2014-08-01
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Hu Shuli (1st L) and Wang Canfa (2nd R) are among the winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
Photo courtesy of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation
An investigative journalist specializing in high-level corruption and a rights lawyer from China, which has recently stepped up controls on both professions, are among the winners of a regional prize aimed at promoting integrity in government.
Journalist and current affairs commentator Hu Shuli is among seven regional journalists and activists named as recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2014, the organization said in a statement on its website.
Hu’s award is in recognition of “her unrelenting commitment to truthful, relevant, and unassailable journalism, her fearless promotion of transparency and accountability in business and public governance, and her leadership in blazing the way for more professional and independent-minded media practices in China,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, public interest lawyer and environmental law expert Wang Canfa, is being given the award for “his discerning and forceful leadership—through scholarly work, disciplined advocacy, and pro bono public interest litigation,” the awarding body said.
Wang has ensured “that the enlightened and competent practice of environmental law in China effectively protects the rights and lives of victims of environmental abuse, especially the poor and the powerless,” it said.
Courageous journalist
Jiang Weiping, a Canada-based political analyst and former journalist with the official Xinhua news agency, said Hu’s award came as no surprise to him.
“It was Hu Shuli’s magazine that first broke the story of Zhou Yongkang’s investigation for corruption,” Jiang said, in reference to the investigation of China’s former security czar for “serious breaches of discipline” that was announced months after Hu’s report.
“She’s not just courageous; her reports are extremely accurate, and provide the reader with large volumes of reliable information,” he said.
“I often read her magazine and articles she has written personally.”
