Straits' slim limits set to let U.S. nukes pass

Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Straits' slim limits set to let U.S. nukes pass
Kyodo News

Japan decided in the 1970s to set narrow territorial limits on five key straits to allow passage of U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons, a former envoy who represented Japan at U.N. talks on international maritime law said in a recent interview.

Some of the U.S. submarines that passed through Japanese territorial waters or called at Japanese ports during the Cold War were carrying nuclear weapons, said Shigeru Oda, who represented Japan during talks on the U.N. Conference on the Law of the Sea. Oda said the decision to let them pass was a political one.

Countries involved in the 1973-1982 talks agreed to allow territorial waters to be set at a maximum of 12 nautical miles (22 km) from shore.

Under the Territorial Waters Act that took effect in 1977, Japan expanded its territorial waters to 12 nautical miles from the previous limit of 3 nautical miles (5.6 km).

But the limits on Japan's territorial waters in the Soya, Tsugaru, Osumi, Tsushima and Korea straits were mysteriously left unchanged at 3 nautical miles.

The Foreign Ministry demanded that Oda not disclose how and why the decision was made in a book he was writing after leaving the ministry in 1976, he said, adding he eventually gave in to the demand.

He went on to become a judge at the International Court of Justice that year and served until 2003.

"The Tsugaru Strait would have become Japan's territorial waters (if the limit was expanded to 12 nautical miles)," Oda, 84, said.

"In order to say 'no bringing in nuclear weapons' and 'submarines must surface when passing through Japan's territorial waters,' you could not make the limit 12 nautical miles," he said, referring to the three nonnuclear principles of prohibiting possession, production or introduction of nuclear arms on Japanese territory.

Japan needed to keep the limits in the five straits at 3 nautical miles so it could deny that U.S. ships or subs with nuclear weapons were plying official Japanese waters, he said.

Official U.S. documents and testimony from people involved with the issue have already confirmed that Japan voluntarily chose to set narrow limits on the straits and that pressure from the United States was involved in the matter.

Okada urges understanding for Taiji

Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Okada urges understanding for Taiji
Kyodo News

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Friday called for people to respect other countries' cultures and habits after environmental conservation groups criticized the annual dolphin slaughters in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture.

Dolphin hunting in the town was thrust into the international spotlight after the U.S. documentary "The Cove," which highlighted the issue, was screened in the United States, Australia and other countries, including, after a delay, Japan.

"Various things can be edible depending on each country . . . I would like (people) to understand that culture is diverse," Okada said at a news conference.

Although the foreign minister admitted he has not seen the film himself, he nonetheless suggested there were parts of it that are untrue.

"The Cove" is among films to be shown during the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival, which kicked off Saturday.

China only trails U.S. in billionaires

China only trails U.S. in billionaires

Story Highlights
* Number of billionaires in China grows to 130, according to report
* Actual number of billionaires may be up to 260, according to man who compiles list
* Wealthy in China hard to track because they want to avoid government scrutiny
* Most who made list made fortunes due to real estate, similar ventures

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China ranks second only to the United States in the number of billionaires, according to an annual report of the 1,000 richest people in the country.

The Hurun Rich List counted 130 billionaires in China this year, up from 101 a year ago and none in 2003.

An additional 825,000 people had personal wealth of more than $1.5 million, said Rupert Hoogewerf, an accountant who has compiled the list since 1998.

"You can double the real number of billionaires in China to 260," said Hoogewerf in a statement. "There are still a large number of billionaires off the radar screens."

Often, wealthy people in China try to avoid the scrutiny of tax authorities by keeping their finances private.

The man who topped the list last year, for example, is under arrest for alleged financial irregularities.

The most prominent dropout from the list is injured Houston Rockets basketball player Yao Ming, whose fortune was valued at $100 million last year.

The list indicates that China's wealthy have been buffered from the global financial meltdown, which has tycoons in other countries reeling.

A separate list, released in June by Capgemeni SA and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, found that China's economy grew by 9 percent last year, even as the United States and Europe slipped into recession.

That list found that the combined riches of China's millionaires surpassed that of the United Kingdom's.

