| ZGBriefs February 24, 2011
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FEATURED ARTICLE
Yes, China has many social problems, including corruption, unemployment and inflation, some of which may be even more severe than is the case in Egypt, but I still argue that the chances of a "Jasmine Revolution" - never mind anything on the scale of the 1989 Tian'anmen Square protests - are quite small at least for the foreseeable future. The main reason being that discontent towards the government in China hasn't translated into meaningful opposition. Yet. |
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GOVERNMENT / POLITICS / FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Still no family visit for China's Nobel winner (January 28, 2011, AP) The wife of China's imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was able to leave house arrest for a family meal while President Hu Jintao was visiting the United States last week but is still unable to visit her husband in jail, a rights group said Friday. It was the first known time that Liu Xia has been able to leave house arrest since October, shortly after her husband was awarded the peace prize. Liu Xia's younger brother said she was able to eat one meal with her elderly parents during Hu's visit to the United States, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. The gesture was apparently in response to U.S. criticism of Liu Xiaobo's treatment. Rights groups and some countries have objected strongly to Liu Xia's house arrest, in which she is cut off from telephone and Internet communication with the outside world. Her parents, who are in their 80s, are not allowed to visit her.
China restricts reports on Egypt protests (February 2, 2011, AP) The protests in Egypt are about free elections and overthrowing a longtime dictator? Not according to China's state media, which is painting them as the kind of chaos that comes with Western-style democracy. The recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia are no doubt giving pause to many authoritarian regimes around the world, but nowhere else appears to be as determined to control the message as China. Newspapers can only publish accounts of the protests from the official Xinhua News Service, a policy often invoked on stories the government considers sensitive. Censors have blocked the ability to search the term "Egypt" on microblogging sites, and user comments that draw parallels to China have been deleted from Internet forums. While there is little chance the protests could spark demonstrations in China, the extent to which the long-ruling Communist Party is censoring the story underscores how wary it is of any potential source of unrest that might threaten its hold on power.
U.S. 'dismayed' by 8-year sentence for American in China (February 17, 2011, CNN) The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said Friday it was "extremely disappointed" by a Chinese court decision to uphold the eight-year prison sentence of American citizen Xue Feng. "I am extremely disappointed in the outcome although it wasn't completely unexpected," said U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. "We ask the Chinese government to consider an immediate humanitarian parole of Xue Feng thereby allowing him to get back to his family and his way of life." The geologist, a naturalized American citizens, was convicted on charges of violating state secrets and faces a fine of 200,000 yuan (about U.S. $30,400). Xue has spent about three years in prison since his arrest.
China postpones planned execution of Filipinos (February 18, 2011, CNN) China postponed Friday the planned execution of three Filipinos, following a visit to Beijing by Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay, appealing for clemency. China has decided to "postpone the execution within the scope of the Chinese law," the two nations said in a joint statement after Binay met with Wang Shengjun, president of CHINA'S Supreme People's Court (SPC) and senior foreign policy officials. "The Philippine side stated that it fully respects China's law and the verdict of the SPC," the statement continued. "The Philippines and China are determined to work together in the fight against transnational crimes. Including drug trafficking."
China cracks down after calls for protests (February 20, 2011, AFP) China has detained top activists and deployed heavy security in large cities after the launch of a web campaign calling for protests echoing popular uprisings in the Arab world, campaigners said on Sunday. Up to 100 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday with police also descending onto protest sites around the nation, ready to put down any unrest, campaigners said. The government appeared to be censoring Internet and text messages calling for the demonstrations, revealing deep-seated concerns among Chinese leaders over the possibility of Arab-style protests spreading to China.
U.S. to boost naval forces as China develops carrier: admiral (February 21, 2011, Reuters) The U.S. navy will continue to upgrade its military capabilities in the Pacific given its steadfast commitment to the region, a U.S. vice admiral said on Monday, while urging China's growing navy to avoid provocation. China's swelling defense budgets, rapid development of advanced systems including aircraft carriers and anti-satellite missiles, and its growing naval aggression in bordering seas, have unnerved regional neighbors and the United States in recent years.
Beijing says most Chinese want political stability (February 22, 2011, AP) The Foreign Ministry in Beijing has refused to comment directly on calls for a so-called 'Jasmine Revolution' in China but said nothing could shake the majority's desire for political stability and harmony. Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu sidestepped a reporter's question at a regular press briefing on Tuesday about recent online calls for protests in 13 cities. He said Tuesday the topic wasn't a foreign affairs issue. But he added that most Chinese people crave social and political stability and want to live and work in peace and contentment. "This is something that no person or force can shake," Ma said.
