Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China

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America’s 50 cent party?

Last modified on 2011-04-09 16:54:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Many of us joked about it. People (mostly Chinese) gets paid 50 cents for making pro-China comments in the web. But do you know there are actually people in the US Military (US Centcom) who does the same for the US. Apparently in the height of the Iraq was, a program called Operation Earnest Voice was used as a psychological weapon against al-Qaida’s online presence.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/304929#ixzz1IVg7CYAl

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/20113308530388366.html#

Who knew?

Failure of US Foreign Policy: Asking China to Act Like the U.S.

Last modified on 2010-12-19 20:05:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/weekinreview/28cooper.html?scp=4&sq=china&st=cse

I thought that this article is a sobering reminder that US is no longer the sole superpower and does not have the political capital as it used to. Many policy makers in Washington still thinks like they are in 1989 when the remaining superpower USSR has collapsed and US emerged as the sole superpower.

However, in the recent years US has flaunted and wasted the role as the sole superpower with its invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan while the rest of the world has been thriving without the use of war. From the article, I could not have said it better:

“We’re still struggling with a post-unilateralist hangover,” said David Rothkopf, author of “Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power.”

That hangover, he says, leads Americans to believe “that we’re the sole remaining superpower and the objective of our foreign policy is to get people to go along with that. To fall into step with our worldview. But the reality is, that’s not what the future holds.”

Perhaps US foreign policy makers have to face political reality.

Asians got suckered in the “Chinese Professor” Ad?

Last modified on 2010-11-08 15:08:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

If you don’t know by now, this controversial Ad from CAGW (Citizens Against Government Waste) which depicts of a Chinese Professor warning about the demise of the US because the US government spent too much money has gone viral.

Have you ever wondered how hundreds of presumptively Asians knew the message of the Ad before they decided to be a part of it? Apparently they don’t. This is according to one of the extras, Josh H, who became an extra in the Ad.

http://www.racialicious.com/2010/10/29/an-extra-in-the-chinese-professor-ad-speaks-out/

So yes, I was an extra for this commercial. The way I got involved in this commercial is by signing up to be an extra for Transformers 3, which was being filmed in DC. So I got an email from my Kollaboration staff (I am on the board for Kollaboration DC) saying that they were filming Transformers 3 (Our show just ended btw too, like a week ago). Some of us signed up to be extras and a couple of us got called for this commercial because the Transformers 3 shoot was full, and they informed me that it was for a conservative – political ad, so I was aware of the political stance (thinking it wouldn’t be a serious issue). So thats basically how I got involved.

BTW, to sign up to be extras we had to fill out information like, our name, gender, age, height, ethnicity, and a picture.

It was filmed at a community college (NOVA in Alexandria VA) and when we got there, the production team did tell us about the ad, but in a misconstrued kind of way. I know that the ad was about the US deficit and they did tell us the premise of the ad (taking place in the future, and we all supposed to be “chinese” students in a lecture). I saw the commercial and it’s pretty intense and one thing I did not know that the commercial would do, is put this almost red-scare type of fear in the eyes of Americans (effectiveness wise, the political ad works, not saying I agree with the tactics).

What’s interesting is that the production team told us that we would all be laughing in the commercial because the “Chinese Professor” said something funny, so there were multiple shots where we all “laughed” after the “Chinese Professor” said his so called, “joke.”

At the end of the production, the person who was in charge of managing the extras came to us at the end of the shoot to inform us that the production crew is non-partisan about the issue, and that they were just doing it for the money. Of course as extras we all did get paid for the all day shoot. Another thing, the production team didn’t convey to us that this ad would be used in this way either.

Personally, I had no idea that this commercial would be aired nation-wide and as soon as it aired, it was put onto the politico blog. I got a few emails from friends who work in politics telling me that they saw me in this crazy ad, and it kind of took me off guard.

Apparently, the person who is in the Ad knew what was in the Ad was probably the “Chinese Professor” himself.

Shanghai Expo 2010 beats Osaka 1970 thanks to autumn records

Last modified on 2010-10-26 09:58:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_2010
70 million visitors are expected to visit the expo, making it the most visited in history.
[from 1.may till 31.oct expected 70 million visitors is about 0.38millions/day]

http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-09/11/c_13489798.htm
The ongoing Shanghai World Expo 2010 has received 50 million visitors as of 5:31 p.m. Friday [10. sept]
[1.may-10.sep 50M/130d = reached 0.38M/d but:]

The bureau estimates, by the end of the Expo, that the number of visitors to the 184-day event will reach around 60 million.
[10.sep-31.oct 60M-50M = 10M, 10M/50d = expected average about 0.2M/d during the last exhibition days, but:]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-10/08/c_13547307.htm
The ongoing Shanghai World Expo 2010 had received more than 60 million visitors as of Friday noon [8. oct]
[10.sep-8.oct 60M-50M = 10M, 10M/30d = grow to 0.3M/d, even with new record:]
The event saw a record high of 630,000 visitors on Sept. 23, the second day of the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-10/16/c_13560768.htm
A total of 1.03 million people visited the Shanghai World Exposition on Saturday [16. oct], a record number since the Expo opened.
The Expo had received some 64.62 million visitors by the end of Saturday [16. oct]
[9.oct-16.oct 64,6M-60M = 4.6M, 4.6M-1.03M(daily record) = 3.6M, 3.6M/7d = continual grow to 0,47M/d followed by 1.03M/d record]

The previous record was set during the 1970 Osaka World Expo in Japan, which about 64 million people attended over a six month period.
[Japan beaten and also plan 70 million visitors fulfilled:]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-10/24/c_13572635.htm
Some 451,200 visitors entered into the Expo Park by 11 a.m. Sunday [24. oct], bring the total number to 70.159 million
The number of visitors broke the previous record set during the 1970 Osaka World Expo in Japan, which attracted 64 million people, on Oct. 18 when it reached 65.8 million.
[17.oct-18.oct 65.8M-64.62M = 1.2M, 1.2M/2d = average 0.6M/d]
[19.oct-24.oct 70.159M-65.8M = 4.36M, 4.36M/6d = average 0.73M/d]

From cina.exil.sk http://www.exil.sk/site/cina.php/2010/10/25/sanghajske_expo_2010, author Tibor Blazko.

Liu Xiaobo

Last modified on 2010-10-12 21:19:54 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Liu Xiaobo has received money from the American government for years:

Wikipedia: “Liu Xiaobo … President of the Independent Chinese PEN Center since 2003”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

Grants to Liu Xiaobo, President of ICPC, “Independent Chinese PEN Centre, Inc.”, from the NED (National Endowment for Democracy), a US government entity:

Independent Chinese PEN Centre, Inc. (2009)
http://www.ned.org/where-we-work/asia/china
Scroll down to “Independent Chinese PEN Centre, Inc.”
$152,950

Independent Chinese PEN Centre, Inc. (2007)
$135,000
http://www.ned.org/publications/annual-reports/2007-annual-report/asia/description-of-2007-grants/china

Independent Chinese PEN Centre, Inc. (2006)
$135,000
http://www.ned.org/publications/annual-reports/2006-annual-report/asia/description-of-2006-grants/china

Total sum from NED for Independent Chinese PEN Centre: US $422 950

Chinese PEN Center is not the only source of money for Liu Xiaobo. He also gets money from NED for Minzhu Zhongguo, “Democratic China, Inc.”, where he is the Founder:

http://www.ned.org/where-we-work/asia/china
Scroll down to “Democratic China, Inc.”
$195,000 (2009)
$18,000 (Supplement)

Democratic China, Inc.
$145,000 (2007)
http://www.ned.org/publications/annual-reports/2007-annual-report/asia/description-of-2007-grants/china

Democratic China, Inc.
$136,000 (2005)
http://www.ned.org/publications/annual-reports/2005-annual-report/asia/description-of-2005-grants/china

Total sum Democratic China, Inc. from NED: $ 494 000

Total support from NED during the three years is US$ 916 950 which is about 7 million yuan – a huge sum of money in China – where salaries are about 20% of the level in Western countries.

NED (National Endowment for Democracy) is funded by the American government, and is subject to congressional oversight – which is a prettier word for “government control”. The purpose is to fund individuals, political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) favourable to US interests.

The payment from NED to US-friendly groups is not a new thing. Eric T. Hale showed in his dissertation (2003) that during the 1990s, China and Russia were awarded the highest number of NED grants with 222 and 221, respectively. Total payment to groups in China during these ten years was astonishing US$ 20.999.229, which equals 140 million Chinese yuan.
http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-1105103-140728/unrestricted/Hale_dis.pdf

In 1991, Allen Weinstein, who helped draft the legislation establishing NED, candidly said: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” In effect, the CIA launders money through NED. (Washington Post, Sept.22, 1991)

New York Times wrote on December 4, 1985: “The National Endowment for Democracy is a quasi-governmental foundation created by the Reagan Administration in 1983 to channel millions of Federal dollars into anti-Communist ‘private diplomacy.'”
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/l/labor_role_in_politics/index.html?s=oldest&query=POLITICS%20AND%20GOVERNMENT&field=des&match=exact

Republican congressman from the Texas Gulf Coast, Dr. Ron Paul, who is more Libertarian than Republican, writes: “The misnamed National Endowment for Democracy is nothing more than a costly program that takes US taxpayer funds to promote favored politicians and political parties abroad. What the NED does in foreign countries … would be rightly illegal in the United States.”
http://www.iefd.org/articles/paying_to_make_enemies.php

Former CIA-agent Ralph McGehee writes: “… the current US policy of using (rightly or wrongly) the theme of human rights violations to alter or overthrow non-US-favored governments. In those countries emerging from the once Soviet Bloc that is forming new governmental systems; or where emerging or Third World governments resist US influence or control, the US uses ‘human rights violations,’ as an excuse for political action operations. ‘Human Rights’ replaces ‘Communist Conspiracy’ as the justification for overthrowing governments.”

Patrick French writes “The NED constitutes, so to speak, the CIA’s “civilian arm”.”

In that meaning The Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s decision becomes a political plot, and Liu Xiaobo becomes an American agent.

The Brutal Truth About Rio Tinto’s Bribery Case – What People Should Know

Last modified on 2010-09-13 10:43:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

This article has been published through the Independent web media both in USA and Australia few months ago, but has yet to publish in China. As it related to China and the way, Australia media and politicians treated China in a racist and unbelievable non-reasoning manner. I thought the Chinese readers should be make aware of the case.

The article begin here:

After nine months of media allegation, finger pointing based purely on hear-say, speculation surrounding the reasons behind the arrest of the four Rio Tinto’s executives in Shanghai on the 5th July 2009, the truth about the actual background of the arrest has finally out weighted the disinformation relentlessly generated by the mainstream media in Australia.

We now know that:

1) The four Rio Tinto executives admitted taking bribes (The Australian, 23 March 2010)

2) One should note that, it was only after the four Rio Tinto executives admitted taking bribes on the 23 March 2010, we then learn on the following day that, ’Secret Rio Tinto probe cleared company but left Stern Hu in doubt’ (The Australian, 24 March 2010).

3) Stern Hu was sentenced to jail for 10 years (The Australian, 29 March 2010) and Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Sam Walsh sacked all the four convicted executives. Mr Walsh described the bribery findings — admitted by all four men — as “deplorable”, and said that the company had “implemented a number of improvements to our procedures, and we have now ordered a further, far-reaching independent review of our processes and controls”. (The Australian, 31 March 2010).

Is Rio Tinto as a company an innocent party?

On the outset, Rio Tinto as a company seems to be an innocent party . However, according to the Melbourne’s Age (31 March 2010), under the heading ‘Rio Tinto calls in Kissinger to mend fences’, it was disclosed that: “Mr Kissinger’s role came to light as claims emerged that Rio was told months before the arrests of Hu and his three colleagues of potential ”dodgy dealings” within its China operations but resisted internal calls for an investigation.”

The Age further evaluated that: “The Age has been told that a number of Rio employees in Singapore raised concerns with management about the activities of employees in China more than a year ago but the concerns were never formally investigated.”. “A well-placed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a rapid rise in the iron ore spot price led some to question whether bribes were being offered. ”Some of the guys in Singapore said ‘let’s have an investigation’ but that investigation was quashed by senior company figures,”

The truth is, Rio Tinto is a direct beneficiary to the bribery activities. As a result, “China paid $165m too much for iron ore last year,” (Daily Telegraph, 30 March 2010).

One should note that, all these information only came after the four Rio Tinto executives admitted taking bribes! The interesting questions here are: How did our media and politicians behave between the period after the arrest on 5 July 2009 and the Rio Tinto executives admission of taking bribes on 23 March 2010?

What can we learn from this case about our media culture, our law in practices and our politicians?

In retrospect, when we examine the way our politicians and mainstream media reaction to the arrest of Rio Tinto executives in Shanghai since July 2009 and the subsequent abusive language used, and the on-going and systemic repeating of certain points about the case to the Australian public, we can tell a lot about our media culture and the kind of political leaderships and competency we rely upon to manage our national affair. Can we trust them?

a) Our legal frame work on anti-foreign bribery:

On the 10th August 2009, I wrote an articles with a title: “Australia media and government should respect its own law on Foreign Bribery – Stern Hu’s Case: Problem of corruption is a world issue, not just Chinese”. In this article, I highlighted the content of the Australian government website on the issue of anti-foreign bribery (www.ag.gov.au/foreignbribery), with part of the information as follows:

“Australia recognises that corruption is not just one country’s problem and, in recognition of this, is an active participant in international initiatives, including:

– ratifying the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) on 7 Dec 2005

– ratifying the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime on 27 May 2004.

– ratifying the OECD Convention and Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions on 18 Oct 1999 and participating in the Asian Development Bank OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for the Asia – Pacific.

– participating in the Asia – Pacific Economic Cooperation Anti-Corruption and Transparency Experts Task Force (APEC ACT)….(etc)

Australia is committed to sharing technical expertise and improving our legal cooperation relationships with other countries to strengthen the fight against corruption, both in Australia and throughout the Asia – Pacific region.”

Note: The Australian government has changed the content of this website and removed many of the statements I reported in my article mentioned above dated 10th Aug 2009. However, I have save a copy of the original content. By the way, you can still find the name of the International Convention ratified by Australia.

I submitted this article to a number of newspapers and magazines in Australia but receive no response from the editors except the New Internationalist Magazine with this message: “Thanks for your message. Our June issue is all about China, so I’m afraid we won’t be looking for any more China-related stories for the time being.”.

As a result, I decided to create my own website and register the domain www.outcastjournalist.com on 19 Oct 2009 to publish my own research against media disinformation.

b) Our Law is only as good as the people who administer it

Despite the series of International Convention we ratified, and our government pledged in their own website to cooperate with countries “throughout the Asia Pacific region” to “fight against corruption”, did our government honour these International convention they ratified? Did we do what we preaches? Let’s look at how our politicians response to the arrest of Rio’s executives on the 5th July 2009:

i) Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd not only failed to allow Shanghai’s police the time to sort out the evidence, conduct further investigation and offer assistance to China to facilitate their investigation, he politicised the whole issue with a public statement: “Our Chinese friends”, “China had significant economic interests at stake in it relationship with Australia and other commercial partners around the world.” (Brisbane Time 16 July 2009)

ii) As usual, The Australian Newspaper always knew which politician to pick for negative comment about China. This time, they mentioned Senator Barnaby Joyce twice to assert one point: “the failure of Chinalco to increase its stake in Rio was behind the arrests.” Apparently, the Australian Newspaper has removed the content of this news on their website with the subject heading: ‘Beijing accuses Rio of spying as Australia is shocked at arrest of mining executives’ dated 9 July 2009. Luckily, I have kept a copy of this news from the Australian website as well. You may read my detail analysis in my earlier article on Rio Tinto case to find out how the Australian Newspaper skilfully crafted wording using the techniques of creating, repeating, asserting and confirming an unproven speculation that the arrest was related to the recent failed negotiation over Australian iron ore exports to China . By the way, the Crowdsourced coverage website can proof my claim that the Australian did carry that news heading on their website in July 2009.

c) The rule of law in theory and in practices (China vs. Australia)

China as a developing country is not perfect in many aspects. It was at one stage a totally lawless society 60 years ago with wide spread poverty, low literacy, bad health (average life expectancy was 36 year), without an effective government after century of foreign invasion and colonial exploitation such as the First Opium War; the numerous unequal treaties forced upon China by varies foreign governments such as UK, USA, Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Spain and Netherlands – Wikipedia recorded 18 of these unequal treaties; and Nanking Massacre, etc.

However, over the last 60 years of political, legal and economic reform, China enjoy unprecedented prosperity with political stability and high level of citizen satisfaction with the direction of the government. (PEW survey 2008).

China is still far from a perfect country, and the country knew that – in the recent session of the National’s People Congress, the heads of the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procurator made a promise for “greater supervision and competence in its judicial system”. (CCTV, 11 Mar 2010).

Like any Western country’s history of building its legal system, it is an on-going process of improvement as a result of discovering new loopholes and inefficiency. However, where there are existing written law to follow, no one have the right to dispute its legitimacy. Rio Tinto’s bribery case was trial in accordance with the existing Chinese law and legal proceeding – the bribery case was trial at an open Court, and the stealing of commercial secret case was trail in a close Court but with 40 witnesses including some of the family members of the defendants. (The Australian, 26 Mar 2010) and we should respect the outcome as the crime was committed in China under their Judiciary system.

If we want other countries to respect our law, we should learn also to respect others.

The irony with the Australian media and government is that,

i) We keep making unfound speculation that Chinese leaderships are personally involved in the case. For example,

After Prime Minister Rudd issue a public warning to China: “The world is watching”, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Treasurer Wayne Swan also joined him in saying “the rest of the world was watching China”. Despite Qin Gang, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman urging Australia not to “interference in China’s judicial sovereignty”, and claimed that: “The actions of the Rio Tinto staff have caused losses to China and China’s interests,” he said. “I believe Stern Hu and Rio Tinto are fully aware of this.”, like most media throughout the country, the Age also pushing the following point in its report dated 17 July 2009 under the heading: ‘China tells Australia to butt out’:

The Age: “It has been widely speculated that Mr Hu’s detention is linked to Rio’s decision to snub a bid by China’s state-owned Chinalco last month to take a large stake in the company.”

Reader should note that, the effort to link the arrest of Rio Tinto executives in Shanghai to the failed bid by Chinalco to increase it investment in Rio Tinto is wide spread throughout the Australian media industry over the next 8 months since their arrest in July 2009 until the bribery findings — admitted by all four men.

The Sydney Morning Herald (29 July 2009) run an article: “China does not respond positively to humiliation”, implying that, by maintaining a good relationship with Chinese leaderships, Stern Hu stand a better chance for an early released.

Sydney Morning Herald (13 July 2009) under the heading ’Chinese President backed Rio spy probe’ quoting an (unnamed) Chinese Government sources suggesting that “The Chinese President, Hu Jintao, personally endorsed the Ministry of State Security investigation into Rio Tinto that led to the detention of the Australian iron ore executive”. If you Google this news title, you will notice that like most negative news against China, it is an Australia wide coverage.

Again, Sydney Morning Herald (7 Nov 2009) under the heading ‘Exposed: the man controlling Stern Hu’s fate’, speculating without quoting any source that “Wu Zhiming, who is due to decide his (Stern Hu) fate within 10 days”. Follow by an unnamed source: “But some Chinese lawyers say the justice system is more tightly controlled in Shanghai because it has been the stable, long-time power base of Jiang Zemin.”, then another unnamed statement: “Some say Wu has a tighter grip on Shanghai than even the mayor or Communist Party secretary”. Then “The President, Hu Jintao, and a host of lesser players might also vie for influence” (not quoting any source again), then “political analysts (unnamed) say there is a risk that Rio Tinto’s iron ore team will – or might already have – become stuck in the middle of a bitter struggle between President Hu and Jiang.”

How wonderful to be a mainstream media journalist. You can say whatever you like without quoting any sources.

