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	<title>World &#187; Hannah Beech &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>World &#187; Hannah Beech &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com</link>
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		<title>Viewpoint: Why Surveillance Outrage Falls Flat in China</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/06/19/viewpoint-why-surveillance-outrage-falls-flat-in-china/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/06/19/viewpoint-why-surveillance-outrage-falls-flat-in-china/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guardian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Snowden]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=90652</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman’s advice was polite but pointed: “We believe the United States should pay attention to the international community’s concerns and demands,” said Hua Chunying on June 17, “and give the international community the necessary explanation.” Fair enough. It’s not just Americans who want to know more about Prism, the surveillance program whose existence was leaked by Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who fled to Hong Kong earlier this month. Prism reportedly has the capacity to mine the telecommunication records of Americans and non-Americans alike. Who doesn’t want to receive a “necessary explanation”? The U.S. government’s hypocrisy in attacking the Chinese government for state-sponsored hacking while quietly conducting its own spying campaign has provided delightful fodder for China’s state-linked media. Turning the tables on foreign press who routinely write about Chinese dissidents by referring to Snowden and other American whistle-blowers as “Western dissidents,” a columnist for Xinhua, China’s state newswire, wrote: “When American politicians and businessmen make accusatory remarks, their eyes are firmly fixed on foreign countries and they turn a blind eye to their own misdeeds.” (MORE: Beijing Reacts to Snowden Claims U.S. Hacked ‘Hundreds’ of Chinese Targets) That’s reasonable criticism. But to equate what happens every minute in China with the excesses of Prism is ludicrous. China is the world’s largest police state. There is little rule of law. Yes, the country is far freer and richer today than it was a generation ago. But that doesn’t change the fact that phones are routinely tapped, the Internet censored and jail sentences slapped on those who are too persistent in pointing out China’s faults. Indeed, one common Chinese reaction to the Snowden affair has been a collective shrug: Of course our government spies on us, Chinese have commented online, why would you expect anything less? Over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama defended Prism, saying that the program was legal and had yielded intelligence that “disrupted plots, not just here in the United States but overseas as well.” Perhaps it’s naiveté that<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=90652&#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/2013/06/china_0618.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Hong Kong US Government Surveillance</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Beijing Reacts to Snowden Claims U.S. Hacked &#8216;Hundreds&#8217; of Chinese Targets</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/06/13/beijing-reacts-to-snowden-claims-u-s-hacked-hundreds-of-chinese-targets/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/06/13/beijing-reacts-to-snowden-claims-u-s-hacked-hundreds-of-chinese-targets/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jun 2013 06:19:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China Daily]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyberespionage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybersecurity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edward Snowden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hong kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NSA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=89777</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The China Daily, the Chinese government’s English-language mouthpiece, couldn’t have been handed a better story. On June 13, Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency who exposed a vast American electronic surveillance program before fleeing to Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s leading English-language daily, that the U.S. has for years hacked into Chinese computer systems. After days of silence about the presence of a U.S. whistle-blower on Chinese soil — albeit in a territory governed separately from the rest of the country — the Chinese state media swung into action. “This is not the first time that U.S. government agencies’ wrongdoings have aroused widespread public concern,” opined the China Daily in an editorial. In a separate news article, the official state newspaper wrote that “analysts” believed the bombshells dropped in the Snowden affair are “certain to stain Washington&#8217;s overseas image and test developing Sino-U.S. ties.” (MORE: Snowden in Hong Kong: The Legal Complications of ‘One Country, Two Systems’) Cybersecurity was one of the many contentious issues U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed during their summit in California last week. For months now, the U.S. government has implicated Beijing in state-sponsored hacking. Western Internet security firms have accused a Shanghai-based People’s Liberation Army unit of mining confidential data from U.S. government agencies, American corporations and human-rights organizations critical of China, among others. Beijing has denied that any such program exists and says that China is also the victim of cyberespionage. Snowden’s testimony to the South China Morning Post certainly adds a dose of conviction to the Chinese government’s claims. There is, of course, an element of absurdity in Snowden criticizing the “hypocrisy” of the U.S. government’s data-espionage program while seeking refuge in a tiny territory that belongs to the world’s largest surveillance state. Hong Kong, as Snowden has said, places a certain premium on rights like freedom of speech and privacy. China, the territory’s overlord, does not. Perhaps Americans were surprised by their own government’s prying into their<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=89777&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/06/13/beijing-reacts-to-snowden-claims-u-s-hacked-hundreds-of-chinese-targets/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<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/2013/06/ap210795758073-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Hong Kong Surveillance</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Burma&#8217;s Feared Ex-Spy Chief Finds a New Life as a Gallery Owner</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/05/30/burmas-feared-ex-spy-chief-finds-a-new-life-as-a-gallery-owner/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/05/30/burmas-feared-ex-spy-chief-finds-a-new-life-as-a-gallery-owner/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 May 2013 10:28:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Burma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aung San Suu Kyi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[burma junta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Khin Nyunt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myanmar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nawaday art gallery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rangoon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Than Shwe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yangon]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=88213</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On a muggy day in May in the ramshackle city of Rangoon, an elderly Burmese man straightened rows of jade jewelry in a souvenir case. He organized a stack of traditional Burmese music CDs, one of which was playing in the gift shop. And he extolled the virtues of the small contemporary-art gallery he had just opened in what used to be a fruit grove in his garden. “The paintings are very nice,” he told me in English, smiling from behind his golden spectacles, a simple Burmese sarong wrapped around his waist. “You are welcome to go see.” Inside the whitewashed space were canvases of racing