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	<title>World &#187; Austin Ramzy &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>World &#187; Austin Ramzy &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com</link>
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		<title>China&#8217;s Long, Fruitless History of Irritation With North Korea</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/09/chinas-long-fruitless-history-of-irritation-with-north-korea/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/09/chinas-long-fruitless-history-of-irritation-with-north-korea/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:07:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DPRK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the United States]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=80599</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just how steadfast is China’s support of North Korea? It is a question that has been asked by outsiders since the Korean Peninsula was divided after World War II. Given the secrecy of the two allies, concrete answers are hard to find. And wrong conclusions, as when General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman underestimated China&#8217;s support for its communist ally when U.S.-led U.N. forces stormed north in 1950, can have disastrous consequences. So it&#8217;s worth paying attention when Chinese President Xi Jinping weighs in on the issue, or at least appeared to, at the Boao Forum on the Chinese island of Hainan. &#8220;No one should be allowed to throw the region or even the whole world into chaos for selfish gains,&#8221; Xi said Sunday. The new Chinese leader didn&#8217;t single out North Korea, but given the near daily threats and provocations emerging from Pyongyang in recent weeks, it was seen by many observers as a likely target of the criticism. (PHOTOS: North Korea Ratchets Up Tensions on the Peninsula) The White House also seems to detect a shift in China&#8217;s support for North Korea, the New York Times has reported. But Gregory Kulacki, China project manager with the Union of Concerned Scientists argues that the U.S. media have exaggerated any movement in China&#8217;s stance. &#8220;The idea that China would change its policy on North Korea because of security concerns is so well-entrenched in the minds of U.S. officials and reporters that this &#8216;subtle change&#8217; in China’s thinking about North Korea was taking place in a 2003 episode of The West Wing,” he wrote in a post on the All Things Nuclear blog. The expectations go back even further than that. In the early 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and China&#8217;s establishment of diplomatic ties with South Korea, discussions of Sino–North Korean ties frequently mentioned China&#8217;s growing anger. &#8220;The self-styled North Korean Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, sometimes describes China as his country&#8217;s &#8216;large rear area,&#8217;&#8221; the Times’ Nicholas Kristof wrote in a 1993 story headlined “China and North Korea: Not-So-Best of Friends.” “Mr.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=80599&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/int-noko-130409.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Korea War Museum in Dandong, China</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Poker on the Korean Peninsula: Why Kim Jong Un Keeps Raising the Stakes</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/03/poker-on-the-korean-peninsula-why-kim-jong-un-keeps-raising-the-stakes/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/03/poker-on-the-korean-peninsula-why-kim-jong-un-keeps-raising-the-stakes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 05:14:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=79374</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems paradoxical to say it, given Pyongyang’s almost daily exercises in escalation, but the North Korean leadership almost certainly does not want to go to war. Not that it would flinch at a massive loss of life if it meant propping up the regime. That, after all, has been the logic by which the Kim dynasty has run the country for more than half a century. The problem is that a full-scale conflict would almost certainly mean the destruction of the North Korean state and the likelihood of a violent end for its young leader, Kim Jong Un. “No, he doesn’t want to start a war because a war is suicidal from his perspective,” says John Delury, a professor of Chinese studies and North Korea watcher at Yonsei University in Seoul. “For him the endgame is not a war.” Like his father before him, Kim is focused on surviving. While the isolated North Korean leadership is sometimes seen as erratic and crazy — a case not helped by Kim&#8217;s partying with Dennis Rodman or publishing photos of a map showing strike plans for the continental U.S. — it remains committed to staying in power. It has survived for half a century by avoiding any fights that it can’t win or at least, as with the Korean War, draw to a bloody stalemate. For all its goading, North Korea is unlikely to want to start a doomed conflict now. (PHOTOS: North Korea Ratchets Up Tension on the Peninsula) So why then has North Korea gone into incitement overdrive, threatening preemptive nuclear strikes, withdrawing from the 1953 Korean War armistice, cutting off hotlines with South Korea, pledging to restart the plutonium reactor at Yongbyon that was shuttered as part of a 2007 deal and, on Wednesday, blocking South Korean workers from a jointly run factory park? One explanation is that North Korea may feel more isolated and vulnerable than usual, despite its recent displays of nuclear and ballistic-missile capability. The annual military exercises by U.S. and South Korean forces have angered North Korea<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=79374&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/04/03/poker-on-the-korean-peninsula-why-kim-jong-un-keeps-raising-the-stakes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Asia</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/970_int_korea_0402.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">North Korean soldiers</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>In Inaugural Trip, China&#8217;s President Pushes Trade Ties With Africa</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/27/in-inaugural-trip-chinas-president-pushes-trade-ties-with-africa/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/27/in-inaugural-trip-chinas-president-pushes-trade-ties-with-africa/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:07:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=78196</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Chinese President Xi Jinping’s inaugural trip, which has taken him to Russia, Tanzania and South Africa before a final stop in the Republic of Congo, has been examined for what it says about his aspirations for a multipolar world and the potential to develop counterweights to influence of the U.S. and Europe. In simpler terms, he could just want to start off his expected 10 years as China&#8217;s leader with a visit to a few friends. A Gallup World poll of global attitudes toward China&#8217;s leadership in 2011 found the highest levels of support were found in sub-Saharan African states, which filled the top 20 positions. In Tanzania, where Xi spoke at a Chinese-backed convention hall on Monday, 68% of respondents approved of the job being done by China&#8217;s leaders, versus 29% who disapproved, according to the Gallup survey. China&#8217;s economics first approach, with heavy emphasis on trade and none of the