A little bird tells me that the “reactionary” music is possibly the recordings of a New York-based Rap singer Namgyal Yeshi. Here is how one of the songs No Next Time starts:

The rest of the lyric is in the Tibetan language. You can find a Chinese translation HERE. There is also a recording of the song performed at a pro-Tibetan demonstration in New York on 10 March 2008:

Obama names Republican governor as envoy to China
Reuters[Monday, May 18, 2009 11:45]

WASHINGTON, May 16 - US President Barack Obama on Saturday named the Republican governor of Utah to be the next US ambassador to China, a pivotal post in relations between the United States and a major emerging economic power. Jon Huntsman Jr., 49, a Mandarin-speaking former US trade official with deep personal and family business ties to China, takes on a delicate diplomatic role with a vital trading partner and one of the biggest sources of financing for the growing pile of US government debt. ”This ambassadorship is as important as any in the world because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with the global challenges of the 21st century by working in concert with China,” Mr Obama said at a White House ceremony with Mr Huntsman at his side. But Mr Obama also used his nomination of Mr Huntsman, a former ambassador to Singapore who has been mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012, to send a message to China’s communist leadership. ”Improved relations with China will require candour and open discussion about those issues where we don’t always agree, such as human rights and democracy and free speech, and will require that each of our nations play by the rules in open and honest competition,” Mr Obama said.

Huntsman and Obama/ AFP/Getty Images

Mr Huntsman is the son of billionaire and philanthropist Jon Huntsman, and his family founded chemical company Huntsman Corp, which has operations in China including a factory in Shanghai. One of Huntsman’s seven children, daughter Gracie Mei, was adopted from China.

He quoted a Chinese aphorism as he accepted the nomination on Saturday, which he translated as, ”Together we work, together we progress.”

”This more than anything else, I think, captures the spirit of our journey going forward,” he said.

In a 2006 speech at Shanghai Normal University, Mr Huntsman urged bilateral cooperation to foster peace and economic prosperity on both sides of the Pacific, but also had some stern words about how environmental damage in Asia hurt wildlife in his home state of Utah.

”As leading stakeholders in the international community, the United States and China must be good examples and stewards of the Earth,” he said at the time. ”We must match economic progress with environmental stewardship. The effects of industrialization are felt worldwide.”

Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and previously head of the China division at the International Monetary Fund, said Huntsman’s diplomatic skills ”will be tested to the limit as there are many potential sources of conflict between China and the US, especially on trade, currency and environmental policies.”

”Once the world economy stabilizes and the worst of the (financial) crisis is behind us, these simmering tensions will come bubbling back to the surface,” he added.

Mr Obama’s administration has stopped short of accusing China of keeping its currency artificially low in order to boost exports, but some in Congress would like to see the United States formally accuse China of manipulating the yuan.

The US trade deficit with China hit a record $266.3bn in 2008, but both countries are feeling the pinch now because the global recession has clobbered world trade.

Mr Obama, like his predecessor George W. Bush, also has been mostly low-key in any criticism of China’s human rights record.

Washington is mindful of its need for Beijing’s cooperation in curbing the global financial crisis and in reining in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Mr Obama’s choice of a Republican for such a key post could signal that the Democratic president has not abandoned his pledge to seek bipartisan cooperation. Since taking office in January, he has mostly relied on a Democratic majority in Congress to push through his legislation.

The ambassador post requires Senate confirmation.

Mr Huntsman served as deputy US trade representative in the Bush administration from 2001-2004, and was also US ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1994 when Mr Bush’s father was president.

China is among the largest buyers of US government debt, with $767.9bn as of March, according to Treasury Department data released on Friday. Washington is keen to maintain a strong relationship — particularly now as the $787bn stimulus package and $700bn financial bailout fund have strained public finances.

If China pulled back on its purchases of US bonds, it could drive up interest rates, making it more expensive for the government to finance its growing debt pile. It could also raise borrowing costs for a host of consumer and business loans, including home mortgages.