horses, tribal beauties and, of course, the golden pagoda spires that define this predominantly Buddhist land. For years, former general Khin Nyunt, now in his mid-70s, was one of the most feared men in Burma, known officially as Myanmar. The spy chief of an ironfisted military regime, his was a name mentioned in whispers by anyone with a predilection for dissent, be they a democrat or journalist. Khin Nyunt’s military-intelligence thugs tortured and jailed across the country. In 1988, he was among a military coterie that dispatched soldiers to deal with student-led pro-democracy protesters — a ruthless crackdown that stands in history as Burma’s Tiananmen massacre. His nickname? The Prince of Evil or sometimes, for variation, the Prince of Darkness. Named Prime Minister of Burma in 2003, Khin Nyunt was purged a year later in what was widely considered a power play by then junta chief Than Shwe. He was charged with insubordination and corruption. The crimes earned him a 44-year jail sentence but Khin Nyunt spent his confinement under house arrest, instead of languishing in one of Burma’s many notorious prisons. In January 2012, he was released as part of a larger prisoner amnesty — just one of the many unexpected episodes after the military government transferred power to a quasi-civilian government in March 2011. (Two of his sons, who were also implicated in graft, have been freed too.) (MORE: Burma’s Thein Sein<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=88213&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Burma</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/burma/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/khin_nyunt_0530.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Khin Nyunt</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Parents of China&#8217;s Toilet-Pipe Baby Feel the Wrath of the Country&#8217;s Netizens</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/05/29/parents-of-chinas-toilet-pipe-baby-feel-the-wrath-of-the-countrys-netizens/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/05/29/parents-of-chinas-toilet-pipe-baby-feel-the-wrath-of-the-countrys-netizens/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 May 2013 10:15:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[abandoned baby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[baby 59]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china family planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gender imbalance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gender ratio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[one-child policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=88031</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Babies don’t belong in sewage pipes. That much the online community in China agrees upon. On May 25, an unwed 22-year-old woman in China’s eastern Zhejiang province walked into a bathroom and delivered a baby whose existence she had hidden from the world. The woman had been hunched over a squat toilet and her newborn boy slipped into the sewage pipe below, according to local journalist Dong Qi. Although the new mother used a mop to try to dislodge the baby, he was wedged into a channel 4 in. (10 cm) wide, says Dong, whose information comes from the local police chief in Pujiang county. Panicked, she tried to cover up what happened, splashing water to wash away the blood. She then informed someone in the building that something was wrong with the toilet. Soon, firefighters were dispatched to rescue the child from the waste pipe. But the 6.2-lb. (2.8 kg) newborn was squeezed in so tightly that they were unable to extract him. The rescue workers were forced to saw off the section of the pipe with him in it and transport it to a nearby hospital. Baby 59, as he is now known after the number of his incubator, is in stable condition, a tiny presence with a full head of hair and a scraped knee and other bruises from his postbirth ordeal. (VIDEO: Chinese Newborn Rescued From Sewer Pipe) When footage of Baby 59’s rescue was released earlier this week in China, in absence of information about his mother, the reaction online was swift and harsh. “What kind of beasts can do such a thing?” posted one user on Sina Weibo, a domestic Twitter-like social-media service, referring to the child’s parents. In the court of public opinion, the young mother, as well as the father who reportedly refused to acknowledge her pregnancy, were quickly tried and found guilty. Wrote another Weibo user: “His parents should be put into prison and never be allowed to touch him again.” The Internet serves as a crowd-sourcing tool for vigilante justice<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=88031&#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/2013/05/china_baby_0528.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Baby in China</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Sex, Lies and Photoshop: China&#8217;s Racy-Photo Scandals</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/05/03/china-sex-scandal/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/05/03/china-sex-scandal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 May 2013 06:07:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Gu Yongqiang</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=84924</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[China wouldn’t be China without the officious slogans that plaster every other wall and railing, educating citizens on the latest government policy or crackdown. But the banners and billboards that began appearing in March all over Shuangfeng, a rural county in central China’s Hunan province, bore exhortations more curious than most. “Let all of society take action! Let’s engage in a people’s war against blackmailing activities using fake obscene pictures,” read one. Another urged: “Crack down on the crime of extortion using fabricated obscene photos.” What lies behind these unusual party directives? Proficiency in Photoshop, apparently. Starting in 2011, a number of Shuangfeng residents began supplementing their income by using the popular software to create fake sex photos featuring local officials and businessmen. The images were then sent to those purportedly involved in a crude blackmail scheme, according to government prosecutors. In mid-March, police arrested eight suspects from four gangs that were accused of trying to raise $7.35 million through doctored pornography. Since last year, 37 suspects have been arrested in connection with 127 such extortion cases, according to local media. On its website, the Shuangfeng police department published a list of blackmail suspects still at large. (MORE: Communist Party Officials Gone Wild: Sex-Tape Scandal Rocks China) China’s systemic corruption, currently the target of a crackdown by new leader Xi Jinping, is often tied to sexual scandal. In recent months, numerous Chinese officials have been targeted in online show-and-shame campaigns that usually involve images — apparently genuine — of errant cadres in various stages of undress, accompanied by women other than their wives. A survey conducted by Renmin University in January found that 95% of the corrupt officials caught in 2012 maintained mistresses. In a celebrated case last November, Lei Zhengfu, a district-level official in the sprawling southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, was shown having sex with then 18-year-old Zhao Hongxia in a video uploaded by a local journalist. The footage, which captured an encounter five years before, went viral. Zhao later admitted that she was paid by a local contractor<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=84924&#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>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>China Grieves for Young Graduate Student Slain in Boston Bombings</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/17/third-victim-china-grieves-for-a-young-woman-killed-by-the-boston-bombs/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/17/third-victim-china-grieves-for-a-young-woman-killed-by-the-boston-bombs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:40:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech / Beijing</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boston bombs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boston university]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chinese students