Seoul to Float News of 'Jasmine Revolutions' to N.Korea
Helium balloons to be floated to North Korea will carry propaganda leaflets with news of the popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East, a lawmaker said Thursday. The military will also attach clothes and medicine to the balloons, a practice discontinued in April 2000.
The Defense Ministry submitted a report to Future Hope Alliance lawmaker Song Young-sun on Thursday saying the military has sent about 3 million propaganda leaflets since North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in October last year, including 400,000 immediately following the attack and 2.4 million since early February.
"The military plans to update its propaganda leaflets by adding news of popular uprisings in Egypt and Libya and also criticizing the hereditary succession under the long-term dictatorship, and distribute them on a large scale," said Song quoting military sources.
Starting this month, it sent over 10,000 items including 14 daily necessities such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and tissues, as well as underwear, hats and gloves, and medicine such as cold pills, ointment and antiseptic, plus microwaveable instant rice and radios.
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China Blocks Access to LinkedIn Networking Site
China has stepped up its policing of Internet usage in the country, temporarily blocking access to LinkedIn, the largest networking site for professionals, as well as searches for the name of the U.S. ambassador.
The networking site went offline on Friday shortly after one user set up a forum discussing the idea of a Jasmine Revolution in China. The reference to the word jasmine is the name some have attached to widespread anti-government protests that have swept through Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other countries in the Middle East.
Last week, Chinese authorities mobilized tens of thousands of security forces ahead of Internet calls for Jasmine Revolution protests. Rights groups said that at least 80 prominent activists and dissidents were detained or confined to their homes in advance of the demonstrations. The protests drew up to several hundred people in more than a dozen cities.
U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman was spotted at one of the protests in Beijing last Sunday, although the American Embassy said it was a coincidence he was there as he walked through a shopping district with his family. On Friday, searches for his name in Chinese on the popular Internet site Sina Weibo were met with a message saying it was not available because of "laws, regulations and policies."
The U.S.-based LinkedIn company says about one million of its 90 million users are in China. The company says the blockage of its site appears to be "part of a broader effort in China right now" and involved other, unnamed sites as well.
By later Friday, some said they could use the LinkedIn site again.
China routinely blocks access to web sites of foreign news organizations, including VOA, or television coverage of events it considers sensitive. Chinese Internet monitors also are able to selectively block keywords and searches on Internet topics it thinks might foster anti-government sentiment. Coverage of the political turmoil in the Middle East has been limited in China.
Western groups have regularly criticized the Chinese effort to limit outside information from reaching the world's most populous country. In a recent speech, President Hu Jintao emphasized the need to "build a socialist social management system."
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Advocates call for more support of 'jasmine revolution' in China
2011/02/25 15:41:02
Taipei, Feb. 25 (CNA) The people and government of Taiwan should offer more support for the "Chinese jasmine revolution" because democracy and human rights are universal values and a democratic China will serve Taiwan's interests, rights advocates said Friday.
Several human rights advocates held a press conference in Taipei to comment on the rumblings of revolution that have surfaced on Chinese websites over the last week.
A Boxun.com blog post on Feb. 17 called on Chinese people to gather at 2 p.m. on Feb. 19 in 13 Chinese cities to protest for "food, jobs, living space, and fairness and justice." The movement, described as the "Chinese jasmine revolution, " ended with arrests of protesters and a wave of Internet censorship.
The Taiwanese rights advocates said that people of Taiwan -- independence supporters and unification supporters alike -- should support China's democratic movement and the government should lead the charge.
Yang Hsien-hung, President of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights (TACHR) , urged the Taiwan government to actively voice its opinions on human rights and democracy and make clear that it will not hold any political dialogue unless China addresses these issues.
"President Ma Ying-jeou, as a head of state, should have the courage to single out China's human rights problems, " Yang said.
Ruan Ming, a former Chinese Communist scholar who now has Taiwanese citizenship, said that "China and other authoritative regimes are witnessing a new era of political movements driven by the youth, who present their ideology with a new strategy -- the Internet."
The political movement that has swept through Africa and the Middle East is destined to arrive in China eventually, he said, adding that even though the number of people answering the call this past week may be small, "the Chinese government is obviously nervous."
John C.F. Wei, a human rights attorney, urged the Chinese government to initiate dialogue with dissidents and called on Taiwanese people to pay attention and support human rights and peaceful democratic movements in China.
"A collapsed China is not necessarily a good thing for Taiwan, " he said, alluding to the economic consequences for Taiwan if China became unstable.
Chang Tieh-chih, a well-known blogger, warned that Taiwan knew too little about China, especially its "dark side, " despite warming cross-strait ties. The crackdown on dissidents and the censorship of Internet search engines and web forums showed that "China might be powerful on the outside, but is, in fact, fragile on the inside."
"No one can predict when a revolution will happen, " said Chang. "However, the social situation in China has reached a boiling point and the Chinese people are now more courageous than ever in voicing their opinions."
Posts circulating on the Internet have hinted that there could be a second wave of