Report: 5,335 students dead/missing in China quake
AP[Friday, May 08, 2009 17:40]
By AUDRA ANG

BEIJING — China on Thursday released its first official tally of students who died or went missing in last year’s Sichuan earthquake — 5,335 — but denied allegations of corruption and shoddy construction — a politically charged issue that has been an enduring source of grief to parents. Tu Wentao, head of the Sichuan’s provincial education department, said 5,335 schoolchildren died or went missing in the massive May 12 quake, and another 546 have been certified as disabled from injuries they sustained. “The numbers have gone through several checks by our department,” said Tu, whose remarks at a press conference in Sichuan’s capital, Chengdu, were carried on a provincial government news Web site. No reason was given for the release of the figures on Thursday — days before the one-year anniversary of the disaster, which left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing and another 5 million homeless. But some say it could be a sign that the government is attempting to stem ongoing discontent. Authorities began a count of victims within hours after the magnitude-7.9 temblor razed a major section of the mountainous province. But they have refused until now to say how many students were killed, many of them crushed when thousands of classrooms collapsed while other buildings around them remained intact. Officials have said that compiling and confirming the names of the students was a complicated process, and blame the sheer force of the quake as the main cause of the number of flattened schools.

In this photo taken on April 13, 2009, Xu Changyun holds a picture of his son Xu Mengtao,who was 15 when he was killed after his middle school collapsed in the May 12, 2008 earthquake, at her home Qushan town, Beichuan county, China.The death of so many children has touched a nerve nationwide, raising questions about official corruption, mismanagement, government responsibility _ the underside of fast-paced economic growth. The political sensitivity of the issue has spawned many instances of government attempts to intimidate the parents and activists fighting to get the truth out. (AP Photo/ Elizabeth Dalziel)

“According to our investigations and samples we have taken, we have not found any case of buildings that collapsed in the earthquake zone mainly because of construction quality,” Yang Hongbo, head of Sichuan’s construction department, said at the news conference.

He said “once there is concrete evidence to prove that problems exist in building designs and construction, relevant departments will investigate according to law.”

But parents insist the schools crumbled so easily because corruption and mismanagement led to slipshod construction methods and weak buildings that were not up to code. Some say materials meant for school construction projects were sold on the side by contractors for personal gain.

So far no one has been held responsible or punished.

The childrens’ deaths have sparked national outrage and have fueled unrest among parents. Many have petitioned and protested, only to be detained or warned against speaking out. Activists sympathetic to their cause have been harassed or taken away by police.

Si-si Liu, a Hong Kong researcher with Amnesty International, said the rights group welcomed the release of the new figures, but added that fundamental questions such as why so many schools collapsed have not been answered.

“We hope that the government will make public, explain to the public what efforts they have made and what’s the progress of the investigation,” Liu said. “They need to be a government that is accountable to its people. Authorities have to make these efforts transparent.”

The London-based group released a report last week chronicling instances in which dozens of parents were questioned or detained by police while seeking answers from courts and local officials.

Grieving parents took little solace and were skeptical of the toll.

“Announcing the numbers won’t bring us any consolation,” said Liu Xiaobin, whose 11-year-old son was killed when the three-story Fuxin No. 2 Primary School sank into the ground and the rest of the neighborhood remained standing.

“We want the government to investigate the situation at the schools … or we will petition again because that is our legal right,” said Liu, who traveled to Beijing last week to take his case to the central government — only to be sent home by local officials.

Ai Weiwei, an avant garde artist and high-profile critic of Beijing’s policies, said Thursday’s disclosure was an empty gesture.

“There’s no significance to this announcement because it didn’t give any names or any other information on where they died, which schools or which classes they were in,” Ai said in a telephone interview. “This is nonsense.”

In his blog, Ai has confirmed almost 5,000 student names and estimates that the toll could reach 8,000. At least 20 of his helpers have been detained by local authorities, he said.

Tan Zuoren, another activist who conducted his own investigation into 64 schools in the quake zone, estimated that more than 5,600 students died or were missing. Tan, who has since been detained on suspicion of subversion, said that number was incomplete.

In Beichuan, a valley town so shattered it is being rebuilt in a new location, Liang Sifa insists “the government’s number is definitely smaller than the actual figure.”

“In Beichuan Middle School alone, the estimated student deaths are about 2,000,” said Liang, whose 18-year-old son was killed in a school collapse. “I feel uneasy because the government is still lying.”