On 11 Feb 2010, The Age made a further speculation under the heading ’China steps up Stern Hu bribe case’, again, using the technique of quoting an (unnamed) observer: “Observers say the decision is likely to have been made at the highest level of Chinese politics,” follow by this statement: “Some had expected President Hu Jintao’s visit last month to Shanghai – the territory of his political rivals and his first visit in two years – would lead to the case being resolved in Mr Hu’s favour.”

The reality is, with the eventual admission of all four Rio Tinto’s executives in the bribery charged on March 2010, all the above rumours and speculations pushed relentlessly by the mainstream media over the last 8 to 9 months have reflected badly in the truthfulness and professionalism of our media industry and , unfortunately the competency of our political leaderships as well.

ii) Political interference in Australia Judiciary system.

Our media and politicians love to make up stories and accuse other culture of political interference in their judiciary system as and when our criminals committed crimes in a non Western country like the Rio Tinto case demonstrated above. However, in practice, did we do what we preaches?

Technically, if Rio Tinto as a company knowing its executives criminal act in China “more then a year ago and resisted internal calls for an investigation” (The Age, 31 March 2010), Rio Tinto has effectively violated a number of Australian laws including the series of our Anti-Foreign Bribery related law and legislations. (Not to mention that Rio has directly benefited from these illegal activities). For a detail listing of our legal framework on Anti-foreign bribery, please read my earlier article dated 10 Aug 2009.

The ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) is right to indicate that it is “looking at Rio over Stern Hu case” as “Prof Ramsay said that under Australian criminal law, Rio could be potentially liable if a court found the company’s corporate culture either directed, encouraged or tolerated bribery of a foreign public official.” Despite the fact that “Green leader’s Bob Brown called for the Rudd Government to order the regulator to investigate Rio Tinto”, “Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith …. said it was possible that the Hu case involved a breach of Australian law, but he told the ABC …. that he had no reason to refer the matter to ASIC.” (News Limited, 31 Mar 2010). Whether or not the ASIC is serious about “looking at Rio over Stern Hu case”, we can only wait and see for now.

Again, the Rudd government is not interest in upholding the Australian law against foreign bribery. Instead, our “Foreign Minister slams Chinese as Stern Hu gets 10-year jail sentence” (Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March 2010), so as Prime Minister Rudd (The Australian, 9 April 2010). And the media is talking about a prisoner exchange treaties with China (Courier Mail, 8 Apr 2010). So much for the usefulness of the written law in Australia.

However, in another recent incident, when it was reported that a “Chinese coal ship that ran onto the Great Barrier Reef was one of dozens of freighters to have taken a legal short cut between dangerous shoals this year” (Brisbane Time, 7 April 2010). Let’s have a look at how our poll driven Politicians reacted to this incident in an election year:

Usually, incident like this should be handled by the experts to access the damages, and the federal police to investigate the cause of the incident and then refer the case with according to our established legal framework and procedure, and finally a court proceeding and expert (The Australian Maritime Safety Authority) recommendation such as to introduce new rule and regulation (for example, extending the VTS to the entire length of the reef ) to ensure this kind of incident will not happen again. It should be up to the Judicial System to decide on the case.

However, our Prime Minister have to personally involved himself on the case and pledged that: “vessels that threatened the health of the reef would be prosecuted with all the force of the law,” follow by our Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese: “The Australian government will ensure that the full force of the law is brought to bear on those responsible … and we will also ensure … compensation is paid with regard to the cost of cleaning up,.” (Brisbane Time, 12 April 2010).

So, is our Judicial System independent from political interference? You be the Judges!

Economic or Commercial espionage cases outside China

For the benefit of readers, I would like to provide the following links to other commercial espionage cases outside China:

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 was approved by Congress because theft of U.S. trade secrets is costing U.S. companies many billions of dollars a year in lost sales and costing U.S. workers their jobs. Here are brief summaries of some of the first arrests under this new US law: http://www.wright.edu/rsp/Security/Spystory/Industry.htm.

Other commercial espionage cases across the world:

– A case study in French Espionage: Renaissance Software.

– Case study: USA – UK industrial espionage

– F1 engineers plan appeal in Ferrari espionage case (30 April 2007)

– Telecom Italia espionage scandal deepens (25 January 2007)

– Fender bender crooks swipe $190K in chips (21 December 2006)

– Vodafone fined €76m over Greek wiretap scandal (15 December 2006)

– Foiled computer blaggers jailed for 38 years (3 July 2006)

– Spyware-for-hire couple plead guilty (15 March 2006)

– Eight CCTV cameras bust ‘Mr Stupid’ (28 August 2005)

– Armed raiders steal £840,000 in computer kit (20 January 2003)

Conclusion: Why the West cannot use normal heart to handle other cultures?

I feel sad for Australia—a country I called HOME. The world has changed so much in the 21st century and yet some in our society still unable to put aside the colonial mentality of the past. These people seem to has to see other culture through colour lenses and unable to put in context our own behaviour when facing the similar situation.

Our media reporting news based heavily on hear-say and unfound speculations. Despite numerous newspapers and magazines on our news stand, they all seems to speak in one voice most of the time with the same messages and mistakes. Very often, those people they quoted with a name are in fact – no expert to the case. Those so-called experts are people without a name. The editors seems not too interested in the truth of an event. Apparently, like the latest ANU research, most of our editors only interested in reporting news based on their party line. (I would put it as political line.) They are unable to distinguish the different in responsibility between writing a news piece and opinion piece.

Since the financial crisis, our reserve bank governor has in many occasions accredited China as the main factors that lifted Australia out of this crisis. China is in actual fact our number one trading partner. However, as a result of our bureaucrats and politicians reliance exclusively on our newspapers for information about China. (refer to Brisbane Time on the 15 Oct 2009 under the heading – Rudd policy on China ‘set by BHP’, with the following statement from Mr Joske (an economic adviser to former treasurer Peter Costello in the 1990s): ”There’s no one in Treasury who can tell up from down on China, beyond what they read in the newspapers.”

Should our government consider to reform our media industry to safeguard our national interest as a result of the misleading information we received from our media on a daily basis?

To read this article with links to the sources, visit my personal website:
http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index_the_brutal_truth_about_rio_tinto_bribery_case.htm

Democracy Needs Reform – What China can learn from the frustration of Australia Voters?

Last modified on 2010-08-31 23:28:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The 21 August, 2010 Federal election in Australia ended in a limbo with no outright winner. As a result of the unprecedented number of informal or protest vote casted by our frustrated voters, our unique Preferential Voting Systems failed to prevent the outcome of a hung parliament. The Age (23 Aug 2010) is right to title the situation as a ’sign of disillusion’ by the voters.

While the two major parties still waiting for the outcome of the few undecided seats and are in the process of a negotiation with the 4 independents and the green, let’s have an overview of the kind of candidates available to the voters.

Election without choice – Quality of Candidates need to improve

Our parliament is by right the most important and respectable institution in the country. It bears the heavy responsibility in the management of our A$1.1 trillion economy. Our elected representatives bear the responsibility in the formulation and regulation of policies in the area of health, education, environment, defence, law and order, social welfare, infrastructures, foreign relation etc.- to ensure a safe, harmonize and prosper society. The issues are complex, challenging and they required deep thinkers, great leaders and people with all kind of special knowledge and skills to brainstorm ideas in order to move thing forward.

However, let’s have a quick look at the kind of candidates Australia voters were forced to choose from:

Let put aside the reality of some ‘funny’ personalities running as candidates such as:

* Outcasts bikie who “had served time in Australia and Holland for drug, firearm and kidnapping offences, and said the experience served as an eye-opener to flaws in the system”. (News Limited, 21 July 2010)

* The stupidity of a major party (Coalition) candidate went on Facebook to describe his opponent as “a strong Muslim” and claimed that Labor would bring Australia ”closer to the hands of a Muslim country” (Sydney Morning Herald, 26 July 2010). Even though he was immediately replaced by someone else from the party, the case reflected badly on the availability of quality candidates within the major parties.

* Then we have another childish candidate from the Family First Party who was forced to say: ‘I’m sorry for homophobic tweet’ (Brisbane Times, 12 Aug 2010)

* 24 candidates from the Australia Sex Party sponsored by the sex industry. Their only interest is about the interest of the sex industry.

* A candidate from the Coalition Party who have a record of anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-female views in a magazine either penned or edited by him. This is just an example of how he wrote: “the truth is that women are bloody stupid” and reproduced a joke about a gay man dying of AIDS. However, his leader, Tony Abbott dismissed the views as “colourful”. (Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Aug 2010 – Abbott dismisses candidate’s anti-gay, anti-Semitic and anti-female views as ‘colourful‘)

* Again, a 19 year old teenager without any work experience became a major party (Coalition) candidate. (Brisbane Times, 5 May 2010 – ‘Teenage candidate stands up to PM’)

* ‘Independent candidate charged over broken jaw attack’ at a night club in Gosford (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 Aug 2010)

* ‘Democrats sorry for sex offender candidate Darren Andrews’ (News Limited, 20 Aug 2010)

* Independent Candidate’s ‘Bob Katter threatened to kill me, claims Liberal MP Peter Lindsay’ (News Limited, 25 Aug 2010)

* Another Coalition Party case: ‘Logan City Council calls in Crime and Misconduct Commission to investigate how-to-vote cards on Luke Smith’ (Courier Mail, 13 Aug 2010)

* A blind candidate from another major party – the Labor Party (WA Today, 9 Aug 2010 – ‘Peacock makes ‘handicap’ gaffe in blind candidate’s electorate’)

Note: I have to confess, I do feel bad to include the blind candidate to the above list of ’funny’ personalities. It is definitely a sensational thing to have all type of people from all wards of the society to present as candidates in an election. However, given the responsibility of the parliamentarians to the well being of the nation and the people, I believe that, it is fair for one to ask, will these people have the necessary skill, knowledge and expertise to make the right decision on our behalf? Are they able to understand and comprehend the challenge we encountered in this fast moving 21st century?

The sad thing with the Australia political circle since 1996 are that, there are hardly any good and able people offering themselves as candidates. Even the credibility of the heavy weight within the major parties are often questionable. For examples:

Coalition Party – Leader, Tony Abbott

Tony is a sceptic of climate change. In a recent visit to an Adelaide school, in a question-and-answer session, he told his student audience (Year 5 and 6) that the issue relating to “human contribution to climate change” is an “open question,” he then claimed that: “it was warmer at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth than now”. (Sydney Morning herald, 10 May 2010 – ‘Climate scientists cross with Abbott for taking Christ’s name in vain’)

In another question-and-answer program on the ABC’s TV, when he was quizzed on his criticisms of the Rudd Government’s softening of Australia’s border protection policies and how that criticism squared with his own strong Catholic faith, he claimed that: “Even Jesus Christ would not accept every asylum-seeker” (detail in News Limited, 6 April 2010)

As for his personal finance, Tony “made no secret in the past that he had often found it challenging to make ends meet”. When he lost government in the 2007 election, his income was halved as he lost his ministerial salary, he then complaint in January 2008 that “politicians don’t get paid enough”. He later “took out a new A$710,000 mortgage on his family home” but failed to declare the loans to Parliament for almost two years apparently in breach of the parliamentary rules covering MPs’ pecuniary interests. (News Limited, 23 June 2010)

(Note: The income of a member of parliament including all kind of allowance is around A$160,000/year, it is a lot higher for a shadow opposition’s minister and leader. If Tony Abbott find it hard to make end meet with that kind of income, how the average Australians going to live on? For detail of politician’s income, click on ‘Politicians awarded secret pay rise’ – News Limited, 25 Aug 2010)

However, Tony Abbott is at least honest about one thing: during an interview with the 7.30 Report, he admitted that “his only utterances that should be regarded as ”gospel truth” were carefully prepared and scripted remarks such as those made during speeches or policy pronouncements”, “Otherwise, he indicated that statements he made during the ”heat of discussion” such as radio interviews or under questioning at press conferences, were not necessarily reliable” (Brisbane Times, 18 May 2010 – ‘Read my lying lips: Abbott admits you can’t believe everything he says’)

As a result of his above “gospel truth” confession, in an interview with the Radio 3AW, when Tony Abbott claimed that he will not reintroduce ’Work Choice’ if he win the election, the radio host didn’t believe him and challenge him to put his promise in writing. He then follow suit with the statement “Work Choices dead, buried, cremated”. The childish action has effectively make him a crown and has since become a laughing stock across the media industry and among his opponents. (‘Mr Squiggle: Abbott’s scrawl over the WorkChoices finish line’ – WA Today, 19 July 2010)

Tony Abbott has focused his campaign almost exclusively on stopping the boat (i.e., stopping the asylum seekers). One of the Coalition most frequently appeared political advertisement on TVs was to “STOP the Boat”. He pledged to reopen the detention facilities in Nauru and restart the Howard government’s Pacific Solution on asylum seekers. (Adelaide Now, 2 Aug 2010 – ‘Nauru and asylum seekers a first-day priority for a Tony Abbott Government if elected’). To enforce the point, few days later he travelled all the way to Brisbane to meet the Nauru President who visited Australia (WA Today, 7 Aug 2010 – ‘Abbott to meet Nauru President’); He then pledged to set up a hotline between the Navy and himself, and he will personally decide if an asylum seeker boat be turned away. (Courier Mail, 16 Aug 2010 – ‘Holy asylum seekers! Tony Abbott to take charge of boat people hotline’). On the eve of the polling day, he further set a target of limiting unauthorised boat arrivals in Australia to three a year. (Sydney Morning Herald, 20 Aug 2010 – ‘Three boats a year our target, says Abbott’).

There are too many examples pointing to Tony Abbott inability to understand a broad range of issues and their implication to the country and the society in the short and long run. Below are just a few more selected links for readers to explore:

* ‘I’m no Bill Gates’: Abbott stumbles on broadband plan’ (The Age, 11 Aug 2010)

* Tony Abbott once claimed that “economic is boring” and has been exploited by the Labor Party throughout the election campaign. This is the treasurer statement on the ALP website.

* ‘Tony Abbott faces revolt from within on paid parental leave’ (News Limited, 6 Aug 2010)

As a result, we can easily understand why his own party comrades trying to stay away from him during their election campaigns by “airbrushing Tony from their election materials”. Detail in News limited, 20 July 2010 – ‘Why tense Liberals are airbrushing Tony from election material’

When Tony Abbott won the leadership in the Liberal Party few months ago after an internal coup, former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was so disgusted that, he decided to quit the party (The Age, 26 May 2010 – ‘Baillieu tells of sadness after Fraser quits Liberal Party’).

Former Labor Prime Minister, Paul Keating also openly added his voice by accusing the new opposition leader – Tony Abbott of being an “intellectual nobody” without policy ambition. (Brisbane Time, 16 March 2010 – ‘Abbott a poor man’s John Howard, says Keating’)

Two weeks before the polling day, Malcolm Fraser went further to warn Australian voters that the ’Coalition not ready to govern’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 6 Aug 2010).

Labor Party – Leader, Julia Gillard:

Julia Gillard was the Deputy Prime Minister in the Rudd Government. She was one of the gang of four in the so-called ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ that take the key decisions on behalf of the 20-person cabinet. Therefore, she was unable to fully clear herself of any blunder made by the Rudd’s government such as the bungled insulation scheme, the $1 b wasted on schools building economic stimulus program, the decision to break the Rudd government key election promise on climate change by delaying carbon scheme until 2012, and a series of ruthless and racist’s poll-driven-politics on the issue of skill migration and refugees leading up to the election.

As a deputy in the Rudd government, she perform well acting on the side line. However, when she overthrown her elected master in a poll-driven coup, and became the first female (unelected) Prime Minister in Australia. Her performance on the front line was incredibly and unbelievably childish. For examples,

1) On the issue of her green policy, instead of coming out with a solution as a leader of the nation, she totally avoided her responsibility by proposing to set up a Citizens’ Assembly after the election to let the citizens decide by themselves the nation’s future climate change policy. The Galaxy poll indicated that ‘Voters reject Julia Gillard’s Citizens’ Assembly’ (News Limited, 26 July 2010).

2) On the issue of Asylum seeker, she tried to race to the bottom with the well known racist coalition party (Note: During the Howard’s era, the Coalition government was condemned by the United Nation as a racist government, this is why I term them ‘Racist party’).

To differential herself from the Coalition Party well known Pacific Solution with off shore processing center at Nauru, she proposed an alternative off shore processing center in East Timor without any prior consultation with the government there. The result was, she has to suffer a series of embarrassments through her own indecisiveness and subsequence flip-flop decision on the issue. For examples,

When her unconsulted proposal rejected by the East Timor Deputy Prime Minister, Jose Luis Guterres: ‘Timor says it’s too poor to do Australia’s dirty work’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 8 July 2010), she begin to back away from the idea: ‘Prime Minister Julia Gillard backs away from plan for East Timor processing centre for asylum seekers’ (Courier Mail, 9 July 2010).

However, within a mere 24 hours, she decided to revive the idea: ‘PM Julia Gillard revives East Timor as preferred destination for refugee centre’ (Herald Sun, 10 July 2010). Then, came a report that “EAST Timor’s parliament is planning to make its disapproval of a refugee processing centre on its soil known by sending a strongly-worded condemnation of the proposal to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.” (WA Today, 10 July 2010 – ‘Not on our soil: East Timor leaders’).

It was then reported that, beside Nauru, virtually all the ‘neighbouring countries shun Gillard boat plan’ (Adelaide Now, 13 July 2010).

The fascinating thing is, “The Gillard government will forge ahead with its proposal to establish a refugee processing centre in East Timor, despite that country’s parliament rejecting the idea yesterday” (Brisbane Times, 13 July 2010 – ‘Push for refugee centre will continue despite East Timor rejection’)

Note: Australia has a history of colonising some of the pacific island nations, bullying their leaders, interfering with their internal politics, exploiting their resources and has been exploiting the East Timor oil and gas resources since their independent from Indonesia. It puzzle me that, as the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard seems to have no knowledge of our shameful history in the pacific region, or at least a basic understanding towards the kind of resentment again Australia in the region. The notion that she can forge ahead with its proposal to establish a refugee processing centre in East Timor despite their on-going expression of refusal remind me of the existence of the colonial mentality among some of our political ‘elites’ (perhaps?).

Of course, in the face of the persistently hostile attitude toward her asylum seeker policy in the region, Julia Gillard has finally come to term with directly copying the coalition’s Pacific Solution Policy using Nauru as a processing center. As a result, “NAURU has re-emerged as a serious option for Julia Gillard’s asylum-seeker processing facility” (Courier Mail, 14 July 2010)

The down side for Julia Gillard is that, she tried to race to the bottom with an authentic racist party, and she is unable to win over the kind of voters that supported the that party. Her action has instead alienated her own traditional base supporters. This was perhaps one of the major reason behind the high volume of protest vote that resulted in the current hung parliament situation.

3) Despite the fact that Tony Abbott had in many occasions insisted that “Work Choices is dead, buried and cremated”. Labor still tried to make that an issue through their political advertisements and a series of media interviews. On the eve of the polling day, Julia has a last shot on the issue of Work Choices. (The Australian, 20 Aug 2010 – ‘Julia Gillard campaign switches to negative mode, warning of ‘risk’ of electing Tony Abbott’)

4) Facing a dramatic down fall in her popularity in a series of opinion polls, Julia Gillard suddenly came out with an idea to revive herself by telling voters that what they have seems of her so far are not her true self. She then created a term called the “Real Julia” – (WA Today, 2 Aug 2010 – ‘‘Real Julia’ vows to throw rule book out window’).

Please forgive me, I cannot thought of any nation leader as childish as this, as a result, she has effectively became a laughing stock by the media and her opponents over the next few weeks leading all the way up to the polling day.

There are other issues with Julia Gillard such as ‘Bodyguard deputised for Gillard for national security meetings’ (Perth Now, 30 July 2010) etc.

The Childish Behaviour of Post Election Blame Games

If you cannot control the behaviour of your own comrades within your own party, you are not a good leader. The logic is as simple as that. A good leader will usually undertake the responsibility of the party performance.

