You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2007.
-Violent protests over diplomas at Chinese military academy – There was another riot (as this has happened before) at a Chinese university over diplomas. The big “new” thing is that this was at a Chinese military academy. It appears that the military students were not the people rioting, the article goes into detail about that. The non-military students were upset, that despite the high cost paid by their families for tuition, they would not be awarded accredited diplomas. Being that the average Chinese graduate is facing high competition for white collar jobs, this is quite serious.
-African death rate from measles drops 90 percent – The WHO will likely be refocusing efforts on the near measles epicenter of the Middle East and South Asia. What is amazing is Africa fell to this level 4 years earlier than expected!
-The thuggery behind the harmonious facade – I find this to be a fair article about how the domestic Chinese intelligence officials try to intimidate and tease information out of people they suspect being involved in anti-CCP activity. I have a friend who went through this because his cousin, he grew up with, was a dissident. This happened several times, including after he had secured Permanent Residence in the United States, and went back to China to visit family. He was never physically roughed up, just verbally interrogated as to his comings and goings, as well as that of his cousin in America, an anti-CCP academic. I do not agree with these measures, but I see it as a reflection of the CCP’s paranoia of socialluan(chaos) that could lead to the overthrow of the party or civil war. Most Chinese that I know do not experience these things because they are about business, and not publically political. At one time actions such as these occured in the United States to, but for different reasons. For those not familiar with Tammany Hall politics check the link.
-Troubled waters – China is having some trouble balancing inflation curbing methods with higher fuel costs, in turn, causing shortage.
-The HIV/AIDS confusion and circumcision – The Shanghaiist found some discrepancies in the Western reporting of HIV rates in China. As I examine news articles more, I’m finding this terribly common, so not shocking, especially when reporting on non-Western nations is concerned. Yesterday, I sited my info from a Chinese source.
-Le Roi Soleil as a Responsible Regional Player: L’Affaire Kitty Hawk - Michael Turton has an interesting take on the Hong Kong/U.S. Navy Incident.
Michael is unabashedly pro-Taiwan and pro-DPP, and although I feel indirectly calling Chinese leaders “children” is over the top, he generally has an excellent global take on most topics in this area, even if I disagree with his analysis of the facts.
He did mention something that I have not read about before, the U.S. Congressional reaction. Apparently, Republicans in the House Armed Services Committee are calling for a re-assessment of America’s relationship with China. Even in the current Sino-phobic environment on Capital Hill, I do not think much will come of this, as too much money is flowing between countries and Neocon Hawks no longer control Congress.
I reject the idea that China is acting as if it is still the Middle Kingdom and sending orders down to barbarians as if Hu were on the Dragon Thrown of old. All of that is hyperbole. I think, Michael, in this Pro-Taiwan Ecstasy, fails to see the power relationship between America and China is not one of equals, not economically; politically; or militarily; and this, as well as vast cultural differences, should be factored into any signaling from China. That being said, China has a right to display displeasure with the United States over issues they find contrary to their national interest. America would not tolerate China flying spy planes 2 miles off our border, bombing our embassies, funding armed groups in Hawaii we see as rebels, awarding medals to those we consider separatists, etc. Unlike China, we can do more than “deny entry to a port” and likely would. So China’s response is rather tame.
One thing I do know. In this world people (and nations) will not respect you unless you make them. Power respects power.
PS: As far as the Vietnam angle, who cares? Vietnam has been sending officials to kowtow to China since the early 1990’s. They are not about to make serious waves with China at this point. For more on that see Kenny (2002).
That’s right. It was not an bureaucratic accident, China has been denying American Navy access to Hong Kong harbor as punishment for U.S. for arms sales to Taiwan at such a sensitive time in Taiwanese-Mainland relations and Bush awarding medals to the Dalia Lama for political reasons. As the article mentions China has not sent this strong a message of displeasure since we (mistakenly) bombed the Chinese embassy in former-Yugoslavia in 1999. I remember that clearly, as I lived in Shanghai at the time and was warned to stay in my room that day due to threat of violence. Luckily for me, most people assumed only white people were American (including the German and French students at my school) and I was from Africa. No one bothered me, well they just stared as they normally did.