Most business owners who made the Hurun list -- both as billionaires and millionaires -- made their fortune in real estate and related industries as China has undergone dizzying urbanization.

The construction ministry estimates that the country's urban population will increase by 300 million people by 2025.

Few of those making the list relied on exports to Western economies.

But the richest man in China this year, Wang Chuanfu, jumped 102 places to the top after billionaire U.S. investor Warren Buffett agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in his company.

Buffett's announcement sent shares in Wang's company, BYD, surging 387 percent this year.

The company initially made its name with rechargeable cell phone batteries, but this year launched mass production of a plug-in hybrid electric car.

Other highlights from the list:

Less than 1 percent on the list inherited their wealth, compared with 25 percent in the United Kingdom and 35 percent in the United States.

The typical rich list member is a 50-year-old self-made man who started out 16 years ago and has made his money from property development.

102 women were among China's 1,000 richest. Chinese women make up more than half the world's richest self-made women.

The top three hobbies of wealthy Chinese are travel, swimming and golf. The United States, Australia and France are their preferred destinations.

Though the list mentions China as second to the United States in the number of billionaires, it did not specify how many the latter produced.

A Forbes magazine tally of the world's richest people, released in March, counted 359billionaires in America.

Learning to drink like a local in Qingdao, China

Learning to drink like a local in Qingdao, China

Story Highlights
* Qingdao is located in northeast China, north of Shanghai
* The city hosts a beer festival and is home to distinctive European architecture
* The Tsingtao Brewery was founded in 1903 by German settlers

October 16, 2009 -- Updated 0228 GMT (1028 HKT)

By Frances McCullers
For CNN

QINGDAO, China (CNN) -- Another round of toasts and exclamations of "hajiu" sounded out around me. I took a sip and set down my small glass of Tsingtao beer as my new friends downed theirs and refilled. Our seafood dinner, perched on the single cluttered table of a tiny antique shop, was punctuated regularly by such moments.

I joined in happily, although somewhat bemused, at each increasingly beery celebration of our host, the worldly Captain Jau. My company, a gathering from four regions of China, was engaging me in Chinese drinking etiquette, in the city of Qingdao.

A few drinks in the People's Republic of China led me to discover European delights and other unexpected finds in this modest city.

You'd be forgiven for not knowing where Qingdao (pronounced Chingdao) is. The Chinese city in Shandong province doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as Beijing, Shanghai, or even Xi'an.

The 2008 Olympics gave it a place on the map as China's sailing hub; no longer a secret that holiday-making officials could keep for themselves.

But my American spell-check doesn't recognize it (which says more about my spell-check), and you can still find pre-Cultural Revolution manhole covers. So what is it about this city that seduces the unassuming traveler?

Nestled on the coast of Shandong province, almost exactly halfway between its big sisters, Beijing and Shanghai, Qingdao features as a handy pit-stop on East coast itineraries. It boasts great infrastructure, a charming climate, alfresco eateries, good coffee, sandy beaches, German history, international hotels, a brand new airport and even a famous brewery.

Qingdao could pass itself off as a miniature Seattle if it weren't for the fact that pretty much no one outside of the five-star hotels speaks English, and that communism still articulates itself through the tourist beaches, stoically named Number One to Number Six.

"In mainland China, Qingdao's history is uniquely international; in fact, more of the city's cultural identity is wrapped up in its German colonial past than even its prominent role in the emergence of Daoism" said Eric Blocher, editor of the English-language magazine Red Star.

"The local culture bureau once joked to us that Qingdao is a 'cultural desert', because it doesn't have the dynastic lineage of Nanjing or Xi'an, or opera for that matter," Blocher said. "But that's not what makes a city livable, or even fun -- if your office is in downtown, you're never more than five minutes from a protected beach; there's always excellent seafood close at hand; you can buy China's best beer fresh, for 10 cents a pound, and walk around drinking it out of a plastic bag."

Following this key advice, I visited Qingdao during the International Beer Festival in late August, an event aimed largely at a domestic Chinese market. The West knows beer. China does not. The annual Beer Festival aims to change this. While the bright lights and myriad beers flowed, one thing was obvious: this was for the tourists.

