The Internet Is a “Contested Space” in China, for Good and for Bad

In China, and just about anywhere else, the Internet can be a two-edged sword.

Governments can find it to be a handy propaganda tool that can influence millions of users as long as only friendly voices can be heard.

And civil society forces have discovered that the Internet has opened infinite possibilities to overcome ages-old censorship.

China is perhaps the best example of this contradiction, as Chinese dissident-in-exile Xiao Qiang (above) today told a Washington audience during a forum organized by the US National Endowment for Democracy.

A Guide to Navigate China's Current Hostility to Foreign Reporters

Death threats against foreign correspondents and official statements demonizing Western media risk creating a hostile environment for international media planning to cover the 2008 Games, says the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC).

It's not too late to improve conditions. In addition to urging authorities to investigate the death threats, the FCCC recommends a number of measures that can be taken to help create an environment in keeping with Beijing's Olympic promises.

New Test for China as Torch Protests Loom in Hong Kong

The New York Times reports the Olympic torch relay coming to Hong Kong on Friday, the first on Chinese soil, is turning into a broader struggle over Hong Kong’s evolving role as an autonomous territory of China.

This past Saturday, the Hong Kong government denied entry to three Danish human rights advocates who had hoped to protest at the torch relay, detaining them for six hours and then putting them against their will on a flight to London.

Another Violent Torch Relay, This Time in South Korea

Reporters without Borders informs that thousands of Chinese students clashed with the 8,300 South Korean policemen who were deployed for the Olympic torch relay in Seoul yesterday.

Some threw bottles, pieces of wood and soft drink cans at opponents of the Olympic Games and North Korean demonstrators.

RSF Launches Campaign to Free Prisoners of Conscience in China

Reporters Without Borders gave a news conference today in Paris to unveil a series of new campaign initiatives aimed at the public, politicians, Olympic sponsors and journalists who are going to the Olympic Games in Beijing.

“With just over 100 days to go to the games, a key moment for the Olympic movement, we are campaigning to obtain the release of prisoners of conscience and free access to Tibet for the press,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said.

China Yields to Pressure and OKs Meeting with Tibetan Opposition

Weeks of international pressure after the crack down in Tibet have finally forced the Chinese government to accept a dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama, according to Xinhua, the country's official news agency.

The move signals a tacit acknowledgment by Beijing that the international PR nightmare the run of the torch had become after the Tibetan crisis and the nationalistic fervor it triggered in China proved too much for the country's world image.

At least five people were arrested and four were slightly injured today in Nagano, Japan, during the run of the torch, which was guarded by a police force of more than 3,000.

Quick Times

Minor Protests as Olympic Relay Reaches Australia 
The Australian leg of the Olympic torch relay began Thursday, shortly after minor protests by supporters and detractors of China’s government.

Most Media Kept Far from Olympic Torch Relay in Australia 
Only two media outlets were allowed inside the torch relay security area in Canberra.

Bracing for Games, China Sets Rules That Complicate Life for Foreigners
Chinese officials are introducing visa restrictions that are causing anxiety among the 250,000 expatriates who have settled in China in recent years.

China Falls Short on Vows for Olympics
When it comes to fulfilling its human rights promises, the Chinese government falls well short of expectations.

Is the Chinese Government Hiding Anything in Tibet?
RSF calls for foreign journalists to be allowed to return to that conflictive area.   

China Plays for Much More than Medals at the Olympics (Concluding Speech)

Jean-Philippe Beja, Senior Fellow of the International Relations Studies Center, gave the concluding speech at the Paris conference by reminding us all how very crucial the success of the Olympic Games will be for the Beijing regime.

At stake here are decades of planning and economic development at neck-breaking speed with one goal in mind: fulfilling a centuries-old dream of turning China into a rich nation.

But he also warned us that the backlash triggered by the international PR nightmare the Games organizers are going through might easily translate into extreme Chinese nationalism.

Wanted: Attorneys to the Rescue during the Olympics (Notes from the Paris Conference)

Some 30,000 journalists are expected to travel to Beijing to cover the Games.

If we pay attention to what has happened in Western countries in similar events, we must take for ranted that perhaps hundreds of those journalists will be arrested during those two weeks in August.

But unlike Western countries, there is no established infrastructure to coordinate the legal defense of those arrested professionals in China.

That’s why World Press Freedom Committee Chairman Richard Winfield launched an attorney-recruiting campaign during the Paris Conference.

Chinese Jammers Play No Music (Notes from the Paris Conference)

The Great Firewall of China is not the only censorship fortification the Chinese authorities have built to stop the “foreign invaders.”

At the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, the regime has also erected a veritable Maginot Line of antennas and signal jammers that effectively covers the ears of the entire country.

Voice of Tibet, a attempt to bring news and information to that region, and its director, Oystein Alme, know all about this gagging system.