KUQA, China – Soldiers with machine guns guarded the sidewalks and police yelled at residents who tried to leave their homes in China’s restive Muslim territory Sunday, hours after officers battled bomb-tossing assailants in the second daring attack in a week in the region far from the Beijing Olympics.

The attackers were able to launch a series of pre-dawn bombings in this west-central part of the rugged Xinjiang region despite tightened security for the games. The violence — which police say killed 10 assailants and one security guard — also came just days after a militant Islamic group linked to al-Qaeda issued a new warning it would strike during the Olympics.

No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack in Kuqa county, and police have not released any evidence that a terrorist organization was involved. But tensions in Xinjiang have been simmering for decades between the Muslim minority Uighur people and the Han Chinese who make up about 90 percent of the nation’s population.

Activists against Chinese human rights policy are stopped by security agents in Beijing Thursday.

BEIJING, China (AP) — At least two women who protested their forced evictions ahead of the Beijing Olympics were taken from their homes by Chinese police Thursday, amid ramped up efforts by activists to use the games to spotlight their causes.

Zhang Wei and Ma Xiulan, who have been vocal about the pain of losing their traditional family compounds near Tiananmen Square, were rounded up late Wednesday and early Thursday morning, according to Ma.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/07/china.olympics.tibet.protests.ap/index.html

President Bush meets with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Wednesday in Bangkok.

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) — China said it is committed to its citizens’ “basic rights and freedoms” Thursday and criticized President Bush for meddling in what Beijing says are its internal affairs.

“We firmly oppose any statements or deeds which use human rights, religion and other issues to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, responding to Bush, who has cited “deep concerns” with China’s record on human rights.

The spokesman added that China embraces the concept of putting people’s interests first and is devoted to “maintaining and promoting basic rights and freedom of its citizens.”

“Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of religion in accordance with the law. These facts are well known. Regarding the Sino-U.S. differences on issues including human rights and religion, we have always insisted on dialogue and communication based on mutual equality and mutual respect, in order to enhance understanding, reduce differences and to expand consensus,” he said. Video Watch pro-Tibet protests

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/07/bush.china.olympics/index.html

China wants to be on the world stage and present itself as a socialist state with Chinese characteristics. Term such as “harmonious society” has also been thrown around by the communist leadership circle. But what do we have here? Ethnic minorities have been squeezed to live on the fringe of society, completely written off by the Han Chinese. Do I surprise at these types of uprising against their Han oppressors? No.

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BEIJING, China (CNN) — Authorities have stepped up security ahead of this month’s Beijing Olympics after an attack killed 16 police officers and injured 16 more in northwestern China, state-run media reported on Tuesday.

The increased police presence in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region could be seen in the form of increased security checkpoints on roadways and around government buildings, schools and hospitals, according to the Xinhua news agency.

In the capital Beijing, 2,500 miles from Kashgar, a security force of 100,000 is on standby and anti-aircraft missiles have been stationed near the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/05/china.attacks/index.html#cnnSTCText

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/27/content_8778141.htm

I’m going to refrain from commenting the style of these jerseys. However… what’s up with the superhero look for the female athletes?! Click into the article to see photos of the Chinese Olympic uniforms. They’re surely a treat for your eyes.

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) — Beijing has set up a sex determination lab to test female Olympic athletes suspected to be males.

Suspected athletes will be evaluated from their external appearances by experts and undergo blood tests to examine their sex hormones, genes and chromosomes for sex determination, according to Prof. Tian Qinjie of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Initial test results would be available in three days, while an official result takes seven days, he said.

The test aims to maintain fairness of the Games, and to rule out inaccurate test results.

Experts say test results for about one in 500 to 600 athletes are abnormal.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/27/content_8781161.htm

Okay, you can call it karma or you can call it an coincidence. Whatever the case maybe, China, especially its southwestern region is enduring a bizarre and unexplained series of earthquakes. With respect to other events such as this, we experience one, maybe 2 after shocks at any destructive magnitude. However, it’s not the case with China.

Some has offered the explanation that this is the payback that the Chinese people(or government, however you’d like to spin it) deserves after how they have treated the Tibetans ever since they were “liberated” since the 60s and that the Dalai Lama has put a curse on the Chinese people.

Which ever theories you believe in, the series of devastation after shocks is unheard of. Today, a 5.4 and 5.7 earthquake in the same Sichuan region have flattened more than 420,000 homes?! What gives?

Anyway, what’s your theory?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/27/china.earthquake/index.html

China:

America:

Burma:

China:

America:

Burma:

I can probably think of a million things that are wrong with China today. However, they have apparently pulled this one through with some dignity and respect for their people. Relatively to the reactions of each perspective governments of some of the more recent natural disasters such as Katrina (circa 2005) and Burma cyclone (circa 2008), the Chinese did an exceptional job.

R.I.P to those perished in the recent natural disasters in China and Burma.

P.S. Juntas, please get over it.

Satellite image of particulate pollution over Beijing, China.

Update: There are just 12 days to go until the opening ceremony. Exciting times, however will the even/odd license plate number scheme work? Will the artificial rain cleanse the air? Let’s see…

—-

In anticipation for the 2008 summer Olympics. Beijing and other major metropolitan areas in China are doing everything humanly possible to curb pollution.

The tactics are however, up up for debate. I’ve read that they are only going to allow odd/even number license plates to drive into the city on preassigned week days. That is to say, if your license plate starts with 1,3,5… you are allowed to visit on Mon/Wed/Fri… This method of diverting traffic or curb pollution in the core of the city is nothing new, Europeans have been practicing this for sometimes now.

The biggest difference here, however is democratic forces which lead or contributed to the inevitable. Before we dissect this further, let’s ask this question. What if Beijing isn’t the hosting city for the 2008 Olympics? What if the lenses aren’t going to be focused on the world’s most polluted city on August 8th, 2008? The answer is simple, nothing will be done to alleviate human conditions in Beijing.

There are countless articles and photos on the web documenting the situation, I’ve prepared a couple of links for you.

Tim

http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~livantes/CHINA/BEIJING/pictures1.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/03/1968915.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/20/beijing.pollution.ap/index.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/26/content_8775970.htm
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,491184,00.html
http://keetsa.com/blog/reduce/2008-beijing-olympics-clear-the-air-first/