There was also the time were American the American spy plane crashed off the coast of China, in international waters, which came to be known as the “Hainan Incident”, where China held America survivors for a few days, insisting that America apologize (shuo keqi).
It is obviously the CCP is more concerned about the Taiwanese issue then they are letting on in the media. I’m sure Taipei is watching this closely. Since the 17th Party Congress, Beijing has taken a conciliatory tone toward Taiwan, but I am wondering how long that is going to land, as the Taiwanese seem to have rejected the overtures.
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China Explains Decision to Block U.S. Ships
BEIJING, Nov. 29 — China denied permission for a United States aircraft carrier battle group and other American warships to visit Hong Kong last week because of the Bush administration’s proposal to sell upgrades to Patriot antimissile batteries to Taiwan, Chinese state media said today.
Beijing also said today that Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had not told President Bush in a meeting Wednesday that the decisions to deny the ship visits were a “misunderstanding,” as the White House had reported after the talks.
“Reports that Foreign Minister Yang said in the United States that it was a misunderstanding do not accord with the facts,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said in Beijing today, adding that China had “grave concern” over United States weapons sales to Taiwan.
Read the rest of this entry »
I guess this thread can be called the “Chinese Story”, as the source of my comments will be the People’s Daily (CCP Mouthpiece). I feel it is important to get multiple sides, and too often we only get one, the Western side…the liberal one at that.
Yesterday we left off with Wu Yi being annoyed with some opening statements from the EU. Today we have some remarks from President Hu, on his ”immediate priorities” and then a more detailed outline for the future proposed by Wen Jiabao.
The first priority is to strengthen strategic mutual trust, be aware of the general situation and grasp the future.
Hu hoped that China and the EU should keep close high-level contacts and make full use of the multi-level political dialogue and consultation mechanisms established between them to strengthen communication and coordination on major international or regional issues as well as other key issues concerning their immediate interests.The second priority is to expand pragmatic cooperation and realize mutual benefit, win-win and common development.
Hu said both China and EU should fully explore the potential, actively look for new opportunities for cooperation, further enhance bilateral exchanges and collaboration in all areas, and jointly face up to global challenges including climate change, energy security and environmental protection.
The third priority is that China and EU should, in the spirit of mutual respect and negotiation on an equal footing, properly handle new circumstances and problems emerging from the development of bilateral ties so as to expand common ground, narrow discord and create a much better internal and external environment for further pushing forward the China-EU all-round strategic partnership.
My interpretation of the “diplomatese” is that Hu’s priorities are centered around focusing on business, meaning, he wants to focus on a strong pragmatic bilateral relationship based on mutual economic benefit, not an ideological one. Hu does not want the EU talking down to China on issues of human rights or militarism. He wants China to be respected as an equal partner on a global level. Good luck with that Hu. Unlike you, the heads of state of the various EU countries have to answer to a very liberal public who care little about economics until their pocket book gets hurt and pay a lot of lip service to “human rights”.
As far as the Future Strategic Partnership, Wen Jiabao fleshed out a more detailed proposal.
China wants to expand trade with the EU and deal with any problems with direct high-level bilateral talks, both formal and informal. This would be based on relationship building fostered by a new Trade and Economic Agreement (first update in over 12 years). He also proposed specific working groups for “China-EU sci-tech cooperation and sign educational exchanges and cooperation agreement as soon as possible, implement the working plan on cultural dialogue and cooperation, and strengthen practical cooperation in the fields of climate change, energy and environmental protection. “
Wen also stated that China would “continue” to open up their market to foreign competition as agreed to during WTO ascension.
The EU, in return praised China’s work on the N.Korea and Iranian Nuclear Issues and reaffirmed the One-China (Screw Taiwan) Policy. 
Well it is almost that time again, for S.Koreans to elect a new president. Out of all the Confucianist nations, I probably know the least about the Korean Peninsula, which is going to change. From what I understand it has been a turbulent years, with a lot of scandals, but that seems to not be uncommon in S.Korean national politics. I’m sure S.Koreans would differ, but Asahi Shimbun has a pretty good editorial.
A major question the editorial posses is if S.Korean politics is maturing away from electing “former rebels” who want to “fight the power”? This does not mean that S.Korea can not elect liberal leaders, but I think after they get comfortable with democracy, the liberal establishment will move away from their affection with “former rebels” to a more moderate position. At the same time, conservatives might realign to a less defensive posture, “having been aligned with the military dictatorship” (or worse yet, Japan during WWII).
