China’s state media yesterday warned citizens to ignore calls for weekend anti-government rallies in major cities, saying that similar protests across the Middle East had created “chaos.”
The commentary in the Beijing Daily newspaper, a Communist Party mouthpiece, signaled that China’s security crackdown would not let up.
“This turmoil has brought a massive calamity to the people of these countries,” the Beijing Daily said in a commentary.
“It is worth noting that at home and abroad some people with ulterior motives are trying to draw this chaos into China. They have used the Internet to incite illegal gatherings,” it said.
This was the government’s most public warning yet against calls for Middle East-inspired pro-democracy protests that have spread from an overseas Chinese Web site, triggering tighter censorship, intense security in Beijing and new restrictions on foreign reporters.
Citizens have been urged to gather for subtle “strolling” demonstrations — but take no overt protest action — each Sunday afternoon at designated locations in cities across China to highlight public anger with the government.
Foreign reporters have been repeatedly warned to stay away from the sites this weekend and threatened with unspecified consequences if they disobey.
The anonymous campaigners behind the so-called “Jasmine rallies” have said their movement has support in dozens of cities, though security have turned out in force at the rally sites in Beijing and Shanghai to prevent such gatherings.
On Feb. 27, several foreign journalists were roughed up in a popular shopping area of Beijing, and police have since threatened reporters that they could lose their permission to work in China unless they follow new rules.
Chinese police have threatened to revoke the visas of dozens of foreign journalists if they continue “illegal” reporting from sites where overseas Web sites have called for anti-government demonstrations.
“Those people intent on concocting and finding Middle East-style news in China will find their plans come to nothing,” the Beijing Daily commentary said.
Chinese people, it said, support their nation’s political stability, economic development and favorable government policies.
The Beijing Daily urged citizens to “conscientiously protect harmony and stability” rather than allow a small group of people both at home and abroad to “exploit the problems existing in our development to provoke trouble.”
“Everyone knows that stability is a blessing and chaos is a calamity,” the newspaper said.
“The vast majority of the people are strongly dissatisfied [with the protests], so the performance by the minority becomes a self-delusional ruckus,” the newspaper said.
Police smothered any weekend protests before they had a chance of forming, and some foreign reporters who went to the scene of the would-be gathering on the Wangfujing shopping street in downtown Beijing were beaten up.
Beijing has mobilized 739,000 police officers, officials, security guards and residents recruited into local patrols to guard against mishaps during the annual parliamentary session, which opened yesterday, the official China News Service reported.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS