Professor Lei Li-fen wrote an opinion piece worth reading. His essay arises from the recent scandal in Miaoli County, where the local nationalist government is dispossessing farmers so more land can be given to industrial expansion. People have short memories of the food shortages that hit many parts of Asia a couple of years ago. Read Lei's essay: "Agriculture Deserves More Support." (Taipei Times, July 24, 2010, pg. 8.)
At times it feels hopeless to imagine that the Chinese government will ever develop a sense of universal rights or even common decency. More proof of this from the following Associated Press article printed in the local Taipei Times newspaper on Sunday, February 08, 2009, Page 1. Days before China's human rights record comes under scrutiny before a UN panel, the government's grip on dissent seems as firm as ever. Government critics have been rounded up and some imprisoned on vaguely defined state security charges. Corruption whistleblowers have been bundled away, while discussion of sensitive political and social topics on the Internet remains tightly policed. On Friday, officers stationed outside a government building in Beijing took away at least eight people — members of a loosely organized group of 30 who had traveled to the capital from around the country seeking redress for various problems, almost all of them involving local corruption. One member of the group, Li Fengx...
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