overseas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lu lingzi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weibo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=82451</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[UPDATED Lu Lingzi chose the English name Dorothy for herself, a fitting moniker for an adventurous young woman who was transported from rust-belt China to the U.S., where she was pursuing a master&#8217;s degree in mathematics and statistics at Boston University. On April 15, Lu hovered at the finish line of the Boston Marathon to cheer on classmates who were competing. She was one of three people killed by the twin blasts that turned the Patriots’ Day race into a scene of devastation. A fellow Chinese graduate student at Boston University, who was with Lu at the finish line, sustained serious injuries. (PHOTOS: The Aftermath of the Boston Marathon Explosions) Reared in the grimy northeastern city of Shenyang where she attended a special school for talented youth, Lu made her way south to Beijing for college, where she studied international economics and trade at the prestigious Beijing Institute of Technology, ranking eighth in her major, according to her online CV. While in her final year of college, she interned at Deloitte in Beijing. After graduation, Lu joined the roughly 200,000 Chinese students who study in the U.S. “She was very lovely and full of positive energy,” says Gong Zheng, a friend who met Lu when they used the same Beijing agency to help them with their study-abroad applications. Gong, who is now studying in Atlanta, says Lu belied the common image of Chinese students in America as being spoiled, rich brats who buy their way into academic institutions. “She and I are kids from ordinary Chinese families,” Gong says. “We just wanted to get a better future through our own hard work.” He adds that Lu “liked to use mathematics to solve problems.” (MORE: Who&#8217;s Behind the Attack? Tracing Some Initial Clues) Starting at Boston University last fall, Lu posted pictures on Facebook that described her “New Beginning in BU.” According to her Facebook profile, her likes ranged from Disneyland and Sephora beauty products to Lindt chocolate and the Economist magazine. Shortly after arriving in Boston, Lu posted a picture of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=82451&#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/2013/04/166770216.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">People gather with candles during a vigil for eight-year-old Martin Richard, from Dorchester, who was killed by an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 16, 2013 at Garvey Park in Boston, Mass.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ap130417111478.jpg?w=273" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Lu Lingzi</media:title>
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		<title>U.S. and China Pledge to Work Toward a Nonnuclear North Korea. Does That Matter?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/13/u-s-and-china-agree-to-work-toward-a-non-nuclear-north-korea-does-that-matter/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/13/u-s-and-china-agree-to-work-toward-a-non-nuclear-north-korea-does-that-matter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Apr 2013 17:40:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Kerry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kim jong un]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[missile test]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[North Korea nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xi Jinping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yang Jiechi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=81502</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On his first trip to Beijing as U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry arrived with an entreaty. As warmongering from North Korea reaches earsplitting levels, Kerry had petitioned Chinese leaders to rein in an isolated country that Chairman Mao Zedong once said was as close to China as lips are to teeth. On April 13, after a day of talks with China’s top brass, Kerry met with reporters at Beijing’s state-run Diaoyutai Hotel, a gilt-and-chandelier confection, and spoke positively of China’s commitment to pressing for peace on the Korean Peninsula. “There’s no question in my mind that China is serious, very serious about denuclearizing” North Korea, he said, describing his overall talks with Chinese leaders as “beyond what I anticipated.” Kerry met with a cavalcade of newly installed Chinese rulers, including Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi. The U.S. Secretary of State said he and Yang had issued a rare “joint statement” on their shared commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. (MORE: China’s Long, Fruitless History of Irritation With North Korea) But Kerry’s rosy pronouncements notwithstanding, China’s support of dismantling North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program does not appear to be a break from its previous stance. Indeed, Beijing has consistently said it supports peace in the region, as well as a cessation of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Referring to hopes to restart nuclear talks with North Korea, Kerry said Beijing and Washington would conduct “further discussions to bear down very quickly with great specificity on exactly how we will accomplish this goal.” It was unclear, however, whether holding such discussions amounts to a true breakthrough. On Friday, Xinhua, China’s official news agency, published an op-ed saying Kerry should be “aware that his country holds the key to alleviating the suffocating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.” The U.S., meanwhile, has repeatedly characterized Beijing as key in dealing with North Korea. On Thursday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress: “If anyone has real leverage over the North Koreans, it is China.” Yet<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=81502&#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/2013/04/166472358.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Secretary of State Kerry Meets With Chinese Foreign Minister</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Bird-Flu Cover-Up? Chinese Social Media Out Possible Cases of Deadly Disease</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/04/03/bird-flu-cover-up-chinese-social-media-out-possible-cases-of-deadly-disease/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/04/03/bird-flu-cover-up-chinese-social-media-out-possible-cases-of-deadly-disease/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:29:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avian Flu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[avian influenza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bird Flu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[h7n9]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jiangsu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nanjing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SARS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shanghai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weibo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=79475</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A foreign journalist covering China has little choice but to get familiar with the basic habits of respiratory viruses. The country’s southern swath has been the historic incubator of many of the world’s new strains of influenza, a product presumably of humans and their food (pigs, chickens and various other creatures) living cheek by jowl by claw. Now, just as the weather warms in the northern hemisphere, easing annual worries of an influenza pandemic, a new strain of avian influenza called H7N9 has begun to claim lives in China. As of April 2, seven people from Shanghai and the eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui had been confirmed to have the disease. Two died in early March and five are currently in critical condition, according to the Chinese state press. The fact that a deadly strain of influenza has hatched in China isn’t surprising. But what is new this time is the level of scrutiny the Chinese themselves are giving to the H7N9 virus. China’s state-controlled press is limited by daily guidelines on what it can and cannot print. Yet Weibo, a local social-media service that has become phenomenally popular over the past couple of years since Twitter is banned, has allowed the Chinese public to express itself in unprecedented ways. Weibo is still censored but it’s impossible for government minders to filter all that clutters its information thoroughfares. In recent weeks, the Weibo community, which is estimated at some 500 million strong, was seized by the surreal news that around 16,000 carcasses of diseased pigs had floated down a river that provides much of Shanghai’s water supply. The municipal government’s reaction to the river of dead pigs was laughable; the city’s water quality, officials maintained, was still within acceptable standards. Weibo users howled. (MORE: Bird Flu Is Back in China) When the cases of H7N9 were announced in the official press on April 1, Weibo speculation mounted as to whether there might be a link between floating pigs, avian flu and sick humans in eastern China. By April 2,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=79475&#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/bird_flu_0403.