Who would have thought: US Consulate in Hong Kong “acts cute.”

Never would have thought that the U.S. diplomats in Hong Kong could act cute. (Serious, concerned, even pompous. But cute?)

Seems, however, when the consulate team tweeted — in a humorous manner — about China’s reaction to the U.S. State Department Human Rights Report, it struck a nerve in China. (Thanks to China Digital Times for the report.)

On May 25, the official Weibo account of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong published its “Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily.” The humorous and sarcastic tone of the comments caused large scale re-posting and commenting. One sentence that particularly garnered attention– “Why do you always delete me?”–earned the consulate the nickname “American Imperialist Acting Cute.”

The tweet that started it all:

@usainhkmacau: Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily #2: “We should actively participate in and promote democracy and human rights through political dialogue. Because of each individual country’s different social structure, level of development and traditions, we understand the concepts of democracy and human rights differently. This is totally normal. The key is to seek common ground in spite of the differences.” (Then why do you always delete me?)

Some of the comments that flooded the Internet in China:

• piggyogre_Jr: I strongly condemn the American imperialist attempt to interfere in my country’s domestic affairs by acting cute.
• Ambiguous_Yu: To be deleted you means you are in their hearts.
• DuduCola: Don’t you know how to punctuate? Political dialogue means you can’t speak unless your politics are correct [“dialogue” (duìhuà 对话) becomes “correct, speak” (duì, huà 对, 话)]. If your politics are not right to begin with, of course your comments will be deleted.
• LiKedian: Quick, everyone come look! @usainhkmacau is facing off against @PeoplesDaily! @BeijingDaily @HuXijin @SimaNan hurry and join the fight!

And then the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai joined in from its Weibo account:

@USConsulateShanghai: Yeah, One World, One Dream! //@usainhkmacau: Thoughts on Reading the U.S. Human Rights Report in the Style of the People’s Daily #1: “Developing democracy and guaranteeing human rights have always been the goals and values of Chinese Communist Party members.” (Huh! All this bickering and our goals are democracy and human rights. There’s no conflict!)

10 arrested in Villatoro murder

First the good news: The Honduran police and prosecutors are moving against 10 suspects in the murder case of journalist Alfredo Villatoro.

• The Guardian: Ten suspects arrested in connection with Honduras reporter murder
• El Heraldo: Orden de captura contra otro implicado en crimen de Villatoro (Google Translate helps)

Now the bad news: The Honduran police are not known for their investigative skills. I have to be concerned that poor procedures could get the cases tossed. A number of others in the country share this concern.

Here is hoping that this case — unlike just about all the other cases involving the killing of journalists, lawyers and reformers — will go all the way to trial, prosecution and successful conviction and incarceration.

 

People’s Daily Admits: “Chinese media must sing the main theme”

No more hiding behind democracy with Chinese characteristics or “our own of version of press freedom.” The mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China said it straight out: There cannot be free press in China as long as the Communist Party rules.

Thanks to the China Media Project for Who is Beijing Daily speaking for?

CMP reports that an editorial in the paper criticized “commercial newspapers and magazines” in China of being infected with Western notions of journalism. (That would be things like asking questions instead of taking dictation and seeking out views other than the official version of a situation.)

The  editorial says Western concepts of the media’s role do not suit China’s unique “circumstances”.

 “Chinese media must sing the main theme,” the editorial said, a reference to the media’s role as propaganda vehicles for the CCP. “This is determined by China’s political system, and accords with the realities of China as a nation of 1.3 billion people. The fact is that for China to develop it must maintain social stability, and it must create a public opinion environment conducive to stability.”

So it is the same old meme that party/government must control the media to ensure stability.

They seem to keep missing the point that NO ONE in China trusts the state-controlled media. More people depend on word of mouth, text messages and Internet chatrooms/micro-blogs for news.

And we all know how reliable all those outlets are. (Ever play the game of “telephone” with 10 people? Try it with several hundreds of millions.)

Here is the bottom line for the folks at Zhongnanhai: Controlling the media leads to rumors. Rumors lead to inaccurate reports. Inaccurate reports lead to distrust in the government. Distrust of the government leads to instability.

The “Western” alternative: A free press dispels rumors with facts. With facts people see potential solutions to problems and tend not to panic. When people don’t panic stability is achieved.

Maybe these concepts are too simple for the party leadership to grasp.

Oh, and this goes for all dictatorships. You listening Syria, Cuba, Iran and Saudi Arabia? (Freedom House Press Freedom Index)

From the censors: Troubling terms in China

The Chinese leadership steps in quickly when things happen it doesn’t want the people don’t hear about. Search terms on the Internet quickly get blocked.

Thanks to China Digital Times, we get to hear about the new terms being blocked.

Sensitive Words: Foreigners and Cannibals (Correction and Update)

Most of the items blocked are related to specific things such as the US ambassador speaking out or speculation around a  missing person case.

But then there are things the Party leadership just think should not be considered on general principles:

Generally blocked: These terms are not related to particular events.

unjust case (冤案)

obscene (猥亵)

FARC to release French journalist

The Colombian gang FARC announced it would release French journalist Romeo Langlois tomorrow.

The FARC, which started as a leftist insurgency but has now basically settled into narcotics trafficking and kidnapping, captured Langlois after a firefight with Colombian armed forces. Langlois was traveling with the Colombians to report on their activities.

Colombia’s Farc rebels release video of French reporter (BBC)

The announcement came a day before the FARC released a video of Langlois. Not surprisingly the video was sent to Telesur in Venezuela.