However, in Australia, there is a culture of blaming someone else for their failure. The cruel reality is that the very people that involved in the childish blame game are our nation most highly ranked politicians at both state and federal levels. The blame game actually reflected badly on the kind of leadership quality we rely upon to run the country.

Despite the flaws and stupidities on her own accords during the election campaign, Julia Gillard begin to blame the incompetency of the state government of Queensland and NSW for her suffered in the poll before the polling day by telling voters ‘Don’t blame me for their sins’ (Illawarra Mercury, 16 Aug 2010)

As a result, immediately after the election, a political blame game has began between the state and nation’s Labor governments. You may click on the following links to have a good laugh at the childishness of our top ‘elites’:

‘Labor members bag party’s ‘faceless men’‘ (The Australian, 23 Aug 2010)

‘Federal Labor points finger of blame at Bligh’ (Brisbane Times, 23 Aug 2010)

‘Keneally lashes out at Bligh’s ‘NSW disease’ jibe’ (Brisbane Times, 24 Aug 2010)

‘Keneally blames Rudd for state’s voter backlash’ (The Australian, 24 Aug 2010)

‘Anna Bligh puts blame on Labor machine’ (The Australian, 24 Aug 2010)

‘Labor war hurting bid for power’ (The Australian, 25 Aug 2010)

‘Keneally blames MPs for her falling popularity’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 26 Aug 2010)

The Coalition is of no exception. They have two leadership Coups prior to the election. The following is just a sign that, if they are unable to form a minority government, there may be another leadership coup:

‘A terrible time for Liberals to go to war’ (The Daily Telegraph, 24 Aug 2010)

‘Now Coalition begins its own civil war’ (WA Today, 25 Aug 2010)

The Frustration of Australia Voters

Given the above examples of the kind of political leadership we had in this country, I believe that the following survey will not shock any body:

Two month before the election, a survey conducted in June indicated that “Australians are pretty fed up with their political leaders” (News Limited, 4 June 2010 – ‘Polls reveal public fed up with politicians’).

A month later, another survey in Queensland indicated that “majority of Australians think neither Labor nor the Coalition deserves to be elected” (Courier mail, 18 July 2010 – ‘Queensland voters facing a bruising time as fertile election ground’)

In fact, the number of people interested in our democratic process has dramatically declined. Despite the fact that voting is compulsory in Australia, according to the Australian Electoral Commission two months before the polling day: “1.4 million people are “missing” from the roll” (Herald Sun, 10 July 2010 – ‘Record number of young people have not enrolled to vote’). 20 days later, the Australian Electoral Commission issued another warning: ‘Decline in voters ‘a threat to nation’s democracy’’ – (The Age 30 July 2010).

The reality is, the number of membership within the two major political parties have drastically declined as well. Dr. Kemp, a former Howard government minister have this warning to the Liberal Party two years ago ‘Ailing Liberals need young members, says president’ (The Age, 31 March 2008). It was then revealed that “membership of the Victorian party has fallen from a post-Whitlam peak of 33,000 in the 1970s to 13,000 today. Over the past two decades, the number of Liberal branches has dropped by almost 20% to 393, and the average age of a Liberal member is 62.”

The Labor party is facing the same problem – former cabinet minister Race Mathews revealed a year ago that “the party’s national membership has plummeted to about 50,000 — down from about 370,000 immediately after World War II — and the average age is about 50.” (The Age, 26 Jan 2009 – ‘Faction-hit ALP ‘faces extinction’)

How Long can we afford to have politicians not doing anything right for us?

The list of incompetency among our political leadership that I am able to provide is by no way exhausted. I do not want to bore you with too many of such examples, but to make the point, I would like to provide another two stories:

* Our federal deputy opposition leader ‘Julie Bishop apologises after second plagiarism incident’ (ABC, 27 Oct 2008)

* Latest incident: ‘Furious independent Rob Oakeshott harassed by rogue Liberal MP’ (News Limited, 30 Aug 2010)

Like all countries, Australia is facing a series of new and accumulated problem. For examples, the currently hotly debated issue of aging population; the record level of national and individual debts; the lack of hospital funding; years of water mismanagement with dying rivers; Global warming with disastrous weather pattern such as the threat of flood, bush fire and sand storm; the threat to the survival of the Great Barrier Reef and a series of social imbalance in the form of the number of homeless population and the issue of housing affordability etc. All these required finance, technology and human resources to overcome. Can Australia cope with these challenges without reforming our current election process to ensure people with the right mindset, attitude, knowledge, skill, expertise, delegation and commitment seating in our Parliament?

This short article written by Geoff Gallop, former premier of Western Australia may worth your time to read: ‘An election is fine, but what about the future?’ (WA Today, 20 July 2010)

I know, some Westerners are sensitive with the way I brought up the name China. However, for the sake of our own humanity and long term well being, I believe that it is in our interest to put aside the prejudice we had against China. After 30 years of economic and political reform, China is no longer the country our media wanted us to believe in.

There are many advance feature in their political system that ensure democracy and consultation on a broad base such as in the form of village and county’s elections, as well as , narrower based democracy within the party, government departments and ministries.

We have witnessed the smooth transfer of their top leadership every 10 years with younger generation without drama.

There is no reason for us to ignore their records of lifting 400 million people out of poverty within the last 30 years, and the ability to become the world 2nd largest economy this year from a dire condition 60 years ago, and the fact that they have being the biggest creditor of the United State with a national reserve of USD2.4 trillion are by no way nothing got to do with the leadership their system managed to provide.

China is still not a perfect country, but it is getting better and better every year. Only if we can put aside our prejudice against China, we can then learn from their wisdom and make improvement on our own. I will write an article on democracy with China characteristic sometime in the future.

Will democracy at its current form, a formula for disaster in the 21 century?

Written on 31 Aug 2010 by www.outcastjournalist.com

To read this article with hyper-links to the Sources, please go to my personal website: http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index_democracy_needs_reform_the_frustration_of_Australia_voters.htm

Evidence of Australia Journalist in China writing a series of invented stories to smear against PLA

Last modified on 2010-08-12 16:35:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

China as a non-Western country demonstrated its potential to become the next super power has consistently being the target of media smear campaign in the West. The following article with a series of evidence demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that a number of stories reported by an Australian Journalist about the People Liberation Army during the 2008 earthquake were based on his own imagination – they are baseless, mean, irresponsible and unethical.

However, he has been protected by the media industry in Australia. When approached to explain the inconsistency in his reports, The Age newspaper (The newspaper that published those dodgy materials) has returned my e-mail twice as “deleted without being read”. The ABC’s media watch (a TV program supposed to report about dodgy journalism) also returned by e-mail once as “deleted without being read”.

The Australia Press Council (a body that regulate the behavior of the media)is also guilty of protecting media that violated its own written principles on journalism.

I have exhausted all avenue over the last 2 months (including running 4 articles) to clear China name to no avail. Therefore, I would like to present my evidence here for the world citizens (people who care about having truthful information from the media) to suggest what we should do next to ensure that media that published dodgy materials be made accountable to their dodgy reports.

If some one could please translate this article into Chinese language and spread the message across the world through e-mails, social networking websites and whatever mean to brain storm ideas, and we can decide together on how to use people power to make those responsible for writing and publishing dodgy materials against China to say sorry to their own readers and also express sorry to the Chinese public.

For examples, each and very of us may send an e-mail or write a letter to those media involved in publishing dodgy material and refused to say “sorry” to demonstrate our protest and demand an apology. This is just a suggestion. Please post your suggestion using the comment function at the end of this article. Please limit your wording so that good suggestion will not be missed by us. We will inform you the best way of doing it so that everybody may act together and make sure that: The peace loving world citizens will no longer be silence by the mainstream Western media unethical behavior to smear against developing countries”.

Below is the content of an article I wrote recently:

How the Australia Press Council Protected Media that Violated Its Own Written Principles?

Note: You may wish to read it on my own website with links to the evidence and post your suggestion under the comment at Fools Mountain website:

http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index_Australian_Press_Council_Protecting_Media_That_Violated_Its_Own_Written_Principle.htm

The content of my article begin here:

About The Australia Press Council

Australia Press Council is the self-regulatory body of the print media: “According to its recently revised Constitution, the objects of the Australian Press Council are to promote freedom of speech through responsible and independent print media, and adherence to high journalistic and editorial standards…,” “To carry out its press responsibility role, it serves as a forum to which anyone may take a complaint concerning the press.”

The above are the written pledge by the Press Council on their website.

Here is the link to the Council Statement of Principles. (i.e., principles that ensure high journalistic and editorial standard)

How the Council Behave when a legitimate complaint is made with strong supporting evidence that a series of reports made by a newspaper have breached not only the ethic of journalism but each and every of the Council written principles?

Following is a recent letter I emailed to the Australia Press Council on 20 July 2010 outlining the seriousness of the case, and the detail of how each and every of the Council written principles have been violated. I also analysed in detail why the council should waive its 60 days time limit for complaint and consider the case under its special circumstance clause.

I have provided significant amount of evidence in an easy to understand – point by point manner proven beyond reasonable doubt that: a series of reports published by the newspaper concerned were not based on facts but the invention of their Journalist, and it is only one simple step from the Press Council by forwarding my e-mail to the respective newspaper demanding an answer to the 5 questions I raise, and the truth will be out, the Council Principles will be upheld, the right of the Australian people to know the truth will be fulfilled.

However, guest what kind of reasoning the Council used to dismiss my case?

I believe that it is fair for us to ask: “Will a self-regulatory body that served the same interest of the mainstream media be serious about maintaining the ethic of Journalism in this country? Will the Press Council genuinely believe in upholding the right of the Australian public to know the truth?

After reading my correspondence with the Council, a good friend of mine sending me the following remark as his feedback: “Australian Press Council controlling media disinformation? Would you trust John Howard to control racism?” (Author Note: The Howard’s government was regarded by the UN as a racist government in 2000)

The following is my story:

Following is the full content of my e-mail to the Australia Press Council on the 20 July 2010:

—————————————————

To: Jack R Herman/ Executive Secretary

Australia Press Council

Dear Mr. Jack R Herman,

Re: One more step and the truth is out: Defending Australians Right to understand other culture through accurate information

Further to my e-mail dated 15 June 2010, I would like to inform you that The Age has again returned my e-mail as “return without being read”.

The reality is, if you read the content of the latest e-mail correspondents between John Garnaut and myself as mentioned in my last e-mail to you dated 15 June 2010 under the following link: More Dodgy Materials Exposed – The Age and John Garnaut Case Continue, I believe that you will agree with me that, it is only one more step and the truth will be out. And it is only the Australia Press Council has the authority to press the Age for a reply.

Before I make a summary of issues that I hope that the Press Council will assist in securing a reply from The Age, I would like to address the reasons why The Council should regards this case as an exceptional case to Act upon even outside its 60 days complaint time frame.

Why The Press Council Should consider this case an exceptional case outside the 60 days limit?

When I wrote my first e-mail to the Council dated 2 June 2010, I understand that there is an exception to the 60 days policy, that was why I presented it as a case of national security. This is how I wrote: “I also outlined in this article (Media Accountability—The Age must say ‘Sorry’ to Australians) the reason why such behaviour posted a security risk to Australia and urged that we should “Lets’ the world understand each other through accurate information.”

As you have rejected my complaint under the following reason in your e-mail dated 3 June 2010:

“I have reviewed your material. It does not appear to me that you have established any case at all that there has been a breach of the Council’s principles.”

As a result, I have accessed your website again to study the handful of principles lay down by the Council , now I would like to present my complaint base on the Council principles as follows:

The very first statement spell out by the Council’s Statement of Principles is: “the freedom of the press to publish is the freedom, and right, of the people to be informed,” the second principle is the “equivalent responsibility to the public”.

Note: I can assure the Council that this case involved not only one report that is dodgy and baseless, but at least 2. They not only contradicted each other, but I have good reasons to believe that the reports were not based on fact but a baseless story based purely on the invention of The Age China Correspondent’s John Garnaut. I believe that, the Australian readers have the right to know the truth, and under the current circumstances, it is only one more step and the truth will be out. The Australia Press Council has the authority to press the Age for an answer to ratify the series of highly misleading and distorting reports published by the Age (detail at the later part of this letter).

I believe that the Press Council would like to uphold its very first principle “The right of the people to be informed” and the second principle “the equivalent responsibility to the public”.

In addition to the above 2 core principles lay down by the Council, the Council when considering complaints, will have regard for the following general principles as well:

Point 2.) “Where it is established that a serious inaccuracy has been published, a publication should promptly correct the error, giving the correction due prominence.”

Point 4.) “…..Rumour and unconfirmed reports should be identified as such.”

Point 6.) “Publications are free to advocate their own views and publish the bylined opinions of others, as long as readers can recognise what is fact and what is opinion.”

Note: The nature of my complaint is not only about “serious inaccuracy” (Point 2) and “rumour has been published” (Point 4). It is about deliberate distortion in The Age’s reports, and it is malicious in nature to demonise a country – Our biggest trading partner, China. (detail at the later part of this letter).

The impact is, the Australian public “cannot distinguish what is opinion and what is fact” (Point 6). Despite the reality that China has made dramatic achievement in its human right records by lifting 400 million people out of poverty within the last 30 years; having the highest level of citizens satisfaction with the country direction at 86% and the second highest is Australia at only 61% (PEW survey 2008); and its human right achievement in its rescue, reconstruction and compensation arrangement for the more than 5 million victims in the 2008 Earthquake (The Time Magazine: ‘Haiti and China: A Tale of Two Earthquakes’) – Australians were basically unaware of the above facts. Why?

Their perception of our biggest trading partner is getting worst. For examples (1) Lowy Institute Poll and (2) Investors wary of Chinese money. Why? Our mainstream media has definitely not having any balance in their report as far as issues relating to China is concerned. Why?

In your letter dated 3 June 2010, you stated that “He (John Garnaut) is entitled to report what he saw and heard at the time – not all journalists present will have exactly the same experience”. I fully agree with your above statement. However, not when the statements he made were baseless based purely on his imagination in violation of all the Press Council’s basic principles.

In 2008, we witnessed Chinese students living in the West, having “freedom” of information from the Western Media suddenly went on protest across the Western world by the Tens of thousands of people – protesting against media bias and distorting reports against China. This incident demonstrated that it is in the public interest that the Press Council take this opportunity to ratify the problem of selective, unbalance and distorting report by the media industry and in this particular case – The Age – as a result of John Garnaut behaviour in a series of his reports that violated all the basic principles lay down by the Press Council. The seriousness of the influence of these misleading reports are that many of these reports were republished by other newspapers and magazines within the Fairfax group.

Australia’s former ambassador to Indonesia, Japan and Thailand recently warned that “Australia risks being complacent about its reputation in Asia”, I can assure you that our mainstream media culture with selective reports have got to do with the situation.

This is perhaps the reason why Mr Joske (an economic adviser to former treasurer Peter Costello in the 1990s) spoke out late last year (2009) that: ”There’s no one in Treasury who can tell up from down on China, beyond what they read in the newspapers.” And pointed out the sad reality that “BHP bent the ears of senior ministers and exploited the Government’s ”policy dysfunction” to get its way on China.” (Brisbane Time, 15 Oct 2009)

In fact, the resentment against the mainstream media in Australia gone further than that:

Dr Anne Aly in her research into how Australian Muslims were responding to the discourse on terrorism in the Australian popular media observed that: “it was increasingly evident that Australian Muslims were turning to the internet to access information about the United States-led interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and engaging heavily in propaganda and conspiracy theories.” (Australia Strategic Studies Institute article: ‘Online radicalisation and the Muslim diaspora’, 13 July 2009)

Therefore, I believe that it is in both the national and public interest that the Press Council demonstrated its leadership to ensure it core and general principles being upheld at all time. That is: “Publications should take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate, fair and balanced. They should not deliberately mislead or misinform readers either by omission or commission.” (Point 1 of the Press Council’s general principle).

I hope that the Council will forward this e-mail to The Age, so that they will have to give me a reply and ratify the series of dishonest and misleading reports made by John Garnaut with detail as follows:

The Council need just to do the following to uphold the Council Principles

The Council need just to forward my e-mail to the Age and ask them to give my following questions a straight forward and unambiguous reply to uphold the Council Core and General Principles:

Over the last few weeks since I posted my first report: Can we trust our Media? The Shocking Behaviour of The Age Journalist’s John Garnaut (dated 12 May 2010), followed by Media Accountability—The Age must say ‘Sorry’ to Australians (dated 24 May 2010), then More Dodgy Materials Exposed – The Age and John Garnaut Case Continue (dated 14 June 2010), I received a total of 3 e-mails from John Garnaut.

If you examine the content of each of our (John Garnaut and myself) e-mail correspondents, I am confident that, you will find John Garnaut is Guilty as Charged.

Let’s put aside the 3 dodgy reports he made in regard to Chinese top leadership direct involvement in the Rio Tinto bribery case without any sources being quoted (detail in More Dodgy Materials Exposed – The Age and John Garnaut Case Continue), The mere fact that, he has great difficulty to answer the questions I posted with regards to the content of the report he attached to me in his email dated 7 June 2010 tell a lot about the credibility of his story.

This is the content of his e-mail dated 7 June 2010:

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Dear Wei Ling,

Here is a May 2008 report, setting out in more detail the circumstances that you said I invented a year later:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/taking-a-great-leap-for-wen/2008/05/16/1210765170782.html

The witness in that story was engaged by me at the time.

To dispel another of your excited allegations, I do not have two names. Jophiel Bushnell works at the news desk in Melbourne and forwarded your complaint on to me.

I trust you will find some more fruitful conspiracies to spend your time on.

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My analysis:

If you read the content of John Garnaut above attached link to his (May 2008) report. The report title is (Taking a great leap for Wen, dated 17 May 2008), you will find the following key words and sentences that place the credibility of his story in doubt:

Wednesday;

slipped past the road block;

At 10.11am he snapped a picture;

we carried; and

Until dusk on Wednesday in Beichuan, at least, they were just blocking the road.

In my e-mail reply to him dated 8 June 2010, I pointed out that the date “Wednesday” in the report (Taking a great leap for Wen) was on 14 May 2008, and it was through the eyes of an unnamed Chinese Journalist (ie, 3rd party account of the event). However, his report a year later in 9 May 2009 (‘Journey through an earthquake’) has became a First party witness statement. This is how I asked John Garnaut in my email reply:

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Question 1:

In your report on the 9 May 2009 ‘Journey through an earthquake’, you mentioned that: “On May 14 and 15, The Age watched People’s Liberation Army….”, that mean, you personally witnessed People Liberation Army looting on May 14 and May 15, 2008.

But in your report (Taking a great leap for Wen) dated 17 May 2008, the description wasn’t a first person account. It was through the eyes of an unnamed Chinese Journalist. So, why are you using the statement “The Age watched…..” in your 9 May 2009 report?

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Question 2:

When you mentioned “Wednesday” in your 17 May 2008 report, I have just verify that that day was 14 May 2008. You have this statement that put yourself on the scene as a first hand witness: “Later, the soldiers were still loitering and sticking out their hands for drinks “we carried” to the exhausted rescuers actually looking for survivors.”

My questions are:

a) Have you “slipped past the road block” as well like the (unnamed) Chinese Journalist on Wednesday (14 May 2008)?

b) As a professional Journalist, I believe you did carry a camera with you, have you taken any picture of those scene you witnessed on 14 May 2008?

c) Can you tell us the date of the 3 photo series produced under your name on the Age website: http://www.theage.com.au/multimedia/china_earthquake/index.html

d) Again, why didn’t you report your story on the Sydney Morning Herald on the 15 May 2008 (‘Horror of entire towns flattened’)?

e) By the way, who is the other person who witnessed the event of “Later, the soldiers were still loitering and sticking out their hands for drinks we carried to the exhausted rescuers actually looking for survivors.” Who is the other “We” that can support your account of the event?