West&#8217;s chiding over corruption, democracy or human rights, has found a welcome audience. The trade relationship with the continent has expanded vastly in recent years, increasing from $10.6 billion in 2000 to nearly $200 billion last year, China&#8217;s state-run Xinhua news service reported. (MORE: China’s New President Xi Jinping Met With Mysterious Lone Vote of Dissent) In Dar es Salaam, Xi cited Chinese support for development in Tanzania and visited a graveyard where dozens of Chinese who died during construction of the Tanzania-Zambia railway in the 1970s are buried. He discussed plans to provide scholarships for thousands of African students and the extension of up to $20 billion in credit for projects on the continent. And he emphasized China&#8217;s longstanding ties with the region and desire to not dictate the terms of development. &#8220;Unity and cooperation with African countries have always been an important foundation for China&#8217;s foreign policy, which will never change, not even when China grows stronger and enjoys a higher international status,&#8221; Xi said, according to Xinhua&#8217;s report, adding, &#8220;China will continue to offer, as always, necessary assistance to Africa with no political strings attached.&#8221; The friendly face<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=78196&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/int-xi-130327.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">China&#039;s President Xi</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>New Pope Offers Taiwan Rare Chance for Diplomacy</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/20/new-pope-offers-taiwan-rare-chance-for-diplomacy/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/20/new-pope-offers-taiwan-rare-chance-for-diplomacy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:19:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Taiwan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=76535</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For Taiwan, it was a rare and cherished moment of diplomacy: on Tuesday, President Ma Ying-jeou sat with his wife among political leaders as newly installed Pope Francis celebrated his inaugural Mass at the Vatican. Owing to alphabetic order, the leader of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, was seated next to Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica, a country with which Taiwan had diplomatic relations until 2007, when it switched from Taipei to Beijing. Taiwan’s room for international recognition is small and shrinking, strangled by the growing economic and diplomatic importance of China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must be eventually reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. China’s central government has sought to isolate Taiwan, blocking it from representation in many international bodies and protesting when its officials are given any sort of recognition overseas. The Holy See is one of just 23 states with which Taiwan has diplomatic relations and is its only formal tie in Europe. (PHOTOS: The Papacy Renewed: The Installation of Pope Francis) With stagnant economic growth at home, Ma’s approval rating has been in the teens since last summer. So, a rare official trip to Europe, and the chance to speak however briefly with world leaders, was a welcome diversion. Ma chatted with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He smiled broadly as he and Taiwan’s First Lady Chow Mei-ching met Pope Francis in St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica after the service. Ma spoke, first in Spanish then in English, and told Pope Francis about Argentine priest Ricardo Ferreira, who spent 50 years in Taiwan, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported. The meeting, the first between a Pope and a Taiwan President, lasted just 45 seconds, a Taiwan broadcaster noted. Despite the brevity of Ma’s big diplomatic moment, China was not amused. Last week after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pontiff by the gathering of Cardinals, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying referred obliquely to the history of fraught relations between Beijing and the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=76535&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Taiwan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/taiwan/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/int-taiwan-130320.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">aiwan&#039;s President Ma Ying-jeou</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>China&#8217;s New President Xi Jinping Met With Mysterious Lone Vote of Dissent</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/14/chinas-new-president-xi-jinping-met-with-mysterious-lone-vote-of-dissent/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/14/chinas-new-president-xi-jinping-met-with-mysterious-lone-vote-of-dissent/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:18:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=75261</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The outcome of today&#8217;s selection of Xi Jinping as China&#8217;s president has been a near certainty since he was chosen as successor to Hu Jintao five years ago. That left little drama for observers awaiting the largely formulaic vote today to choose Xi for his third and least powerful title after he was named Communist Party general secretary and head of its central military commission in November. Still, one member of the National People&#8217;s Congress added a peep of dissent, casting a single vote against Xi versus 2,952 in favor. Including three abstentions, Xi won a comfortable 99.86% margin, which Eric Fish, an editor for the Economic Observer newspaper in Beijing, noted was just ahead of the 97.62% for Syria&#8217;s Bashar al-Assad in 2007 but trailing North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il&#8217;s 99.98% in 2009. Who was the lone dissenter? Initial speculation was that it could have been Xi himself. As some prominent liberal commentators including the journalist Wang Keqin pointed out today on Sina Weibo, the popular Chinese microblog, there is a seemingly grim precedent of a lone opposing vote against China&#8217;s top leader. In 1949, upon the founding of the People&#8217;s Republic, Mao Zedong was elected chairman of the new central government, taking 575 of 576 votes. The single objection has been a mystery glossed over in official accounts. Many people had assumed that Mao, in an uncharacteristic act of modesty, declined to vote for himself. Journalist Dai Qing has argued that the commonly held belief was wrong. A professor and philosopher named Zhang Dongsun, who Mao credited with facilitating the talks leading to the peaceful surrender of Beijing by the defeated Nationalist forces, cast the lone nay, Dai wrote in her 2008 Chinese-language book In Buddha&#8217;s Hand: Zhang Dongsun and His Era. (MORE: End of the Line for China’s Sprawling, Corruption-Plagued Railway Ministry) Zhang initially held high office, sitting on the Central Government Committee of newly formed People&#8217;s Republic, its top governing body. But he was accused of espionage after he attempted to mediate between Beijing and Washington in the run up to the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=75261&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/518153854-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">National People&#039;s Congress</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/0c41bc361da0b11c8ebf36604ccd3213?