It seems the hot topics are (1) the “Sunshine Policy” something America was against to begin with, but something I supported to bring stability to the pennisula. America does not have to live next to the fallout of a war or a collaspes of N.Korea and the resulting refugees, S.Korea does. S.Korea is also not quite as wealthy as West Germany was when they absorbed East Germany, and North Korea is far far poorer than East Germany ever was; and (2) the economy.
EDITORIAL: S. Korea’s election
11/29/2007
Every five years, South Korean voters elect a new leader because the country’s presidency is limited to a single five-year term. In the past 10 years, South Korea has been ruled by two liberal politicians, Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo-hyun. They were both former foes of the country’s military dictatorship.
The key question in the presidential race that officially kicked off Tuesday is whether liberal rule will continue for five more years or be overtaken by the conservative camp.
-U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement Roundtable – R.O.C. the Boat did an excellent analysis of a prospective U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement (TUFTA). A lot of it comes down to, do the benefits outweigh the negative impact on U.S.- China relations. Remember he has a strong pro-Taiwan bias, so take it with a grain of salt. Here are some excellent factoids:
Taiwan has experienced an average annual growth in GDP of 7.8 % over the past half century, and currently engages in foreign trade to the tune of $437 billion U.S. dollars and is the second largest holder of Foreign Exchange Reserves in the world ($266 billion).
Taiwan produces 72% of the world’s laptops, 79% of PDAs and 68% of LCD monitors. In the cover article of a May 2005 issue of Business Week, Bruce Einhorn referred to Taiwan as “the hidden center of the global economy.”
In 2006, Taiwan was the United States’ 9th largest trading partner, 11th largest export market, and the largest importer per capita of U.S. agricultural products. In the same year, the United States served as Taiwan’s 3rd largest trading partner, second largest export market, and Taiwan’s largest source of foreign direct investment. Taiwan-U.S. bilateral trade was worth $62 billion dollars last year.
-China AIDS rate slows, main transmission now sex – As I said before, HIV infection in Mainland China is very low, something like 700,000/1.3 billion, so not even close to 1%. That being said, I’m glad that the infection rate is down, but I’m guessing this is due to less transfusion and dirty needle issues. The heterosexual transmission concerns me because I question the amount of condom use in China. I realize that Mainland people are not promiscuous by Western standards, but that is rapidly changing. Social openness and migration of poor peasants to urban areas has also lead to a rise in prostitution, which is likely an major vector for transmission.
-U.S. expects full North Korean nuclear disclosure soon – Why do I not think this is going to happen? When you “buy peace” from a regime like N.Korea I do not think it is ever going to be a lasting one. This is a stopgap measure, not a solution. There is no way in the world N.Korea will reveal all their nuclear facilities and especially not their mobile all of their mobile fissile material.
-Investigators search Defense Ministry in Japanese bribery scandal -
-Fighting off the wolves – An Interesting interview with a Chinese novelist.
Hat Tip to The Shanghaiist
Apparently a New Yorker, who calls himself the Red Laowai (Hong Laowai), has posted on every Chinese Youtube-like site videos of himself singing traditional Chinese Communist Propaganda songs, such as “My China Heart” (Wo De Zhongguo Xin, 我的中国心). His Chinese language blog has received over 80,000 hits in a month!!
In his latest song, he sings and raps a Jay Chou (周杰倫) song. :-O Why didn’t I think of that???
Anyway, enjoy.
I think the EU was making their position clear on China’s currency before the talks began, as I commented on here. The other issues are the EU trade deficit ($252 billion USD), and product safety. The EU is claiming China’s currency is about 20-25% undervalued in relation to the Euro. As I said before, if they think China is going to budge significantly on this issue as inflation is already increasing there, forget it.
The Financial Times has a more detailed article, that speaks more about the China-EU relationship outside of sheer economic terms. For instance example:
But a more subtle difference is China’s emphasis on the integrity and sovereignty of the nation state, which contrasts with the pride that many EU member states take in having diluted their own sovereignty in favour of European reconciliation and co-operation after the past century’s two world wars.