True Qingdaonese people are fiercely proud of Tsingtao beer, produced just down the road on Beer Street, and little else is drunk here in homes or bars. Pijiu, beer in Mandarin, is hajiu in Qingdaonese, the regional dialect. When in doubt, this does as well for a toast as anything else. Indeed, there is no better way of celebrating an occasion than by toasting the guest of honor with a bag of fresh beer.

If I was the guest of honor at Captain Jau's table, I certainly wasn't living up to expectations. Particularly not for my self-appointed etiquette guardian and "pure Qingdao boy," Loukas. As I raised my glass for a sip and Loukas jumped to toast the good weather for the nth time, it all became clear. In Qingdao, a beer glass is never raised without a toast.

This serves three (frankly ingenious) purposes; beer is drunk in unison; beer isn't consumed too rapidly, since constant toasting would ruin conversation; and everyone finds ways to honor each other for the purposes of toasting. Captain Jau was particularly in favor of the latter as our eccentric host was made subject of most cheers, likewise teaching us the salutations he had learned from the many foreign guests he had cooked for. From the French "salut!" to the German "prost!" to the Turkish "serefe!" Most popular of all was homegrown "hajiu!"

Alcohol is enjoyed throughout China. Microbreweries are yet to catch on here like they have in Japan and Singapore. For now Tsingtao holds the monopoly, and Qingdao's people aren't complaining.

The Tsingtao Brewery, founded in 1903 by German settlers, confiscated by the Japanese in 1915, turned over to state ownership in 1949 and finally privatized in the early 1990s, has witnessed a colorful history. The largest stakeholder, Anheuser-Busch, recently sold majority ownership to Japanese Asahi Breweries.

Residents are the first to introduce you to their biggest export. Outside every shop is a barrel or two of Tsingtao, with a ream of clean plastic bags ready to be filled with cheap 3.5 percent beer. Tsingtao beer tastes crisp and sweet (most likely from rice mixed in to cut down on the cost of barley. It is bought by the pound and weighed to prevent gaseous volume manipulation. A pint, when sold in this method, costs around 1.5 renminbi, or 22 U.S. cents.

Beer is a way of life here and has been ever since the Germans arrived and erected tree-lined avenues, red-roofed houses and a brewery. The Germans are gone but the beer stayed. And with it, three hajiu-loving generations tell you about their happy memories.

"When I was little, buying beer was one special job I did for my dad every summer day," explained Irene Cheung over a fresh bag of beer. "I was the little girl proudly and carefully carrying the plastic bag home."

It is easier to identify Qingdao by what it is not -- smoggy, crowded Beijing, or nightlife hub Shanghai -- than what it is or hopes to be. This may be the very reason why Qingdao remains largely unvisited by the West. And while there may not be much more than good weather, food and beer to keep you content, that may just be enough to hop on the three-hour flight from Hong Kong, or the one hour 20 minute-journey from Beijing or Shanghai.

Following Olympic-based investment, more than 3,000 factories have sprung up in the airport suburbs. You can source anything from shoes to jewels to Durex condoms among the largely Korean-owned industries. If these things aren't up your street, head elsewhere; like functionally named Beer Street, Bar Street, or my personal favorite, Coffee and Tea Craft Street.

"We used to have to put on parties so that there would be material to justify an English-oriented lifestyle magazine," editor Blocher said. "Now we have trouble keeping track!"

Check out English-language newspaper Red Star, for informative listings and an insight into the growing English-speaking population that has stumbled upon and stayed in Qingdao.

Japan's nuclear-bombed cities plan joint bid for 2020 Olympic Games

On August 6 and 9, 1945 the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, were bombed by the U.S. with atomic bombs.

Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima and Nagasaki's Tomihisa Taue are the founders of the Mayors for Peace 2020 campaign, that is an effort have a global ban on nuclear weapons by 2020.

Using this campaign as a spring-board, the mayors are also planning to launch a joint-bid for the 2020 Olympics.

"The Olympics symbolize the abolition of nuclear arms and world peace, and we want to work to realize our plan to host the games," Akiba said.