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>End of the Line for China&#8217;s Sprawling, Corruption-Plagued Railway Ministry</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/11/end-of-the-line-for-chinas-sprawling-corruption-plagued-railway-ministry/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/11/end-of-the-line-for-chinas-sprawling-corruption-plagued-railway-ministry/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:23:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bureaucracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China Railway Corporation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liu Zhijun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[railway ministry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=74049</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[China has announced plans to reduce its bureaucracy by cutting two of its 27 Cabinet-level ministries, including the Ministry of Railways, a massive body with more than 2 million staff and its own police and court system. The Railway Ministry&#8217;s dual roles of both regulating train travel and promoting the rapid expansion of the country&#8217;s high-speed network was seen as a contributing factor to safety flaws that led to a deadly 2011 crash and a corruption scandal that toppled its former boss, Liu Zhijun. In addition to downsizing the Railway Ministry, the government will merge the National Population and Family Planning Commission (the body that overseas the one-child policy) with the Ministry of Health, increase the status of the State Food and Drug Administration and combine the two chief censorship bodies, the General Administration of Press and Publication and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, Xinhua reported, citing State Council Secretary General Ma Kai&#8217;s address Sunday to the National People&#8217;s Congress. (PHOTOS: Deadly High-Speed-Train Crash in China) The changes to the Railway Ministry are likely to gain the most attention because of its recent scandals and the widespread reliance on train travel in China, particularly during the Chinese New Year holiday, when more than 200 million people use the country&#8217;s extensive rail network. The government&#8217;s plans call for splitting the ministry into a commercial China Railway Corporation to operate the rail system and merging the administrative functions with the Ministry of Transport. &#8220;The integration of government administration with business enterprise has caused many problems, such as low-efficiency and corruption,&#8221; says Zhao Jian, a railway expert and professor at Beijing Transportation University. &#8221;As a monopoly, the railway department lacks economic efficiency. These reforms will make it possible to break up the monopoly, introduce competition and enhance the efficiency of the whole railway industry.&#8221; Dissolving the Railway Ministry itself is but a first step, says Zhao, otherwise the country will be left with a single, massive corporate entity operating the system. &#8221;Next we should break up the monopoly and introduce competition into this industry,&#8221; he<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=74049&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/int-china-train-130311.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">China Railways</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>North Korea Under Kim Jong Un: Old Threats and New Worries</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/08/north-korea-under-kim-jong-un-old-threats-and-new-worries/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/08/north-korea-under-kim-jong-un-old-threats-and-new-worries/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong un]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear weapons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sanctions]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=73634</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In 17 years under Kim Jong Il, North Korea grabbed the world&#8217;s attention with several missile tests, a pair of nuclear detonations and a big helping of threats. Kim&#8217;s youngest son and successor has hit all those highlights of North Korean-style leadership in just over a year at the helm. And while these acts and the rhetoric that surround them sound familiar, their tempo has clearly quickened, particularly this past week as the Pyongyang regime responds to the latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions in response to its Feb. 12 nuclear test. In recent days North Korea has said it will drop its recognition of the armistice that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War and threatened to carry out a preemptive nuclear strike against U.S. &#8220;aggressors.&#8221; On Friday North Korea warned it was pulling out of all non-aggression pacts with the South. Pyongyang has said it might ignore the 1953 cease-fire several times before, but the nuclear threat is a new level of escalation. While North Korea doesn&#8217;t possess the sort of reliable long-range missiles or miniaturized nuclear devices that would allow it to hit the U.S., its capabilities are improving, as shown by its successful satellite launch in December. (MORE: Inside North Korea: 10 Revealing New Satellite Snapshots from Google Maps) &#8220;One has to take what any government says seriously,&#8221; U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said Thursday. &#8220;It’s for that reason that I repeat here that we are fully capable of defending the United States. But I would also say that this kind of extreme rhetoric has not been unusual for this regime, unfortunately.&#8221; In South Korea, new president Park Geun-hye was far less sanguine about the North Korean threat. &#8220;Our current security situation is very grave,&#8221; Park warned Friday at a commissioning ceremony for graduating military cadets, the Yonhap News Agency reported. South Korea&#8217;s military has responded in kind to the North&#8217;s rhetoric, warning that a nuclear attack would lead to the North&#8217;s destruction. The sanctions unanimously approved Thursday by the U.N. Security Council ban<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=73634&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/nkorea_threats_0380.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">North Korea&#039;s Threats</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>As China&#8217;s Congress Meets, Call for Rights Protection Grows</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/04/as-chinas-congress-meets-call-for-rights-protection-grows/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/04/as-chinas-congress-meets-call-for-rights-protection-grows/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2013 03:23:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China’s National People’s Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political reform]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=72773</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Five years ago a group of Chinese scholars, lawyers and writers issued an open letter calling for the country to take concrete steps to protect the rule of law and human rights. The specific mechanism they called for was the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Beijing signed in 1998 but has not formally ratified. The pact mandates respect for rights such as the freedom of religion, speech, legal due process and the right to self-determination. More than 14,000 thousand Chinese eventually signed the open letter, hoping that the international attention surrounding the Beijing Olympics would force the ruling Communist Party to take some steps toward political reform and openness. That didn’t happen. While