China official warns of domestic unrest and "hostile" West (February 22, 2011, Reuters) The Chinese government faces a turbulent time of domestic unrest and challenges from "hostile Western forces" that it will fight with more sophisticated controls, a Communist Party law-and-order official said. Chen Jiping, deputy secretary general of the Communist Party's Political and Legal Affairs Committee, gave the toughly worded warning in this week's issue of Outlook Weekly, and blamed Western democratic countries for fomenting unrest. Chen said the government was honing policies to defuse and smother unrest and crime. Those policies include more monitoring of citizens to nip threats in the bud. "The schemes of some hostile Western forces attempting to Western and split us are intensifying, and they are waving the banner of defending rights to meddle in domestic conflicts and maliciously create all kinds of incidents," Chen told the magazine, which is published by the official Xinhua news agency.
China Nobel laureate wife fears going 'crazy': activists (February 22, 2011, AFP) The wife of China's jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo said she was "going to go crazy" under house arrest, human rights advocates said Tuesday. Liu Xia was placed under house arrest in October after the Norwegian committee announced the prestigious award for her husband, a writer who authored a bold petition for political reform in communist-ruled China. While she has not been seen in public since, the PEN American Center, group of writers who support human rights, said she briefly accessed the Internet during the Chinese Lunar New Year. She sent a message to a friend saying that "she and her family were being held hostage by the government and that she was 'going to go crazy'" in her Beijing apartment, the center said in a statement. According to a Hong Kong rights group, Liu Xia was allowed to leave her home to dine with her elderly parents when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Washington last month but has been again placed under strict surveillance.
China to execute 4 accused in Xinjiang violence (February 23, 2011, AP) China's highest court approved the executions of four men convicted in a series of murders in the restive western region of Xinjiang described as acts of "terrorist violence." The four were accused of killing nine people in three separate incidents between August and November of last year, the Xinjiang-based wlmqwb.com website reported Wednesday. In the most serious act, six men detonated a bomb near where a security patrol was organizing Aug. 19. The website said three patrol members, three civilians and two of the attackers were killed and 15 people were injured. Two of the accused were sentenced to death and two more given suspended death sentences that are usually commuted to life in prison with good behavior, the site said. It did not give a date when the court decided.
US envoy 'coincidentally' at Beijing rally site (February 23, 2011, AFP) US Ambassador John Huntsman was spotted in an area of downtown Beijing where activists had called for Middle East-style protests at the weekend, but the embassy said Wednesday his presence was pure coincidence. Chinese web users have posted photos and a video of Huntsman standing outside a McDonald's outlet in the central Wangfujing shopping district -- one of 13 sites listed in a web appeal for a homegrown "Jasmine Revolution". Huntsman and his family "were on their way to Tiananmen Square and they walked to Wangfujing, and the fact that that happened and they were there at the time was purely coincidental," embassy spokesman Richard Buangan told AFP. "Let me stress again that he was with his family. They were on a family outing and their presence there was coincidental."
China charges subversion for protest repostings (February 23, 2011, AP) China filed subversion charges against Internet users who reposted a call for protests as the authoritarian government enforced its crackdown against any Middle East-style democracy movement, activists said. In addition to well-known activists who apparently remained in custody after being taken away ahead of the planned protests on Sunday, at least three people were detained on charges of "inciting subversion of state power," according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. China often uses the vaguely worded charge to lock up outspoken government critics. The detentions indicated Beijing would not tolerate any dissent, even by people merely reposting information gleaned from overseas websites. Liang Haiyi, an unemployed 35-year-old woman in the northeast city of Harbin, was taken away Saturday after putting information about the call to protest on Chinese websites or chatrooms, said lawyer Liang Xiaojun, who was not representing Liang but had spoken to her ex-husband about the case.
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HEALTH
Doctors remove knife from man's head after 4 years (February 18, 2011, AP) Surgeons in southern China successfully removed a rusty, 4-inch (10-centimeter) knife from the skull of a man who said it had been stuck in there for four years, the hospital said Friday. Li Fuyan, 30, had been suffering from severe headaches, bad breath and breathing difficulties but never knew the cause of his discomfort, said the senior official at the Yuxi City People's Hospital in Yunnan Province. Li told doctors he had been stabbed in the lower right jaw by a robber four years ago and the blade broke off inside his head without anyone realizing it, said the director of the hospital's Communist Party committee's office who would only give his surname, He. Surgeons worked cautiously to remove the badly-corroded blade without shattering it, He said. The hospital's website also reported the successful surgery.
