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The Epoch Times
By Fu Ming & Zhu Jiaqi
Sound Of Hope Network

A new regulation titled Ordinance of House Collection and Compensation on State-Owned Land (Draft For Feedback Collection) was announced on Jan. 29. The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council is under criticism because people believe that the new laws, rather than preventing unlawful forced demolitions, legalize them.

Liu Feiyue, human rights activist in Hubei Province, pointed out that the regulations now include business-related forced demolitions, providing a legitimate excuse for business development/relocation. “The new regulations are supposed to focus on collecting state lands for the public welfare. Including the business sector is in reality a silent approval for forced demolition due to business needs.” Liu believes house demolition for business needs should be strictly regulated by the market.

Liu also remarked that in an autocratic country like China, the new laws are hard to enforce. “Officials hold absolute power, which makes the execution of the laws impossible. We are concerned that the new regulations will not force the local governments that collude with businesses to give up their vested interests.”    more …

Epoch Times
By Zhong Yuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan–Chinese human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng disappeared a year ago. A group of Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gathered for a press conference to support Mr. Gao and to condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for their flagrant disregard of human rights

Gao had previously been arrested and tortured in China for defending the rights of those persecuted for their religious beliefs, including adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

After his arrest and disappearance on Feb. 4, 2009, the first report to surface was a statement by a policeman to his brother, Gao Zhiyi, that “Gao Zhisheng lost his way and went missing in September 2009.”

At the National Taiwan University Alumni Club in Taipei, NGO leaders met on Feb. 3 to publicly call on the Chinese regime to reveal Mr. Gao’s whereabouts. They appealed for Gao’s lawyer and his family members to be able to visit him.

Those present at the press conference included attorney Yong-cheng Kao, representative of the Human Rights Protection Committee of the Taipei Bar Association; Ku Li-hsiung, chairman of the Judicial Reform Foundation; Tsai Chi-hsun, secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights; and others.    more …

Tehran News
February 6, 2010
By Arab News

It is not easy to understand why China is apparently prepared to confront the United States at this time on the two issues — arms for Taiwan and Obama’s plans to meet with exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama. Washington has been selling armaments to Taiwan for 61 years since the communists drove the old Kuomintang government from the mainland onto the offshore island then known as Formosa. The Americans are also trying to find some sort of settlement between the Tibetan exiles and Beijing, which seized control of Tibet in 1950.

The $6.4 billion arms deal, involving defensive missiles and helicopters for Taiwan hardly alters the balance of power. Taiwanese investors have become increasingly involved in China’s economic boom, transferring technology as well as cash. The government in Taipei has no interest in threatening its mighty neighbor, with whom it now shares the goal of ever-greater prosperity. Moreover, on Tibet, the Dalai Lama has been consistent in his disapproval of violence and his insistence on a peaceful settlement for Tibet.

China’s political role on the world stage still needs to catch up with its burgeoning economic power. The vision until now has been overwhelmingly pragmatic — dominated by trade and the country’s voracious appetite for raw materials. Thus to the fury of the West, it has been prepared to deal with any state. It has also demonstrated a firm opposition to sanctions motivated by political considerations of Washington. By and large its international behavior has been consistent and predictable. But this needs to evolve. The big question is how Beijing chooses to engage more fully in international affairs.

Thus far its major problem is that it has been reactive rather than proactive. Outside criticism of its human rights — Google’s end to its search engine filters being only the latest manifestation, irks the Chinese government, as does the lofty Western presumption that every state should be driving toward full representative democracy.     more …

The Christian Science Monitor
Michaela Rehle/REUTERS
By Robert Marquand Staff writer / February 5, 2010
Munich, Germany

Today Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi, speaking with unusual bluntness in front of 300 leading diplomats – including senior US officials – here in Munich publicly stated that China is getting stronger on the international stage. He said the US was violating international law by a proposed arms sale to Taiwan, offered that China’s TV and radio news service contains “more solid” and reliable news than Western media, and that China is not ready to address sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, stating instead that the Islamic Republic “has not totally closed the door on the IAEA.”

Transatlantic – meet the Pacific.

Foreign Minister Yang is the first Chinese official to speak at the annual Munich Security Conference, the premier transatlantic security meeting, in its 46 year history. He turned heads in the group at a time when the People’s Republic and the US have come to loggerheads over Taiwan arms sales, Internet freedom, currency rates, and climate policy coming out of the Copenhagen meeting in December.

“I haven’t heard a high-ranking Chinese official say, ‘Yes, we are strong,’ in a public setting before,” said a senior German diplomat. “It was a very assertive message, different, and it means we will soon see a different Chinese policy.”

Mr. Yang, a former ambassador to the US and highly respected, gave a somewhat conventional speech – though in a strong voice. He affirmed that China is both a developed and a developing country, that it seeks “win-win solutions,” and that it is preparing for greater “shared responsibilities” on the world stage – and that it played a transformative role in helping avert a global financial crisis in the past year.

Yet during three probing follow-up questions, Yang mopped his brow repeatedly in answering on Taiwan, cyberspace, and China’s position on Iran’s nuclear program, which he earlier admitted was “at a crucial stage.”

“Does China feel stronger? Yes,” he said as questions opened.     more …