there were some nominal improvements — foreign media websites were unblocked and restrictions on journalists eased — there were no major political reforms. Later that year, a group of activists released Charter 08, an ambitious manifesto calling for broad changes including an end to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power. Its chief author, Liu Xiaobo, was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” In 2010 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the few recipients to be recognized while incarcerated. (VIDEO: Fellow Dissident on Liu Xiaobo&#8217;s Nobel Peace Prize) Last week another group of Chinese activists issued an open letter, again calling for the government to ratify the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. Their appeal comes before the annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), the Communist Party–controlled legislative conclave that has added significance this year as it will see the party&#8217;s boss Xi Jinping named President, completing the transition of power from Hu Jintao. The title is the least significant of Xi’s three chief offices, below General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the party’s Central Military Commission, two roles he assumed in November. If Hu’s term is any indication, President is also the title Xi will most commonly be called in Western press coverage once he takes office. The NPC<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=72773&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/china_npc_0304.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">National People&#039;s Congress</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Muhammad Ali in Pyongyang: A Little Less Love than Rodman</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/03/muhammad-ali-in-pyongyang-a-little-less-love-than-rodman/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/03/muhammad-ali-in-pyongyang-a-little-less-love-than-rodman/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dennis rodman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim il sung]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong il]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong un]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muhammad Ali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pyongyang]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=72273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Will Dennis Rodman’s visit to North Korea help improve relations between the isolated authoritarian state and the outside world? It seems improbable, not just because of his limited reputation as a statesman. The former NBA star appeared uncertain just which Korea he was going to ahead of the trip, and after watching a basketball game and partying with Kim Jong Un, he declared his friendship for North Korea’s young dictator, telling the Associated Press: “This guy is really awesome.” Nearly two decades ago another American star traveled to North Korea for a sporting spectacular billed as a chance for a breakthrough with the Hermit Kingdom. Muhammad Ali, the former world heavyweight champion, Olympic gold medalist, convert to Islam, Vietnam War opponent, Atlanta Olympic Games torch lighter and generally the most recognized sportsman of the 20th century, joined a group of professional wrestlers and thousands of foreign tourist for an event known as the International Sports and Cultural Festival for Peace in Pyongyang. (MORE: 5 Things We Hope Dennis Rodman Learned About North Korea) Rodman is of course but a june bug to the cultural juggernaut of Muhammad Ali. Ali is, after all, known as the Greatest; Rodman’s nickname is the Worm. But there are startling parallels to the visits 18 years apart that show how little North Korea has changed and how little we can expect as a result of this trip. Both events followed shortly after the demise of a North Korean strongman. The 1995 sports festival was held less than a year after North Korea’s founding President Kim Il Sung died. His son Kim Jong Il was trying to consolidate his grip on power. Rodman&#8217;s trip came a little over a year after the December 2011 death of Kim Jong Il. His youngest son and successor Kim Jong Un, 30, is likewise trying to show that he firmly controls the levers of power in Pyongyang. Both events centered on a spectacle of sports-based entertainment. The 1995 festival was capped by &#8220;Collision in Korea,&#8221; a pro-wrestling event organized by Antonio<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=72273&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rodman_nkorea_0303.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his wife Ri Sol Ju, far left, and former NBA star Dennis Rodman dine in Pyongyang.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Spring Sandstorms Add to China&#8217;s Bad Air Misery</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/spring-sandstorms-add-to-chinas-bad-air-misery/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/spring-sandstorms-add-to-chinas-bad-air-misery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:27:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[airpocalypse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sandstorm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Smog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=71821</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Beijing, a city already notorious for its smog, has seen some of the worst air quality in memory over the first weeks of 2013. Much of the blame has rightly been aimed at coal burning, the rising number of vehicles, the low quality of fuel standards and industrial pollution that blows in from surrounding regions. But this week the Chinese capital has been hit with an air quality disaster of a more ancient vintage: a sandstorm blowing out of the north. On Wednesday afternoon I sat in an office building on the city&#8217;s east side and could see across the city of some 20 million to the Fragrant Hills to the west, the sort of clarity that only happens a few times a year. Then, within the space of an hour, visibility was back to the Beijing standard of a few blocks. (Here are some photo galleries documenting the dramatic changes.) On Wednesday morning the concentration of particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter soared briefly on the city&#8217;s west side to nearly 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter. By comparison, the World Health Organization guideline for 24-hour mean levels of PM 10 is 50 micrograms. The city&#8217;s Environmental Protection Bureau advised residents to stay inside if possible. (MORE: Beijing Chokes on Record Pollution, and Even the Government Admits There’s a Problem) The sandstorm hit Beijing just as the city was preparing for the annual National People&#8217;s Congress. Yao Ming, who is in town as a delegate to the Chinese People&#8217;s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that meets ahead of the NPC, was photographed grimacing at the sky as he left his hotel this morning. The government will undoubtedly face new calls for a solution to China&#8217;s air pollution woes as the NPC meets next week. The issue, which has long been downplayed, has simmered online recently as Chinese microblog users have posted air pollution data online, first from a meter run by the U.S. Embassy that measures finer, more dangerous PM 2.5 particles, and now from the local environmental<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=71821&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/beijing_sandstorm_0228.