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Question 3:

This question is posted under the subheading special note in my e-mail dated 8 June 2010. This is how I asked John Garnaut:

The questions here are, who was that Chinese Journalist named in your report? What is his name? When and where did you and him engaged in those conversation and under what circumstances did you all got to know each other? Since he told you so much of his account of what he witnessed in such great length and detail, including statement such as “At 10.11am he snapped a picture of a group of soldiers running…”, that mean you all knew each other quite well. Why don’t you buy the photos from him as it should worth owing those materials as they were the only evidence of People Liberation Army “loitering aimlessly and helping themselves to goods looted from shattered shops, while the cries of trapped citizens rang out from buildings nearby,”.

Given the hostile International (Western) environment against China, I believe that those evidence of “People’s Liberation Army soldiers loitering aimlessly and helping themselves to goods looted from shattered shops” should worth a lot of money. As an experience journalist, don’t you have the instinct and urged to owe those evidence and make it an exclusive report with worldwide circulation? There are going to be a lot of money $$$ to be made, don’t you think so?

——————————————————-

I believe that the above 3 questions are reasonable and if John Garnaut story was credible, he should have no difficulty to provide an answer. However, this is how he replied on the 8 June 2010:

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It really is more simple than you think.

The Herald and Age buy stories from wire agencies, like Reuters and AP. Sometimes their stories get interwoven with mine by editors in Sydney or Melbourne and I don’t even know that it has happened, so it might look like a jointly written story when it wasn’t. For example, I have never heard of Francois Bougon. I reported what I saw, he reported what he saw, it is not surprising that we did not see exactly the same thing.

Unfortunately yours is a conspiratorial mind. You are determined that journalists like myself are simply elements of the “hostile international (western) environment”, inventing stories from our imagination, to use your words. Nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps you believe that you know more about everything that I write about than I do, but perhaps you are not omniscient as you think. Perhaps it’s been so long since you really connected with China that you have no idea how it works. Unfortunately I cannot spend more time reasoning with a fanatical anti-western ‘patriot’ who cannot be reasoned with. I have to get on with reporting China as I see it, with all its courage, colour and sometimes tragedy.

If I sent you the Beichuan photo that you asked for, I would hope that you might then find something more useful to spend your time on. But I suspect that you will invent another conspiracy – or, more likely, continue to recycle old conspiracies from the anti-CNN website as you have been doing – to hurl at me from your own website because it makes you feel important.

jg

John

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As you may observe from the above e-mail statement, John Garnaut has just denied that the Joint Report he made with Francois Bougon in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 15 May 2008 (‘Horror of entire towns flattened’) was not his work.

So I believe that the following questions I posted in my e-mail reply to him dated 9 June 2010 is reasonable and deserve an unambiguous reply.

I would like to put it as Question 4 in this letter as follows:

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Question 4:

When you state that “I have never heard of Francois Bougon. I reported what I saw, he reported what he saw, it is not surprising that we did not see exactly the same thing,” are you trying to suggest now that the report on the Sydney Morning Herald on the 15 May 2008 (‘Horror of entire towns flattened’) with your name on it, is not your work? If that is the case, please tell us, the content of your original work? It must have been published somewhere else? Can you please show us the link?

I also would like to ask one more question: did John Garnaut received the commission from his report on the Sydney Morning Herald dated 15 May 2008?

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In regard to his other statement: “If I sent you the Beichuan photo that you asked for, I would hope that you might then find something more useful to spend your time on. But I suspect that you will invent another conspiracy”

I would like to post him the 5th question as follows:

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Question 5:

Since John Garnaut indicated that he has the “Beichuan photo” that I asked for, I would like him to show us the photo with images showing “People’s Liberation Army soldiers loitering aimlessly and helping themselves to goods looted from shattered shops”, and then explain to us: Why didn’t he published those photos on:

15 May 2008: (‘Horror of entire towns flattened’)

17 May 2008: (‘Taking a great leap for Wen’)

9 May 2009: (‘Journey through an earthquake’)

Why didn’t any of the 3 photo series produced in the Age website (http://www.theage.com.au/multimedia/china_earthquake/index.html) under John Garnaut name showing “People’s Liberation Army soldiers loitering aimlessly and helping themselves to goods looted from shattered shops”?

Please bear in mind that the day John Garnaut witnessed “People’s Liberation Army soldiers….. helping themselves to goods looted from shattered shops” is on the 14 and 15 May 2008. Why can’t he backed up his claim with photos he claimed to have in his e-mail dated 8 June 2010?

Conclusion:

China through a series of political and economic reform has become our biggest trading partner with its national reserve still growing dramatically after the 2008 financial crisis (more than USD2.4 trillion to date). Our A$17 billion dollar education industry is supported by 150,000 Chinese students.

Some of these students may become the future Chinese leaders, and the way our mainstream media treating China with all kind of selective, partial, and distorting news has upset many. The 2008 Chinese student street protest across the country is just an example of resentment and anger.

Media negativity against other culture and countries also resulted in negative behaviour of some of our less inform citizens attitude towards other culture, nationals and migrants in this country. As a result, there are serious racism and racist behaviour both among our political leaderships and some session of the community.

These are the real security risk to Australia future prospect in the Asia pacific region and the world at large.

I believe that John Garnaut through the series of his ‘imaginary’ reports against China have effectively violated all the core and general principles spell out by the Press Council. The intention is Malicious and the effect is toxic. The evidence and logic I have produced so far are solid, and all the 5 questions I raised in this letter deserved an unambiguous reply from the Age. The way, The Age Foreign Editor deleted my e-mail without being read showing that: “dodgy journalism” is the darling of the media.

I hope that the Australia Press Council will take this opportunity to demonstrate to the world that, Australia is serious about:

· “The right of the people to know the truth”

· “Where it is established that a serious inaccuracy has been published, a publication should promptly correct the error, giving the correction due prominence”.

· “Publications should take reasonable steps to ensure reports are accurate, fair and balanced. They should not deliberately mislead or misinform readers either by omission or commission.”

As you have mentioned in your last e-mail when you rejected my complaint: “He (John Garnaut) is entitled to report what he saw and heard at the time – not all journalists present will have exactly the same experience” indicated that it is not an easy job to prove that a report or reports were dodgy. I have already done the hard work of analysing through strong logic and reasoning and proving beyond reasonable doubt that those reports were dishonest in nature, and a small step from the Press Council will allow the Australian people to know the truth.

Let’s work together to uphold the Press Council core and general principles on Journalism. Let’s defence Australians right to understand other culture through accurate information.

Thank you very much

Hope to hear from you soon with a positive response.

Yours sincerely,

Wei Ling Chua

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This is How The Press Council Reply dated 21 July 2010

Mr Wei Ling Chua

Thank you for your letter of July 20.

I have read your comments but can find no reason to re-open the matter. Your complaint is based on your interpretation of the events; it is not the only interpretation. But more importantly, you seek to raise a matter that is well past the normal time and you do not press any concerns that would make that an issue the Council needs to take up at this late stage.

I can add little to what I said in my June 3 letter. The situation remains the same.

Jack R Herman

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Conclusion:

ACMA (Australia Communication and Media Authority) is a government body set up to regular the conduct of TV, Radio etc (non printed media). They also have their written code of practice and a 60 days policy.

However, unlike the Australia Press Council, the ACMA’s 60 days policy is not designed to be used to prevent the public from making a legitimate complaint. Their 60 days policy is for the offenders to response to the public complaint within 60 days.

When you go to the Australia Press Council homepage, you will find the item ‘How to make a complaint’ on the left hand side of the homepage. When you place your cursor on the item ‘How to make a complaint’, you are most likely to automatically select the very first item that drop down from the screen. That is ‘Overview’.

Click on the ‘Overview’, and you will find this statement: ‘Complaints must be lodged within sixty days of the initial publication’. Many people may decided to drop off their complaint from this point onward. However, I decided to search every pages, and found this statement: “The Council will only consider waiving this requirement in special circumstances”. It has been obvious to me that, unlike the ACMA, the Australia Press Council has not being sincere in having the public to lodge a complaint and act to upheld its so-called “high journalistic and editorial standards”.

The seriousness of this case is not only about the basic ethic of Journalism has been violated but virtually all the core and general principles of Journalism lay down by the Press Council have been breached.

In my reply to the above Press Council E-mail dated 21 July 2010, I have written the following statement:

“I am not sure how you can interpret those 5 questions I raise in any other way? At least John Garnaut, the first party in the case appear not being able to handle those questions through the content of his recent 3 e-mails to me. I believe that the most objective and impartial thing to do is to ask The Age, the party who published those materials to interpret them for us. Why speculate about the interpretation before the party in the case tell us how they will interpret the 5 questions I asked?”

“The problem with the Age’s account of the stories are that, they not only contradicted tons of other journalists reports on the same event, they even contradicted each other statements including statements made within the same report. All those stories also contradicted the photo and video images produced under the name of John Garnaut on the Age’s photo and video webpage. Therefore, I believe that in the mind of any reasonable people, it is unreasonable to limit the accountability of a series of dodgy reports with such malicious nature to strictly 60 days if the council is serious about upholding the Council core and general principles for Journalism.”

“The outcome of this case required only one simple step from the Council by simply forwarding my properly written letter with an unambiguous point by point evaluation and questions to the Age newspaper for an unambiguous reply and the truth will be out, the Council principles will be upheld and the Australian people right to know the truth will be fulfil. If the Age is not guilty of publishing “invented stories”, their name is clear as well.”

“The materials may be over the 60 days limit, but all the materials are readily in place for analysis including the content of the 3 very recent e-mail from John Garnaut.”

“Please bear in mind that we are dealing with a case of “invented stories”, it is more serious than any of the principles outlined by the Council. To get the truth, it is only one small step from the Council – a few second job. I believe that Australian people would like to know and have the right to demand for an answers from the Age.”

This is how the Council reply on 23 July 2010:

“Thank you for your letter of July 22.

I have read your comments but can still find no reason to re-open the matter. I can add little to what I said in my June 3 and July 21 letters. The situation remains the same. Your complaint is well out of time.

This correspondence is now ended.”

The issue now is: Can we trust our mainstream media? Can we trust a self-regulatory body who served the same interest of the mainstream media to regulate the conduct of the very same interest they served? Should we campaign the government to set up an independent body like the ACMA to defence Australian rights for honest journalism?

Anybody with any suggestion, please leave your comment at the end of this article at Fools Mountain website.

Written by www.outcastjournalist.com

Related Previous Articles:

– Can we trust our Media? The Shocking Behaviour of The Age Journalist’s John Garnaut (12 May 2010)

– Media Accountability—The Age must say ‘Sorry’ to Australians (24 May 2010)

– More Dodgy Materials Exposed – The Age and John Garnaut Case Continue (14 June 2010)

Democracy needs reform—The cruelty of poll driven politics in Australia

Last modified on 2010-08-07 04:52:20 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

I wrote this article on 28 June 2010, I decided to publish with Fool’s Mountain now is because I believe that, the research will help some Chinese readers to understand the concept of democracy in theory and in practice. This article ended with a quote using a Chinese leader statement about democracy.

Just a bit of my background, I was born in Singapore, and my father was born in Indonesia, China is not my country and there is no issue of being a patriotic Chinese national. I spent 3 years in Eastern Europe (1991 – 1994)when the Communist collapsed. I witnessed first hand the kind of suffering when a system is overthrown overnight. After 20 years of having democratic government in Eastern Europe, a recent survey by the American based PEW found the following outcome:

End of Communism Cheered but Now with More Reservations: http://pewglobal.org/2009/11/02/end-of-communism-cheered-but-now-with-more-reservations/

I have been living in Australia for almost 20 years now, also witnessing first hand democracy in practice in a developed country. I decided to produce a series of articles on this issue not because I don’t like the concept of democracy but hoping that people from China should objectively assess the merit of a political system and seek to make improvement based on their current foundation.

Below is the content of my article on Democracy Needs Reform – The Cruelty of Poll Driven Politics in Australia:

After a series of sudden and drastic moved initiated by a handful of people within some fractions of the Australia Labor Party on Wednesday evening, Australians woke up the next morning (24 June 2010) watching their elected Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) cried in front of the TV screen after he was told by the dozens of his colleagues he was finished as prime minister. (Herald Sun, 25 June 2010)

The cause of his down fall was mainly due to the fact that his popularity has plunged dramatically over the last 6 months. This in part was the direct result of the mining companies $100 million advertising campaign against his government intention to imposed a Super Mining Tax in 2012 to give the average Australians a fairer share of the profit from the resources digging out from Australian soil and seabed. The opposition has sided the miners over the Super Mining Tax and benefited from a huge amount of political donation.

As a result, the first thing our (unelected) new prime minister (Julie Gillard) did was to offer a truce to the miners by withdrawing the government $38 million counter-miner-advertising-campaign and promised to “talk to the industry without pre-conditions,” (The Australian, 25 June 2010 – ‘Miners accept new Prime Minister’s offer of a truce’). BHP Billiton being the first miner to suspend its TV advertising campaign and our humble new government reacted immediately by showing appreciation: ‘Gillard thanks BHP for scrapping ads’ (Herald Sun, 25 June 2010).

However, after a mere few hours of excitement, some miners have again decided to continue their relenting advertising campaign: ‘Miners continue working on mining tax ads despite truce’ (News Limited, 25 June 2010). Mining Chief, Keith De Lacy then pressed on the federal government to take the $12 billion revenue from a resource super-profits tax out of the budget’s forward estimates. (The Australian, 26 June 2010).

A Sad Day For Democracy

Democracy is supposed to be a system base on the concept of ‘One People One Vote’. However, in this instant, it has became (as a friend of mine put it): an “One Dollar One Vote” system. The reality now are:

1) An elected Prime Minister can be replaced over night by the decision of a few dozens of privilege people within a political party.

2) A mostly foreign owe multi-national corporations like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto together with a couple of local billionaires are able to influence a nation political process, overthrown an elected Prime Minister, and humble the new government by simply throwing their money around.

It would be fair for one to ask:

a) Have our current form of “democratic” system of government function in accordance to the wish of the people on the street?; Or

b) Have it became a system that favour the wishes of a handful of very rich people and multi-national corporations?

No Need To Feel Sorry For Kevin Rudd

During the last 2 and a half years as Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd has been very much a hated figure among his staffers with “262 ministerial staff – from a total of 444 positions departed since Labor came to office”. However, when a single tear ran down his face as he delivered an emotional farewell to the nation on the TV screen, some of his staffers apparently weep with him. Frankly speaking, when I watched the scene on TV, I do feel sorry for him as I can sense the kind of humiliation and betrayal he had to endure from his own comrades within the party. Their action were sweep, brutal and ruthless.

However, when we put in context Kevin Rudd own ruthless poll driven policies over the last few months, we can only ask ourselves, is this the sub-culture of the current form of democracy? What can we do to make the system more humane, ethical, responsible and civilise?

The Cruelty Of Poll Driven Politics

Example 1: A Sudden change to the ‘In demand’ Skill Migration List

Former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has always been an enthusiastic supporter of a bigger Australia:

According to a new Immigration Department report on skilled arrivals in 2009, “the Rudd Government has admitted it wants to bring in up to 230,000 migrants annually over the next 40 years,” (Herald Sun, 3 September 2009 – ’Federal Government set to maintain record high immigration levels’).

A month later, in an interview with the 7.30 report, Kevin Rudd unambiguously spoke of the merit of a bigger population. This is what he said: “I actually believe in a big Australia. I make no apology for that,” “I actually think it’s good news that our population is growing,” and “I think it is good for us, it’s good for our national security long term, it’s good in terms of what we can sustain as a nation.” (The Age, 23 Oct 2009)

Merely another 3 months later, Kevin Rudd in his speech to mark the 2010 Australia Day Celebration by again spoken about our aging population and the need for Australia to increase its population from 22 million to 36 million by 2050 to maintain our current standard of living. (‘Kevin Rudd’s speech in full’- News Limited, 20 Jan 2010)

However, when the media begin to publish a series of anti-immigration articles and speeches by the oppositions, activists, and right wingers with strong anti-immigrant sentiment and the public opinion indicated that “Two-thirds of respondents – 66 per cent – think the Federal Government should cap immigration rates” (News Limited, 24 Jan 2010). This is how the Rudd government begin to reverse his immigration policy in a sudden, brutal, ruthless, unethical, inhumane, racist manner with immediate effect:

Creating an ’In demand’ Skill Migration List to attract overseas students

Before the Rudd government won the last election (2007), the previous Australian governments have been using the creation of a list of ’In damand’ skill migration program and knowing that many migration and education agencies have been actively using that ‘favourable list’ as a marketing tools to attract foreign students.

As a result, our education sector has become our 3rd largest export industry with an annual revenue of $17 billion.

Despite the fact that there are many unscrupulous and dodgy colleges over the years collecting huge amount of tuition fees from overseas students and not offering any proper educational services, for examples,

· ABC Four Corners (27 July 2009) – ‘Holy Cash Cows’:

“Last year more than 70,000 Indian students came here to buy an education. Egged on by immigration and education agents, many were told if they enrolled in cooking, hairdressing and accounting courses they would not only get a diploma but they could also qualify for permanent residency in Australia.”

“Four Corners investigation reveals that foreign students in this country have been targeted by unscrupulous businessmen, who have set up training schools that supply qualifications that sometimes aren’t worth the paper they are written on.”

“We all know that they have sardine type cooking classes where there’s sixteen students to a frypan.” (Corruption investigator)

“If a student wants to apply for permanent residency they must pass an English language test. Four Corners has found clear evidence that unscrupulous immigration and education agents are offering English language tests for a price. In some cases the exam paper is worth up to $5,000.

“Another requirement for students in vocational courses, seeking residency in Australia, is a work experience certificate. Each student is required to undertake up to 900 hours of on the job training. Some work for nothing creating a source of cheap labour. Others are offered an alternative. Four Corners reveals an immigration agent was prepared to help procure a fake work experience certificate for students if they were prepared to pay between three and four thousand dollars. This practice clearly makes a joke of the vocational qualification and the integrity of the immigration system.”

· The Age (23 July 2009) – ‘College in gross breach of standards’:

“A CONFIDENTIAL report on a Melbourne private college has uncovered big education breaches, painting a picture of shambolic practices that failed to meet the most basic educational standards”

“The audit also found:

* Marketing of education and training services was unprofessional

* Students were not provided with information on emergency and health services

* There were no proper checks on overseas education agents

* Students’ course progress was not monitored

* Classes were overcrowded”

· The Australian (29 July 2009) – ‘UNE accused of allowing plagiarists to graduate’:

“MORE than 100 overseas students graduated from the University of New England with copied masters theses, creating one of Australia’s biggest plagiarism scandals after an academic whistleblower tried to raise the alert.”

The problem with the Australian government is that, they don’t really care as long as the money keep coming in.

· Time of India (23 Jan 2010) – ‘Australian govt ignores advice on Indian students: Report’:

“A top body that represents Australia’s universities has accused both state and federal governments of ignoring warnings issued by it on problems faced by overseas students, including Indians, in the country. “

“Universities Australia, which represents 39 universities, said it had alerted governments to problems relating to student safety, poor-quality colleges, lack of concessions on public transport and immigration matters for two years ago.”

“It (Universities Australia) passed on to Australian authorities warnings from officials in China and India relating to student safety. It also conveyed to governments student disenchantment resulting from a perception they were being treated like cash cows,”

“However, Universities Australia Chief Executive Glenn Withers said that he was disappointed as state and federal governments did not treat the problems as a priority when they were told about them two years ago but acted with urgency only when violent attacks on Indian students attracted intense media attention.”