Last month Akiba spoke in Mexico City and asserted that he believed that the world could indeed abolish nuclear weapons by 2020. He further added that nothing would celebrate such an abolition, than for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only two cities to ever suffer from atomic strike, to host the Olympics on such a momentous occasion.

One must certainly admit that such an unfolding of events would definitely be cause for celebration, and if a nuclear weapon abolition across the globe were to take place, Hiroshima and Nagasaki would indeed be the perfect places for "icing on the cake," but in reality the whole scheme seems nothing short of utopian.

With a nuclear North Korea and Iran not far behind, attempting to accomplish a world ban on nuclear weapons is not only a utopian idea, but also seemingly naive. Though the U.S. has entered the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, along with Russia, both nations still maintain a nuclear arsenal. China as well will surely not give-up such a weapon. Pakistan and India who are bitter rivals will certainly retain their nuclear weapons as a deterrent to the other-side.

Such a list may go on forever, and to hope that a nuclear ban would take place within the next eleven years is too far fetched for the Olympic Committee to agree to allow the two cities to host the 2020 games. While we must all applaud the effort of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to rid the world of nuclear weapons, and as exciting as it would be for a denuclearized world to watch the Olympics in these two historic cities, the reality is that it may yet be all too far out of reach.

Public baths in Adachi cut weekend prices to combat plunge in visitors

Public baths in Adachi cut weekend prices to combat plunge in visitors

Public baths in Tokyo's Adachi Ward have lowered their weekend prices for children and accompanying adults in a bid to combat a decline in customers.

A campaign running until February lowers the admission fee for elementary school students to 100 yen on Saturdays and Sundays, down from 180 yen. The price for accompanying adults is 330 yen (down from 450 yen), while infants get in for free, instead of the regular 80 yen. There are also quizzes and prizes for younger children.

"We encourage parents and children to come and relax and soak in the baths," said the operator of one public bath participating in the campaign.

The number of public baths in Tokyo peaked in 1968, when there were over 2,600 baths. However, due to management difficulties and a lack of successors the figure has since dwindled to about 850. In Adachi Ward, which has retained a bath-going culture, there are still 53 public baths. The baths are varied, some with outdoor bathing spots and some with baths designed specifically for children, and the Adachi branch of the Tokyo Sento (public bath) Association is pouring effort into attracting families to halt the decline in users caused by the aging population and declining birth rate.

The weekend discounts are covered by a Tokyo Metropolitan Government subsidy, with children who bring stickers distributed at elementary schools entitled to discounts. In addition, people who correctly answer a quiz in the autumn edition of the quarterly publication "Sento to Ieba Adachi," distributed free at public baths and libraries, go in a draw to win puzzle games and shampoo. The deadline for entries is Dec. 6.

Satoko Funahashi, who edits "Sento to Ieba Adachi," often visits public baths with her two children.

"Our local public bath heats up well water, and it takes away your tiredness. After an autumn outing, it feels good to take a hot bath," she says.

(Mainichi Japan) October 18, 2009

Yamanote Line mountain spotters denied last glimpse of Fuji by new building

Yamanote Line mountain spotters denied last glimpse of Fuji by new building

Since this summer, passengers have no longer been able to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji from the JR Yamanote Line in Tokyo due to the construction of a new commercial building, leaving commuters and enthusiasts of "urban views of Mt. Fuji" heartbroken.

On winter mornings when the air was clear, the peak of Mt. Fuji was visible -- for a fleeting moment, wedged in between buildings -- if passengers were looking southwest from the train between Takadanobaba and Mejiro stations. It lasted less than a second, but captured the hearts of many as a valuable view in the middle of the urban landscape.

Hiroshi Tashiro, 59, head of FYAMAP, a forum on mountain views and maps and a teacher at University of Tsukuba Senior High School, was looking for Mt. Fuji from the train in late September when he discovered, much to his dismay, that it was now hidden. "I'm sure there were many passengers on their way to work or school who looked forward to sightings of Mt. Fuji," he said. "I'm shocked that we've lost a valuable scenic viewpoint in the Tokyo metropolitan area."