Nearly 100 kids sickened by food poisoning in northwest China kindergarten (February 21, 2011, Xinhua) Nearly 100 children were sickened by food poisoning Monday noon at a kindergarten in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The accident occurred at Zhaocun Beibeile Kindergarten at Weiyang District of the provincial capital Xi'an City, where the children suffered from nausea and diarrhea after lunch, said a spokesman from the Weiyang District Government. The sickened children were rushed to five local hospitals for treatment, and their conditions were reported as not life threatening, the spokesman said. An initial inspection showed that their sickness was caused by nitrite intoxication, and the exact cause is under investigation.
China proposes death penalty for organ traffickers (February 24, 2011, AFP) Organ traffickers in China could face the death penalty under a draft law being reviewed by the country's top legislature, state media reported Thursday. Those convicted of "forced organ removal, forced organ donation or organ removal from juveniles" could face the same punishment as for homicide, which ranges from 10 years in prison to execution, Xinhua news agency said. Previously those convicted of forced organ removal were charged with illegal business operation, since there is no specific offence covering the act in China's criminal law, the report said. The amendment was submitted Wednesday to the National People's Congress Standing Committee for a third reading at its bimonthly meeting, which lasts until Friday. If passed, it would come into force on May 1, state media said.
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RELIGION
YouVersion Brings Bibles to Cell Phone Users in China (February 22, 2011, The Christian Post) The YouVersion Chinese edition app is helping missionaries distribute Bibles to cell phone users throughout China. Last year, Smartphone sales in China reached nearly 30 million. Apps, which can be downloaded from internet to phone, have become increasingly popular amongst the country's techno-savvy adolescent and young-adult age group. As the YouVersion app allows users to download the entire Bible onto their Smartphone, missionaries and theologians see this as an opportunity for Bible distribution to China's new generation.
Christian Media Company in China publishes 100th Christian title (February 23, 2011, Publisher's Weekly) ZDL Books, the Beijing-based Christian media company, has just published its 100th Christian title in China, Marriage on the Rock by Jimmy and Karen Evans. Translated from English into Simplified Chinese, the book was released in November and is available in bookstores and retailers throughout China. "Seven years ago when ZDL first started, no one could have imagined that we could be legally doing what we are doing now in China, and be successful at it," said David Wright, general manager of ZDL, at an event in Beijing marking the milestone. Marriage on the Rock has sold more than 300,000 copies in the U.S. |
SOCIETY / LIFE
China's tourism regulator warns against improper behavior in outbound trips (February 19, 2011, Xinhua) China's National Tourism Administration (NTA) said Friday that it had urged local authorities to improve the management of outbound tour groups to avoid improper behavior. The announcement was made following several disputes that took place between mainland tourists and tour guides in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan during the past Spring Festival holiday. Travel agencies should provide tourists all information, especially on laws and regulations of the tour destination, and inform travelers about both their rights and obligations during the trips. Leaders of tour groups are responsible for organizing and guiding tourists, and they should properly deal with problems if any occur, said the NTA.
Beijing mulls taxi fare hikes (February 21, 2011, Xinhua) Taxi passengers in Beijing may pay more for a ride in the second half of this year, as city authorities are mulling a fare hike in response to the country's new round of oil price hikes that started on Sunday morning, The Beijing News reports. Gasoline and diesel prices have risen by 350 yuan (53.2 U.S. dollars) per ton, which makes 93-octane gasoline increase from 7.17 yuan per liter to 7.45 yuan per liter. This type of gasoline is commonly used by Beijing taxi drivers. Cab drivers must pay an additional 180 yuan each month after the oil price increase, based on an average oil consumption of 20 liters per day.
Beijing, world's 72nd most livable city; HK 31st (February 22, 2011, China Daily) Beijing ranks number 72 in a table of the world's most livable cities in an annual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Hong Kong was placed at No 31 in the list, the sina.com reported Tuesday. Vancouver, scores 98 , remaining at the No.1 spot for the fifth straight year, followed by Melbourne from Australia and Vienna of Austria in third position. The survey focuses on the living conditions of 140 cities in the world with over 30 perspective-checks on social stability, health care, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
Shanghai's population to hit 23 million (February 22, 2011, China Daily) Shanghai census results will be announced in April and one demographic expert estimates the city's population might reach 23 million, far over the earlier estimates of 20 million, Oriental Morning Post reported on Tuesday. Ding Jinhong, a demographic expert with East China Normal University reckoned that Shanghai has nearly 23 million people registered in last year's census and among them, 14 million are registered population and 9 million are floating population. And according to the statistics, the population in Shanghai has an annual increase of nearly 600,000 and the city's permanent population is predicted to reach 21 million from 18 million in 2006, said the professor.
