37 Swedish dailies urge China to free detained publisher

Dozens of Swedish newspapers called Tuesday on China to release publisher Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swede who vanished into Chinese custody in January in murky circumstances for the second time.

Gui, one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers known for publishing gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders, was arrested on a train to Beijing in January while travelling with two Swedish diplomats.

He was reportedly en route to see a Swedish specialist over fears he had the neurological disease ALS.

"The Chinese authorities' actions against Gui Minhai violate basic legal principles and constitute a serious violation of human rights," said an article published by 37 dailies, including the two national broadsheets Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter.

It was signed by prominent Swedish academics, editors, journalists, politicians and actors.

"Ahead of Sweden's national holiday tomorrow, we now urge the Chinese authorities to immediately release Gui Minhai."

"China is a superpower that has vast economic, political and cultural influence on the world. Its leaders in Beijing have made it clear they are ready to play a leading and responsible role in the world," the article said.

"They often refer to their proud cultural history as an asset for China and the rest of the world. Their actions against Gui Minhai are in sharp contrast to the leaders' proud declarations."

Gui first disappeared in 2015 and resurfaced in mainland China.

He was on holiday in Thailand at the time of his first arrest and eventually surfaced at an undisclosed location in China, confessing to involvement in a fatal traffic accident and smuggling illegal books into the mainland.

Chinese authorities declared they had released him in October 2017 but his daughter Angela Gui, 23, told AFP at the time that he was under "loose house arrest" in Ningbo.

After his second disappearance into police custody, Gui appeared in a video interview in February confessing to wrongdoing and accusing his adopted country Sweden of manipulating him like a "chess piece".

It was unclear whether the Chinese-born Gui's statement was made under duress, but video of his confession showed him flanked by two police officers. A close friend said the remarks were "not to be believed."

The Chinese embassy in Sweden said in February that Gui was being held in a detention centre in the city.

Hong Kong 'celebrity tutor' charged with exam paper leaks
Hong Kong (AFP) June 5, 2018 - One of Hong Kong's top "celebrity tutors", who rose to prominence by promising exam success to under-pressure students, has been charged by the city's anti-corruption bureau for leaking questions from public university entrance papers.

Cut-throat competition in Hong Kong's education system has spawned famous and sought-after tutors who claim to transform students into A-grade pupils by providing exam skills training, tips-sharing and even predictions of test questions.

Siao Chi-yung, also known as Siu Yuen professionally, carved out a lucrative career based on his apparent knack for forecasting test questions correctly in public exams.

Local media has reported that Siao raked in an annual salary of HK$16 million ($2 million) as a teacher of Chinese language, which is a core subject of the Hong Kong school curriculum.

But Siao, 42, is now facing charges related to illegally obtaining confidential exam material.

Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption alleged that a probe had revealed that a former examiner and Siao's wife had used their smartphones to send him confidential questions from Chinese language tests for university entrance exams.

Siao faces two joint charges of conspiracy to obtain access to a computer with dishonest intent, along with two former Chinese examiners.

He faces a third joint charge with his wife, Tsai Ying-ying, of accessing a computer with dishonest intent.

Tsai is also a Chinese language tutor at the same tutorial school, Modern Education.

The school was not immediately reachable for comment.

Schools build up the profile of their impeccably-styled tutors by having them dress in suits and party dresses for marketing campaigns which resemble ads for TV shows or music stars.

Hong Kong parents, often desperate to help their children succeed in the city's intense public-exam system, are more than willing to shell out large sums for extra-curricular help.

University places are particularly highly prized -- only 40 percent of students who took the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Exam qualified with their scores last year.

Competition between rival tutorial schools is also intense.

Hong Kong's best-known celebrity tutor Lam Yat-yan rejected an annual pay offer of HK$85 million in 2015, put forward by Modern Education in a newspaper advert as an attempt to poach him away from his employer.

Lam remained at rival tutorial school Beacon, where he was reportedly earning at least HK$42.5 million per year.

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Costly date: 64.89 yuan forbidden on Tiananmen June 4 anniversary
Beijing (AFP) June 4, 2018
China's information blackout about the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen protests took a new turn on Monday: users of a popular social media app could not send each other money transfers alluding to the anniversary date. Open discussion of the brutal crackdown is forbidden in China, where hundreds - by some estimates more than a thousand - died when the Communist Party sent tanks on June 4, 1989 to crush a student-led demonstration calling for democratic reforms. The United States called on Chin ... read more