According to those affiliated with the new four-story building located approximately 100 meters from the train tracks in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, construction was completed in August. Previously, Mt. Fuji had been visible between Harajuku and Yoyogi stations before high-rise buildings blocked the view, but the latest spot had been the last remaining spot where passengers were offered a view of Mt. Fuji from the Yamanote line.

(Mainichi Japan) October 18, 2009

Russia’s Leaders See China as Template for Ruling

October 18, 2009
News Analysis

Russia’s Leaders See China as Template for Ruling

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY

MOSCOW — Nearly two decades after the collapse of the Communist Party, Russia’s rulers have hit upon a model for future success: the Communist Party.

Or at least, the one that reigns next door.

Like an envious underachiever, Vladimir V. Putin’s party, United Russia, is increasingly examining how it can emulate the Chinese Communist Party, especially its skill in shepherding China through the financial crisis relatively unbowed.

United Russia’s leaders even convened a special meeting this month with senior Chinese Communist Party officials to hear firsthand how they wield power.

In truth, the Russians express no desire to return to Communism as a far-reaching Marxist-Leninist ideology, whether the Soviet version or the much attenuated one in Beijing. What they admire, it seems, is the Chinese ability to use a one-party system to keep tight control over the country while still driving significant economic growth.

It is a historical turnabout that resonates, given that the Chinese Communists were inspired by the Soviets, before the two sides had a lengthy rift.

For the Russians, what matters is the countries’ divergent paths in recent decades. They are acutely aware that even as Russia has endured many dark days in its transition to a market economy, China appears to have carried out a fairly similar shift more artfully.

The Russians also seem almost ashamed that their economy is highly dependent on oil, gas and other natural resources, as if Russia were a third world nation, while China excels at manufacturing products sought by the world.

“The accomplishments of China’s Communist Party in developing its government deserve the highest marks,” Aleksandr D. Zhukov, a deputy prime minister and senior Putin aide, declared at the meeting with Chinese officials on Oct. 9 in the border city of Suifenhe, China, northwest of Vladivostok. “The practical experience they have should be intensely studied.”

Mr. Zhukov invited President Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, to United Russia’s convention, in November in St. Petersburg.

The meeting in Suifenhe capped several months of increased contacts between the political parties. In the spring, a high-level United Russia delegation visited Beijing for several days of talks, and United Russia announced that it would open an office in Beijing for its research arm.

The fascination with the Chinese Communist Party underscores United Russia’s lack of a core philosophy. The party has functioned largely as an arm of Mr. Putin’s authority, even campaigning on the slogan “Putin’s Plan.” Lately, it has championed “Russian Conservatism,” without detailing what exactly that is.

Indeed, whether United Russia’s effort to learn from the Chinese Communist Party is anything more than an intellectual exercise is an open question.

Whatever the motivation, Russia in recent years has started moving toward the Chinese model politically and economically. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia plunged into capitalism haphazardly, selling off many industries and loosening regulation. Under Mr. Putin, the government has reversed course, seizing more control over many sectors.

Today, both countries govern with a potent centralized authority, overseeing economies with a mix of private and state industries, although the Russians have long seemed less disciplined in doing so.

Corruption is worse in Russia than China, according to global indexes, and foreign companies generally consider Russia’s investment climate less hospitable as well, in part because of less respect for property rights.

Russia has also been unable to match China in modernizing roads, airports, power plants and other infrastructure. And Russia is grappling with myriad health and social problems that have reduced the average life expectancy for men to 60. One consequence is a demographic crisis that is expected to drag down growth.

The world financial crisis accentuated comparisons between the economies, drawing attention to Moscow’s policies. In June, the World Bank projected that China’s economy would grow by 7.2 percent in 2009, while Russia’s would shrink by 7.9 percent.

Politically, Russia remains more open than China, with independent (though often co-opted) opposition parties and more freedom of speech. The most obvious contrast involves the Internet, which is censored in China but not in Russia.

Even so, Mr. Putin’s political aides have long studied how to move the political system to the kind that took root for many decades in countries like Japan and Mexico, with a de facto one-party government under a democratic guise, political analysts said. The Russians tend to gloss over the fact that in many of those countries, long-serving ruling parties have fallen.