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Beijing&#039;s Sandstorm</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Taiwan Strait: How One Security Concern in Asia Is Quietly Easing</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/26/taiwan-strait-how-one-security-concern-in-asia-is-quietly-easing/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/26/taiwan-strait-how-one-security-concern-in-asia-is-quietly-easing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 05:04:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taiwan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=70917</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Eight years ago, when Taiwan’s Lien Chan visited China for the first time since fleeing as a child amid civil war in 1946, the senior Kuomintang (KMT) politician was celebrated as a courageous emissary on the mainland and reviled as a turncoat by many proindependence activists at home. A former Premier and Vice President of Taiwan, Lien meeting with China&#8217;s President Hu Jintao was a major news event closely watched on both sides of the Taiwan Strait for signs of how the oft-fraught relationship between China and Taiwan might progress. This week Lien is in China once again, this time meeting with Hu&#8217;s successor, Xi Jinping. And while his trip has been dutifully covered by media in China and Taiwan, there is none of the excitement attached to his 2005 trip. As Lien met on Monday with Xi the biggest cross-strait story was that the Oscar for best director that had just been awarded to Ang Lee, a Taiwan native who is celebrated in China and whose film Life of Pi was widely watched in the mainland. (MORE: Quiet Reception as Taiwan Opposition-Party Heavyweight Visits China) That Lien&#8217;s visit wasn&#8217;t big news in China or Taiwan is good news for the region. At a time when North Korea&#8217;s new leader Kim Jong Un has showed, through a missile launch and a nuclear test, that he is pursuing the weapons path of his late father, and China is embroiled in territorial disputes with Japan over islands in the East China Sea and Southeast Asian neighbors, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines over claims to the South China Sea, it is a welcome relief that cross-strait spats no longer go ballistic. In 1995 and 1996, China fired missiles at and over Taiwan to voice its displeasure with the latter&#8217;s independence-minded President Lee Teng-hui, which lead to U.S. President Bill Clinton dispatching two aircraft-carrier groups to the region. To be sure, Beijing has never ruled out using force to recover Taiwan, which has been self-ruled since the end of China&#8217;s civil war in 1949. But the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=70917&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/china_taiwan_0226.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Taiwan Strait</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Old Questions and Few Answers as Japan&#8217;s Abe and Obama Discuss Asia Security Tensions</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/22/old-questions-and-few-answers-as-japans-abe-and-obama-discuss-asia-security-tensions/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/22/old-questions-and-few-answers-as-japans-abe-and-obama-discuss-asia-security-tensions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 23 Feb 2013 03:47:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=70629</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Shinzo Abe’s first trip to the U.S. as Japan’s Prime Minister, the key issues included the rise of China, North Korea’s quest for nuclear weapons and whether Japan would revise its constitution to allow a standing military. The year was 2007, the U.S. President was George W. Bush and the global economy had yet to begin its spectacular implosion. Since then Japan has had five Prime Ministers, but as Abe, who resumed his country’s top office in December, visited Washington again Friday, the agenda was remarkably similar to what he discussed with President Obama’s predecessor six years ago. &#8220;Prime Minister Abe himself is no stranger to the United States. I think he and I studied in California around the same time, and this is not his first visit to the Oval Office,&#8221; Obama said Friday, before listing security issues and economic cooperation as some of the key topics of their meeting. While many of the issues have remained the same, Abe’s approach has shown a dramatic shift, particularly when it comes to China. While Abe has long advocated a muscular Japanese foreign policy, he spent much of his first term in office trying to ease regional tensions. He made his first overseas trip as Prime Minister to China and didn’t visit Tokyo&#8217;s Yasukuni Shrine, where millions of Japanese war dead — and most controversially 14 class-A war criminals — are enshrined. That helped ease tensions with China and South Korea, which were occupied by Japan during World War II and were infuriated by repeated visits to the shrine by Junichiro Koizumi during his 2001-to-’06 term as Prime Minister. Sino-Japanese tensions are inflamed once again, this time over a group of uninhabited islets northeast of Taiwan known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan’s annexed the islets in 1895, and following Japan’s defeat in World War II, the U.S. administered them until 1972, when they were handed back to Japan. China argues that the Diaoyu were originally Chinese territory and should have been returned to its control. Last<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=70629&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Japan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/japan/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rtr3cm7k.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Japan&#039;s PM Abe arrives at his official residence after he cancelled part of his trip in Southeast Asia, his first overseas trip since taking office, due to the hostage crisis in Algeria, in Tokyo</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>North Korea Confirms &#8216;Successful&#8217; Nuclear Test</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/12/north-korea-confirms-successful-nuclear-test/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/12/north-korea-confirms-successful-nuclear-test/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:43:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy / Beijing</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong un]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea nuclear test]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear test]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weapons]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=68545</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[North Korea conducted its third test of a nuclear device Tuesday, raising fears of instability in Northeast Asia and new questions about whether the isolated authoritarian regime can be stopped in its decades-long effort to develop nuclear weapons. The explosion was first suspected after a magnitude 5.1 earthquake was detected shortly before noon local time about 235 miles (380 km) northeast of the capital, Pyongyang, near the site of the country’s previous nuclear tests. The Japanese Prime Minister’s office held an emergency session, saying, “There is a possibility that a nuclear test was conducted by North Korea based on the previous cases.” About two hours later, North Korea&#8217;s state-run news service confirmed the test, which it said was conducted with a smaller and lighter device than previous detonations, &#8220;yet with great explosive power.