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Bird Flu</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Dumpling Diplomacy: The U.S. Treasury Secretary&#8217;s Beijing Lunch Enchants China</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/20/dumpling-diplomacy-the-u-s-treasury-secretarys-beijing-lunch-enchants-in-china/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/20/dumpling-diplomacy-the-u-s-treasury-secretarys-beijing-lunch-enchants-in-china/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:00:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dumpling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jacob Lew]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Embassy in Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Treasury Secretary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S.-China Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xi Jinping]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=76517</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My older son adores the pea-shoot-and-mountain-yam dumplings. His little brother prefers the jiaozi stuffed with minced pork and fennel fronds. My husband cannot resist the bacon-and-spicy-pickled-radish variety. Bao Yuan Dumpling House, a modest eatery near the U.S. embassy in Beijing, has long been a favorite among foodie expats for its mind-boggling variety of dumplings available at very affordable prices. On March 19, humble Bao Yuan — with its dusty red lanterns, cracked linoleum and heaping bowls of raw garlic cloves should you wish to spice up the meal — played host to a rather august personage: U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who was in town for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that ranged from China’s trade surplus to cybersecurity concerns. The bill for the table of three — which feasted on a tofu salad and my older son’s favorite pea-shoot-and-mountain-yam dumplings, washed down with jasmine tea — amounted to just $17. I’d wager the new Treasury Secretary was pleased by both the quality of the jiaozi and the price tag — although next time I’d urge him to try the mushroom-medley dumplings too. (MORE: China’s New President Xi Jinping Met With Mysterious Lone Vote of Dissent) Lew’s lunch soon became an Internet sensation in China, where Weibo, a domestic Twitter-like service, has turned into a clearinghouse for disgust at the ostentatious ways of Communist Party officials. Lavish banquets, showy cars and luxury watches complete the stereotype of the life of a modern-day Chinese cadre, and a procession of Weibo exposés has downed some of the more corrupt (or careless) officials. By contrast, there was the Treasury Secretary of the world’s richest country digging into food more fit for a peasant — albeit a peasant with a discerning taste in dumplings. “Such frugality, no special procurements, no Maotai,” wrote one Weibo commenter, referring to the famously pricey Chinese alcohol. “Our civil servants could never endure this.” Xi, who earlier this month inherited the country’s presidency at the annual National People’s Congress (NPC), has made combating corruption and official abuse of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=76517&#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/int-lew-china-130320.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, center, watches as embassy staff members order the foods during their lunch at a Chinese dumpling restaurant in Beijing</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>China&#8217;s Own Leadership Conclave: Time to Raise the Rubber Stamps</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/13/chinas-own-leadership-conclave-time-to-raise-the-rubber-stamps/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/13/chinas-own-leadership-conclave-time-to-raise-the-rubber-stamps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:50:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CPPCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National People's Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NPC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weibo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xi Jinping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yu Zhengsheng]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=74865</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Those people worried about China’s fondness for intellectual property piracy need not be concerned—in the political sphere, at least. On March 12, one of the country’s senior leaders, Yu Zhengsheng, gave a speech in Beijing, where various leadership confabs are currently taking place, in which he vowed that China would not be copying the wayward fashions of the West: “We need to more strictly follow the socialist path of political development with Chinese characteristics, not imitate Western political systems under any circumstances, always adhere to the correct political orientation, and strengthen the CPPCC&#8217;s ideological and political foundations of collective struggle.&#8221; Yu is the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which is abbreviated rather cumbersomely as the CPPCC. Technically speaking, the 67-year-old was elected to this top job on Monday, and his remarks were targeted at some 2,000 so-called political advisers who make up the CPPCC National Committee. Also converging on Beijing now are deputies to the annual legislative National People’s Congress (NPC), who on Thursday began voting for China’s next set of civilian leaders. (MORE: As China’s Congress Meets, Call for Rights Protection Grows) In reality, these leadership polls aren’t exercises in true electoral democracy nor, as Yu noted, does the leadership want to follow the West. (Of course, as one snarky commenter on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, noted, “Is Russia not a Western country? If so, why did the Chinese Communist Party of China copy the whole Soviet Union&#8217;s political system?”) Despite the Chinese leadership’s allergy to some Western political mores, the coverage of the CPPCC and NPC in China’s state-controlled press over the past few days has borrowed heavily from democratic verbiage. &#8220;Three Days, Nine Ballots: Details of State Leadership Elections&#8221; went a March 13 headline from Xinhua, China’s state-run newswire and government mouthpiece. From Thursday through Saturday, wrote Xinhua, almost 3,000 NPC delegates would be casting nine ballots to usher in a slew of new leaders, ranging from China’s president and vice president to the country’s chief justice. Six of these<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=74865&#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/int-cppcc-china-130313.