21 Chinese listed as missing in New Zealand quake (February 24, 2011, AP) China's state broadcaster says 21 Chinese students are listed as missing following New Zealand's deadly earthquake. CCTV says at least eight of the missing are confirmed to be buried in the collapsed Canterbury Television building where up to 120 bodies may still lie. Dozens of students from Japan, Thailand and other Asian countries were believed buried when an English-language school in the building collapsed along with other offices. CCTV said Thursday a total of 32 Chinese students were registered at the school.
Shanghai passes one-dog law (February 24, 2011, AFP) Shanghai has adopted a one-dog policy, passing a law limiting homes to one canine each as it tries to curb the growing popularity of man's best friend in China's leading metropolis. The law takes effect May 15, the official China Daily reported Thursday. Under the law, dog owners must also give their pets' puppies to eligible no-dog households or to government-approved adoption agencies before the pups reach three months, the report said. Anyone currently owning two or more licensed dogs will be allowed to keep them, it added.
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ENVIRONMENT / SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY
China plans to rein in heavy metal pollution (February 22, 2011, Reuters) China's environmental protection agency has vowed to curb heavy metal pollution in a bid to cut widespread industrial contaminants like lead that have poisoned children and sparked protests. The world's top consumer and producer of lead, China has struggled to rein in polluting industry under lax environmental regulations as the country's economy grows rapidly. Lead-poisoning, especially in children, has roused public anger. "The prevention of heavy metal pollution concerns the health of the people, especially children's health, and concerns social harmony and stability."
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BUSINESS / ECONOMICS / TRADE
China lifts fuel price, raising inflation concerns (February 21, 2011, BBC News) China has raised fuel prices for the second time in three months as it looks to offset a jump in global crude costs. However, the move has raised questions over government attempts to slow inflation. China, which subsidies the cost of fuel, increased the price of wholesale petrol and diesel by $53 (£34) per tonne from Sunday. Further price rises may be needed if the cost of oil keeps rising on the international market, analysts said. Instability in the Middle East has raised concerns about supply, and the price of oil has climbed to more than $100 per barrel.China's National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the price rise was needed to slow demand for oil and fuel in China.
China: State firms to hand over more profits (February 21, 2011, AP) China's banks and other top state companies will be required to hand over more profit to the government, a Cabinet official said Tuesday, as Beijing shifts resources to encouraging consumer spending and small businesses. The change is part of reforms meant to reduce China's reliance on exports and investment by boosting domestic consumption. The privileged status of state companies, which currently pay 10 to 15 percent of profits to the treasury, also has fueled public complaints that they and their well-paid managers are failing to share their windfall from China's boom. "The tendency for the future is an upward trend" in payments to the government, said Shao Ning, deputy chairman of the Cabinet's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, at a news conference. The panel oversees 121 of China's biggest companies, including oil giant PetroChina Ltd., Bank of China Ltd. and China Mobile Ltd.
US retailer Best Buy closes China stores (February 22, 2011, AFP) US retailer Best Buy said Tuesday it would close its nine outlets in China as well as its head office in Shanghai, making it the latest foreign big box operator to struggle in the fast-growing market. The consumer electronics giant said it would merge its China operations into its wholly owned subsidiary Five Star Appliance Company."The company intends to explore other more profitable growth options for the Best Buy brand and plans to reopen two of the China stores at a later date," it said in a statement.
Hong Kong grows at 6.8% in 2010 helped by Chinese money (February 23, 2011, BBC News) Hong Kong's economy has expanded by 6.8% in 2010 as it benefited from business ties with mainland China. The figures were released as part of the annual budget address by Hong Kong's Financial Secretary John Tsang. Mr Tsang added that he expects Hong Kong's economy to expand by between 4% and 5% this year. Hong Kong also unveiled measures to slow inflation and price growth, especially in the real estate market.
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LINKS TO DETAILED ARTICLES AND ANALYSIS
The Egyptian uprising is an awkward fact for China's rulers because it undermines one of their favorite arguments. They have long claimed that China has "special characteristics" (meaning that its people prefer authoritarianism, at least for now) and that demands in China for democracy and human rights are merely results of the subversive tactics of "anti-China" forces based in Western countries. But if that theory is true, then one needs to explain why millions of Egyptian people were opposing Mubarak, who was a US client. Plainly something deeper was motivating them.
The man known as the father of China's so-called Great Firewall is defending his invention, which blocks out hundreds of thousands of foreign websites, and admits to owning software to evade the censorship he helped create.
Chinese New Year brings the world's largest migration as millions of city workers head home to their villages, reconnecting briefly, and awkwardly, with families and a life they barely know.
