January 7:
Pentagon officials are worried that increasingly warm relations across the Taiwan Strait could give China new opportunities to spy on Taiwan’s U.S.-made weapons systems, the Taipei Times reports. Pentagon officials who said the matter was “too sensitive” to allow their names to be used said that concern had peaked last week when Chinese President Hu Jintao called for military exchanges with Taiwan. “The two sides can pick the right time to engage in exchanges on military issues and explore setting up a military and security mechanism to build mutual trust,” Mr. Hu said. Taiwan’s President, Ma Ying-jeou, has also indicated that he wants to arrange military exchanges. Pentagon sources said they would want detailed clarifications about any proposal for military cooperation between Taiwan and China. The U.S. continues to ignore a request by Taiwan for 66 advanced F-16 fighter aircraft that security analysts say Taiwan needs to maintain a balance of air power over the Strait. The Pentagon is determined to keep Chinese intelligence-gathering agencies and their spies away from the state-of-the-art Aegis system, the Patriot missile batteries and advanced F-16 fighter jets. If the Pentagon’s top brass become suspicious the technology could fall into Chinese hands, sales to Taiwan could be cancelled.
January 15:
The World Bank has barred four Chinese construction firms, China State Construction Corp., China Wu Yi Co. Ltd., China Road and Bridge Corp., and China Geo-Engineering Corp., from bidding on future contracts for their alleged effort to rig bids. China State Construction Corp.’s suspension will last six years, although the disqualification could end after four years if the firm meets World Bank standards. The project, which paved roads between cities in the Philippines between 2000 and 2007, was partly financed by a $150 million World Bank loan with additional funding from the Philippine government and other donors. Leonard McCarthy, the World Bank's anti-corruption chief, said the action "highlights the effectiveness of the World Bank's investigative and sanctions process,” in comments carried by the Wall Street Journal.
January 21:
China’s censors have conducted a slapdash effort to cut the Chinese translation of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech, removing references to communism and dissent, and quickly halting its state television's live broadcast. CCTV’s cameras cut back to the studio anchor who seemed flustered by the abrupt mention of communism, and quickly passed the broadcast back to a U.S.-based reporter. The China Daily Web site, the official Xinhua News Agency and popular online portals Sina and Sohu all used a translation of the speech that omitted the word "communism." The China Daily posted Obama's full remarks on its English-language website, and an editor there was quoted by the Associated Press as saying staff who censored online versions of the speech did so because they were "duty-bound to protect the country's interests."
[Editor’s Note: China has previously altered the words of senior U.S. officials. A 2004 speech in Shanghai by former Vice President Dick Cheney was broadcast live on state-run television at the insistence of U.S. officials, but the Chinese transcript of the remarks deleted references to political freedom. In 2003, the memoirs of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's pick for secretary of state, were pulled from publication in China after the government-backed publisher removed references to the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.]
January 23:
China’s authorities have detained 41 people as part of the Internet crackdown on “vulgarity.” The arrests and tightening of restrictions are no different from laws in the United States and Europe which aim to keep children from harmful sites, said Liu Zhengrong, deputy director of the State Council Information Office's Internet Bureau. "The purpose of this campaign is very clear," he told a small group of invited reporters. "It's aimed at creating a healthy Internet environment for all young people.” Others see this recent crackdown as just the latest step in Beijing’s battle to stifle dissent in a year of sensitive anniversaries, including the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protests. The government has closed over 1,200 websites, but with an estimated 3,000 new sites appearing daily, the battle to maintain control of the online world is never-ending. According to Liu, however, the crackdown had "achieved clear results," with more than 3.3 million pornographic or vulgar items already identified and deleted, he said in comments carried by Reuters.