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">CPPCC</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Hack Attack: China and the U.S. Trade Barbs on Cyberwarfare</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/12/hack-attack-china-and-the-u-s-trade-barbs-on-cyberwarfare/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/12/hack-attack-china-and-the-u-s-trade-barbs-on-cyberwarfare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china hackers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chinese hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybersecurity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cyberwarfare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People's Liberation Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thomas donilon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yang Jiechi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=74573</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The gloves are off. For years, the White House has danced around the sensitive topic of Chinese hacking into American computer systems that is believed to have compromised everything from electrical grids to the e-mail accounts of researchers focusing on China’s human-rights record. Public finger-pointing at Chinese hackers has been left largely to the American legislative branch or to private Western cybersecurity firms like Mandiant or McAfee, which have produced reports linking the Chinese military to online espionage. Even when U.S. President Barack Obama warned of the dangers of cyberwarfare in his State of the Union Address last month and then issued an executive order to protect America’s online borders, he declined to specifically name China as an offender. No more. On March 11, U.S. National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon said that Chinese hacking had become a “key point of concern” in bilateral relations. “Increasingly, U.S. businesses are speaking out about their serious concerns about sophisticated, targeted theft of confidential business information and proprietary technologies through cyberintrusions emanating from China on an unprecedented scale,” Donilon said in remarks to Asia Society, a nonprofit organization based in New York City. “The international community cannot afford to tolerate such activity from any country.” (MORE: China’s Red Hackers: The Tale of One Patriotic Cyberwarrior) For its part, China has consistently denied any state-sponsored hacking campaign. Only two days before Donilon’s speech, China’s outgoing Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi lashed out at the U.S. for the recent drumbeat of accusations blaming China for cyberattacks. “Anyone who tries to fabricate or piece together a sensational story to serve a political motive will not be able to blacken the name of others or whitewash themselves,” he said at a news conference during the National People&#8217;s Congress, the annual Chinese leadership confab currently underway in Beijing. Yang went on to call for increased regulation of this new frontier: “Cyberspace needs not war, but rules and cooperation. We oppose cyberspace becoming a new battlefield, and to using the Internet as a new tool to interfere in another country&#8217;s internal<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=74573&#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/int-china-hacking-130312.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">&#039;Unit 61398&#039;,</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>China&#8217;s Red Hackers: The Tale of One Patriotic Cyberwarrior</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/02/21/chinas-red-hackers-the-tale-of-one-patriotic-cyberwarrior/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/02/21/chinas-red-hackers-the-tale-of-one-patriotic-cyberwarrior/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:13:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyber attacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybersecurity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hacking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mandiant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[red hackers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=70222</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the latest report by a Western cybersecurity company to finger Chinese state hackers, Mandiant earlier this week accused the People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398 of having orchestrated years of cyberattacks on more than 100 U.S. firms from a base in Shanghai. Hacking by the Chinese, whether by state technicians or patriotic individuals who are not directly employed by the government, has turned into a serious global risk. Although the Chinese government has repeatedly denied a state-sponsored hacking campaign, the list of cybertargets—from Western competitors of Chinese companies to human-rights groups that are critical of Beijing’s record—leaves little room for doubt that these raids originate from China. “These attacks only benefit the Chinese, not anyone else,” says Dr. Murray Jennex, a cybersecurity expert at San Diego State University. “They have so many more people who are able to hack than any other country.” In a story in this week’s magazine, TIME profiles Wan Tao, once one of China’s most feared hongke, or red hackers, cyberwarriors motivated by patriotism to attack foreign digital victims: While Chinese hackers boast about their exploits online, it’s rare to hear one articulate why he chose to hack for nationalist reasons. The story of Wan Tao, now 41, and his China Eagle Union—which at its height boasted hundreds of members who attacked foreign computer systems with the government’s tacit approval—gives an inside glimpse into the underground world of Chinese hackers: their motivation, exploitation and, in some cases, redemption. (MORE: Are Chinese Telecoms Firms Really Spying on Americans?) Wan emphasizes that he never hacked officially for the government and didn&#8217;t steal information. He says he began his online forays because he was lured by a kind of independent, rebellious ethos shared by hackers worldwide. But there’s no question China Eagle Union’s hacking, which starting in 2000 infiltrated everything from U.S. government sites to Japanese politicians’ email accounts, fit the Chinese government’s agenda. Wan released a manifesto called “Building Hacker Culture with Chinese Characteristics.” His hacking collective’s theme song only enhanced his rock-star status among a growing corps<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=70222&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<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/rtr3dz7q2.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Unit 61398</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Burma&#8217;s Kachin War: Renewed Ethnic Strife Threatens Regional Stability</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/28/burmas-kachin-war-renewed-ethnic-strife-threatens-regional-stability/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/28/burmas-kachin-war-renewed-ethnic-strife-threatens-regional-stability/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 01:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Burma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aung San Suu Kyi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China foreign policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china-burma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china-myanmar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kachin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kachin Independence Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[KIA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[laiza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myanmar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rohingya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thein Sein]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=66059</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s a curious cease-fire that has supposedly settled over the Himalayan foothills of northern Burma. Since June 2011, when a 17-year truce dissolved, ethnic Kachin rebels have been locked in battle with the Burmese army, a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives and displaced some 100,000 Kachin. On Jan. 19, the office of Burma’s President Thein Sein announced a unilateral cessation of violence in Kachin areas of the country. Yet the peace pledge has gone unheeded. Gunfire still crackles in this borderland with China, where the hills boast jade, timber and hydropower. In fact, over the past few days, the Burmese army has inched steadily toward Laiza, the rebel headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Only a few kilometers now separate the Burmese army from this last KIA stronghold. This may seem like a distant war in a remote corner of a remote country. But Kachin is a resource-rich region located at a strategic crossroad between Burma and China. “Because it borders China and because of what’s underground, Kachin