China Reform Monitor: No. 1100

April 15:

China has denied India’s repeated requests to establish a foreign diplomatic presence in Tibet, where only Nepal is permitted a diplomatic presence. The Hindu reports that India will now hold its request to open a diplomatic consulate in Lhasa and is instead consider opening a presence either in Chengdu, Sichuan or Kunming, Yunnan. “We have certain places in mind, but we are certainly not going to talk about it before it is finalized,” said India’s Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh.

April 17:

Following three weeks of student-led protests in Taipei against a cross-strait trade service pact, Beijing has announced more funding for cross-strait youth exchanges. A spokeswoman from China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing will sponsor more “exchange activities among students on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.” She also said Beijing would neither re-negotiate the deal nor accept the “state-to-state” terminology proposed to name the draft bill. Meanwhile, in Taipei, Ma agreed that it was improper for the opposition DPP to use the terms “state-to-state” or “two countries” in naming the draft bill and “only make cross-strait relations go backwards.” At the height of the protest, some 500,000 residents demonstrated outside President Ma Ying-jeou office, South China Morning Post reports.

April 18:

“The link between terrorism and drug trafficking is growing closer,” China’s state councilor and public security minister, Guo Shengkun told Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in Tajikistan. Guo warned that extremist Islamist organizations, “now control many drug trafficking routes and are acting openly and in a brazen manner.” He said that organizations such as Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Hizb-ut Tahrir, and the Salafiya movement send “terrorists and extremists from SCO member states to the Middle East and North Africa to gain combat experience and return to the region to conduct terrorism.” Guo called for SCO members to increase cooperation between their security agencies, launch a secure information and communications system, and carry out regular joint exercises, the Asia-Plus reports.

The Beijing Haidian District People’s Court has sentenced four activists to prison for “disturbing public order” as punishment for campaigning for officials to disclose their assets and for equal education rights for migrant children. Ding Jiaxi, a lawyer, and three other members of the New Citizens’ Movement, were sentenced to between 2 and 3.5 years, Radio Free Asia reports. The court ruled that an individual’s right to expression must fall within the law and that Ding caused public disorder by unfurling banners in public places and resisting public security officers. Ding took part in protests from December 2012 to March 2013 in public places, including universities and the Education Ministry. He held banners and handed out pamphlets promoting public disclosure of officials' assets and equal education rights. Xu Zhiyong, who organized the civil rights campaign, was sentenced in January to four years in prison.

April 19:

A deadly gun battle along the China-Vietnam border has left seven people dead, including five Chinese and two Vietnamese border guards. After attempting to illegally enter Vietnam, 16 Chinese nationals – 10 men, four women and two children – were detained. The Chinese, who are ethnic Uighurs from Xinjiang, where being processed for repatriation at the Bac Phong Sinh Border Gate in Quang Ninh, when the gunfight broke out. As Vietnamese officers filled out paperwork, several Uighur men seized an AK-47 from a Vietnamese officer and opened fire killing two police. Five Chinese men died in the shoot out although some committed suicide by leaping out of windows, the ABC reports. The remains of the dead Uighurs and the 11 survivors, including the women and children, were handed over to Chinese authorities. Meanwhile, about 55 miles away at the Tra Co Border Station, 21 more Chinese were arrested for illegally entering Vietnam and are suspected of connections to the other group, Thanh Nien News reports.