Happy birthday, Dalai Lama: China celebrates by cutting comms in Tibetan region
It was the Dalai Lama’s birthday last week; he turned 77. China celebrated in its own unique way by severing public communication services, with both text messaging and internet access disabled for two days in Ganzi prefecture, a Tibetan autonomous region in western Sichuan province. Phone calls, however, could still be made.
There was no announcement, no explanation. One minute you could surf the internet, text your friend; the next, messages were blocked and the web was down. (more…)
China: Hong Kong journalists complain about editor’s self-censorship
A prominent Hong Kong newspaper has been criticised for self censorship by members of its staff. Journalists at the South China Morning Post have complained over coverage of the suspicious death of dissident Li Wangyang on 6 June. A number of emails between senior subeditor Alex Price to the newspaper’s editor Wang Xiangwei described staff concerns, as Price said that the minimal coverage of the death looked “a lot like self censorship”. Wang responded: “I don’t have to explain to you anything. I made the decision and I stand by it. If you don’t like it, you know what to do.”
China: Dissident found dead
Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, who was jailed for over 22 years after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was found dead in a hospital ward in Shaoyang city, Hunan province, on Wednesday. Family members found the dissident, 62, apparently hanged by a bandage around his neck in his hospital room. Security and hospital authorities have said he had committed suicide but his family has said Li died in strange circumstances. Police are also reported to have removed his body without the family’s permission.