The Kremlin’s strategy was apparent in regional elections last week, when United Russia lieutenants and government officials used strong-arm tactics to squeeze out opposition parties, according to nonpartisan monitoring organizations. United Russia won the vast majority of contests across the country.

Far behind was the Russian Communist Party, which styles itself as the successor to the Soviet one and has some popularity among older people. The Russian Communists have also sought to build ties to their Chinese brethren, but the Chinese leadership prefers to deal with Mr. Putin’s party.

The regional elections highlighted how the Russian government and United Russia have become ever more intertwined. State-run television channels offer highly favorable coverage of the party, and the courts rarely if ever rule against it. United Russia leaders openly acknowledged that they wanted to study how the Chinese maintained the correct balance between the party and government.

“We are interested in the experience of the party and government structures in China, where cooperation exists between the ruling party and the judicial, legislative and executive authorities,” Vladimir E. Matkhanov, a deputy in Russia’s Parliament, said at the Suifenhe meeting, according to a transcript.

United Russia praises the Chinese system without mentioning its repressive aspects. And the party’s stance also appears to clash with repeated declarations by Mr. Putin, the former president and current prime minister, and President Dmitri A. Medvedev that Russia needs a robust multiparty system to thrive.

The two endorsed the results of Sunday’s local elections, despite widespread reports of fraud, prompting opposition politicians to call their words hollow.

Sergei S. Mitrokhin, leader of Yabloko, a liberal, pro-Western party that was trounced, said the elections revealed the Kremlin’s true aspirations. And the China talks made them all the more clear, Mr. Mitrokhin said.

“To me, the China meeting demonstrated that United Russia wants to establish a single-party dictatorship in Russia, for all time,” he said.

Throughout recent centuries, Russia has flirted with both the West and East, its identity never quite settled, and analysts said that under Mr. Putin, the political leadership had grown scornful of the idea that the country had to embrace Western notions of democracy or governing.

That in part stems from the backlash stirred in the 1990s, after the Soviet fall, when Russia faced economic hardship and political chaos, which many Putin supporters say the West helped to cause.

Dmitri Kosyrev, a political commentator for Russia’s state news agency and author of detective novels set in Asia, said it was only natural that the Kremlin would cast its gaze to the East.

“When they discovered that there was a way to reform a formally socialist nation into something much better and more efficient, of course they would take note,” Mr. Kosyrev said. “Everyone here sees China as the model, because Russia is not the model.”

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Party Elder Still Jousts With China’s Censors

October 17, 2009

Party Elder Still Jousts With China’s Censors

By SHARON LaFRANIERE and JONATHAN ANSFIELD
BEIJING

FOR nearly two decades, the Communist Party strove to wipe out the national memory of Zhao Ziyang, the reform-minded party secretary who opposed the use of force against pro-democracy protesters in 1989.

So when a former aide of Mr. Zhao’s, Du Daozheng, disclosed in May that he had helped secretly record Mr. Zhao’s memoir for posthumous publication, Mr. Du’s daughter refused to let him walk outside alone for fear of possible repercussions.

She need not have worried. On June 25, a top official in charge of propaganda showed up at Mr. Du’s western Beijing apartment with a reassuring message from Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the Communist Party and the government. Mr. Du said he was told that, as an old friend of Mr. Zhao’s, “Zhongnanhai and party central can understand why you did this.”

Mr. Du used to be among those who delivered such judgments. Until he was ousted in 1989 with Mr. Zhao, he served as head of the government’s press and publications administration, an agency that helps enforce censors’ orders.

Now he spends his days jousting with such officials, trying to foist unmentionable topics like Mr. Zhao’s career into the public domain. Helping with Mr. Zhao’s memoir — a rare look at the party’s inner conflicts that was published this May outside China — was a particularly daring thrust.

But strategic ventures into forbidden territory are characteristic of his monthly scholarly journal, Yanhuang Chunqiu. In 2005, he published articles on Hu Yaobang, the former party leader whose death helped set off the Tiananmen protests. Infuriated authorities threatened to reduce copies of the magazine to pulp, according to Mr. Du’s daughter, Du Mingming.

