Asia-Pacific Features
China to clear out students, refugees before Olympics
Apr 17, 2008, 10:48 GMT
Chinese paramilitary policemen take part in a counter-terrorism drill in Qingdao, Shandong province, eastern China on 17 April 2008. EPA/WU HONG
Beijing - China plans to order all foreign students to leave the country before the Olympic Games in August, strictly regulate the issuing of business and tourist visas, and deport refugees, sources said on Thursday.
'Even if you have to continue your studies in September, you need to leave Beijing in July and August,' a spokeswoman for Beijing University told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The university is one of China's most prestigious colleges and enrolls hundreds of foreign students annually on Chinese-language and other courses.
The spokeswoman said the two-month gap applies to all universities in Beijing and was ordered by 'higher authorities' because of the Olympics.
One Western education official estimated that at least 10,000 students would be affected by the order.
The official China Daily said about 190,000 foreign students from 188 nations attended courses in China last year.
The Beijing University spokeswoman said all short-term summer courses for foreigners had been cancelled this year.
China has already severely restricted the issuing of short-term and multi-entry business visas, prompting complaints from business groups and diplomats.
Some Beijing-based businesses said they may be unable to fill vacancies until after the Olympics because of the new restrictions.
'You can be sure that all countries affected will raise the issue with the Chinese side very intensively,' one informed source said of the restrictions on business visas.
'It clearly has to do with the Olympics,' the source said.
China appears to have acted partly in response to recent reports that police uncovered at least two terrorist plots targeting the Olympics, the source said, adding that other nations had taken similar security measures in the past.
China's foreign ministry on Thursday defended the restrictions and said visas were issued 'according to law.'
'I believe it will have no influence on normal business activities in China,' ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said of the change in visa policy.
'Compared with the visa practice in other countries, in China it is relatively convenient,' Jiang said.
Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, on Thursday criticized China for limiting business visas issued to foreigners in Hong Kong, saying the new rules were severely affecting business people.
Wuttke called the restrictions 'truly annoying' and charged that the new visa rules were unclear and have never been published.
The new measures, which an informed source quoted foreign ministry officials as saying were temporary, require non-permanent Hong Kong residents to apply for visas in their home countries.
'If you don't reside or work in Hong Kong permanently, you are required to apply for a Chinese visa from the embassy ... in your resident country,' said a copy of the new visa regulation posted on a government website.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it was concerned about the deportation of vulnerable refugees from China before the Olympics.
In a statement posted on its website, UNHCR highlighted the case of a 17-year-old unaccompanied refugee who was returned to his country of origin after being taken from his home in Beijing on April 3.
'The news of this and other deportations has created considerable anxiety among the refugees in Beijing, who have told us they are feeling very intimidated by these activities,' UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said in the statement.
'From a security perspective UNHCR appreciates that particular vigilance is needed during this period of preparation for the 2008 Olympics,' Pagonis said.
'We are ready to discuss acceptable arrangements which are sensitive to these concerns but which preserve necessary conditions of protection for persons in need,' she said.
She said some of the deportations among the 180 refugees recorded by UNHCR in China 'may well constitute a violation' of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
what kind of refugees? well, for CCP, those not HAN-CHINESE is refugees.
i am currently an american student studying at a chinese university in beijing and i just talked to my adviser about this matter...she said that it is completely false and that summer courses are still proceeding as scheduled. of course, this being the massive lumbering bureaucracy known as china, you never know, but i don't know how this article came to light when it seems to be contradicted by the very people who should have a handle on this information. just want to let people know
Hi!
I think this text is interesting for 'all sides':
Headline: 'Anti-CNN says: We Just Want the Truth!'
Link: i.love.china.homepage.googlepages.com/index.html
Please, take time to read it and don't look to the pictures only! ;-)
Aren't they going to house a lot of the Olympics athletes and others in the universities? Of course, the guesthouses for foreign students are the best accomodations. I remember reading an article about the U.S. chefs scouting out the kitchen facilities at beijing normal university.
They probably want to get rid of the students because they're the ones most likely to take a stand and protest the government's treatment of Tibet.
Yet another false report from the Western media about China. Xinhua says these 'news' from Deutsche-Presse-Agentur is a complete invention. This is getting out of hand. How can we keep criticizing Chinese rhetoric if our own media is so ridiculously biased as to fabricate negative and irresponsible news. Apparently, there are some important Western powers trying to provoke the Chinese. Pretty ill-advised.
Another faked news! Nothing more should be talked about it here.
This kind of fake news make all the German media lose their credit. I won't trust news reports of German media any more.
Again another LIE by the white christian devils!
that's definitely false
This article may not entirely be true. For one thing, not all summer programs at 'Beijing University' have been canceled. This is a false statement. Two, whoever wrote this article did not do their research and did not properly address the university as Peking University, leading to the assumption that this article may be fabricated or just poorly reported. We are not saying that the Chinese Government has not become stricter in terms of issuing visas for the upcoming Olympic games. Yes, some applicants will be denied visas or issued limited length of stays but we would like to confirm that this article contains errors. If readers doubt my defense, I actually know a colleague who works with the International Studies Office of Peking University who handles study abroad and they are unaware about such policy of 'kicking' out students.
