Taiwan's legislature may open to Chinese tourists (AP)

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan's parliamentary speaker has said he will consider opening the legislative floor to Chinese tourists so they can learn from the island's freewheeling democracy.

Lawmaker Wu Yu-sheng of the ruling Nationalist Party proposed late Friday that the legislature open its floor to the visiting Chinese because "out of all places in Taiwan, the legislature is where democracy is most thoroughly implemented."

Speaker Wang Jin-pyng agreed to study the proposal to help spread the island's democracy to authoritarian China, according to television reports.

More than 600,000 Chinese tourists visited Taiwan last year. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949 and China still claims the democratic island a part of its own territory, but ties have improved substantially under Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's three-year efforts to engage China economically.

Taiwanese tour operators say many Chinese tourists — used to the propaganda programs on state TV — have asked to stay in their hotels to watch the freewheeling TV political talk shows on Taiwan.

The United Daily News said a number of Chinese college students had received a "shock education" when interning at Taiwan's legislature.

"They were surprised that our lawmakers could question and even shout at senior government officials," the report said.

Taiwan's senior officials, from the premier to all ministers, regularly deliver reports to the legislature and patiently answer lawmakers' questions in lengthy sessions. Following Taiwan's transformation to democracy in the 1990s, lawmakers frequently ripped off microphones and brawled with their colleagues over differences, but such displays have given way to verbal debates in recent years.

Taiwan's leaders hope the visiting Chinese envy the island's freedoms and human rights and in turn demand that their government relax its strict political controls.

The influx of Chinese tourists has brought a business bonanza to Taiwanese luxury hotels, stores for designer goods as well as souvenir and snack vendors. Chinese tourists have had to travel in supervised group tours, out of fear some of them may stay behind to work illegally, but Taiwan officially allowed them to travel on their own earlier this week. The first independent Chinese tourists are scheduled to arrive Tuesday.

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Colleagues of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei released (AP)

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

BEIJING – Colleagues of Ai Weiwei who were detained along with the outspoken Chinese artist were released around the same time he was, a close friend of Ai's said Saturday.

Ai was released Wednesday after nearly three months in detention. He was one of the most prominent activists detained in China's sweeping crackdown on dissent, which began in February.

Ai's driver Zhang Jinsong, designer Liu Zhenggang and accountant Hu Mingfen were all released this week, Liu Xiaoyuan, a lawyer and a close friend of Ai, said in a phone interview.

Liu said Ai confirmed that the three had been released but did not say exactly when. The 54-year-old Ai has said he is not allowed to discuss his case.

A studio assistant, Wen Tao, also has been released, said Liu Yanping, a volunteer who works with Ai. She said over the phone that Wen's girlfriend told her Saturday that he had been released.

Dozens of rights activists and lawyers have been detained, put under house arrest or disappeared, and several of those who have been released have kept almost totally silent ever since.

Ai was detained on April 3. The authoritarian government said he was released after confessing to tax evasion and pledging to repay the money owed. His family denies the allegations and activists have denounced them as a false premise for detaining an artist critical of the government.

Before his detention, Ai constantly blogged and Twittered on sensitive subjects including the deaths of students in shoddily built schools that collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake; children killed or sickened by tainted infant formula; and a deadly high-rise fire in Shanghai that killed 58 and was blamed on negligent workers and corrupt inspectors.

The Foreign Ministry said the conditions of Ai's parole require him to report to police when asked and bar him from leaving Beijing without permission for one year.

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Released Chinese artist-activist Ai's associates freed (Reuters)

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

BEIJING, Jun (Reuters) – Four associates of Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei detained along with him in a controversial case were freed after Ai's release, friends of the artist said on Saturday.

The four included journalist Wen Tao, detained along with Ai in early April when the two were at Beijing airport heading to Hong Kong, said Liu Yanping, a volunteer worker involved in Ai's campaigning on rights issues.

"All of the people connected to the case have been released," Liu told Reuters by telephone.

"That's a big relief. But I do think the Ai Weiwei studio's work will remain suspended for now," she said, adding that she was referring to Ai's politically-charged activism, not to his artistic work.

The detention of Ai and his associates marked the start of the contentious case which the Chinese government said was about suspected tax evasion, while Ai's family and supporters said it was part of a political drive to silence him and other critics of the ruling Communist Party's censorship and controls.

Ai's accountant Hu Mingfen, a designer in Ai's studio, Liu Zhenggang, and the artist's driver, Zhang Jinsong, who all went missing in April, were also freed on Thursday or Friday, according to Liu, the volunteer, as well as Liu Xiaoyan, a lawyer close to Ai Weiwei.

The 54-year-old artist Ai (whose name is pronounced "Eye Way-way") was freed on bail on Wednesday, a day before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao left for Europe, where he will visit Britain and Germany, two nations that decried Ai's detention.