Sudden withdrawal of the favourable Skill migration list

However, when the poll indicated that the Government “Big Australia” policy was unpopular in an election year. This is how the new policy work:

Only 19 days after Kevin Rudd delivered his Australia Day speech about increasing our population to 36 million by 2050, his government suddenly decided to have a ‘Migration U-turn’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 8 Feb 2010), by calling it a ‘Crackdown on skilled migrants’ (WA Today, 7 February), and immediately ‘rejects 20,000 migrants’ (Brisbane Time, 8 Feb 2010). These are the detail:

1) “The changes to be unveiled today will see 20,000 current applications binned”

2) “The cancelled applications apply to all offshore general skilled migration claims lodged before September 2007. Refunding 20,000 visa applications will cost taxpayers about $14 million.”

3) “Given the changes could have a significant impact on many foreign students already in Australia, the government will introduce transitional arrangements to apply until 2012.”

4) Foreign students who have a qualification for an occupation no longer considered in demand will get to apply for a temporary 18-month visa, allowing them to gain work experience

5) The 18 months will also give a foreign graduate time in which to find an employer willing to sponsor their application as a skilled migrant.

It’s all about money for Australia –Where is the Human Right of those Students who have no voting right?

The only thing the opposition concerned over the government sudden policy’s U-turn is still about money. This is how the Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said:

“there would be big transition costs associated with the changes, which would hit the international education sector hard”, “This is because there are many foreign students already taking courses on the in-demand list, whose study might no longer improve their chances of permanent migration.”.”There’ll be many students who’ll be caught between a rock and a hard place,” “It addition … there’ll be a lot of pressure on those colleges [catering to overseas students] and I suspect many will fail” “That will obviously have impacts for jobs.” (Sydney Morning Herald, 8 Feb 2010).

Again, an opinion piece article published by the Sydney Morning Herald two months later (13 April 2010) – ‘When Indian students suffer, Australia risks being scarred for life’ with the main focus still about money. For examples,

“The country has suffered real reputational damage, real economic cost, and real diplomatic disadvantage,”

“The economic cost? Higher education is Australia’s third-biggest export sector, worth $17 billion a year. For Victoria, education is the number one source of foreign income at $4.5 billion a year.”

“So far, the known effect of the assaults has been twofold. First, the total number of Indians studying here is down by 5 per cent this year compared to last, about 1500 students, when the numbers from other major source countries are up. With the total average economic benefit to Australia of about $34,000 per student per year, this means an annual cost of about $50 million.”

“Second, there is the loss of potential student numbers. The number of new Indian enrolments is down this year by 40 per cent compared to last. But the potential cost is much bigger than this suggests.”

The reality to these international students are, they have already invested their time and a huge amount of money in Australia believing in the government ‘in-demand list’. Some have borrowed those money as an investment hoping for a better future. However, if you are not a voters or if you are not the “mainstream” voters , you have no right in this country. This is how Australia, a self claimed “Civilised” country behave against migrants and minorities citizens in virtually each and every election.

Why can’t the government introduce their U-turn policy in a more humane and considerate manner by honouring their ‘in-demand list’ to those students who already completed the courses, half-way through the courses or already enrolled in those courses, and set a later date as a cut off point? Why it has to do in such a hurry to cancel all applications lodged prior to September 2007 with immediate effect?

The very few people I came across over the last few months that speak for the students and was published by the media is in this news heading: ‘New migrant list will hit business’ (The Age, 18 May 2010):

Andrew Smith, the Chief executive of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training have the following fair comment in favour of the students:

“We have to be absolutely honest about what Australia has done over a number of years now, and that was to link immigration and education,” “Students invested tens of thousands of dollars on the basis of a clear government policy. It’s unfair to them that the rules have changed during their courses.”

However, at the back of the above statement that published by the mainstream media, it is still all about money and our selfish national interest. For examples,

“Some restaurants would go out of business and others be forced to shorten their trading hours without migrant labour.”

“…the industry was already 3000 cooks short before the federal government halved the number of places for which independent skilled migrants could apply.”

“Private educators, however, predicted more college closures, thousands of job losses and a flight of international students to other countries.”

“Just a 5 per cent slump in student numbers would lead to more than 6000 job losses and $700 million in lost revenue.”

Remark: So, when is Australia going to stop encouraging overseas migrants on the one hand to solve its own money, skill shortage and employment problem, while one the other hand, continue to abuse its migrant population as and when an election is on the agenda?

Example 2: asylum seeker policy U-Turn

During the Howard era, Australia asylum seeker policy has been widely condemned as racist and inhumane. Amnesty International at that time accused Australia of violating the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. (RTE News, 29 August 2001).

In order to help restore Australia’s international reputation after the “shameful” Howard years, the new Rudd government decided to ‘soften Australia asylum seeker laws’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July 2008)

However, when the media begin to run a series of creative news against the arrival of boats people and migrants such as:

‘Warning on Australian immigration border control’ (ABC Radio, 14 Oct 2009)

‘Taxpayer bill for Oceanic Viking refugees is set to soar’ (News Limited, 10 Nov 2009)

‘Australia to take bulk of refugees’ (Adelaide Now, 13 Nov 2009)

‘Immigration ‘will fuel greenhouse gas growth’ (Herald Sun, 20 Jan 2010)

‘Mass immigration kills Aussie culture, says demographer Bob Birrell’ (Adelaide Now, 24 March 2010)

‘Coalition wants Aussie babies, but fewer migrants’ (Brisbane Time, 7 April 2010).

Again, this is how our Rudd’s government introducing an ‘U-turn policy’ with the characteristics of sudden, brutal, ruthless, unethical, inhumane and racist. The impact is immediate:

For example, “The federal government has toughened its policy on asylum seekers by immediately suspending the processing of all new refugee claims by Sri Lankans and Afghanis.” (SBS, 9 Apr 2010 – ‘Sri Lankan, Afghan asylum visas suspended’). The immediate outcome is ‘Asylum seekers face years of detention’.

The director of the advocacy group the Edmund Rice Centre, Phil Glendinning is right to point out that the policies are “an appeal to fear and racism” and that “both sides of politics are attacking asylum seekers in the lead-up to the federal election.” (ABC, 28 May 2010 – ‘Asylum seeker policy ‘an appeal to fear and racism’).

There is an article with detail research and analysis about the suffering of Asylum seekers during the Howard’s era. For the benefit of those who are interested to know more. I hereby attached the link (‘Asylum seekers, Australia’s retraumatisation policy, and healthcare ally work’) for you to read as I believe that it is still applicable to the suffering of the asylum seekers now as a result of the Rudd’s government ‘U-turn’ policy.

Conclusion: Democracy needs reform

There are too may of this kind of creative news against migrants and asylum seekers in Australia over the years. It is meaningless to flood this article with such links. I would like to list just a few more examples as follows before writing my conclusion:

‘Aust legal system may face challenges over migrant attitudes to women’ (ABC, 16 April 2010)

‘Australian-born families will be minority in 15 years’ (News Limited, 18 April 2010)

‘Sexist migrants create legal problem’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 16 April 2010)

‘Majority oppose population growth: survey’ – (The Age, 14 Apr 2010)

Australia is the only developed country whose government has been condemned as racist by the United Nations on 13 Oct 2000. Unfortunately, I believe that 10 years on, the above UN assessment is till accurate.

If democracy produce racism, then it need to reform to overcome such human right violation as a result of the racist behaviour during each and every election. How? I believe that we can look to Singapore model as an example. Its education system and government policy in favour of racial interaction, and also the legal frame work against racism by public figures, individuals, religious leaders, etc. I will write a separate article about Singapore model sometime in the future.

Again, if democracy resulted in the reality and effect of ‘One Dollar One Vote’, its also need reform. How? I believe that, we can analyse it from the perspective of our education system, media culture, anti-lobbyist laws and regulations, political donation, the personal quality and integrity of our leaders and bureaucrats, and our political process as a whole. Again, I will write a separate article on that sometime in the future.

Democracy is a very good ideas, but our current form of democracy is definitely far from perfect. China leader is right to point out in March 2009 that: “China would draw on the achievements of all cultures but would not “simply copy” the West.”

Let’s the world learn from each other achievement and experience of success to improve on our own. Let’s stop demonising another countries or culture simply because they are different from us.

Confucius says: “三人行，必有我 师” – Where 3 people got together, I will find a teacher.

——End of article—-

If you wish to read this article with hyperlink to the sources of my research, please visit my personal website: http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index_democracy_need_reform_the_cruelty_of_poll_driven_politics.htm

Written on 28 June 2010 by Outcast Journalist in Australia
www.outcastjournalist.com

China’s Destination: Talent

Last modified on 2010-07-28 00:52:20 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

DragonTV imported British reality show, “Got Talent” and now the vetting process of the contestants has been finished. The real competition started on July 25th, 2010 on DragonTV at 9:05. The show will air every Sunday.

The judges is stand-up comedian Zhou Libo, Taiwanese singer-actress Annie Yi and mainland pop composer Gao Xiaosong.

If you missed, you can run by the first 12 video clips from the July 25th show on http://daren2010.smgbb.cn/darenshipin/video/

Who is your favorite or least favorite of the “passed” contestants?

How is the show the same or different than other “Got Talent”‘s like America or Britain?”

What is your overall impression of the show?

Xinran on understanding China

Last modified on 2010-06-27 11:45:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

This is the last interview I’m posting, but here is Xinran suggesting that if you read these fivebooks, you’ll understand China!
http://fivebooks.com/interviews/xinran-on-understanding-china

Dissidents need to be heard more, in my view.

Last modified on 2010-06-27 11:44:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I really think that Chinese dissidents have been marginalized, which is a pity, when what they say is so important.
Here, another interview about books I’d like to post, with Laogai survivor, Harry Wu.
Sophie
http://fivebooks.com/interviews/harry-wu-on-communist-china

What to make of all the popular uprisings always going on in China

Last modified on 2010-06-27 11:45:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I worked in China as a journalist on and off for most of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I never quite knew what to write about the constant popular protest going on – little uprisings about the place. Did they mean the country was in trouble? They’re still going on today, and I just loved talking to Elizabeth Perry, one of the most amazing Western professors on China, who really put it all in context for me (again, like the previous interview I posted, also choosing five books on the subject):
http://fivebooks.com/interviews/elizabeth-perry-on-popular-protest-china

China coming to terms with the Cultural Revolution

Last modified on 2010-06-27 11:44:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Hi everyone, I have been interviewing various authorities on China-related themes, and I wanted to post some of them for anyone who is interested. Firstly, I have Rod MacFarquhar on the Cultural Revolution.
He chooses the five best books on it and also says that China is in denial about it and needs to come to terms with it, that it’s not healthy:
http://fivebooks.com/interviews/rod-macfarquhar-on-cultural-revolution

American Military: There’s A Trillion Dollars of Minerals in Afghanistan

Last modified on 2010-06-15 11:55:12 GMT. 5 comments. Top.

Old news became news in The New York Times. Just like on the path to the Iraq war, no WMD became WMD and war was promoted in the house organ of the American military-Industral-political establishment. War was sought, war was delivered by the paper of record.

Now the US military is in trouble in Afghanistan and can’t meet President Barack Obama’s timetable for withdrawal. But look at what we got here: a trillion dollars of minerals! Conveniently, according to Pentagon.

But it’s old news. Many have known it for decades. Afghans knew it. Soviets knew it. Even the Chinese have known it and are mining it right now.

If it’s on New York Times, it must be news. The TV networks duely aired the big news.

This is the news though: the US is staying put in Afghanistan. The generals wanted time to finish the job. Now time is what they got, with help from the paper of record. But to what end?

Some tips in understanding others

Last modified on 2010-06-14 13:36:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Here is a few points I learned in trying to understand people and places that are different than what I’m used to. I thought it might be nice to share and could be useful when going to different countries. Please, feel absolutely free to critique or add in any advice.

I believe one of the first things to know is to remember that in essence, human beings are the same. All blood runs red, everyone is born from a woman (so far), and we all have the ability to dream. However to really understand and see the humanity of others will depend on how much one knows him/herself. The reasoning is that it takes the same amount of effort and humility when you truly want to comprehend your reflections. Also, everyone is capable of being impartial, thinking rationally and feeling empathy. It takes all three elements to gain such an understanding of oneself and especially others.

To understand the differences, here are three points I learned. We must take into account the environment, the history and personal choices taken by each individual and society. In this case, people really have to know what they’re talking about, at the very least understand the basics.

Understanding the environment is figuring out how everything from the natural ecology to social values and how they influence the individual or community at large. Depending on how much you want to know, you may have to forgo any generalizations you or the people you’re interested in understanding have about themselves. Since there are exceptions to just about anything. This is for the sake of clarity.

Understanding the history is important, but this too will require us to figure out how everything relates to current conditions. So, while remembering important dates or famous figures are pretty neat, you might have to learn a whole bunch of topics, some that might not have to do with history. I say this because if people don’t have a basic understanding of other topics and how they relate to history, most people end up in this unfortunate situation; they end up asking why aren’t they like us or why aren’t we like them.

For example, to understand the economy of another country, you need to know both the history and basics of economics. After a while, one might realize some discrepancies like it does not make sense why there are a lot of jobs in the financial/banking sector for some places or why it costs a lot for certain services, with the currency adjusted to inflation but not based on any physical value except trust. However, the entire modern economy now runs on that type of mentality so we have to work from that. Same thing with understanding the education system of another country. There’s hardly any evidence to support placing young students in classes based on age or if any of those special honorifics and high test scores translate well for their future endeavors. However, it is convenient to do that and we have to deal with such a system and make gradual improvements from there. Same thing in understanding technology, art, sports, language, etc.

For something less serious, if you just want to understand another individual or small group of people, at the very least know where he/she or they are coming from. What ground they’re standing on, the foundation.

The last pointer I want to make is personal choices. This is probably the most important one, since we can change our environment or any influences from it. Depending on what perspective people take, knowing history could either hold you back from taking risks or inspire people to do more. Or both. Sometimes, the first two doesn’t matter whole lot, especially if we’re talking about individuals. Chinese history is impressive, even from a very critical point of view and framing it within the global perspective. However, what use is it when people have financial problems, illnesses or facing other issues that are more immediate. Same thing with the environment. People who grow up around mountains or beaches doesn’t always mean they must know how to ski or swim. Or for a more extreme example, people who grew up in dysfunctional families or trouble lifestyles can either overcome such challenges to empower themselves and others. Or they could call into a cycle of destruction.

My last point should be the most obvious and hardest to figure out in understanding the differences in other people and places. One can see how much time, personal experiences and knowledge it will take towards understanding people and places different than what you’re used to. Overall, it will depend on how much desire in knowing and effort you want to put in. If you stop learning, wherever you are at that point, is as far as you will go.

China: Responsible Stakeholder, Stakeholder, or World Leader?

Last modified on 2010-06-08 02:22:12 GMT. 8 comments. Top.

Robert Zoellick, former US deputy secretary of state and current World Bank chief, coined a role for China, responsible stakeholder. It was obviously self-serving because the US wanted to retain the right to judge who was responsible and who was not.

China clearly didn’t pick the role up although there are still commentators who say China should do this or that if it is to be a responsible stakeholder.

Furthermore, China doesn’t seem to like the descriptor of stakeholder either. It’s such a neutral term, one doesn’t know what it means anyway.

Instead, China should strive to be a world leader. Like it or not, or exercise it or not, China’s influences on the global economy, energy, environment and security are growing.

China needs to sit at the top table setting rules and enforcing them accordingly for the sake of global prosperity and security. The annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue is a good start.

China can’t claim to be a poor or third-world country for inaction anymore. Many in the world are looking to China for leadership.

Expats and the Chinese Language

Last modified on 2010-05-27 00:27:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Chinese is a difficult language, at least for me. When I was growing up in China, many aspects of the language seemed very challenging, one of which was the units of counting for countable quantities. In English and many other languages, it’s a breeze: 3 computers, 1 apple, 4 books. Very easy to master it. In Chinese, it’s a different story: san tai diannao, yi ge pinggou, si ben shu. First, you needed to learn tai, ge, ben. Then you needed to know when to use which. Very challenging indeed. As English shows, they aren’t really necessary. San dianno, yi pinggou, si shu. I don’t think there’s too much confusion dropping them, consideing the savings of time and energy required of learning these words.

I think we should start speaking Chinese without the unit words. Maybe the expats can make a big contribution to the Chinese language by leading by example. And it will save their time and energy of learning them in the first place.

What do you think?

Wo Yao Yi Pinggou (I want an apple).

Meet (Dr?) Paul Risenhoover, activist interrupted.

Last modified on 2010-05-23 12:12:06 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

In 1999, two Chinese men in US were charged by the US government for allegedly conspiring to traffic in human organs harvested from Chinese prisoners in China.

Harry Wu, participated in a sting operation to gather evidence against the 2 men for the FBI.  The case flopped.  You can read some of the details below.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/16/nyregion/us-judge-voids-charges-2-tried-to-sell-organs-of-chinese-prisoners.html?pagewanted=1

But what happened?

Turns out, the defendants maintained that they were entrapped into the alleged scheme by a Paul Risenhoover, who then turn the case information to Harry Wu.

And Paul Risenhoover was unavailable and refused to be available for the trial.

Recently the colorful Dr. Risenhoover resurfaced, this time filing a charge of Genocide against US in the ICC.

http://www.mvariety.com/2010040725444/local-news/lawyer-us-committed-genocide-against-nmi.php?Itemid=0

(although one should take his doctorate degree for further examination, and BTW, he’s not a lawyer, because he never passed a bar).

But apparently, the genocide charge came about after his failed lawsuit in the US courts relating to some business of his.

Which makes one wonder, what were the FBI folks (and Harry Wu) thinking in 1999 in taking information from Dr. Paul Risenhoover?  Low standards indeed.

But as expected, it takes all sort of strange like-minded bedfellows to form a movement.

http://unheardnomore.blogspot.com/2010/04/controversial-risenhoover-files-case.html

April 6, 2010

The Politics of Tsering Dhondup’s tears

Last modified on 2010-05-06 17:01:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Amidst the accusations of China’s belated response to the devastating earthquake that hit Yushu county in Eastern Tibet in the early hours of April 14, the downplaying in the Chinese media of the key role that Tibetan monks played in the rescue efforts and mourning ceremonies, alongside reports of Chinese rescue workers who seemed more interested in posing for cameras than in saving lives, there is a small story that transcends it all.

There are few outside of China and Tibet who have heard of Tsering Dhondup, a ten-year-old Tibetan boy who saw his home and the homes of all his neighbors completely flattened in the 6.9 quake. Since then, he’s been living with his family in a temporary shelter in the local stadium in Jyekundo, the town most affected by the disaster, where 85% of the mud-brick houses like Tsering’s were destroyed.

Tsering volunteered to work as a translator for a Chinese medical team that was treating Tibetan survivors. The state-controlled national news channel CCTV, Chinese Central Television, aired a report about him that on April 17, three days after the earthquake….

Read full article and watch the Youtube video here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-novick/chinese-media-courts-the_b_562163.html

Call it a foot in the door, and then someone wants more.

Last modified on 2010-04-24 01:53:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/22/national/w093551D72.DTL

The Obama administration on Thursday sought to block further court review in the case of five Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay who want to be sent to the United States or another country where they would like to live.

Before three federal appeals judges, a lawyer for the five ethnic Chinese Uighurs (pronounced WEE’-gurz) said his clients did not want to be resettled on the Pacific Ocean island of Palau and that they have a right to have their views taken into account by U.S. courts.

The government says it is trying to find a country that will accept the five, who fear their lives will be endangered if they are returned to China. The Obama administration has declared that the five pose no threat to the United States and should no longer be held as enemy combatants.

In court arguments, Judge A. Raymond Randolph seemed dismissive of the notion that the five men can use the court system in an effort to resettle in a country they find more desirable.

Bermuda would be “a really good deal,” Randolph scoffed.

There are important issues including “cultural affinity” regarding where the Uighurs wind up, replied Peter Sabin Willett, the lawyer for the Uighurs.

Willett pointed out that Bermuda offers jobs, a reference to the fact that four Uighurs from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were resettled in Bermuda last June. Willett added that Palau would not offer citizenship to the Uighurs.

