Authorities in the Chinese territory of Macau moved to thwart protests calling for the release of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) during the first ever visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) yesterday.
Immigration officials in the former Portuguese colony refused entry to a prominent opposition lawmaker from nearby Hong Kong, Albert Ho (何俊仁), who planned to join in the protests.
Ho, chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, said he and four other activists were stopped and briefly detained before being sent back to Hong Kong.
“They said we would be causing a threat to internal security,” Ho told reporters. “I’m not surprised, but this shows the Macanese government is not respecting freedom of expression and opinion.”
Macau police stepped up security ahead of Wen’s arrival and said they had been notified that at least five local groups would stage protests, according to local media.
Another Hong Kong legislator, Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), was also expected to join in the protest.
Wen is attending a two-day economic forum with ministers from seven Portuguese-speaking countries, including Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and officials from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and East Timor.
Liu was jailed in December last year for 11 years on subversion charges after co-authoring Charter 08, a petition calling for sweeping political reform that has been circulated online and signed by thousands.
China has said the honor was tantamount to “encouraging crime” and warned European and other governments not to support the veteran activist.
Macau and Hong Kong were both handed back to China by their respective colonial powers in the 1990s and given separate constitutions that guarantee various freedoms not available on the mainland.
Yesterday, Wen said he wanted to see China raise annual trade volume with Portuguese-speaking countries to US$100 billion by 2013.
“As our economies rapidly grow, our common interests have been expanding and our mutual needs increasing,” he told conference delegates.
Wen’s trip comes less than a week after Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) wrapped up a visit to Portugal with pledges to support its battered economy.
Hu held off committing to buy Portuguese debt however, as Beijing pledged for debt-battered Greece last month.
The Portuguese government said two of its major lenders signed deals with the Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, to identify investment opportunities in the world’s second-largest economy.
North Korea yesterday made a rare mention of dissenting votes in recent elections, although analysts dismissed it as an attempt to portray an image of a normal society rather than signaling any meaningful increase of rights in the authoritarian state. The reclusive country has one of the most highly controlled societies in the world, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un accused of using a system of patronage and repression to retain absolute power. Reporting on the results of Sunday’s election for deputies to regional people’s assemblies, the North’s state media said that 0.09 percent and 0.13 percent voted against the selected candidates
‘SYMBOLIC ATTACK’: Ukraine said it downed 74 of the Iranian-made drones, but five people were wounded in Kyiv, as people marked Holodomor Remembrance Day Ukraine on Saturday said it had downed 74 out of 75 drones Russia launched at it overnight, in what it said was the biggest such attack since the start of the invasion in February last year. The Ukrainian army said Russia had launched a “record number” of Iranian-made Shahed drones, the majority of which targeted Kyiv, causing power cuts as temperatures dipped below freezing. The drone attack came as Ukraine marked Holodomor Remembrance Day, commemorating the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. “The enemy launched a record number of attack drones at Ukraine. The main direction
‘SCOURGE’: About 50,000 people demonstrated in Rome after the murder of a 22-year-old university student, while others highlighted the number of femicides in their nations Thousands of people took to the streets across the world on Saturday to condemn violence against women on the international day highlighting the crime. On the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, protesters marched in Europe and the Americas. “The scourge of gender-based violence continues to inflict pain and injustice on too many,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “An estimated one in three women globally will experience physical violence, rape, or stalking at some point in their lifetimes. It’s an outrage.” In Guatemala, protesters began commemorations on Friday evening, placing candles to write out 438 —
WEATHER PROBLEM: Seoul said the launch, which comes after the North said its new spy satellite is taking images of US military facilities, was rescheduled for Saturday South Korea has delayed the planned launch of its first military spy satellite set for tomorrow, officials said, days after rival North Korea said it had put its own spy satellite into orbit for the first time. Under a contract with SpaceX, South Korea is to launch five spy satellites by 2025, and its first launch using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had been scheduled to take place at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in the US. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense yesterday said in a brief statement that the launch was delayed due to weather conditions. Ministry officials said the
RSS