In which a team of Chinese men travel to the United States for the first time to hike the legendary Appalachian Trail-and find its manicured paths a little wimpy.
A fapiao in China is more than just an ordinary receipt. Contrary to other countries, where receipts are usually just used to record a transaction, in China it is also the way in which the government monitors the value added tax (VAT) paid on any transaction.
Authorities in Japan have begun excavating the former site of a medical school that may contain the remains of victims of the country's wartime biological warfare programme. The school has links to Unit 731, a branch of the imperial Japanese army that conducted lethal experiments on prisoners as part of efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
"Thank almighty God. Thank the Golden Horse Prize and its pureness and goodliness. I am 50 years old now and I feel so encouraged and holy at this moment. Thank God to conserve my heart and give me a child, which made me able to understand the loving mother I played in the film." With those words, given as she accepted a Best Actress award at the 47th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival last November, Lü Liping became the first Chinese mainland actress to express her "gratitude to God" at an international film festival award ceremony in a decade.
China's government believes raising the incomes and welfare of rural residents is crucial to long-term growth and to protect the ruling Communist Party from discontent that could fester into threats to its rule. Since Wen and President Hu Jintao came to office in 2003, they have vowed to create a "new socialist countryside," an effort that will form a cornerstone of their legacy. They are expected to leave office in 2012.
Last week, when Apple released its annual review of labor conditions at its global suppliers, one startling revelation stood out: 137 workers at a factory here had been seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in making the signature slick glass screens of the iPhone.
While it may be comforting to read in Hosni Mubarak's resignation the universal forces of people power and democratization, pundits who are beginning to contemplate breathlessly whether Egypt's revolution presages the fall of the Chinese Communist party need to rein in their enthusiasm. Not only is Egypt itself a long way from becoming a real democracy, but the differences between the Land of the Pharaohs and the Middle Kingdom are so vast as to make any meaningful analysis useless.
On a national level, too, tobacco plays an important role, providing Beijing's biggest single source of tax revenue: Last year topped $75 billion. The Chinese government actually runs the world's biggest tobacco company and is intimately involved at every level of this deadly, murky industry - from marketing, sales and distribution down to production with widespread reports of village officials forcing farmers to grow tobacco against their will.
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LINKS TO BLOGS
Hu Jintao has been keen to emphasize 'fairness' in China. But has the message reached the ears of many of the country's officials?
I have put together a simple presentation about Sina Weibo, as despite the huge run in Sina's stock due to Weibo most non-Chinese have limited knowledge of the product itself. The document does not address censorship (See China's Internet: The Invisible Birdcage for a longer discussion of Internet controls). We all know it is there, and Sunday we got a real time look at some of the layers of control, but this powerpoint focuses on the commercial and product aspects of Weibo.
Attempts by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to stimulate discussion on Internet freedom among Chinese microblog users ran up against Beijing's sophisticated censorship apparatus Wednesday. Now it appears that this effort has landed the embassy's official account on Sina Weibo, China's most active microblogging platform, on censors' watch list.
This infographic is nothing if not thorough.
There has been a lot written in the past 24 hours about China's still-born "Jasmine Revolution," and I agree with those commentators who feel the chances of an Egypt-style revolution are very remote -- at least in the short term.
If Chinese leaders are nervous, it's not so much because Chinese society is ripe for revolution. Their main concern is the way that events in the Middle East could play out within the Communist Party.
For analysis, I turned to Rebecca MacKinnon, who knows as much as anyone about the Internet in China. She is a Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and co-founder of Global Voices Online, an international citizen media project. (Her book "Consent of the Networked" will be published next year by Basic Books.)
Victor Shih's selection highlights rising inequality, economic irregularity and political heavy-handedness at the heart of modern China. As its economy blazes on, uncertain times may be looming.
Jason Ng (伍嘉贤) is a Beijing based well-known technology blogger and founder of kenenba.com. He just published a blog post entitled "What a Beautiful Sensitive Word" [1], translated by CD.
It is not uncommon to see China media coverage running along at least two sets of tracks that should crash into each other often but too rarely cross on the page: the political story and the economic story. The so-called Jasmine Revolution and the last week of news about China's Internet show how those tracks intersect far more than we appreciate.
In aviation, China may well be the future, judging from global aircraft makers' eagerness to sell here and simultaneous discomfort with Beijing's plans to develop domestic planes. But for one group of enthusiasts, now is the moment to consider aviation history: China's first powered flight, which happened 100 years ago this week in Shanghai.
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LINKS FOR RESEARCHERS
As violence flares in Libya and elsewhere across the Arab countries and Iran, we see a number of core interests that China will look to maintain.
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