Six Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay were resettled in Palau last October, while the five in Thursday’s court case rejected Palau’s invitation. Under a deal worked out with the Obama administration, Palau agreed to accept only those Uighurs who wanted to go to the island nation.

Randolph and another member of the panel, Karen LeCraft Henderson, were appointed by President George H.W. Bush.

Judge Judith Rogers challenged the Obama administration’s position, telling Justice Department attorney Sharon Swingle that in the Uighurs’ view, what the U.S. government is doing is tantamount to “exile” rather than resettlement. Rogers said the government’s position was that no country that would accept the Uighurs would be regarded by the government to be inappropriate as a destination for the Uighurs.

Swingle disagreed, replying that, for example, only those countries where there was no potential for mistreatment would be considered.

Rogers was appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Mainland Chinese students can’t attend Universities in Taiwan?

Last modified on 2010-04-22 03:24:21 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100421/wl_asia_afp/taiwanchinapoliticseducation

Taiwanese Students studying in China is hardly a controversy, so much so that China doesn’t consider them as well as Hong Kong Students as “foreign.” So as a goodwill gesture between KMT and Beijing to allow Students from the Mainland to go to China, it has been met with some opposition from the DPP. Considering that there is such a shortage of students in Taiwan that they are considering to shut down some universities and this will help with Taiwan’s economy, this move by the DPP is like shooting themselves in the foot.

An Alternative View of Chinese History

Last modified on 2010-03-29 16:58:18 GMT. 5 comments. Top.

Note: This was submitted by Rhan on the “Cultural Differences” thread but I felt it deserved its own space for comment.

“Food is central to the Chinese psyche and I think they believe that everybody should be entitled to food whereas Westerners look at it differently.”

Sorry Steve, what I paste below is a bit long, if you think the content is irrelevant, please go ahead to delete or collapse. No hard feeling on my side. This piece was written by a friend of my few years back, whom I respect very much. My intention is not to criticize the west, but to partially answer the point raise by Chinktalk.

+++ Since the First Opium War, the vast number of Chinese masses never had sufficient food to eat. Famine was a feature of China, as it was for India for much of its history. That country had 25 famines during the BRITISH administration alone. One of the worst took place at the Deccan area, which killed over four million. In Mike Davis’ “Late Victorian Holocausts,” it was estimated that there were between 12 and 33 million avoidable deaths in India between 1876 and 1908. And as late as 1943 around 4 million died in the Bengal famine, an event that some commentators have blamed on official policy, but which others have claimed as an act of genocide. All these have not been focussed or even mentioned in passing by the West. There was no talk about the failure of capitalism, of imperialism, or even racism. Indeed, if Davis has not come out with his recent book, much of the world wouldn’t have known such things happened.

Let’s talk a bit about China’s Great Leap. That was a period of hardship or at least near-starvation as well, and indeed part of the problem was due to inexperience, incompetence, and macro-management. That’s not too surprising as, after a century of being a semi-colony, few Chinese understood the geography of China, much less how to administer the continental-sized country. Almost all of China’s main cities, rivers, and even provinces were in foreign control one way or another. Even China’s customs was in foreign hands until 1943 – a huge shame on Chinese civilization and bitterly felt by the Chinese people. The Chinese were described in travel books as incapable of logical thinking, that they were unruly and deserved to be crushed by the boots of Prussian discipline. Meanwhile, foreign-occupied Shanghai was sporting clubs with signs saying “No dogs and Chinese allowed.” This, in China! The Chinese didn’t find the West weeping for their democratic rights then. The poor, wretched, hungry masses died like flies EVERY DAY – average life expectancy was like pre-1950 Tibet – around 35 years.

If this was the situation during PEACETIME, it was worse during the war. But all things have their seasons, and in 1950 China, for the first time in over 100 years, emerged as an independent country under the Chinese Communist Party. There was much to be done, but straightaway the country was faced with the possibility of its perceived enemy at the Korean border. So Chinese troops were sent to face the armed forces of the greatest power in the world. After being the “Sick Man of Asia” for a century the country, united as never before, managed to surprise the world by forcing American troops into what Cold War architect George Kennan called “the longest retreat in US military history.” Even more surprising, it was the US that called for peace, on the threat that they would use atomic bombs if China were to refuse to negotiate.

But the war took a great toll on the Chinese, which besides the loss of over a million lives owed the Soviets billions of roubles for their often inferior armaments (only the MIG 15 was considered world class, and that too eventually was not a match for the improved American fighter jets). The country, just emerging from a century of devastation, was faced with enormous challenges both from nature and from external threats such as SEATO and the American 7th Fleet in Taiwan. China was unable to get UN help as the Americans had persuaded the world to recognize Taiwan as the true representative of all China (nowadays, with Beijing having the upper hand, the hint is that Taiwan should be independent!). Worse, Taiwanese agents were regularly sent to sabotage the mainland’s infrastructure – this was proudly shown in a magazine called “Free World” and distributed to many Malaysian schools by the USIS (my elder brother used to tear the mag to wrap his books. Once, however, I recognized the fabulous paintings of Chinese-American artist Dong Kingman, and snatched the pages from him). Threats along the coastal areas forced Mao to locate China’s industries in the hilly hinterlands, which of course was difficult and expensive. Many modern Chinese just don’t understand how difficult it was for China to develop then, not to mention the Western embargo on China of advanced industrial goods, which continues even today.

Older Malaysians – those at least over 60 – know from their geography books that China’s Yellow River was known as the “River of Sorrow.” When it flooded, millions of lives would be lost. Drought was another curse. Thus the new government started from the basics – building dams, shoring up the dikes, and planting trees to prevent desertification, cool the land and conserve water. There was little money for machinery – most were done by human labor. Yet, by the mid-fifties, the country was gaining ground – it even had some surplus grain for export.

There were often open military threats – Chiang Kaishek was probably encouraged to put the heat on China by promising “imminent” invasion on every national day in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the US had proceeded from the atomic to thermonuclear or H-bomb. China had no choice but to keep up with the R&D, and by 1958 was able to send its first sounding rockets to space.

Could it be that the progress of a few years made China’s leaders swollen-headed? Perhaps a bit of that, but the point of the Great Leap wasn’t merely a struggle to become a modern power. The mass collectivization and setting up of people’s communes was to make every commune a fortress. These communes were to make not merely basic implements for farming, but also the manufacture or repair of armaments. Mao had envisioned not only an entire country of self-sufficient farmers, but also soldiers. That was the faith he had in his people – few real dictators would dare to place arms in the hands of millions of powerless people.

The plan was good, even revolutionary, but the implementation was disastrous. First, China was such a large country that one really could not tell the peasants what to plant – they knew their land better than the leaders in Beijing. So it was an error to turn rice fields into wheatlands, or vice versa. Moreover, local uneducated cadres, always wanting to be heroes, would send glowing reports of their districts when crop disaster was staring at their faces. If China were a small country like England, things might’ve been easier. It was not that easy to find out the truth in a huge land with primitive infrastructure (a more democratic press might’ve helped, as Amartya Sen suggested).

On top of administrative failures and backward technology was one of the worst droughts in modern Chinese history. Plants withered in many places, and many people didn’t have sufficient water for daily use, not to say watering the crops. Deng Hsiao-ping, to impress his newfound foreign American friends, later claimed that about 16 million died during those years. If we take the years 1958 to 62, that would mean about 4 millions per year – somewhat the same as the Bengal famine of 1943. But I doubt that figure as many of us in Malaysia had relatives who, despite telling us of their hardships, never gave any hint of any famine. Foreign visitors, including well-known ones such as BBC head Felix Greene, reported hardships but no famine. Another reason for the numbers could be the normal deaths from decades of malnutrition: the revolution was merely eight years old and many of the survivors were born during a time when life expectancy was around 35.

But that people were in near famine conditions – that I believe was a possibility. It was brought about through over-optimistic planning, bad administration, and the worst drought in modern history. However, the 16 million, already inflated to support Deng’s “reforms”, was as usual doubled to 30 millions by the West, and a decade or so later that was doubled again to 60 millions. We all know the Western play on figures. The tens of deaths at Tiananmen was inflated to “hundreds, if not thousands” whereas, DURING THE SAME DECADE IN KWANGJU, KOREA, over 2000 students were run over by tanks and armored cars by the US supported Korean dictator but often reported as “200.” In the Korean episode, the massacre was approved, if not planned, by the US military (did the mass media report on that at all?).

Whatever the case, the Great Leap was a disaster, but the farmers knew that the drought had played a large role, and on the whole did not blame the CCP. This was proven in an indirect way: around 1962 the US, knowing that China had experienced great economic difficulties, thought it might be time to support a Chiang invasion. Chiang’s troops were ready, and so were the transport ships. The invasion was debated by Congress, and finally given up because American intelligence suggested that the peasants would rise up and demolish Chiang’s troops. The US did, however, persuaded Australia from selling grain to China – another sign how caring that country was towards the Chinese people (and the crocodile tears they shed today).

The Russians under Khrushchev did not help either: instead, they demanded that China send grain to them as part of the agreed payments for Korean War loans. That, and little else, was why China became the Soviet’s bitterest enemy, until the break-up of that country.

The Leap was the only agriculture disaster in the last 50 years. Industrially, though many of the goals were not achieved, there were progress in a number of fields. One was the manufacturing of farm products that were inexpensive yet helpful to peasants, such as a rice-transplanter machine that made backbreaking labor a thing of the past. To alleviate the energy problem, biomass – the use of rotted vegetation for energy – was used to give even the remotest villages electricity. Small hydro-electric equipment that could be placed across streams were used by poor farmers around the country: it was so useful that the product was exported to countries in Africa and especially the Philippines. Though not really a success, the experiment saw a population that began to understand the requirements for an industrial state: this experience was to pass on to a new generation which, after the Cultural Revolution, saw China’s explosive growth.

It was clear that by the 60s, socialism was the best way to develop, but what Mao saw an insidious growth of capitalist tendencies. Towns and cities seemed to grow at the expense of rural areas. New hospitals flourished, while peasants were left to their own devices. In a famous speech, he scolded the Ministry people: “Why call yourself the Ministry of Health? Why not the Ministry of Urban Health? Better still, why not call yourself the Ministry of Urban Gentlemen’s Health?”

His speech galvanized the movement of medical care to the countryside. The country began to train people in providing basic care to the poor. “Barefoot doctors” roamed the countryside, giving traditional Chinese medicines and acupuncture and helping to build sanitation facilities. Every Chinese – from civil servants to the poorest peasant – had by then been required to have a midday nap. All had to wake up as the sun rises for morning exercises. In the cities, lights were off not long after dark. Traditional martial arts were modified for health purposes. Chinese life expectancy rose from the pre-1950 35 to over 65. China’s population boomed. At the end of the 70s, it was clear that China needed a population policy. The one-child system was adopted a few years later.

But all the while, from 1962 onwards, there was much dissatisfaction among urban people WITHIN THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY. These were people who’d travelled abroad and attracted by the brights lights and big cities of their neighbors. And they wanted a change in policies. On Mao’s side were young people who wanted China to continue its own unique journey, who saw the desire for personal wealth as a vice. They also thought, correctly, that those who wanted some of the old ways to return were reactionaries, for the old ways inevitably would bring about great disparity in wealth, promote a dog-eat-dog world, result in prostitution, in people believing in ancient superstitions, etc. Mao’s struggle to wipe out the old was not necessarily all that was old – that was a charge by his enemies – but the vices that he’d seen before when he was a young man. But the very idea of building the new without the old, something that demanded a total change in mentality, was not something that many party members could accept. Hence the ferocity of the Cultural Revolution.

Most of Mao’s Red Guards were young, inexperienced, idealistic students. These were no match for their enemies in the CCP, who would often put around THEIR own armband and called themselves “Red Guards.” A lot of violence were committed by these fake Maoists – which prompted a commentator to mention about “using the name of Mao to go against Mao.” But the number of deaths was never in the hundreds of thousands. Mao’s order, after all, was to “bombard the headquarters!” In other words, his enemies were within the Communist Party, and if we divide them into two roughly equal sides there was hardly a couple of millions on each side (like all conflicts, most would stand at the sidelines). Moreover, most people don’t deal with guns, and the deaths mentioned even in the West were often stuff like beatings with sticks and so on. As usual, the West and their proxies would inflate the numbers, and in this some in the present leadership would even support as justification for their present oligarchical rule.

Deng’s revision of history found much support in the West: Time magazine pronounced him as China’s greatest leader. Zhou Enlai, when asked about what he thought about the French Revolution, said “it was too early to tell.” Whether the present move to capitalism is really that wonderful remains to be seen. Much of the “success” of the new regime was accomplished on the backs of the poor. As I said before, a couple of years ago I’d even suggested on some websites a new guerilla war against the present CCP. Since then, the leadership has been focusing on helping the peasants who were and still are most responsible for the rise of New China. We just have to wait and see.

I’ve taken this opportunity to provide an alternative view of China’s history. Part of the idea is to give an inkling as to how important the rice bowl is to China. For most of the past century, rice was a luxury for the average Chinese, which is why older Malaysians of Chinese ancestry might remember the slap on their faces if they dropped even a speck of the grain. Let not any Chinese tell me he’ll rather go without food than free speech. I’m not impressed. I agree, however, that China can now afford both food and free speech. It will improve in due time, I hope. +++

Wellcome Collection – China: Birth and Belonging

Last modified on 2010-02-22 10:17:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Wellcome Collection is hosting a symposium on China on 26 and 27 of February.

This two-day symposium, ‘China: Birth and belonging’, starts with a curated evening of performance and is followed by a day of discussion and learning. International experts will explore the complex nature of Chinese identity, with sessions on ancient ideas of the body, individualisms, the diaspora, and contemporary biomedical ethics and science – as well as plenty of time for audience debate.

The speakers include Professor Rana Mitter from the University of Oxford, speaking on the Chinese history of conflict, and Professor Therese Hesketh from the University College London Centre from International Health and Development, who will be exploring the impact of the one-child policy.

Tickets are £30 (£20 for concessions) for the entire two-day programme, including entrance and a guided tour of the acclaimed Identity exhibition, as well as refreshments throughout and lunch.

For more information and to book tickets, visit: www.wellcomecollection.org/china.

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Chinese Bloggers React to New York Times’ Vocational School Cyber War Story

Last modified on 2010-02-20 09:19:53 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

H/T to Chops for the NYT article where Lanxiang Technical School, a vocational school in Shandong, was outed as a secret base for Chinese government’s cyber war effort. Here are few reactions from Chinese bloggers:

– 一个培养厨子的地方居然有这么大的秘密
(A place known for its culinary program have such a huge secret)

– 学计算机不要上清华了，还是蓝翔牛啊。
(Forget learning computers at Tsinghua, Lanxiang is awesome.)

– 这个学校这下是中了6合彩了
(This school has won the lottery)

– 蓝翔技工学校的学生有能力攻击google？
(Lanxiang Technical School students have the ability to attack google?)

– 为什么山东蓝翔高级技工学校强于哈佛大学？
(an essay titled “Why Lanxiang Vocational Is Better Than Harvard”, satirizing the “X University is better than Harvard” Chinese internet meme)

Is Western press a pawn or truly free?

Last modified on 2010-02-10 15:11:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

By Bi Yantao (China Daily)

Updated: 2010-02-10 07:49

Freedom of the press has played an essential role in Western history. In the war against feudalism, the emerging bourgeois used press freedom as a weapon to fight censorship; in their global expansion, Western powers made use of it as an effective tool to project power.

Looking back at history, John Milton, the great English poet and political scholar, was the first man who gave a clear definition of freedom of the press. When he published a pamphlet on divorce, he had, in fact, broken the Licensing Order of 1643, which instituted pre-publication censorship. Therefore, he was asked to come to congress for an inquiry, and that was how the world famous Areopagitica was published. In his work, Milton argued forcefully against this form of government censorship and parodied the idea, writing “when as debtors and delinquents may walk abroad without a keeper, but unoffensive books must not stir forth without a visible jailer in their title”.

Although at the time it did little to halt the practice of licensing, it would be viewed later a significant milestone as one of the most eloquent defenses of press freedom.

In this renowned defense, Milton declared freedom of the press as God’s will, and thus a basic right of the citizen. Of course, the glorious poet was called upon to act as a press censor himself in 1651. But his ideal was far-reaching.

The basic purpose of Milton’s press freedom was to defend individual rights. With contributions from writers and thinkers, arguments for press freedom became a guiding principle during both the American and the French revolutions.

In 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights listed the essence of press freedom clearly in its text: The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments. However, in reality, they have the gate-keeping theory in communication, which says all information that enters the social net is always filtered so that it won’t harm the gate-keeper’s interests.

The history of being deprived of press freedom had left a deep impression upon the emerging capitalist class. That was why they listed press freedom as one of the fundamental principles while designing their own state system. After centuries of development, freedom of the press has become an indispensable part of Western democracy today, and also an essential pillar of the Western political system.

No power, individual or group, dares to pose any challenge to the sacred concepts of democracy and liberty in Western nations. That’s part of the reason why Western politicians try their best to make themselves look like guardians of democracy and liberty while they have to control the press as well.

The key point is they are sophisticated at dealing with the press. Instead of interfering with media outlets directly, the politicians control the press by only providing the information they want the public to know. Thanks to the efforts of political consultants and spin doctors, such measures have become so sophisticated that they can be employed perfectly.

Shan Renping, a media commentator in China, described Western press freedom perfectly: The so-called freedom of the press is limited only to their shared value system, and serves the interests of mainstream Western society. Whenever other interest groups are involved, the mask of freedom will drop, revealing the face of a tyrant. His words deserve our attention.

Western scholars are also making important contributions to the study of that press freedom.

Susan L. Carruthers, a British scholar, reached a conclusion: Like the state and its enemy, media on both sides have also become rivals in her book The Media at War: Communication and Conflict in the Twentieth Century.

A British political philosopher has pointed out that most wars in the modern age are fought through the media. John Dulles, the former US secretary of state, also said it was nonsense that there could be those who do not believe in the power of propaganda and moral pressure. And Bill Clinton, the former US president, was more direct in expressing the same opinion.

Two other political scholars, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, have described in their co-written book, Empire: “The basic hypothesis is that sovereignty has taken a new form, composed of a series of national and supranational organisms united under a single logic of rule. This new global form of sovereignty is what we call Empire”. They counted the communication system as one of the three pillars supporting the regime, while the other two are military and finance. An important question can be raised from their statement: How can media outlets remain objective and fair while they are employed as tools for national strategy?

The world-renowned linguistic, Noam Chomsky, has written a book, Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance, in which he said the US government had an “imperial grand strategy” for more than half a century. Several international observers have also criticized US diplomacy as finding excuses for interference and intrusions in the affairs of other nations. From “a war to end all wars” to “anti-terrorism”, so many beautiful reasons have become excuses for US global strategy.

And British journalist John Kampfner says in his new book, Freedom For Sale, that democracy, liberty and capitalism rely heavily upon each other. A silent compact exists between regimes and the people: As long as the people do not challenge the social order by resistance, the regime will let them stay in peace. The same rule applies to the media. Sadly, the same rule also applies to international affairs.

Therefore, two new functions have been granted to press freedom: Being employed by media outlets to resist governmental news blackouts, and serving as an effective strategy to polish their image.

In order to preserve global hegemony, certain Western powers are trying their best to consolidate soft power. At this time, when such glittering phrases like “war against terror” and “democracy and liberty” render service to national interests, media outlets are also facing the danger of becoming strategic tools. Classical theories that explain this transformation of role are hard to come by, and post-modernists are resorting to the belief that “there is no absolute truth”.

Therefore let’s pay our tributes to the media professionals who are defending professional ethics. They are the last guardians of the tradition of honor.

The author is director of the Center for Communication Studies, Hainan University; and also director of the Communication Research Center of Sanlue Institute, a think tank based in Beijing.

