May 23:
China’s will investigate the capture of 28 Chinese fishermen and three boats in the Yellow Sea by North Korean gunboats on May 8. North Koreans, dressed in marine uniforms and flying a DPRK flag, falsified their ship’s coordinates during the capture to indicate that it took place in North Korean, rather than Chinese, waters. Although Beijing and Pyongyang have not established an official boundary in the East China Sea, both countries regard longitude 124 degrees east as an “internal control line,” the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. The fishermen were held for 12 days before being released on May 20. The hostage-takers demanded a ransom but there was no report on whether or not it was paid. The boat owners said Beijing’s slow response forced them and the crewmembers’ relatives to release information about the incident on the internet to trigger a public outcry.
May 24:
Thirty-nine Vietnamese illegally working in Wuhu, Anhui have been deported and local police have detained the chief executive of their employer, Xiecheng Metal Products Co. The Exit-Entry Administration of the Ministry of Public Security detained the Vietnamese and transferred them to Dongxing, Guangxi, a checkpoint that borders Vietnam. “Illegal labor puts social stability at risk,” said an officer with the city’s public security bureau. Last month, Vice Minister of Public Security Yang Huanning delivered a report on the administration of entry-exit, residence, and employment of foreigners to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The nationwide crackdown includes strengthening border control and setting up repatriation centers, the semi-official Global Times reports.
May 25:
China is cracking down on foreigners illegally entering, residing or working in China. In Beijing the campaign, which will run until the end of August, includes household and on-the-spot street checks that require foreigners to present identification. Those found in violation face penalties ranging from fines or detention to deportation, the official Beijing Review reports. On May 25, three-dozen officers patrolled Sanlitun, a Beijing neighborhood popular with foreigners, checked passports at a Mexican restaurant and led away a patron, The New York Times reports. Police have opened a tip hotline and tightened visa reviews. Public security teams have also been dispatched in Guangdong, Hainan, and Guangxi to investigate illegals. China is requiring localities to establish custody houses for foreigners and specific rules for their forced repatriation.
At least 60 of the nearly 100 Chinese nationals arrested by the Nigeria Immigration Service in Kano and Lagos have been released after Beijing “summoned Nigerian officials from the Foreign Ministry and immigration authorities and lodged solemn representations,” the semi-official Global Times reports. Nigerian authorities are strengthening the management of illegal Chinese and plan to deport several dozen illegal Chinese textiles traders from Kano, the city’s top immigration official Emmanuel Ifeadi said. Ifeadi called the Chinese “economic scavengers” who undercut Nigerian traders in the market, the official People’s Daily reports.
May 29:
In a new book former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong - one of the leaders blamed for the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown - called it “a regrettable tragedy that could have been avoided.” Chen was a hardliner who pushed for military force against the protesters and afterward was promoted to Beijing party secretary and the Politburo. The SCMP reports that he now claims he knew little and was only following orders. The June 4 tragedy, according to Chen, “stemmed from an internal power struggle at the top and led to a tragedy nobody wanted to see. Nobody should have died. As the mayor, I felt sorry. I hoped we could solve the case peacefully. One day the party will declassify all the documents and history will give a fairer judgment on Deng Xiaoping, Li Peng and Zhao Ziyang. This is only a matter of time. Our country is now getting stronger so we should have a more democratic system. Wen Jiabao has said we need political reform on many occasions.”
[Editor’s Note: In 1998 Chen was sentenced to 16 years in prison on corruption charges. He was released on medical parole in 2006 from Qingcheng Prison - the secretive jail where many of the June 4 movement leaders were also held.]