Olympics was, is, will always be part of China!
lan liu jinApr 22nd, 2008 - 11:48:33
Olympics is was, and will always be part CCP OPPRESSION RIGIME´s China.
I think many people don't understand the fundamentally different nature of journalism in western democracies and in China. Newspapers and news agencies in democratic countries are independant (and usually private) institutions, while the news business in China is organized in a hierarchical way (with the Communication minister at the top). While news in China are more or less the official voice of the country, news originating from democratic countries are reflecting the independent opinions of each particular newspaper/TV/news agency. So, threatening to boycott France or Germany as a whole as a total misunderstanding of the way things work in democracies.
Piglet's comments are off-the-topic. Moreover he/she does not understand the matter underlying the boycott or not, so please stop condescending.
It is hard to believe they are not creating news to let the Chinese government to look stupid. Even Chinese government is doing so, it is their power to do so. Image how your Germany treat Chinese students on the visa.
Lying is now a part of philosophy of German media.
China and its inconsiderable laws has created problems to those foreigners who have been staying in China and working for years, to those students who have been studying Chinese languages, but not from the developed country but from those countries where China can put pressure. I wonder why people and Chinese think Western are doing propaganda...come and live in China more than 12 years then you will know China and Chinese people. They are simple, helpful, and warm and welcoming till everything is good, once some problem arose with you then every one will turn against you.
If China is taking precaution for Olympic why they just publish publically rather than destroying some other innocent lives and whole business where they don’t have even nothing to do with Olympic. They give ultimatum and deport person back what cause bad impact in some ones life and carrier. They keep record according to their passport what crime did those foreigners have done in China? Taught English to Chinese, paid to the Chinese university to study Chinese language or worked in Chinese companies to enhance the company, universities and Chinese culture and economy?
If China doesn’t welcome foreigners and as they have been saying foreigners that Chinese law has said so then where are those rules printed? Is Chinese government can fool foreigner and outer world just like their own citizens? Chinese government has been doing because Chinese citizens don’t have any their own idea they follow their leaders as if they are herd of cattle...
In fact Chinese are the most chicken heart people with stupid thought, China is so scared about terrorism that they even don’t allow taking lighter in the luggage while flying domestically. Well what to say more…
By the way are all Middle East, Africans, Asians are terrorists? May be a Chinese itself a terrorist or even a white skinned who is born at developed western country with a high education background can be the one. Deporting Middle East, Asians and Africans is only provoking to consider China as their enemy.
To home may concern:
We are the must poor refugees, we was living in Beijing and then we forced to leave our home what the UNHCR offer to us in Beijing, so now we are living 120km out of Beijing and near the town called Miyun the place they told us its Hotel on the mountain and so beautiful we can enjoy our life so well, but unfortunately its detention place they closed the doors and then they say please understand the situation we have Olympics you are staying here for 2 months not allow to go any where and no visitors and you have three mails we offer you every day Chinese food, we are 10 refugees including 4 kids they take away our freedoms we became the victim of this Olympics. We are asking all the world who have mercy in his heart to reach our tragedy we are asking you by the name of humanity to help us please.
Iraqi and Pakistani and Eritrean Refugees in Beijing.
To home may concern:
We are the must poor refugees, we was living in Beijing and then we forced to leave our home what the UNHCR offer to us in Beijing, so now we are living 120km out of Beijing and near the town called Miyun the place they told us its Hotel on the mountain and so beautiful we can enjoy our life so well, but unfortunately its detention place they closed the doors and then they say please understand the situation we have Olympics you are staying here for 2 months not allow to go any where and no visitors and you have three mails we offer you every day Chinese food, we are 10 refugees including 4 kids they take away our freedoms we became the victim of this Olympics. We are asking all the world who have mercy in his heart to reach our tragedy we are asking you by the name of humanity to help us please.
Iraqi and Pakistani and Eritrean Refugees in Beijing.
To home may concern:
We are the must poor refugees, we was living in Beijing and then we forced to leave our home what the UNHCR offer to us in Beijing, so now we are living 120km out of Beijing and near the town called Miyun the place they told us its Hotel on the mountain and so beautiful we can enjoy our life so well, but unfortunately its detention place they closed the doors and then they say please understand the situation we have Olympics you are staying here for 2 months not allow to go any where and no visitors and you have three mails we offer you every day Chinese food, we are 10 refugees including 4 kids they take away our freedoms we became the victim of this Olympics. We are asking all the world who have mercy in his heart to reach our tragedy we are asking you by the name of humanity to help us please. our email: johnlincoln75@yahoo.com
Iraqi and Pakistani and Eritrean Refugees in Beijing.
page: 1
Interesting, what kind of refugees?Apr 17th, 2008 - 18:08:49
Really, i have no idea that there are refugees in China. Are they north koreans or iraqis (actually quite a lot these days in Wenzhou and yixin) or other groups? There is iraqis in Beijing?
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