“A Beijing court decided there was insufficient evidence to convict Zhao Yan of illegally providing foreigners with state information… No details have been given of his alleged crime, but Mr Zhao is thought to have been detained in connection with a New York Times report about plans by ex-President Jiang Zemin to retire from his top military post.” (article)
The man’s crime was to leak a story about a person leaving a gov. position. So he gets 5 years in jail. What an f-n shame.
Moments like these are what people must focus on to appreciate the differences and benefits a free society. Stories like this one are what make me worry about China, not so much as a threat to the USA, but to the global economy as a whole.
This tells me the Chinese gov. does not have its priorities in check. The lack of focus can make them do stupid things w/their economy, which in turn can cause a nice big hick up in the work economy. (ie… part two of the Asian Economic Crisis)
What I want to pay attention to is if instances like these are being reduced, or if they are increasing. (I only know that free speech in China still has a long way to go seeing how Yahoo bloggers were but in Jail over the past 12 months… but how many of these events we do not know about?)
Things like this chip away at the spirit of a country, and a demoralized country does not maximize it economic potential, imo. (this would be an interesting study to conduct… how the mode of a nation effects its economy… i’m betting there is a corrilation.)