is very important geopolitically,” says Matthew Smith, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. “That does not, however, totally explain the way the Burmese army conducts war there. That is related to the complex history of ethnic relations in Burma, and the plight of the Kachin is, ultimately, an ethnic war.” The international community is becoming increasingly vocal about the conflict’s escalation. “Despite the Burmese government’s announcement [of] a ceasefire &#8230; media and NGO reports indicate that the Burmese Army continues a military offensive,” said a statement by the U.S. embassy in Burma on Jan. 24. “The United States strongly opposes the ongoing fighting, which has resulted in civilian casualties and undermined the efforts to advance national reconciliation.” (PHOTOS: On the Front Lines with the Kachin Independence Army) The Burmese military claims it has only engaged in defensive combat with the KIA, accusing the Kachin of attacking Burmese supply convoys. But how is it that after a week of supposed cease-fire and defensive movements, the Burmese army has edged ever<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=66059&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Burma</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/burma/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int_burmakachin_0128.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">BURMA-UNREST-MINORITIES</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/477941b4e5794adb5766435cbf07f8b6?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>As Chinese Debate the Need for Political Reform, an Outspoken Blogger Is Attacked</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/16/as-chinese-debate-the-need-for-political-reform-an-outspoken-blogger-is-attacked/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/16/as-chinese-debate-the-need-for-political-reform-an-outspoken-blogger-is-attacked/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:59:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chengdu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China Censorship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china political reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Li Chengpeng]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Southern Weekend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weibo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xi Jinping]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64001</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[China is suffering its coldest winter in decades. But the chill didn’t stop some 10,000 fans from lining up in three cities to get a signed copy of Li Chengpeng’s latest book, Everybody in the World Knows. With 6.6 million followers on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, the former investigative journalist is one of China’s most trenchant social critics — even if his latest book had thousands of words excised by censors. Yet on his book tour this month, Li was silenced by authorities who told him that he could take “no questions from readers, no talking at all — not even ‘happy new year’ or ‘thank you.’” At a book signing in Chengdu, the southwestern Chinese city that is his hometown, Li responded to the gag order with sartorial subversion, wearing a black face mask. Li may have been momentarily hushed, but that didn’t stop his enemies from acting out. At an event in Beijing on Sunday, a man who identified himself as a Maoist tossed a wrapped kitchen knife at Li. (The weapon missed its target.) Li was also punched by another man who reportedly considered his book an attack on China itself. Soon after, a shaken Li contacted my colleague and me, wanting to talk that night in Beijing. (I have interviewed him before.) But just before we set off to see him, Li sent an apologetic text: “The police are taking me away to talk. Can’t meet you anymore.” (MORE: No Laughing Matter: Parody Tweet Leads to a Detention in China) On Jan. 15, when Li had moved on to Shenzhen — the boomtown where Deng Xiaoping unleashed his famous economic reforms — he was finally able to talk by phone. More than 3,000 people had shown up that day at his book signing, the kind of adulation an author craves. But Li was dejected. Mysterious men snapped his photo, while others yelled, “Down with traitor Li Chengpeng.” His luggage, full of important documents, had gone missing. The knife-wielding man in Beijing has been released. “The<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64001&#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-blogger-0116.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Li Chengpeng in Beijing, China, Jan. 12, 2010.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Beijing Chokes on Record Pollution, and Even the Government Admits There&#8217;s a Problem</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/14/beijing-chokes-on-record-pollution-and-even-the-government-admits-theres-a-problem/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/14/beijing-chokes-on-record-pollution-and-even-the-government-admits-theres-a-problem/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:15:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Air Quality Index]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China Pollution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Embassy in Beijing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=63641</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This weekend, my family barricaded itself behind closed doors, with only the briefest of toilet breaks for our dog. As the air pollution in Beijing reached record highs, the view from our 16th-floor downtown apartment dwindled to something more akin to a sandstorm in Afghanistan. Air purifiers that cost upwards of $1,000 ran at full throttle. Still, the haze permeated our living room, with pollution levels some 40 times what the World Health Organization (WHO) considers safe. Our kids climbed on the sofa and played make-believe, pretending they were on a slow boat from China to Thailand, where they were born. (MORE: Airing Out Beijing: Inner Workings of the World&#8217;s Megacities) On Jan. 14, Beijing authorities held a press conference to address what English-speaking residents have dubbed the Airpocalypse. Zhang Dawei of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau blamed the dirty-dishwater-hued haze on a toxic combination of coal-fired power plants, heavy industry, vehicle emissions and a lack of wind to clear the air. To tackle the smog, the local government has ordered some factories and construction sites to idle, while certain government vehicles have been banned from the roads. At the press conference, Zhang added that the situation was even worse in some of Beijing’s suburbs. We already know that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China, according to the World Bank. Figuring that more than 100 million people in China (including 20 million or so in Beijing) breathed unsafe air last weekend didn’t make me feel any better. Previously, the official reaction to bad-air days has tended toward denial or wounded aggression. We have been told by official Chinese media that Beijing air has gotten better over the past 14 consecutive years — a statement that strains credulity. Chinese officials have also grumbled about foreign meddling due to the U.S. embassy in Beijing’s pesky habit of doing its own monitoring of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, rather than the larger PM 10 measurement that the Chinese government had until recently<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=63641&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<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/2013/01/int-beijing-pollution0114.