Death, pollution, violence: it’s GOLD for China | News.com.au News Blog

Death, pollution, violence: it’s GOLD for China | News.com.au News Blog Recent figures have shown them to be number one for executions and now it would seem they lead the planet in the race to see who can pollute it the most. And as the Olympic torch relay and Tibetan crackdown have proven, China is no slouch when it comes to long marches to silence dissent. It has also been said that China is number one for web surfers. With them in mind, here is some of what the web has been saying about China’s gold-medal performances: BBC News Research suggests the country’s greenhouse gas emissions have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the US in 2006-2007. (A researcher said) “But there is no sense pointing a finger at the Chinese. They are trying to pull people out of poverty and they clearly need help”. Digg.com post in response to the BBC report When you’re building 2 new coal fired power plants per week, pollution will catch up to you in a hurry. I would love to see Olympians wearing dust masks in protest. China Business Services blog (on Beijing’s decision not to release pollution stats) It is simply easier to hide bad news… Last week in Beijing I could not see beyond 4 blocks due to the smog. CNN China executed at least 470 people last year - more than any other country in the world. Exact figures for how many people were put to death in China are difficult to come by because the country considers the death penalty a “state secret”. USA Today The country that executed more than four times as many convicts as the rest of the world combined last year is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favour of lethal injections. China metes out capital punishment from specially equipped “death vans” that shuttle from town to town. New York Times To earn the right to play host to this summer’s Olympics, Beijing promised to improve its human rights record. As its behaviour in Tibet ... demonstrates, China does not take that commitment seriously. Anti-CNN During the interview with Chinese Ambassador, CTV inserted the video clip of Nepali policemen to “demonstrate” that the Chinese Ambassador was lying... Xinhua Tens of thousands of people from China and abroad have been angered by biased and dishonest reports about the riots in Tibet by some Western media, and answered calls to condemn Western media organizations for exaggerated and distorted reporting of the issue. Arstechnica President Hu Jintao last year called for purification of the Internet, saying that it was poisoning the minds of China’s youth. What he really meant to say is that the government is upset that it cannot completely control the flow of information. For an overview... Amnesty International 2007 report on China Human Rights Watch China’s Olympian Human Rights Challenges Beijing 2008 Official site for the Beijing Olympics Why China matters... New York Times China Rises Foreign Affairs The rise of China and the future of the West Foreign Policy The Dark Side of China’s Rise And, more generally... Wikipedia: China Six thousand years in a few thousand words. China Today All China, all the time. CIA Factbook Everything America’s spies think you should know about the next superpower.