The release of Ai and other activists has marked a stepdown of sorts by Chinese authorities, who have rarely flinched in prosecuting critics of Party rule.

But the tax charges and release conditions that hover over Ai and his released friends are likely to ensure they stay publicly silent for now.

Other Chinese dissidents and human rights lawyers detained and then released in recent months have also said they must stay quiet in return for their release.

Zhang, the driver, was also released on bail, said Liu Xiaoyan, the lawyer. But he and Liu Yanping, the volunteer, were unsure whether bail terms applied to the other three freed.

"My understanding is that Wen Tao is not allowed to speak out about what happened," said Liu Yanping. "I think the others will be in the same situation."

Officials have told Ai that he cannot speak out, tweet or travel without their permission for a year, a source close to the family told Reuters on Friday.

China has denied that the international outcry over the detention of Ai pressured Beijing into releasing him.

Analysts say Ai's release is far from a sign of a U-turn by the ruling Communist Party. Authorities have muzzled dissent with the secretive detentions of more than 130 lawyers and activists since February, amid fears that anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world could trigger unrest.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Taiwan's legislature may open to Chinese tourists (AP)

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan's parliamentary speaker has said he will consider opening the legislative floor to Chinese tourists so they can learn from the island's freewheeling democracy.

Lawmaker Wu Yu-sheng of the ruling Nationalist Party proposed late Friday that the legislature open its floor to the visiting Chinese because "out of all places in Taiwan, the legislature is where democracy is most thoroughly implemented."

Speaker Wang Jin-pyng agreed to study the proposal to help spread the island's democracy to authoritarian China, according to television reports.

More than 600,000 Chinese tourists visited Taiwan last year. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949 and China still claims the democratic island a part of its own territory, but ties have improved substantially under Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's three-year efforts to engage China economically.

Taiwanese tour operators say many Chinese tourists — used to the propaganda programs on state TV — have asked to stay in their hotels to watch the freewheeling TV political talk shows on Taiwan.

The United Daily News said a number of Chinese college students had received a "shock education" when interning at Taiwan's legislature.

"They were surprised that our lawmakers could question and even shout at senior government officials," the report said.

Taiwan's senior officials, from the premier to all ministers, regularly deliver reports to the legislature and patiently answer lawmakers' questions in lengthy sessions. Following Taiwan's transformation to democracy in the 1990s, lawmakers frequently ripped off microphones and brawled with their colleagues over differences, but such displays have given way to verbal debates in recent years.

Taiwan's leaders hope the visiting Chinese envy the island's freedoms and human rights and in turn demand that their government relax its strict political controls.

The influx of Chinese tourists has brought a business bonanza to Taiwanese luxury hotels, stores for designer goods as well as souvenir and snack vendors. Chinese tourists have had to travel in supervised group tours, out of fear some of them may stay behind to work illegally, but Taiwan officially allowed them to travel on their own earlier this week. The first independent Chinese tourists are scheduled to arrive Tuesday.

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Chinese prime minister offers support for euro (AP)

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has offered his country's support for Europe and its common currency amid the eurozone's debt crisis.

Wen says China is a long-term investor in the European sovereign debt market and has purchased a "not small" amount of euro-denominated bonds in the past years.

Wen says China will offer "consistent support for Europe and the euro."

Wen, on a five-day tour of Hungary, Britain and Germany just as Europe hammers out a plan to battle the eurozone debt crisis, met Saturday in Budapest with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Wen says China is also willing to purchase bonds issued by Hungary, which does not yet use the euro, and offered Hungary a loan of 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

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Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says assistant freed (AFP)

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。

BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese artist Ai Weiwei confirmed a fourth associate of his had been released from detention, just days after the activist himself was unexpectedly freed on bail.

Ai's assistant Wen Tao returned home on Friday night, the activist told AFP in a text message -- the same day his accountant and designer were freed. The artist's cousin and driver Zhang Jinsong was released Thursday afternoon.

Ai was freed from nearly three months of detention late Wednesday because of his "good attitude" in admitting to tax evasion, his willingness to repay taxes he owes, and on medical grounds, the government said previously.

His detention -- which came during a major government crackdown on activists launched in February -- sparked furious criticism led by Western governments who repeatedly called for his immediate release.

"I'm fine. I'm very happy to be free and I'm very happy to be back with my family," Ai told AFP by telephone early Thursday.

The terms of Ai's bail conditions prevent him leaving Beijing "without permission", the foreign ministry said Thursday, and the previously vocal activist has told foreign media that he cannot accept interviews.

Ai and his four associates were released as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao embarked on a trip to Europe, with stops in Hungary, Britain and Germany.

London and Berlin have been among the most vocal critics of Ai's detention.

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