Fear and Loathing on the Chinese Blogosphere

Another post for Big Think on China’s internet censorship:

Last February, Xiaozhao Tang rode the bus to her office in downtown Shanghai. On the way, she received a call from the police station ordering her in for an investigation. She wasn’t surprised. In January, Tang signed Charter 08, an online petition document supporting a multi-charter government in China, which was disseminated online in China and overseas a month before.

On Feb.5, she was invited to “tea” by state security agents. Tang is one of thousands of young Chinese “netizens” seeking truth and democracy in the new century. However, she realizes that government censorship of online media is just as severe, if not more imposing, than regulations placed on traditional media. The Chinese government created the Great FireWall (GFW) in 1997 to monitor internet portals and domains and prevent taboo topics such as 1989 Tiananmen Square protest to be posted inside China. Since then, the GFW has tracked controversial Internet addresses, blocked sensitive speeches, and carefully monitored online behavior of writers such as Tang.

China Continues to Buy America–And That’s a Good Sign!

I wrote for Big Think on China continuing buying the U.S. treasury securities as New York Times made an obvious mistake on the conclusion of China’s decrease of its U.S. treasury holdings.

The New York Times, in a story published on April 13, reported that China, the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, reduced its U.S. bonds holdings in January and February. But the claim is based on a wrong set of data, and today’s report from the Treasury Department proves it.

Instead of reducing holdings, China increased U.S. Treasury securities holdings to record high in February. To be sure, China did report that its total foreign reserves fell by a record $32.60 billion in January and another $1.4 billion in February. But to draw an equal line between reserves and U.S. bonds holdings completely misses the point.