&#8221; The test follows North Korea’s successful December satellite launch, which demonstrated improved long-range missile technology. Last month North Korea’s National Defense Commission warned it would carry out a “higher level” nuclear test, which was targeted at the U.S. It comes two weeks ahead of the swearing-in of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, a sign of the sharp security tests that her new administration will face. It also coincides with heightened regional animosity in East Asia, with China and Japan at odds over East China Sea islets claimed by both nations. But North Korea’s test is a reminder that it remains the greatest regional security threat, with its leadership unbowed by international condemnation and its weapons capability apparently growing. The White House condemned the test as a &#8220;highly provocative act that, following its Dec. 12 ballistic-missile launch, undermines regional stability.&#8221; (MORE: Inside North Korea: Google Snapshots) North Korea previously tested nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, which resulted in widespread international condemnation and heightened sanctions. But efforts to slow North Korea’s pursuit of deadly nuclear capability have had limited effect. A South Korean Defense Ministry official said North Korea is believed to have detonated a nuclear device with a strength of six to seven kilotons, Yonhap News Agency reported.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=68545&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/02/12/north-korea-confirms-successful-nuclear-test/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/int_nkorea_0212.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">North Korea Nuclear</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Will Chinese New Year Fireworks Make Beijing&#8217;s &#8216;Crazy Bad&#8217; Air Worse?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/08/will-chinese-new-year-fireworks-make-beijings-crazy-bad-air-worse/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/08/will-chinese-new-year-fireworks-make-beijings-crazy-bad-air-worse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=67714</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As celebratory diversions go, the fireworks used to mark China’s Spring Festival wreak a huge amount of carnage. On Feb. 1 a truck delivering fireworks in central Henan province exploded, causing a bridge collapse that killed at least 10 people. A huge fireworks display in 2009 ignited a fire at a Beijing building on the grounds of the new China Central Television headquarters that killed a firefighter and caused more than $700 million in damage. Every year in the Chinese capital a few hundred fires are ignited by fireworks, a few hundred people are injured and one or two die from related accidents. For pets the fear can be acute. From the first boom of an M-80, my high-strung Border collie retreats under my chair and proceeds to treat me as a human shield for the ensuing 15-day barrage. Despite such destruction, the seasonal pyromania has hardly waned since a decade-plus long ban on fireworks in many major Chinese cities was lifted in 2005 and 2006. The explosions, believed to ward of evil spirits, are now unceasing during the holiday period. On New Year’s Eve the view from a tall building like Beijing’s 81-story China World Trade Center tower is incredible, with multicolored explosions shooting up in every direction across the city of more than 20 million. In the courtyard between the Drum and Bell towers along the capital’s central axis, thousands of people gather to watch as residents set off recently purchased fireworks. The noise reverberating off the ancient buildings is deafening and burnt paper shards rain down continually from the sky. On smaller streets middle-aged men—it is almost always men—lug boxes of fireworks into clear spaces, casually light them with cigarettes and then stand back as red, yellow and green explosions fill the air. Now, as China prepares to welcome the Year of the Snake, there is a new call to cut Beijing’s fireworks appetite. After repeated periods of extreme air pollution this winter, local environmental officials worry that the holiday displays will further degrade the city’s already<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=67714&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/02/08/will-chinese-new-year-fireworks-make-beijings-crazy-bad-air-worse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/int_beijingpollution_0207.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Severe Air Pollution In Beijing</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Chinese Environmentalists Lose Fight to Stop Nu River Dams</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/chinese-environmentalists-lose-fight-to-stop-nu-river-dams/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/05/chinese-environmentalists-lose-fight-to-stop-nu-river-dams/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:05:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese rivers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nu River]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nu River dam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relocation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=67347</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the sayings trotted out when people try to explain Chinese politics is, “The mountains are high, and the emperor is far away.” It is meant to describe the limits on the power of the central government and the ability of local authorities to do much as they wish. Like most such clichés it is only partly useful. If something is considered a threat to the rule of the Communist Party, for instance, the emperor, or his minions at least, are never far away. They are tapping phones, hacking computers and knocking on doors in even the most remote corners of the People’s Republic. But if the question is one further down the list of priorities — environmental protection, for instance — then the emperor can be indeed far away, and the directives of the central government can often be ignored. I was reminded of that by the news that after a decade of debate, plans are going ahead for the construction of a series of dams on the Nu River, also known as the Salween, one of the last free-flowing rivers in the China. It flows south from the Tibetan plateau through western Yunnan province, into Burma and along the Thai border for a stretch before entering into the Andaman Sea. In 2003, plans to build 13 hydroelectric dams on the river set off a furor among Chinese environmentalists, who feared the project would jeopardize the 80 threatened or endangered animal species in the river valley. They further argued that damming the river would force large-scale relocation of residents and harm the unique culture of the region. Nu prefecture is home to more than one-third of China’s ethnic groups including some, like the Derung people, with small populations numbering in the thousands. (PHOTOS: Set Adrift in Western China) In 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao called a halt to the project to order further impact assessments as required under a then new environmental law. Chinese green groups celebrated a rare victory over unrestrained growth. But some of the leading critics<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=67347&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/nu_river_0205.