(China Daily, February 10, 2010, page 9)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-02/10/content_9454498.htm

New York Times’ Google Hack “China Code” Revisited

Last modified on 2010-02-06 09:27:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Fellow reader Josef pointed out a NYT article that reported the recent Operation Aurora malware that attacked Google CN contained identifiable code from China, and it implicated the Chinese government. The journalist relied on a blog written by security expert Mr. Joe Stewart of SecureWorks.

However on closer examination, Mr. Stewart’s “China code” claim seems to have some problem:

1) A follow-up published by The Register on 1/26 contradicted the claim the CRC algorithm was not known outside China. This 4-bit CRC algorithm is not from China, but has been around for twenty years in the device application arena. Once this fact is public, several code samples outside China have been found.

2) Mr. Stewart seems to have neglected the fact variable names are stripped out during code compilation, when he alluded to a variable name in the Aurora machine code. There appears to be no link between the “crc_ta[16]” variable he identified as Chinese, and the machine code in Aurora. The variable name “crc_table[16]” would’ve compiled to the same machine code, and is widely cited by US programmers, does this mean the virus is written by the US government?

3) Mr. Stewart’s citations, a Chinese white paper containing the CRC algorithm, and code snippet found by Googling the identified variable name, both turned up different code than what’s in Aurora.

Specifically, the Aurora code contains a 12-bit shift optimization (found as early as 1988 according to The Register article):

t = crc16 >> 12;

while the code passed around on Chinese sites is unoptimized code using two divisions:

da=((uchar)(crc/256))/16

What’s most troubling, however, is not these technical deficiencies. Mr. Stewart seems to have gone beyond science, technology, and made the political, ideological leap that the Chinese government is involved, while nothing he cited supports this claim – and our supposed impartial media seems to be all too happy to repeat these half-truth and twist of facts.

China-US relations at all time low?

Last modified on 2010-01-31 13:29:11 GMT. 142 comments. Top.

About 5 months ago, Jon huntsman was interviewed by Wall Street Journal and seems positive to bring China-US relations to the ‘next level’ as mentioned in my piece here.

http://blog.foolsmountain.com/2009/09/03/jon-huntsman-challenges-in-china/

January was a bad month between China-US relations. First there was the google incident. Then the US announced the $6.4 billion in arms to Taiwan. Now China wants the beloved panda Tai-Shan back (I’m kidding about the Tai-Shan part.) Though the arms sales seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. If you go to Chinadaily’s website, there is no less than 10 articles and opinions about this spat.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/31/content_9403246.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/30/content_9403150.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/31/content_9403410.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/31/content_9403263.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/30/content_9402488.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/30/content_9403154.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/30/content_9403095.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-01/30/content_9402570.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-01/29/content_9400604.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-01/29/content_9398008.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-01/29/content_9400580.htm
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2010-01/29/content_9395670.htm

It is strange that most European countries seems to be non-involved in this issue between the 2 countries, but I can safely say that Huntsman career as a diplomat in China is largely a waste.

Rand’s 2005 report on China

Last modified on 2010-01-27 11:36:02 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

Two items to discuss.

1. Have China changed in last 5 years? In other words, how true are the concepts for China today?

2. How good is the Babylon translator?

The English version (translated from Chinese) comes first and then follows by the Chinese version.

———

The United States the Rand Corporation on the Chinese people evaluation
The United States the Rand Corporation is a well-known non-profit research institutions, to the United States official “objective analysis and effective solution. Recently, they public more of a China-U.S. relations analysis report, that is a positive, has a strict criticism, it is worth people of the country reflection. This article Rand Corporation from Asia-Pacific Policy Center.

read as follows:
If the twentieth century of China is a rich and the national unity, we will have a completely different the First World War, we will not have the Second World War but 2 European wars. China can prevent Japanese aggression or defeated Japan. The United States ahead and the cost from fundamental sense, a much reduced since Pearl Harbor incident will not occur. We and the whole world, not to mention 1 billion Chinese people, a century, has to China’s weak paid a heavy price. The world needs a healthy China.

China’s demand to Japan out recession last year. Japan situation to the world economic risks. On this point, I’m are not 誇 Zhang. The Japanese high levels of debt will produce domino domino effect, gradually spread to the world. In the help of China’s strong, and the danger seems to have over the past. China globalization to the United States has brought a lot of impact. The most obvious is that China has become the largest U.S. goods market.

Coca-Cola has already accomplished its that look like the myth: sell 1 billion Coca-Cola bottle; once ridiculed dream of China in the common Chinese sell a lot of Buick auto, in a difficult time the profit China 占 General profit by a substantial part of it; China’s legend IBM purchase PC business, and save the dying sector jobs. China to provide more low-price the necessities of life for the Americans live in water standards has made great contribution, particularly for we are not well the residents of well-off. There are indications that because it can purchase of China’s low-price export goods, low-income Americans’ lives in water standards may increase the 5 to 10 per cent.

China’s financial system not reasonable means that the Chinese construction of dying enterprise, resulting in large excess capacity. In recent years, China’s financial policy volatile lead to the excessive construction of iron, aluminum and cement and other raw materials produced a huge demand. Japanese and Chinese now there seems to be purchase of world of all things, but when you see their financial situation of the when potential problems, you will find a black hole. The Japanese in the 1990s into such a black hole, and is still in efforts to crawl out. China

A lot of people after years will still be for the current such uncontrolled and fanatical felt very sad purchase acts.
At present, China faces enormous challenges. The Bank of China as we know the worst in the World Bank. China each generation, there are quite large scale population in the United States for the rural areas to urban areas. Each year, have 1200 ~ 13 million new workers to join work force. In in the industry, and the productivity to employment effects than our country to a more serious. By 2020, China’s population aging will make the working population and not working population ratio the world’s largest worse than the Japanese even worse. If there was no magic new policies, China’s economic during that period will be severely over a wall. The Year 2020, to our standard standards, it will be a very poor countries.
Chinese lack of good faith and social responsibility. The Chinese do not understand its them as social individual should state and social responsibilities and obligations. ordinary Chinese people generally 只 interest in their families and relatives, the Chinese cultural is built on the family lineage hill and not on a rational social. The Chinese 只 in their immediate families, as well-being of their own unrelated the suffering people turning a blind eye. There is no doubt that this kind of blood as hill based ethics selfish would inevitably lead to cold, such a selfish and cold had become a barrier China Social Development The most crucial factor.

China has never had become a rule of law, because the Chinese ways of thinking and law-abiding conduct incompatible. The Chinese to take a shortcut. They do not understand such a fact that success is coming from and hard work and sacrifice. The Chinese tendency and not to obtain 于. They need to understand why one principle that life is not really said how many of you, you can be obtained from the you can be given to social and your fellow human beings.

Most Chinese who have never learned what had been a decent and honorable to life. Chinese people have generally do not know how to personal and social well-being of productive life. subconscious about that the Chinese regard their lives to elevate their own thus enjoy other people’s awareness. In this way, a person is to keep” face” would be satisfied negligible desire. ” face” is a Chinese psychological the basic components, and it has become the Chinese people to the insurmountable obstacles hindering the Chinese accept the truth and try a meaningful life.

This should be condemned habits and characteristics of the Chinese life of a relentless and selfish characteristics, and it has become the main reason behind China.
The Chinese lacked the courage pursue their view, the correct thing. First, they have not from the error screened right things of capabilities, for their thoughts have been greed has occupied. Further, even if they can filter the correct, and they also lacked courage the truth into practice.
The Chinese accustomed to cheap and free of charge things, they are always dream miracle or good luck, because they are not willing to make efforts, they always wanted free-rider. There is little Chinese aware of the fact that prestige and achievements through a step by step is hard work and sacrifice, do not pay no income. In short, if it is to make a living, the

A personal 只 have to obtain; but if that is to make a living, one must need to go to dedication.
In the poverty and environment as a result of growth and lack proper education, most Chinese do not know how the elegant demeanor and basic courtesy. Most of them to dress clumsy crude but does not feel shy. They in the youth, because the education of how from others and lying about the solicitation, rather than to and others to share their own.
China is a rich in natural resources. But unlimited fertility policy making China bring adverse consequences of unlimited cheap labor in exporting countries. The output also include those educated labor output, apart from their education water standards but in reality and other general coolie not fundamentally the difference.

China’s large-scale production of cheap products reduced the importation of these products in the region commercial credit ratings. due to inadequate technologies, the management failures in China for the unit of energy use than developed countries like Japan, the United States are much higher. Therefore, with exports increased by China in expanding production and losing his precious energy. At the same time, that such acts also seriously polluted the environment, the China into the world’s most are unfit for human living.

Currently, China is suffering from a capitalist 2 evil torture, namely, the environmental destruction and human lost. Because the Chinese people born to be the greed in the nature, they can say without reservation the accept capitalism’s dark side of endless pursuit of profit overlook the human dignity. The Chinese people’s Western technology and products fanatical pursuit, but the Western management culture has emphasized the frank, direct and honest these qualities indifference.
The Chinese culture does not encourage risk-taking such good quality, so Chinese try to avoid risk-taking, they do not want to find opportunities to improve their living. The Chinese people living the balance of nature and significance and are not interested, and instead more obsessed with the request of material, this point is far better than Westerners. Most Chinese discovered they do not know,” Ling,” freedom belief” and “Mental Health” such a concept, because their ideological and cannot attain a life (S.: the physical and spiritual co-exist) the presence of a higher level. They thought remain focused on animal instincts of sexual and food that poor desire greed

In the Chinese eyes, education is not in order to search for truth or improving quality of life and the 只 identity and prominence is the symbol and Che subject. China’s intellectuals from others that about to respect and not because of their to other people’s well-being done nothing about, and the 只 because they were possession of a considerable knowledge. In fact, most of them 只 were just a group understands only concern but has never examination truth and moral patrons.

China’s education system has become a large extent as a failure and stigma. It is not capable of serving 于 education, which should the articles: society. The education system cannot be provided to many useful individual. It is 只 in building a group opportunists, it is eager to benefit from the offered by society without concern benefits return.
China can develop a large number of high-level to talent, but very little can develop a qualified to independent chairmanship of management-level expert. serve a company or the social that technology is not enough; there is also have the courage, courage, integrity and honesty leadership, that is precisely what is lacking most Chinese character. As Arthur Smith, a famous of Western missionaries a century ago pointed out that the Chinese people most lacks is not wisdom, courage and integrity of the rather than pure temperament. The evaluation, although after 100 years, but still standards are diagnosed SARS China cause.

Most Chinese abroad for the selection of graduates to work abroad will not feel guilty, in fact, they owed to the Chinese people on education for their sacrifices. As the traditional cultural values of destruction and gradually weak, most of the Chinese people, including educated people wandering in inner spirit and the intersection, like lost dogs, did not know where to go.

———

美國蘭德公司對中國人的評價
美國蘭德公司是一家著名的非盈利的研究機構，為美國官方提供“客觀的分析和有效的解決方案”。最近，他們公佈了一份對中國現狀分析報告，即有肯定，也有嚴厲批評，值得國人反省。本文觀點來自蘭德公司亞太政策中心。

原文如下：
如果20世紀的中國是一個富裕和統一的國家，我們會有一個完全不同的第一次世界大戰，我們就不會有第二次世界大戰而是第二次歐洲大戰。中國能夠阻止日本侵略或者打敗日本。美國在這些衝突上的花費從根本意義上會減少很多，因為珍珠港事件不會發生。我們和整個世界，更不用說10億中國人，一個多世紀以來，已經為中國的弱小付出了慘重的代價。世界需要一個健康的中國。

中國的需求對日本走出衰退起到了促進作用。日本狀況給世界經濟帶來了風險。關於這一點，怎麼說都不誇張。日本巨額的債務會產生多米諾骨牌效應，逐漸波及到全世界。在中國有力的幫助下，危險似乎已經過去。中國全球化給美國帶來了很多影響。最明顯的是，中國成為美國商品最大的市場。

可口可樂早就完成了那個看上去像是神話的目標：賣10億瓶可口可樂；曾經嘲笑中國夢的通用在中國賣了很多的別克汽車，在困難時期，中國帶來的利潤占通用利潤的很大一部分；中國聯想購買IBM個人電腦業務，挽救了這個垂死部門的工作崗位。中國提供更低價的生活必需品給美國人的生活水準做出了很大的貢獻，尤其是對我們不是那麼富裕的居民而言。有跡象表明由於能夠購買中國低價的出口貨物，低收入美國人的生活水準可能提高了5%到10%。

中國金融體系的不合理意味著中國建造了垂死企業，導致巨大的生產力過剩。近些年來，中國財政政策上的反復無常導致過度建造，對鐵、鋁、水泥和其他原材料產生了巨大的需求。日本人和現在的中國人看上去似乎會買下世界上所有的東西，但是當你看到他們的財政狀況的潛在問題時，你會發現一個黑洞。日本人在90年代陷入了這樣一個黑洞，至今還在努力地爬出來。中國

人很多年後仍將會為目前這種無節制的狂熱的購買行為感到心痛。
目前，中國面臨著巨大的挑戰。中國的銀行是我們所知道的世界上最糟糕的銀行。中國每一代，都有相當於美國規模的人口從農村湧入城市。每年，都有 1200~1300萬新工人加入就業大軍。在製造業，生產力對就業的影響比我們國家要嚴重得多。到2020年，中國人口老齡化會使工作人口與不工作人口的比率成為世界上最糟糕的，比日本更甚。如果沒有特效的新政策的話，中國的經濟在那個時期就會狠狠地撞牆。到2020年，以我們的標準來看，它會是一個非常窮的國家。
中國人缺乏誠信和社會責任感。中國人不瞭解他們作為社會個體應該對國家和社會所承擔的責任和義務。普通中國人通常只關心他們的家庭和親屬，中國的文化是建立在家族血緣關係上而不是建立在一個理性的社會基礎之上。中國人只在乎他們直系親屬的福址，對與自己毫不相關的人所遭受的苦難則視而不見。毫無疑問，這種以血緣關係為基礎的道德觀勢必導致自私，冷酷，這種自私和冷酷已經成為阻礙中國社會向前發展的最關鍵因素。

中國從來就沒有成為一個法制社會，因為中國人的思維方式與守法行為格格不入。中國人老想走捷徑。他們不明白這樣一個事實：即成就來自於與努力工作和犧牲。中國人傾向于索取而不給予。他們需要明白一個道理：生活的真蒂不在於你你索取多少而在於你能給予社會和你的人類同胞多少。

大多數中國人從來就沒有學到過什麼是體面和尊敬的生活意義。中國人普遍不懂得如何為了個人和社會的福址去進行富有成效的生活。潛意識裏，中國人視他們的生活目的就是抬高自己從而獲得別人的認知。這樣一來，一個人就會對”保有面子”這樣微不足道欲望感到滿足。”面子”是中國人心理最基本的組成部分，它已經成為了中國人難以克服的障礙，阻礙中國人接受真理並嘗試富有意義的生活。

這個應受譴責的習性使得中國人生來就具有無情和自私的特點，它已成為中國落後的主要原因。
中國人沒有勇氣追求他們認為正確的事情。首先，他們沒有從錯誤中篩選正確事物的能力，因為他們的思想被貪婪所佔據。再有，就算他們有能力篩選出正確的事情，他們也缺乏勇氣把真理化為實踐。
中國人習慣接受廉價和免費的事物，他們總是夢想奇跡或者好運，因為他們不願意付出努力，他們總想不勞而獲。很少有中國人明白一個事實，就是威望和成就是通過一步步努力的工作和犧牲實現的，不付出就沒有所得。簡單來說，如果是為了謀生，那

一個人只有去索取；但如果是為了生活，一個人必須要去奉獻。
由於在貧窮的環境下生長並且缺少應有的教育，大多數中國人不懂得優雅的舉止和基本的禮貌。他們中的大多數人著裝笨拙粗鄙卻不感到害羞。他們在青少年時所受的教育就是如何說謊並從別人那裏索取，而不是去與別人去分享自己的所有。
中國是一個物產豐富的國家。但無限制生育政策所帶來惡果使得中國成為了無限廉價勞動力的輸出國。這些輸出也包括那些受過教育的勞力輸出，除了他們的教育水準，實則和其他一般苦力沒有本質上的區別。

中國大規模生產的便宜產品降低了輸入這些產品的地區的商業信用度。由於技術落後，管理失敗，中國製造的單位能耗要比發達國家如日本，美國高出很多。因此，隨著出口額的增加，中國在擴大生產的同時喪失著寶貴的能源。同時，這種行為也嚴重的污染了環境，使中國變為全世界最不適宜人類居住的國家。

目前中國正在遭受著資本主義社會2大邪惡的折磨，即環境的破壞與人性的喪失。由於中國人天生的貪婪的本性，它們可以毫無保留的接受資本主義的陰暗面即無止境的追求利潤，忽視人的尊嚴。中國人對西方的技術與產品狂熱追求，卻對西方管理文化所強調的坦率，直接，誠實這些品質漠不關心。
由於中國文化不鼓勵敢於冒險這種優良品質，所以中國人極力避免冒險，他們也不想尋求機會來改善自己的生活。中國人對於生活的平衡性和意義性並不感興趣，相反他們更執迷於對物質的索取，這點上要遠遠勝於西方人。大多數中國人發現他們不懂得”精神靈性”，”自由信仰”以及”心智健康”這樣的概念，因為他們的思想尚不能達到一個生命（補：即肉體和靈性的並存）存在的更高層次。他們的思想還停留在專注於動物本能對性和食物那點貪婪可憐的欲望

在中國人的眼中，受教育不是為了尋求真理或者改善生活品質，而只是身份和顯赫地位的象徵和標誌。中國的知識份子從別人那裏得到尊敬並不是因為他們為了別人的幸福做過什麼，而只是因為他們獲得佔有了相當的知識。事實上，他們中的大多數只不過是一群僅僅通曉考試卻從不關心真理和道德的食客。

中國的教育體系很大程度上已經成為一種失敗和恥辱。它已經不能夠服務于教育本應所服務的物件：社會。這個教育體系不能提供給社會許多有用的個體。它只是製造出一群投機分子，他們渴望能夠受益於社會所提供的好處卻毫不關心回報。
中國可以培養出大批的高級能人才，但卻很少可以培養出合格的可以獨立主持的管理級專家。服務於一個公司或者社會，光有技術是不夠的；還需要有勇氣，膽量，正直和誠實的領導才能，這恰恰是大多數中國人所缺少的品性。正如亞瑟.史密斯，一位著名的西方傳教士一個世紀前所指出的，中國人最缺乏的不是智慧，而是勇氣和正直的純正品性。這個評價，雖然歷經百年，如今依舊準確診斷出中國綜合症的病因。

大多數中國畢業生對選擇出國並為外國工作不會感到內疚，事實上他們首先欠下了中國人民在教育上為他們所做出的犧牲。隨著傳統文化價值觀的破壞和逐步衰弱，大多數的中國人，包括受過教育的人都徘徊在精神和內心世界的路口，像迷失的狗一樣不知何去何從。

[Translation] China Is The Most Targeted Country By Hackers

Last modified on 2010-01-26 10:17:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

According to China’s network emergency response team, CNCERT, China is the most hacked nation in the world, and majority of the attack originate from United States.

China Is The Most Targeted Country By Hackers

[168 IT Safety] According to news sources, National Computer Network Emergency Response Team (CNCERT) center deputy directory Zhou Yonglin, on 1/22, CNCERT has not received “any concrete information regarding the incident from Google.”

Zhou says, China is the largest victim of internet attack, its web safety is in a dire situation.

Google’s “web attack originating from China” lacking evidence

Zhou explains, web safety is unlimited by the physical world, that hackers with average ability can easily select and attack targets, and hidden its location and identity during the attack.

The openness of the web allows hackers to be borderless. It’s not only unreliable, but also unprofessional, to say an attack is from Chinese hack because the originating IP is in China.

Zhou says, after CNCERT found out Google’s attack is from China, they have become very interested, and continue to hope Google will contact them, to allow deeper understand and providing necessary support. However, besides the public notice and some media reports, so far CNCERT has not received any concrete information regarding the incident from Google.”

