Tuesday, April 8

A couple of things from The Peking Duck: China's state-controlled media for expats unquestioningly recycles Iraqi propaganda (link via Gweilo Diaries). The news for the Chinese market is probably even more anti-American.

The Duck also links to More Afraid of Ideas Than of Capitalism by Ross Terrill. He writes how in addition to punishing dissidents, the government also criticizes Chinese-born writers who've met with wider success in the West, like Ha Jin (Waiting), which won the National Book Award, or Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian. Neither one is particularly political, and apparently that's the problem for the Chinese authorities: they refuse to serve as shills for the regime.

Also via the Duck: William Pesek Jr. says that China's handling of disease is a warning for investors
Officials in Beijing consider themselves high-minded realists, and dismiss doubters as paranoid fools. They silence critics questioning their honesty. They exude extreme confidence - and yet closer scrutiny suggests the skeptics have a point.
He goes on to draw parallels with how China stifles criticism of its banking system.

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