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Google Fills In Some Blanks on Its North Korea Map</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/29/google-fills-in-some-blanks-on-its-north-korea-map/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/29/google-fills-in-some-blanks-on-its-north-korea-map/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:16:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cartography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google in Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Maps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[map of North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=66320</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Google executive Eric Schmidt visited North Korea earlier this month with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, they urged the isolated totalitarian state to open itself up to the Internet. Now Google has used the Internet to open North Korea up a little more to the rest of the world. The company announced Monday that it was updating its online map of North Korea with far more details of the Hermit Kingdom, which had previously appeared as a largely featureless void on the Google Maps service. In a blog post, Google explained that the map had been filled in by years of effort by citizen cartographers using Google Map Maker, which allows volunteers to add detail to a group-edited map. &#8220;We know this map is not perfect — one of the exciting things about maps is that the world is a constantly changing place,&#8221; Google Map Maker senior product manager Jayanth Mysore wrote. (MORE: In North Korea, Google Exec Sees an Internet Open for the Very Few) Google highlighted the map&#8217;s new detail of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, including the addition of roads and parks. But far more interesting and sensitive features can be found, including the Yongbyon nuclear-research center, a key facility in the country&#8217;s drive to produce nuclear weapons. And some of the prison camps that make up North Korea&#8217;s extensive gulag for perceived enemies of the regime are included on the map. Here&#8217;s a view of the Hwasong prison camp, or Camp 16, in the country&#8217;s northeast, where some 10,000 prisoners are believed to be held: During Schmidt and Richardson&#8217;s trip, the delegation visited a computer lab at Kim Il Sung University, where they peered over one student&#8217;s shoulder as he used Google&#8217;s search engine. In a blog post after the trip, Schmidt&#8217;s daughter Sophie described the lab as an &#8220;e-Potemkin Village&#8221; where nobody appeared to be doing anything. The students allowed to use the Internet are members of what one analyst called the country&#8217;s &#8220;superelite,&#8221; allowed to use the Internet because they are considered<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=66320&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/f4afc5dc22054675b7063735d74.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Google&#039;s Eric Schmidt visits North Korea</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>After Successful Missile Launch, North Korea Threatens New Nuclear Test</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/24/after-successful-missile-launch-north-korea-threatens-new-nuclear-test/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/24/after-successful-missile-launch-north-korea-threatens-new-nuclear-test/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:02:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong un]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[missile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear test]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nukes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=65456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When North Korea put a satellite into orbit last month, it declared that the launch was an exercise of its &#8220;right to use space for peaceful purposes&#8221; and denounced criticism by the U.S. and others that it was carrying out a ballistic-missile test meant to threaten its neighbors. On Tuesday the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn the launch, which it said was banned under previous resolutions, and moved to strengthen existing sanctions. Today North Korea responded angrily to the Security Council&#8217;s move, declaring that it may soon carry out another nuclear test — the isolated totalitarian state&#8217;s third — a move its National Defense Commission said was aimed at the U.S. Any notion that the recent satellite launch was purely peaceful was seemingly blown up in the bellicose statement by the leading military body in the country officially known as the Democratic People&#8217;s Republic of Korea (DPRK). &#8220;We do not hide that a variety of satellites and long-range rockets, which will be launched by the DPRK one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out by it in the upcoming all-out action, a new phase of the anti-U.S. struggle that has lasted century after century, will target against the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people,&#8221; the defense commission&#8217;s statement read, according to the official KCNA news service. (MORE: Pondering North Korea’s Endgame) Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, who landed in Seoul on Wednesday for a trip that will include visits to China and Japan, said upon his arrival that it would be &#8220;a mistake&#8221; for North Korea to carry out another nuclear test. &#8220;We would call on them not to engage in further provocations, and we are joined by the international community in that appeal,&#8221; Davies said in comments made a day before the North Korean defense commission announced nuclear-test plans. &#8220;Now is not a time to make the situation on the Korean Peninsula any more tense.&#8221; North Korea and its Kim family rulers are often portrayed as unstable actors,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=65456&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/nkorea_nuke_0124.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">North Korea</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Lost in Thailand: How a Lowbrow, Low-Budget Film Became China&#8217;s Biggest Hit</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/17/lost-in-thailand-how-a-lowbrow-low-budget-film-became-chinas-biggest-hit/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/17/lost-in-thailand-how-a-lowbrow-low-budget-film-became-chinas-biggest-hit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese New Year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese tourists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lost in Thailand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64168</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lost in Thailand is by any measure a ridiculous movie. Two Chinese colleagues race to find their boss at a remote monastery in Thailand, battling bad traffic, gangsters, a snake, a kickboxer and, most important, each other, all in an effort to win the rights to an improbable invention: Super Gas, a liquid that turns a little bit of gasoline into a lot. Somehow it is doing ridiculously well. With a budget of less than $6 million, the film has earned $193 million since it opened Dec. 12, making it China&#8217;s most profitable film and pulling in more viewers than foreign hits such as Avatar and the third Transformers, according to a report in the Caixin business journal. While those films relied on big-budget special effects, the action scenes in Lost in Thailand look like something out of a Leslie Nielsen film. The plot feels like a rehash of The Hangover Part II and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Without a terribly original script or eye-catching pyrotechnics, what has made Lost in Thailand such a hit? It’s a question that the rest of the film industry badly wants to answer. (MORE: Why American Movie Companies Are Rushing to Find Big-Screen Partners in China) Part of the explanation is timing. The New Year’s period is when China sees its biggest blockbusters rolled out to coincide with holidays on Jan. 1 and the all-important Chinese New Year a few weeks later. Director Feng Xiaogang has been synonymous with the hesuipian, or New Year’s celebration film, offering lighthearted comedic fare like If You Are the One for family viewing over the holidays. But some of Feng’s recent works have been deadly serious. In 2010 he released Aftershock, about a pair of deadly earthquakes, and in December he released 1942, a film about wartime famine in central China. The other big release of this season, director Lu Chuan’s The Last Supper, about a power-mad Han-dynasty Emperor, is only slightly less grim. Lost in Thailand is a natural alternative for audiences looking for something a little happier, then.