After a string of journal articles last year touched on Mr. Zhao’s accomplishments, party authorities issued an internal regulation so precisely focused that it could have been named after Mr. Du. The order forbids retired government or party officials to serve as publication directors.

Party sources say Jiang Zemin, the now-retired leader who replaced Mr. Zhao, was irritated by the articles and instigated the pressure on Mr. Du to step down. Sitting in the magazine’s musty offices, Mr. Du said he dealt with the order by reshuffling titles.

“I just ignore it,” he said. “I am old enough and tough enough that if there is any pressure from the government, I can hold on here.”

MR. Du survives such skirmishes because he is 86, wily and quietly supported by certain party luminaries. He says as many as 100 former party officials back his magazine’s attempts to draw lessons from the party’s buried past and nudge it toward democratic reforms. Some current officials also sympathize with the effort, he suggests. “Nobody dares close it,” he said, lest that provoke a reaction from “old cadres.” Last year supporters promised him, “If the magazine closes, we will take to the streets,” he said.

They said: “We are old. We are in our 80s. We have heart problems. We will probably die in the streets.”

“So the conservatives don’t take any action,” Mr. Du said, “because they are afraid of that responsibility.”

Others suggest the party can afford to be tolerant. Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based analyst of China politics, said that Mr. Du and other liberal-minded party “elders” posed no particular threat to today’s Communist Party, so slaps on the wrists sufficed.

“I admire the courage and the conviction, but the conservatives really won this battle some time ago,” he said. “I really see him as a tragic figure, still holding the flag after most of the armies have left the field.

“He is fighting a struggle against the political tenor of the times, as well as against time itself,” Mr. Moses said.

Mr. Du is not, however, fighting with himself. He sees his modest magazine, printed on newsprint-quality paper and distributed to some 100,000 subscribers for about a dollar a copy, as “the best thing he has done in his life,” his daughter said.

The struggle between truth and propaganda has been a constant theme in Mr. Du’s life. He was an early Communist Party loyalist, dropping out of middle school at age 14 to join the battle against Japanese invaders. After the Communists rose to power in 1949, he dutifully — and falsely — reported the party’s claims of record harvests and free food as a reporter for Xinhua, the state-run news agency.

But by April 1959, he could no longer reconcile the discrepancy with reality. In a 4,900-word letter to a superior, he documented widespread famine and disease in the countryside.

Within two months, his letter was turned against him during the campaign against antiparty “rightists.” He was publicly condemned 17 times — once before an auditorium filled with 6,000 people — and dismissed from his job and party post.

He escaped even worse punishment, as many did, by betraying others to his government tormentors. The four people he named “suffered greatly,” he said. One refused until his dying day to forgive him.

Mr. Du was persecuted anew during the Cultural Revolution. “It was as though I was sent to hell and back,” he wrote in his magazine in January.

Once rehabilitated, he rose quickly in the ranks of the state-run media. He held a vice ministerial position during the 1989 pro-democracy protests.

Mr. Du tried to marshal support for Mr. Zhao’s position that the crisis should be resolved peacefully. In a letter signed by some 30 other government officials, Mr. Du urged party leaders not to use force against the demonstrators, according to his daughter.

When the troops opened fire on the night of June 3, he, his wife and some friends “cried from our hearts” in his living room, Mr. Du said.

“We all shared one feeling,” he said. “The Communist Party is over.”

IT was three years before he could discuss the tragedy with Mr. Zhao, who was removed as party secretary and placed under house arrest. Mr. Du, who was also ousted, said he urged Mr. Zhao to record his version of events for history’s sake.

In the ensuing years, Mr. Du said, he filled two notebooks with Mr. Zhao’s words, then switched to a tape recorder. Four other former officials also pitched in. Mr. Du hid his copies of the tapes in his daughter’s underwear drawer and later she transported the copies to Hong Kong. After Mr. Zhao, still under house arrest, died in 2005, Bao Pu, the son of Mr. Zhao’s top aide, began transcribing and translating other copies of the recordings.