China objects to Indian President’s visit to Arunachal
Phayul[Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:17]
By Phurbu Thinley

Dharamsala, April 7: After complaining against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, China is now learnt to have objected to President Pratibha Patil’s tour of the state last week that included a visit to Tawang, according to a media report.

While there is no official word yet, sources confirmed that Beijing has “taken up the matter” with New Delhi, Indian Express reported.

In reaction, Indian govt has reportedly reaffirmed its stand that Arunachal is an integral part of the country and leaders are free to travel to any part of the state. “The other side is well aware of our clear and consistent position,” Indian Express quoted official sources in New Delhi as saying.

Prez Patil visited Arunachal Pradesh during her four-day North East tour last week and went to Tawang, which China has staked claim to several times in the past. Patil, also as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited the War Memorial for Indian soldiers who died in the 1962 war with China and interacted with troops on the border.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Sunday indicated the country was not pleased with the latest development. “The two sides should make joint efforts to effectively carry out the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, to ensure the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations”, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang reportedly said in Beijing, in response to questions on Patil’s visit.

A report by the Times of India on April 2, however, cited senior army officials, who did not want to be quoted, as saying that the President’s visit was a diplomatic message to China, reiterating that the state was an integral part of India.

Early last year, the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh visited the state and laid the foundation stone for a number of development projects, including a railway link between Itanagar and Assam. Defence minister AK Antony also paid a visit the same year.

While the PM avoided a visit to Tawang, Antony visited the region in March and reportedly addressed troops on the border.

Beijing’s complaint against the PM’s visit in February last year swelled into a controversy, prompting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to reaffirm that the PM has the right to visit any part of the country.

Beijing is especially sensitive about Tawang that was briefly occupied by the Chinese Army after the 1962 war.

China claims that the whole of the state is its territory as “South Tibet”. It bases its claim over the border state on the basis of the fact that the Sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso was born in Tawang.

Indian Prez last week visited Tawang and its landmark heritage site the 400-year- old Tawang Monastery.

China orders officials to smoke
BBC[Tuesday, May 05, 2009 17:10]

A Chinese county has rescinded a rule urging its government workers to smoke more in order to boost tax income. The authorities in Gong’an county had told civil servants and teachers to smoke 230,000 packs of the locally-made Hubei brand each year. Those who did not smoke enough or used brands from other provinces or overseas faced being fined or even fired. But the government has now backtracked from the policy, after a report in a local newspaper generated criticism.

China has an estimated 350 million smokers

U-turn

A million people die from smoking-related diseases in China every year, but the local authorities were initially undeterred by the health risks.

“The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax,” Chen Nianzu, a member of the cigarette market supervision team in Gong’an county, Hubei province, told the Global Times newspaper.

The paper said the measure was probably an attempt to shore up the Hubei brands against tough competition from cigarettes produced in neighbouring Hunan province.

On Tuesday, the local government’s website published a statement saying “We decided to remove this edict”, but declined to elaborate further.

Smoking is deep-rooted in Chinese culture - where more than half of all male doctors smoke - and there is still a general lack of awareness about the impact on health.

But the authorities have recently started encouraging smokers to kick the habit - even imposing a ban on smoking in public buildings in the capital, Beijing, in the run up to the 2008 Olympic games.

China warns Dutch Parliament not to welcome Dalai Lama
Phayul[Thursday, April 16, 2009 18:37]

Dharamsala, April 16: China is warning Dutch MPs not to invite the Dalai Lama to visit parliament when he comes to the Netherlands on June 4 and 5, according to a Dutch media report.

The government in Beijing has already made it clear it disapproves of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s Dutch trip, Radio Netherland reported Thursday.

The report said the Chinese ambassador in The Hague has now officially written to the country’s parliament objecting to the Dalai Lama being received by the speaker, Gerdi Verbeet, and other MPs. The letter says the move would not be conducive to good relations “in this time of economic crisis”, the report added.

China sent military troops to occupy Tibet in 1950 and, nine years later, the Dalai Lama fled to India. The exiled Tibetan leader is now seeking a meaningful autonomy for Tibet within the constitutional framework of the People’s Republic of China.