Angered by questions from Hong Kong reporters, Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) roared and thundered at them during a meeting with Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) on Oct. 27. Within four minutes, he lunged three times toward the reporters, clenched his fist, stared and screamed at them, using a mixture of Mandarin, English and Cantonese.
\nWhat question did the reporters raise that made Jiang lose his composure? Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), who is charge of Hong Kong affairs, had met the previous day with Tung in Beijing. Qian expressed his support not only for Tung but also for his re-election bid. Qian's remarks were widely criticized in the Hong Kong media.
\nBy means of a handshake, Jiang made it clear before Hong Kong's handover in 1997 that Tung was his choice for SAR chief executive. Jiang's gesture, which had a instructive effect on the small circles of "patriotic" voters, was described as an "imperial order"
An April circular by the Chinese Ministry of Education on student admission criteria at Tibetan universities has been harrowing and discriminating to say the least. The circular said that prospective students must state their “political attitude and ideological morality” to be considered for admission. It also said that students should not be involved in religious movements and students who are proficient in Marxist theory should be preferred. Since Beijing started occupying Tibet, it has meticulously introduced policies to dismantle the Tibetan education system, which is closely tied to its rich monastic tradition, and has even pulled students from Afghanistan and eastern
Opinion polls show that Taiwan’s judicial system and law enforcement “enjoy” low approval ratings among Taiwanese. In spite of data showing low crime rates, many Taiwanese drivers have faced aggressive driving, unprovoked road rage, road blocking and unmotivated police officers. Some criminals seem to consider themselves above the law, which is not completely wrong. Reports about so-called “road blocking” can be found in newspapers or on YouTube. An example of this is when “road rowdies” block a vehicle on a road, get out of their vehicle and start to attack the occupants of the blocked vehicle — often attacking in a
The Jumbo Floating Restaurant was a landmark in Hong Kong for nearly half a century. The palatial restaurant, with its pastiche Chinese architecture and neon lights perfectly encapsulated the territory’s beguiling balance of East and West, tradition and modernity. It was a feature backdrop in numerous Hong Kong films. However, forced to close amid the stringent COVID-19 lockdown policies of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) and denied financial support from her government, the floating temple to Cantonese gastronomy was towed from its mooring in Aberdeen Harbour this month by its owners with its planned destination not released. On June
When I was teaching in Lesotho in southern Africa during the 1980s, I taught a class on comparative foreign policy. The course included trips to the US embassy, the Soviet embassy, the British embassy and the newly established Chinese embassy. The students could ask the ambassadors and staff questions about foreign policy, and would then write a report as their final term paper. The Chinese ambassador felt that the US-style education I delivered was unique and invited me to go to China to teach. At the time, China was planning to open up to the world, and it needed professors versed
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