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: A woman wears a mask while walking in a park near the China Central Television Tower, background, on a hazy day in Beijing, Jan. 14, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>Crusading Chinese Journalists End Their Strike, but Don&#8217;t Expect Media Freedoms to Follow</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/crusading-chinese-journalists-end-their-strike-but-dont-expect-media-freedoms-to-follow/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/crusading-chinese-journalists-end-their-strike-but-dont-expect-media-freedoms-to-follow/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:41:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beijing News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[china media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China press freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nanfang Zhoumou]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Southern Media Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Southern Weekend]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Southern Weekly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xi Jinping]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=63071</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Did they or didn’t they? A week ago, Chinese journalists at the intrepid Southern Weekend went on strike after they said their paper’s editorial praising constitutional governance was rewritten by provincial propagandists to instead glorify the Chinese Communist Party. On Jan. 9, speculation mounted that a settlement had been reached to allow the paper to be published the following day. Indeed, Southern Weekend, which is based in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou and is also known as Southern Weekly, arrived on newsstands on Thursday, although later than normal in its hometown. An account of the agreement that made its way through Chinese social media maintained that striking reporters would not be punished for their actions and that the paper&#8217;s censorship, which had gotten more heavy-handed in recent months, might be toned down. But soon an alternate version of events trickled out that wasn’t quite so positive. This narrative was hard to confirm, given the gag orders imposed on Southern Weekend journalists, especially when it came to talking with media of the foreign variety. But one person close to an editor at Southern Weekend says the newsroom is running scared, with some journalists convinced that punishments will soon be meted out for those who dared to join the protest and whisper support for such radical notions as press freedom. Up north in Beijing, a different journalistic imbroglio bubbled: on Tuesday night, staffers at the Beijing News — another enterprising publication that was jointly founded by the Southern Media Group, which owns Southern Weekend — complained they were being forced to run a strident outside editorial from a communist-linked publication that condemned the Southern Weekend strike and blamed “external activists” for fomenting the unrest. Sure enough, on Jan. 9, Beijing News published a shortened version of the forceful editorial from the Global Times, albeit buried on page 20. (Other Beijing newspapers had run the editorial the day before.) The decision led some Beijing News journalists to break down in tears, according to accounts on Twitter, which is banned in China but accessible by<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=63071&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<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/2013/01/i-int-china-newspaper-0110.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/i-int-china-newspaper-0110.jpg?w=240" />
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			<media:title type="html">China Newspaper Strike End</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>The Regime&#8217;s Inner Reformist: Can Thein Sein Change Burma?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/the-regimes-inner-reformist-can-thein-sein-change-burma/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/the-regimes-inner-reformist-can-thein-sein-change-burma/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:28:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Burma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thein Sein]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=62954</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Now that international sanctions have been lifted on Burma, Western businessmen are flocking to the world’s newest economic frontier. The dramatic political climate change is due to reforms that emanated from within the military regime that once ruled the country; and chief among the reformers is President Thein Sein, Burma’s own Gorbachev, down to his gray pallor and balding pate — who&#8217;s the subject of a TIME profile this week, available to subscribers here. While Russia has faltered on its path toward democracy, Burma, which is officially known as Myanmar, has a chance to forge a different route. He has been startlingly conciliatory to the opposition once hounded mercilessly by the military regime — including the charismatic Aung San Suu Kyi. In a September speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York City, Thein Sein acknowledged the “authoritarian” nature of the junta he once belonged to and congratulated Suu Kyi “for the honors she has received in this country in recognition of her efforts for democracy.” There’s a tantalizing hint of his principles from the President’s days as a major. In the weeks after the generals crushed the 1988 pro-democracy movement — in which Suu Kyi gained fame — by killing hundreds of protesters, students and monks tried to flee to neighboring countries. While other commanders imprisoned the activists they caught, Thein Sein quietly released some of them. “Thein Sein is a simple man, but he is a good man,” says Soe Thane, the former head of the Burmese navy and now a reformist minister in the President’s Office. “He is a statesman, not a politician.” (MORE: Aung San Suu Kyi’s World: Portraits of Burmese Dissidents and Activists) The once formidable regime began to transform after a cataclysmic cyclone in 2008 pummeled the country. Burmese who criticized the government’s response were handed lengthy jail terms. A further man-made crisis was averted when aid, both domestic and foreign, began reaching far-flung villages. But, in the generals’ lair, Naypyidaw — a multibillion-dollar fortress against regime change — even Burma’s rulers felt<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=62954&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Burma</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/burma/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wburma_vert_0121.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Thein Sein</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>China&#8217;s Anti-Corruption Toolkit: No Flowers, Expensive Booze or &#8216;Empty Talk&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/26/chinas-anti-corruption-toolkit-no-flowers-expensive-booze-or-empty-talk/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/26/chinas-anti-corruption-toolkit-no-flowers-expensive-booze-or-empty-talk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Dec 2012 16:03:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Central Military Commission]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chinese communist party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corruption in China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Xi Jinping]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=61178</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Woe to premium rice-wine distillers, potted-plant purveyors and weavers of red carpets. A slew of new regulations issued in recent days to curb corruption and limit showy displays by Chinese officialdom have claimed some unusual victims. “We’ve received no orders from the government at all,” laments an employee surnamed Ye of the Laitai Flower Market in Beijing. “Usually at times like this, we would always have government orders.” The weeks before Chinese New Year (also known as Spring Festival) are normally peak season for selling flowers because of a glut of official meetings that are decorated with extravagant floral arrangements. China’s new leadership, which was introduced to the world in mid-November and is helmed by Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, has made combating the country’s endemic corruption one of its publicly stated missions. In late December, Xinhua, China’s state news agency enumerated a list of eight don’ts to fit these more austere times. Floral displays and welcome mats for official delegations are now prohibited, according to regulations from the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. So are clusters of waving schoolchildren dispatched to greet visiting dignitaries. State employees traveling overseas should keep an eye on the size of their entourages. Closing roads or otherwise disrupting traffic to smooth a government official’s journey will no longer be tolerated. The iconic red banners that hang during Chinese government functions — which “warmly welcome” visitors or point out the glories of Chinese socialism — have also been banned by China’s communist czars. (MORE: Meet the Men Who Will Rule China) One of the more unusual prohibitions: officials are not allowed to ink public calligraphy (called tizi or 题字) without prior approval. Although these inscriptions might seem like innocuous displays of an ancient art, a local cadre can wield power through possessing a high-level official’s tizi, much like a restaurant might profit from displaying a photo of a celebrity enjoying a meal. Not to be outdone by the Communist Party, the Central Military Commission, which supervises the People’s Liberation Army, issued<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=61178&#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/2012/12/1500_155928820.