Ever the strategist, Mr. Du recommended that the memoir be published only after the 20th anniversary of the crackdown in June. But with the support of Mr. Zhao’s family, in May Mr. Bao arranged publication of a Chinese version in Hong Kong and an English version, titled “Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang.”

Hong Kong bookshops have reportedly sold 100,000 copies. “I have not seen such excitement about a book in years,” said Lam Mingkei, owner of Causeway Bay Bookstore, a prominent bookseller in Hong Kong.

Mr. Du said he believed that the democratic ideals expressed in Mr. Zhao’s book and in the pages of his beloved journal would eventually take hold, though not, he predicted, under the current leaders. “If the Communist Party refuses to take political reform, then there must be some other force that rises up to carry it out,” he said.

In the meantime, he says, he will defend his journal’s role as a liberal windsock. Said his daughter: “My father knows how to fight.”

Jing Zhang contributed research from Beijing, and Hilda Wang from Hong Kong.

Russia 'illegally' on isles: Maehara

Russia 'illegally' on isles: Maehara

NEMURO, Hokkaido (Kyodo) Seiji Maehara, state minister in charge of the Northern Territories — as the government calls four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido claimed by Japan — said Saturday that Tokyo should keep demanding their return from Russia's "illegal occupation."

"Historically, the Northern Territories are an integral part of Japan. It is literally an illegal occupation (by Russia) and Japan should keep saying so," Maehara told reporters after viewing the islands from a Japan Coast Guard vessel.

Before boarding the boat, Maehara also viewed the islands — Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group — from Cape Nosappu in the city of Nemuro.

"Though faintly, you can see Kunashiri with the naked eye. As a Japanese national, I felt nostalgic," Maehara told reporters.

"Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama intends to resolve the territorial issue. Negotiations (with Russia) will not be easy but we will do our best," he added.

Maehara, also land, infrastructure, transport and tourism minister, arrived in Nemuro on Friday and met with former residents of the islands and Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi.

In the meeting, the residents called on the government to achieve an early return of the islands, which Russia refers to as the Southern Kurils. Maehara, meanwhile, revealed he intends to visit the islands after next spring.

Earlier this year, the Diet passed a bill declaring the islands to be an integral part of Japan. Then Prime Minister Taro Aso called Russia's occupation illegal, sparking protests from Moscow.

The Soviet Union seized the four islands just before the end of World War II. After occupying them, the Soviet Union declared they were part of its territories in February 1946 and all Japanese residents were forced to leave by 1949.

The dispute has prevented Japan and Russia from concluding a peace treaty to formally end the war.

The Japan Times
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First subway line to cross Yangtze

First subway line to cross Yangtze

Created: 2009-10-18 0:47:19

CHINA'S first subway tunnel traversing the Yangtze River is expected to begin construction this month in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, local officials said yesterday.

The 3,100-meter-long tunnel will be located between the country's first bridge on the river, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and its first road tunnel beneath the river, they said.

The subway tunnel is expected to reduce 50 percent of the city's traffic flow across the river. It is designed to withstand a 6.0-magnitude earthquake and a flood that occurs once every 300 years, they said.

The tunnel is part of the city's No. 2 Metro line with a length of 27.98 kilometers, which is expected to be completed in 2012.

About 14.9 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) will be invested in the construction of the Metro line, officials said.

The first road tunnel was built in Wuhan and opened for traffic last December.

Another two road tunnels under the Yangtze River in Shanghai and Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, are expected to open for traffic respectively at the end of this year and in July 2010.

The 6,300-kilometer Yangtze River, which originates in northwest China's Qinghai Province and flows through 10 provinces and municipalities before emptying into the East China Sea, is a major transport link between the west and east China. More than 100 bridges across the river are in use.

Meanwhile, construction to extend a Metro line in Beijing built for the 2008 Olympics also started on Friday.

According to the municipal transport authorities, the No. 8 line will be extended both to the north and south. The added northern section will traverse 10.7 kilometers from the south gate of the Beijing Olympic Park to the Huilongguan apartment community, outside the city's northern Fifth Ring Road.

Xinhua

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