“China sees sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs pretty much as non-negotiable, whereas the EU thinks its success is built on pooling sovereignty and going beyond the principle of the nation state,” one European diplomat says.
This difference of outlook explains why the European leaders who are visiting China this week intend to tread carefully when they talk about the need for a revaluation of the renminbi or more effective Chinese action to protect intellectual property rights.
SNIP
Like Russia and the US, China sometimes seems frustrated with the internecine squabbles and convoluted decision-making procedures that often constitute EU policymaking. Slowly, however, Europeans and Chinese appear to be learning more about each other. More than 100,000 Chinese students studied at European universities in 2003 and 2004; there were 60,000 at US universities in the same years.
Chinese Vice Premier, Wu Yi is leading the Chinese delegation:
I think the EU is about to find out which gender in China is more combative in economic negotiations. I learned this first hand haggling over socks in Shanghai markets. hehe Give’em hell Wu Yi.
Not all is bad with between the two parties, a lot of money is changing hands as the EU is China’s largest trade partner.
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EU Leaders Call for Reform at Trade Summit in China
A trade summit between Chinese and EU leaders has opened in Beijing, with friendly official statements masking discontent. Europe wants China to move faster on product safety, currency reform and a yawning trade deficit.
Li Kequiang, a rising member of the Chinese Communist Party leadership, told European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the start of a trade summit in Beijing on Wednesday that “cooperation and development has brought real benefits to the peoples of both China and the EU.”
But it was clear before the summit started that EU leaders were concerned about the pace of Chinese economic reform. The main friction points include a massive, widening trade deficit and the weakening value of the Chinese currency, the yuan. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has also complained about Chinese sluggishness in responding to food and product safety problems.
China’s trade surplus with respect to the EU hit €9.5 billion ($13.9 billion) for the month of October, according to Chinese statistics — a 50 percent increase over the previous year. The EU expects the total deficit for 2007 to rise 30 percent over 2006 to €170 billion ($252 billion).
-Japan, Vietnam sign agreement on climate, trade – I have been keeping my eye on Vietnam for a few years now. I hope they do not disappoint me, they have to uphold the “Confucianist Reputation” in the way of economic development. Following in the footsteps of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, and China is difficult for any developing nation. If Vietnam can “come up” then the only outlier will be N.Korea.
-Chinese warship visits Japan, first since World War II – More strange events in the schizo relations of Japan and China. What does this mean? I am not even sure, I just know things are not really bad, but that can change any day.
-EDITORIAL: Gangland war – Most Americans will not understand this. In Japan any murders is reported on the national news, although Japan has over 120 million people (about 1/3 of the U.S. population). In America I do not even know who was killed outside the D.C. metro area and murder is so common most people ignore it. Even in Tokyo, I recall Japanese telling me that a neighborhood was dangerous if it simple theft was common or too many foreigners (from developing countries) were seen. Even the Yakuza do not commonly use guns, they do not need to, as loudly yelling threats and punching people seems to “scare the bejezus” out of most people. I think if most Japanese really understood how much crime existed in America they would never come here, outside of Hawaii.
-Why is the European press more pessimistic than the American press? – Prof Cowen doe not understand why the European Press is so pessimistic when it comes to America. Well, I think some of us outside the Ivory Tower might refer to this as a case of “hateration“, but what do I know?
One should remember while reading this article they are talking about gross GDP, not per capita. Guangdong has over 100 million people in the province, whereas Singapore has less than 6 million and Taiwan 23 million for instance. Despite this, the growth is quite impressive and the push for greater regional integration inside of China is encouraging Hopefully some strong inter-province institutions are being created.
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China’s richest province wants more
By Olivia Chung
HONG KONG – South China’s Guangdong province, one of the country’s economic powerhouses, has made another step toward its goal of economically overtaking “the four little dragons of Asia” – Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, as its gross domestic product (GDP) will overtake Taiwan’s this year.
The wealthiest province on the mainland overtook Singapore and Hong Kong in terms of GDP a few years ago. However, in terms of yearly per capita GDP, Guangdong is still far behind compared with any of the four “little dragons”.
Since Deng Xiaoping launched the reform and open-door policy in
the late 1970s, Guangdong cities on the Pearl River Delta such as Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou have been magnets for foreign investment from or through neighboring Hong Kong.