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">CHINA-POLITICS-CONGRESS</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>A Familiar Party Returns to Rule Japan, Promising a Fresh Start. Don&#8217;t Hold Your Breath</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/17/a-familiar-party-returns-to-rule-japan-promising-a-fresh-start-dont-hold-your-breath/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/17/a-familiar-party-returns-to-rule-japan-promising-a-fresh-start-dont-hold-your-breath/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Dec 2012 05:22:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China-Japan Relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DPJ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan Elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan tsunami]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LDP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Liberal Democratic Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shintaro Ishihara]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shinzo abe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toru Hashimoto]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=59911</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[They’re back. For nearly the entire post–World War II era, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan, its blend of export-led economics and lavish public-works spending spawning both the nation’s economic boom and then protracted financial contraction. Now, after a three-year interlude in which the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) betrayed its mandate to breathe fresh air into the country’s stale politics, the conservative LDP has returned to power, with a decisive win in the Dec. 16 general elections. The LDP captured 294 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, with its minority partner, the Buddhist-influenced New Komeito Party, picking up another 31 seats. (Prior to the election, the LDP held only 118 seats.) The LDP’s hawkish party leader Shinzo Abe, who served for one year as Prime Minister before resigning because of gastrointestinal troubles in 2007, will almost assuredly return to the same post. He will be Japan’s seventh Prime Minister in less than seven years. (MORE: Japan&#8217;s Wave of Patriotism) Sunday’s election was the first since the devastating March 11, 2011, tsunami, earthquake and ensuing nuclear crisis. In the weeks and months after the triple disaster, some Japanese predicted that 3/11 would spur the DPJ to battle the vested interests and bureaucratic gridlock that have paralyzed the Japanese political and economic systems. But such hopes soon fizzled. Japan’s voters duly punished the ruling party, which suffered its worst showing since its founding in 1998. The DPJ’s lower-house representation dropped from 230 seats to just 57. Even Abe conceded on Sunday that the LDP’s landslide was due less to an affection for his party and more to a protest vote against the DPJ. Less than 60% of Japanese voters bothered to cast ballots, a further sign of their political disenchantment. Earlier this month, Japan entered its fourth recession since 2000, and it was clear that economic considerations motivated those Japanese who voted to abandon the DPJ. But it is the LDP’s foreign policy platform that may have the biggest global impact. The grandson of a politician once accused of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=59911&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2012/12/17/a-familiar-party-returns-to-rule-japan-promising-a-fresh-start-dont-hold-your-breath/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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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/2012/12/1500_world_noda_1217.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Japan&#039;s Elections</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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		<title>A Nervous Japan Swings Right Ahead of Dec. 16 Polls. But Don&#8217;t Expect Real Change</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/14/a-nervous-japan-swings-right-ahead-of-dec-16-polls-but-dont-expect-real-change/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/14/a-nervous-japan-swings-right-ahead-of-dec-16-polls-but-dont-expect-real-change/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Dec 2012 19:47:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Hannah Beech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DPJ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Japan Restoration Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LDP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shintaro Ishihara]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shinzo abe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toru Hashimoto]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=59770</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[First came the news earlier this month that Japan had slipped back into recession for the fourth time in 12 years. Then on Dec. 12, North Korea defiantly fired a missile that flew over Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Okinawa. Finally, a day later, the deepening dispute with China over a handful of uninhabited isles in the East China Sea hotted up with Tokyo accusing Beijing of violating its airspace for the first time ever by sending a surveillance plane into Japanese-controlled skies. (Until recently, the territorial spat had been merely maritime.) Suffice it to say that Japan has been feeling a little edgy these days—and that unease will likely manifest itself in the Dec. 16 general elections through a victory by tough-talking nationalists. The latest polls indicate that Shinzo Abe, the leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), will soon become Prime Minister. The LDP and its minority partner, the New Komeito Party, may well win an outright majority (or even a two-third mandate) in the lower house of parliament. For nearly the entire postwar era, the LDP controlled the reins in Japan. The DPJ, now helmed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, came to power three years ago promising to offer a new way of doing things in a nation concerned that it was sliding into a slow decline. But ineffectual leadership and Japan’s infamous technocratic gridlock chipped away at the DPJ’s image as a fresh alternative to the LDP, which has now tried to remake itself as the face of change in Japan. (MORE: Election Set to Boost Japan’s Military — Honestly) Also tapping the populist, nationalist vein is the Japan Restoration Party (JRP), a new political bloc that is running as a third-force alternative to the LDP and the current governing Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The JRP’s barnstorming rhetoric comes courtesy of young rebel Osaka governor Toru Hashimoto and elderly ultranationalist ex-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara. However, the most recent polls show that its support has slipped since a month ago when its novelty intrigued Japanese voters. Japan’s<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=59770&#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/2012/12/515503346.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Shinzo Abe, president of Japan&#039;s main op</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">hannahbeech</media:title>
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