Unlike in a democracy, or a union, one can lose ones life in China, if one is perceived corrupt (read: in breach of party concensus).

Just like this bloke:-
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21813423-5005961,00.html

Gadget - just like in democratic America, Zeng Xiaoyu received the death penalty for murder. Though he only went to trial on the 10 cases which were the subject of the trial his culpability in the deaths of many more persons is beyond doubt. The sentence is also subject to appeal - just like in democratic America.

Forsooth Banana

I'm talking about the the verifiable NOW.

Carray may typify many things you love. He is a big strong ex US(S) Navy man with a hunter killer nuclear submarine background and more quietly Taiwan.

But that is of tiny little consequence in the great scheme of Republican window dressing.

Good luck in your pre 1990 views of China.

Way behind the times Plantagenet,

You have just made my point all the more true by your lack of information about what is really going on in China today. And I cannot blame you for that as I said the media have all been co opted in one form or another. Look at Murdoch for one horrendous example and see how much he owns and who he does the most business with and how so many journalist are complaining that press freedom has been eroded and is suppressed.

Below is link to a Chinese security document that Clearwisdom has translated from Chinese into English a report directing and coordinating the explicit espionage campaign to screen out all those the communist regime deem not to be suitable to attend or participate in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Ministry of Public Security's Olympics Investigative Notice Reveals CCP's Desperation, Violation of Human Rights, and Opposition to the Olympic Spirit

"Since early-April, the Chinese police have been secretly issuing "Notification on Strictly Carrying Out Background Investigations on Candidates for the Olympics and Performing a Pre-Selection Test" to each province, autonomous region, police stations and bureaus in municipalities directly under the Central Government.The notification, reveals the evil Party's weakness, and clearly shows that it is against the Olympic spirit and violates human rights.Inside China and outside of China."

"No reason will be given to the public why anyone may not be allowed to be present at the event. Everything has to be kept confidential."

Read the rest of the document and one begins to wonder who exactly will be going to games....

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/5/25/86066.html
This is scary stuff and an example of what the communist regime still does today

JB, since the arrest of Zeng Xiaoyu in 2005 the Chinese have naturally been skittish about drugs. The memoranda you refer to are, as you specified each time you posted the same information, internal memos. Of course they want screening to take place. Naturally they don't want to turn up with egg on their faces if one of their athletes/trainers etc turns up with drugs in his system. Especially as they are now pioneering new drug testing technology they have come up with and that, yes, the whole of the rest of the world knows about and is watching with interest.

I'm a writer currently living and working in China. The scariest thing I have to contend with is the enthusiasm and dedication with which the whole population took to capitalism.

Before I came here I lived in a place where many people were afraid to go outdoors at night. A country where I and my children frequently went hungry. I could get fined for crossing a road, listening to music, making up my own mind about my own safety, or sitting on my local beach toasting the sunset. People abused and fought each other in public, road rage happened, young girls were not safe either in or out of the house and the elderly were either ignored and maltreated in nursing homes or were looked upon as targets. Drugs proliferated and even if I chose not to indulge I could (and did) find them turning up in my drink. THAT was scary.

Phone taps - though illegal - happened, detention without trial was allowed, police could enter my house without my permission.

So, as regards where you live and I currently live: - spot the difference?

I am not advancing any form of government over another nor any society over another. On the contrary, I am merely repeating at length what I said before: people in glass houses...etc. etc. Especially if the stones you are lobbing are at a house and its occupants you have never even met.

JB

Thanks for the link. However its content is fairly predictable. Undeniably China is a one Party state with stronger pressures for conformity than the West.

You have your interests in the Beijing Olympics - I have an interest in the US causing the destruction of Middle Eastern countries by its dominant military means to support its oil needs. Tens of thousands of Iraqis would be alive today if the US didn't drag the sectarian genie out of the bottle. The US thought Iraq's liberation would be an easy Shiite/Chalibi led walkover - but is still there.

The violent pan Islamic reaction to US troops toting guns in Baghdad merely provides the US with a perpetual justification to stay there as a a policemen clearly uninterested in Iraq's sea of oil...

Returning to China do you think China's Olympic security regime is in proportion to the horror of Iraq? After 9/11 China like all major countries increased its security measures against terrorism, particularly for major events.

Anyone involved in an Olympics these days, be it in Beijing, Birmingham or New York (sometime) will undergo police/security service checking. Checks would cover criminality and political extremism.

The Chinese are not unusual.