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64168&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wor-china-blockbuster-0117.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Pedestrians walk past a poster of the movie, &#34;Lost in Thailand,&#34; at a cinema in Nantong city, China, Dec. 16, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>In North Korea, Google Exec Sees an Internet Open for the Very Few</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/09/in-north-korea-google-exec-sees-an-internet-open-for-the-very-few/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/09/in-north-korea-google-exec-sees-an-internet-open-for-the-very-few/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:48:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=62756</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When looking for a photo op that says digital North Korea, there seems to be one option: the computer lab at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang. On Tuesday, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt visited the lab with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson as part of a four-day trip to the isolated authoritarian state and were photographed watching a student surf the Internet. The search engine of choice? Google, reported the Associated Press correspondent based in the North Korean capital. If the image looked familiar to North Korea watchers, it might be because Li Keqiang, the man set to be made China&#8217;s Premier later this year, was photographed in the same lab in October 2011, peering over a student&#8217;s shoulder as he used a computer. There is no indication from Chinese press reports at the time what search engine the student was using, though the discussion likely didn&#8217;t dwell on Google, with which the Chinese authorities have frequently sparred. After threatening to leave China in 2010, Google began to redirect mainland users&#8217; searches through Hong Kong. Last month the company stopped a months-old service alerting users when they were searching for terms that were possibly blocked in China, saying it was further hindering their search experience. (PHOTOS: A New Look at North Korea) That Schmidt, who is in North Korea on a private visit along with Richardson and Jared Cohen, head of the Google Ideas think tank, has received a relatively friendly welcome in North Korea is not a sign the country is prepared to embrace a free flow of information. Foreign correspondents visiting the country have reported finding Internet speeds there far faster than in nearby China. But use of the Internet in North Korea is limited to &#8220;super-elites&#8221; who are &#8220;very few in number and very high up in the North Korean government,&#8221; according to a recent analysis by Scott Thomas Bruce, project manager for the Partnership for Nuclear Security at the CRDF Global, a nonprofit that promotes international scientific exchange. Those elites, like the students at the exclusive<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=62756&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/nkorea_schmidt_0109.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Eric Schmidt and Bill Richardson</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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		<title>Censorship of Newspaper&#8217;s New Year Message Touches Off Protest in China</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/07/censorship-of-newspapers-new-year-message-touches-off-protest-in-china/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/07/censorship-of-newspapers-new-year-message-touches-off-protest-in-china/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:08:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Austin Ramzy</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=62391</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The staff of Southern Weekend, a liberal Chinese newspaper based out of the southern city of Guangzhou, has long clashed with censors in its efforts to produce one of China’s most respected weekly publications. But a dispute over a New Year&#8217;s editorial has generated an unusually heated public debate, with some reporters and editors threatening to strike and many readers rallying to their defense. On Monday dozens of supporters gathered outside the newspaper&#8217;s headquarters, handing out flowers and carrying signs supporting free speech. The standoff is particularly awkward for China&#8217;s new leader, Xi Jinping, as the piece that set off the furor ostensibly supported an issue that Xi has endorsed recently, strengthening rule of law and the primacy of the country&#8217;s constitution. (MORE: China’s Nobel Laureate Mo Yan Defends Censorship) The censored editorial was titled &#8220;China&#8217;s Dream, the Dream of Constitutionalism&#8221; and called for controlling state power through the law. &#8220;Only if constitutionalism is realized and power effectively checked can citizens voice their criticisms of power loudly and confidently, and only then can every person believe in their hearts that they are free to live their own lives. Only then can we build a truly free and strong nation,&#8221; the original message read, according to a translation by Hong Kong University&#8217;s China Media Project, which has a detailed look at the editorial and subsequent controversy here. The version that eventually ran softened support for rule of law and declared, &#8220;We are now closer to our dreams than ever before,&#8221; a quote from the New Year&#8217;s greeting of the Communist Party&#8217;s official People&#8217;s Daily. (MORE: Chinese Microblogging Site Tests Points-Based Censorship) Southern Weekend staffers blamed the changes to their message on Tuo Zhen, head of Guangdong&#8217;s propaganda ministry. Reporters and editors have long complained about his censorship of the paper, which they say seems bent on ending the southern province&#8217;s reputation as a haven for somewhat freer domestic media. An open letter from Southern Weekend employees that called for Tuo&#8217;s removal said that more than 1,000 articles were censored last year.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=62391&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>China</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/china/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-china-newspaper.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Security guards stand near protest banners and flowers laid outside the headquarters of Southern Weekly newspaper in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, Jan. 7, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">austinramzy</media:title>
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