptly refused the advice and, in a show of defiant solidarity, instead canceled the tour.
Since then, Shen Yun and its Hong Kong co-organizers have staged protests and press conferences, and are even mulling a lawsuit. They say the visa matter was just “a pretext“—the implication being that the decision came from Beijing, motivated by a condemnation of Shen Yun’s dance program, which includes depictions of traditional Chinese tales but also “events in present-day China, such as the story of Falun Gong.”
In fact, “the story of Falun Gong” is central to Shen Yun’s mission. Based in upstate New York, the company shares an address with the Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, a high school based on “the guiding principles of Falun Dafa“—another name for Falun Gong. More than 70% of the dancers listed on Shen Yun’s Web site are graduates of Fei Tian.
The group performs regularly in the U.S. and Canada and has toured around the world, including Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but has never danced in Hong Kong. This was the company’s first opportunity to bring their show to China’s doorstep, and it appears the Chinese government balked. Asked company manager and choreographer Vina Lee, “Is our show really scaring somebody?”
But this isn’t about a dance show. And we don’t have to be fans of Shen Yun or advocates of Falun Gong to find this troubling. Hong Kong’s ambition to become a cultural center is commendable, but one of the keystones to a vibrant arts community is the freedom to express its creativity, even at the risk of provoking the sensitivities of the politicians among the audience. The Shen Yun case suggests that Hong Kong still lacks the capacity to resist political pressures from Beijing. And this drama may just be the opening act.
Political interference to blame, say supporters
POLITICAL PRESSURE: Albert Ho Chun-yan, a legislative council member, speaks at a press conference. He regards the refusal to grant visas a result of political pressure from Beijing.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, warmly received in more than 100 cities worldwide so far, is effectively being denied entry by the Hong Kong authorities just days before seven sold-out shows were to begin.
Shen Yun performs traditional Chinese dance and music—so traditional that it is not welcome by the communist regime in mainland China.
Shen Yun has been canceled in Hong Kong, local organizers announced at noon on Jan. 23, citing the refusal of Hong Kong authorities to issue visas to seven key production staff. The 7,000 residents of this world financial center who held tickets to the much-anticipated premier of Shen Yun will have to wait.
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Aftenposten
Kristoffer Rønneberg
15.12.09
Ingen kinesiske politikere blir med når den årlige menneskerettighets-dialogen med Norge begynner onsdag. –Et signal om at de ikke synes dialogen er like viktig som før, sier Amnesty-sjefen.
Siden 1997 har Norge og Kina møttes årlig for å diskutere menneskerettigheter. Vanligvis ledes møtet av toppolitikere fra hvert land. Men i år har kineserne bestemt seg for å amputere dialogen ved å sende en embetsmann som delegasjonsleder.
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