China is the most targeted country by hackers

Zhou Yonglin says, China is the largest victim of network attacks.

According to CNCERT sampling of Trojan horse and zombie programs, in 2009 262,000 server IP were under control of Trojan horse program, with 165,000 overseas controlling address, where 16.6% originated from US(#1); 837,000 server IP were under control of zombie program in 2009, with 190,000 controlling address, where 22.34% from US(#1). Hacked websites is well over 42,000, including 2765 government websites (gov.cn) including provincial websites.

Another survey by Symantec, in 2008 Web safety and threat report pointed out, China is #1 in number of computer infected with zombie program, 13% of all infected computers. This also shows China is the largest victim of network attack.

What do you do if it says “No photographs and video taping” ?

Last modified on 2010-01-16 20:26:25 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I will start with a big laugh! When a sign in a beautiful museum says, “No cameras and video taping is allowed”, what do you think it meant? And what do you think a Chinese tourist will do?

The ongoing talks about Mainland Chinese’s civic conscience and daily public behavior are mostly negative. But it is not always racially prejudicial nor finger pointing. All we have to do is to look at this guy Haison Jiang and listen to his friends. He defiantly sneaked through Newark’s Liberty Airport and caused a 6 hour delay and pain for several thousand people. Forget about what the US should do or do to that TSA guard who stepped away. They should improve, make changes and the guard should be reprimanded, etc, etc.. But the fingers should all point at Jiang. With people like this, what can we really do? Why he did it? Here is the interesting part:

Jiang’s friend said, “He didn’t mean anything malicious!”. That’s it! These are well educated graduate students. Not poor peasants from some rural villages. That showed how low and distorted their sense of right or wrong has become.   As long as Jiang did not carry a bomb, what’s the big deal if he ignored the signs and rules? How clumsy and inefficient the Americans are.

Who said Jiang was malicious and did it have to be malicious? It all comes down to “pay no attention to the rules”, “pay no mind to other people” and “pay no mind to the signs”. I don’t think Jiang meant anything malicious. So are those who spit in front of you, talk loudly on subway trains, cutting in front of people who are waiting in line, taking pictures and videos where it is clearly prohibited, smoking where they shouldn’t …….  No wonder they said China has more freedom than the US.

My uncle spat on the rug in a restaurant in Guangzhou and said it was okay because the workers would clean the floor every night anyway. He didn’t mean to be malicious.  I don’t even think that those who sold tainted baby milk meant to be malicious. They just wanted to make more money and couldn’t care less about anyone else. These are just characteristics of a people whose values had been distorted first by a brutal and destructive period of time and then by a materially rich but morally poor and intellectually stifling system. A political system that believes that by having control, censorship,  a single voice, a single national ideology and a single life’s aspiration will lead to a safe and harmonious society.

At my age, I am not sad any more. China is still not free.  It is a authoritative state.  The crime is: it sweetens the bitterness by corrupting the mind of its people.  Everyone becomes materialistic.  The most rewarding and safest way to live in China is being materialistic.    I don’t give a damn for the people who choose to ignore this part of China and just go for its wealth and opportunities. I don’t feel any part of this “rising great nation”. But the West is going to learn. It may not be China’s toys, drywall, tires, bogus CDs, or its money and military might that will bother and scare the West. It may well come down to someone who urinate in their streets. The latter is more realistic.

[Translation] Haiti Quake Headlines In Chinese Media

Last modified on 2010-01-15 00:32:23 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

Here’re few headlines in Chinese media regarding Haiti earthquake:

中国国际救援队抵达海地太子港 – China International Rescue Reaches Port Au Prince

中国国际救援队在海地开展医疗救助 – China International Rescue Mission Begin Medical Aid

基础设施无法使用 海地震后救援面临巨大挑战 – Basic Services Lacking, Haiti Rescuers Face Daunting Challenge

中国8名在海地被埋维和人员下落不明 – Eight Peacekeepers In Haiti Remain Unaccounted

海地地震伤亡仍无法估计 全国1/3人口需紧急援助 – Haiti Quake Casualty Mounting, 1/3 Population Need Emergency Aid

郑州小姑娘捐稿费给海地灾民 – Zhengzhou Girl Donates Allowance To Haiti Victims

Here’s how how you can help.

on freedom of speech,

Last modified on 2010-01-08 20:16:11 GMT. 26 comments. Top.

I have a question about freedom of speech :

It means PEOPLE have the freedom to express their OPINIONS, right ?

So there are two categories here : People and opinions.

First categories , People can be

1) people mistreated by government.
2) people needs government help because of accidents.
3) people lost all of his savings cuz of their stupidity
4) people didnt get what they wanted (the amount of money) from government.
5) people who are lazy but want to enjoy the benefits of govenrment.
6) people who want all kinds of benefits, no matter how unreasaonable their requests are.
7) people who mislead other peoples.
8) people who dont like the government so they nickpick the problems of government everywhere
9) people who only show people the facts that can sell their agenda but hide other facts.
10) people who are lawyers (you know what I mean)
and SO ON.

Second categories, opinions :
1) complains towards the government cuz of being mistreated.
2) complains towards the government cuz government ignores his misforture.
3) blame government for his loss in his investment.
4) blaime goverment for not giving him what he asked.
5) bash government cuz he didnt have the benefits.
6) bash government for his misery (cuz of his own laziness.)
7) bash government cuz he spent more than he earned.
8) bash government cuz government doesnt make the plan like he wants.(or his boss wants)
9) bash government cuz he wants to make this government look bad.
10) bash government cuz he wants to make himself look good, hence more political influence for him.
and SO ON.

My question :

Do you consider every COMBINATION from these two categories part of “freedom of speech”?

Celebrating Yo-Yo Ma: A World Class Musician

Last modified on 2009-12-09 16:41:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

In case you haven’t heard, the multiple Grammy®-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, is celebrating his 30th anniversary recording with Sony Music through the release of Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box, a deluxe limited-numbered box set of his recorded legacy. Comprised of 88 discs of original album releases and an additional two discs of bonus material, 30 Years Outside the Box is the definitive collection of this iconic artist in a presentation as beautiful and timeless as the music itself. It has quickly become a popular gift for the holidays!

Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside the Box includes:

* 90 CDs – every original album Yo-Yo Ma has recorded to date.
* 2 Bonus Discs featuring the first release of John Williams’ Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha for Cello and Orchestra.
* Entirely re-mastered with DSD technology.
* 312-page hard-bound book.
* Beautifully designed, velvet-lined box.
* Numbered limited-edition with letter of authenticity.
* Rare archival photos, essays, full track lists, original liner notes, and more.

The Yo-Yo Ma collection is available for sale at…

Borders:

Amazon:

Barnes and Noble:

As an Asian American (I’m Filipino!), I am proud to say that Yo-Yo Ma has even more achievements worth celebrating:

* His album “Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs Of Joy And Peace” recently received a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album.
* He was named a U.N Peace Ambassador in 2006.
* He performed at President Obama’s inauguration who also appointed him to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Yo-Yo Ma’s boundary defying career and his place as a cultural figure known throughout the world is surely a source of inspiration for the global Asian community!

Chinese-American Military Service Experience In Contrast – Who Am I Fighting For

Last modified on 2009-11-26 14:58:32 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

In contrast to the fairly positive reportng by Sichuan Online on overseas Chinese serving in US military, this article titled “Who Am I Fighting For” exposes a different view of life in the American military.

“Who Am I Fighting For” appeared in November 2008 issue of Siwen Times Digest, chronicled a Chinese graduate student’s entry into the Iraq war, and the deaths he witnessed on and off the battlefield:

http://bbs.51ielts.com/thread-513028-1-1.html

Who Am I Fighting For – A Chinese American Soldier’s Diary

I Enlisted For Tuition

It’s been a month since I arrived in New York. Everything is fine – except not making money. It’s depressing to stay at home reading books and cooking dinner, especially in such a materialistic city where credit card and consumption is everywhere. For the jobless, it’s like we can’t stand up straight.

I studied the poster in the subway I’ve been walking by everyday, especially the two recruiting ads – “We don’t accept application, only commitment. US Marine, we need you to serve you country.” Two super cool soldiers looking at you with their steel resolve – just like in the movies, full of masculinity. I’ve heard US military’s compensation is pretty good, with good salary and lots of benefits. They also pay your tuition, Since my 30-40k MBA tuition remains elusive, why not give enlistment a try?

So I went to military.com, filled in application for Marines, Army, and Army reserve. Promptly received information on enlisting and benefits. Upon arrival at the recruitment center, every officers in the room treated me like family, attentive, worried I might change my mind, and giving me a lot of little presents. A beautiful female officer picked me up and droped me off every day. I am a little shocked. Suddnely I’m in.

If You Don’t Feel Good, Fire

After arriving at the US military base in Baghdad, we slept in modified container 4 to a box. All around you is endless desert; there’s sand, and more sand. No building, no trees, no roads, no water, no family. It’s like we’re on sufeace of the Moon, not even a name for the place.

Today we were assigned to a new area for duty. The word is this is armed insurgent territory, bombs are burried in every road, sniper in every condemned building, rocket launcher comes out from every direction… My job is to drive the Stryker armor vehicle, and wait for my comrads who is clearing houses. But these few days, because some soldier is on leave, I’m assigned to infantry battle group. We are to patrol the main roads, shoot any target we feel should be shot. After a short distance, we found a house. After explosive experts made sure there are no bombs, we occupied the building and established temporary post.

Around 4pm there was a sudden loud sound. I ran up stairs, where fire is being exchanged. “Meathead” also ran upstairs. We can see flashes of lights from a building across the street; that’s armed insurgents firing at us. There were also sniper firing from another building in front of us. I’m careful not to expose myself. As a string of sound pierce my ear, there are two Apache helicoptor above me conducting ground suppression. Unfortunately the enemy are all inside, and after a while they started returning fire again. Our lieutenant suddenly told everyone to get down as a Stryker gets in position, ready to deliver a giant fire cracker. After two huge bangs those insurgents were silenced.

These insurgents may not know, at these places where CNN reporters get nervous, our orders from above were: if you think you should fire, you fire; if you have a little doubt, fire; if someone is on the cell phone pointing at you, fire; if someone is letting out pegions, fire; if someone is digging a hole, fire. My understand is: if you don’t feel good, you can fire. After taking care of these people and escorted the explosive exsperts back to their base, we went back to our base to rest. The next day we found out 10 bodies were idefied, while some bodies were shot up like swiss cheese. This is a collective success, and some medals are on the way.

A Comrad Name “Lucky”

The desert bacame drier as we entered winter. AC stopped in the trucks and heater started. During patrol I’m often stuck in the vehicle 8,9 hours, my nose would start to bleed. Today is the last time I would patrol this bad neighborhood, as usual I napped while waiting for troops to return. I hear “Lucky” on top of the vehicle talking about marriage, children, additional benefit. When “Lucky” was stationed in Germany he dated a 17 year old Philipino girl, and have plan to marry her during leave. But she got pregnant before the wedding, and the father is another Texan. But “Lucky” didn’t care, he just want to marry this girl, get family pay, and save her from the 3rd world. Not to mention getting a son, kill 3 birds with one stone.

“Lucky” seems less concerned, or or don’t care, about this. His father married 3 times, and he’s got over 10 step brothers and sisters. Even he can’t remember which is which. His father died from car crash couple months ago, he was only 38. You get dizzy thinking about how he manage to have over 10 children at the age of 38. We have many people like “Lucky” in our battalion. Some never met their father, some with divorced parents. Some go with Dad, Dad remarries, then step mother remarries after father passes away. They end up with people of no relations. When we were okayed for cell phones, they didn’t buy one. Because no one cared, and they have no one to call.

The 100th Suicide

In 4 years of Iraq war, everyday on every base someone dies, gets injured, go crazy, go AWOL, suicide. Who has high morale, fighting spirit, is the oddball. Everyone is a dragon on the battle field, once back in the tent all lay down like a crab. Low morale, sighing, complaining, anxiousely counting the day. Some 18 year olds just out of high school, arrived in Iraq after 4 months training, cries in the tent every day. This night and day from the Hollywood war movies I’ve seen as a child. Two days ago, a soldier killed himself on the base. Command immediately shut the phones and Internet, and forbade cell phone calls, else face confiscation. Suprised to see US military does that same thing like the Shanshi coal mine incident. Other suicide didn’t attraction too much attention, but this one was a little different.

Maybe it’s because he’s the 100th suicide. This brother was almost ready to retire, so I have to say it: Iraq is like the doorstep of hell; one foot out the tent, next step may not bring you back. You had 100,000 chances to die in 15 months, choosing to off yourself is almost unnecessary. Why can’t you be a little patient, next time during a fire fight just stand an inch taller so the snipers can see you… That way everything is done, want fame you got it, want puprle heart got it, We’ll all attend your memorial, carry you to your grave. Army even gives your family 500,000 dollars of battle pension. One miscalculation everything is gong, why are you so stupid? Can’t wait for an opportunity? Aren’t we all hanging on, counting days? News of suicide is worse than battle field casualty. A live person suddenly falls down and he’s your bunk mate. That kind of feeling is like walking in darkness and suddenly come up to an abyss, and Death is calling you from down thre.

I was supposed to retire in 8/08. Thought I could see the Olympics in Beijing. But thre’s a recruitment shortage, so the Army no longer retire on schedule. Everyone must serve 15 months, unless severely injured or dead. My new retirement is pushed to 11/15/08. I’m counting how many days have I left. It’s late, sleeping in the desert, looking at the open sky, hellish wind blowing, body full of sores. I thought about my classmates in China without jobs, being house boys, play video games, eat KFC, fighting with parents. Why did I come here by myself? Who am I fighting for?

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“My American Soldier Diary” – Chengdu Man Serving In American Military

Last modified on 2009-11-24 12:22:09 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Below is a report from Sichuan Online, about a young man from Chengdu serving in US military, and his forum postings about his experience:

http://www.scol.com.cn/nsichuan/cddt/20091112/2009111282836.htm

“My American Soldier Diary” – Chengdu Man Serving In American Military: In Kuwait Reminiscing Jiouyanchao

“What frontline soldiers afraid of most, is not the 120 degree weather, not the sandstorm, not exchange of fire. Privates fret convoy duty the most, in another word afraid of, is Iraqi insurgent’s home-made explosives…”

“Don’t know why I started reminiscing about Chengdu, especially the twice cooked pork. Being homesick is very draining…”

Iron will and human emotions tangled lately on the popular “My American Solider Diary” forum. The poster is a Chengdu man name Tang Liaoliao, who is currently serving infantry in America. Reporter Tu Yufei contacted Tang in America, in order to reveal his American military service story.

Posting to share his unique experience with family and Friends

“10/16, sunny, Kuwait. Waking up groggy, I am drenched in sweat, unable to recall which day of the week it is. Don’t know why I’ve started thinking about Chengdu, like a child thinking of his mother. Especially thinking about twice cooked pork. Being homesick is very draining. When you are battling by yourself, injury is natural. When you are hurt, you’ll think of a place for healing. For me it will always be Chengdu.” – quote from “My American Soldier Diary”

Recently, on a Chengdu website, a “My American Solider Diary” forum post became popular. The poster claims to be from Chengdu, currently serving in American military, was training in Kuwait last month, and deployed in Iraq. Although there were only 4 journal entries, they were viewed tens of thousands of times, with hundreds of netters asking for more.

Couple days ago, the reporter finally contacted the poster liaoliaotang, who’s at a base in Coloardo. Liaoliaotang’s name is Tang Liaoliao. By day he is training at the base. After work he returns home near the base to write is military service journal on-line. Tang checked with his superior, was told as long as it doesn’t involve military secret, it’s okay.

Tang said, 4 years in America, his thoughts about China is never far. He returned to Chengdu last July after the earthquake, as well as this February. When in Chengdu, he meets his buddies at a bar in Jiouyanchao for some peanuts and beer. “I’ll be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” Quoting American poet Robert Frost, thou Tang has naturalized he remains a Chengdu lad. He posts on his hometown’s website hoping to tell his story to friends back home.

Goal of enlisting: independence, flight career in reserve

“Some classmates ask, did you join the military for American citizenship? Let me answer that, US citizenship is not the most attractive thing in the military benefit package.” – quote from “My American Soldier Diary”

24 year old Tang Liaoliao has a very 80’s style name. 4 years ago his family immigrated to US, Tang got an English name, Arthur, a heroic name. He attended community college, helped out at the restaurant delivering food. After two years in America, Tang ignored his mother’s stern objection and enlisted. “In America, young people rely on themselves. People look down on you if you’re with your parents.” Tang said to enlist in America one only needs high school education and green card.

“Some classmates ask, did you join the military for American citizenship? Actually, US citizenship is not the most attractive thing.” Tang said, in addition to US citizenship, enlisting in the military earns bonuses, from 10,000 to 40,000. Also, once enlisted, immediate family’s medical insurance is picked up by the unit. This is not a small benefit in America, where medical care is expensive.

University tuition in America is not cheap either, especially private school. Uncle Same tells him, after serving your term, you qualify for up to 85,000 in tuition and living expense. If you want to buy a house or start a business, the military provides 417,000 in low interest loan. After 20 years of service, your salary stays in reserve. Should something happen to you, there are 400,000 of life insurance…

What enticed Tang most is the sizable tuition after service. It’ll help his parents save a lot of money. He signed a 3 year enlistment. After his term he plan to attend flight school and become a pilot.

Frontline story: Not afraid of exchanging fire, but “roadside bomb”

“Since the beginning of Iraq war, over 100 soldiers from my base have died , 1 from heart attack, 4 car accident, 5 killed by light weapon. The rest all died because of roadside bomb. Of all the casualty in Iraq, great many are due to IEDs” – quote from “My American Soldier Diary”

Beginning of last month Tang Liaoliao’s infantry division moved from California to Kuwait for training. Tang said, Kuwait is not completely safe. In the middle of October, Tang was transferred to Basra for two weeks of duty. Even then there were some sporadic RPG hits, “they can reach the base.” But what Tang worries most are the “IEDs”, roadside bomb/mine. “What frontline soldiers afraid of most, is not the 120 degree weather, not the sandstorm, not exchange of fire. Privates fret convoy duty the most, in another word afraid of, is Iraqi insurgent’s home-made explosives. Not only are they powerful, they’ve improved very quickly, it’s shocking even to our explosive experts.”

Tang’s command, “Chin” encountered IED before. Last year, Chin was ordered to a check point. Chin drove there and an IED exploded at an intersection. Luckily, Chin received minor injury to the leg and healed in a week. The camera on the Humvee recorded everything. “Every time I watch it, I’m scared.”

Tang said, his unit is a global village, with people from 7 different countries. Nights in the desert is lonely, and people make a lot of phone calls. It’s interesting to hear 7 different languages at once. Luckily, Tang’s unit went to Kuwait for training, and the stint in Basra were temporary, he did not encounter much frontline danger.

Tang Li, Tang Liaoliao’s aunt in Chengdu, said Tang is an only-child, finished 1st year college in Chengdu. He was spoiled and relied on his parents, “but after going to America he’s changed.” Tang Li said, Tang is a thoughtful lad now. Every year there are paid leave to anywhere in the world, but every time Tang chose Chengdu. He will once again vacation in Chengdu next January.

(Photos provided by Tang Liaoliao and family)

National Geographic got into the propaganda act?

Last modified on 2009-11-22 13:35:29 GMT. 270 comments. Top.

Saw an interesting blog of some brave woman who took great risks of taking a picture of 2 Uyghur ‘protesters’ before they got shot Chinese police. It even have a colorful story with it:

Writer Matthew Teague photographed these Uygur men, advancing upon Chinese forces, moments before they were shot.

Many people carry cameras these days. Some have uncommon courage. On page 36 of this issue, in the story “The Other Tibet,” there is a photograph taken with a cell phone. The photographer was not a professional. She was a Uygur woman who documented the shooting of a Uygur man by Chinese security forces on a street in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang region. She later gave the picture to National Geographic’s photographer Carolyn Drake.

Like their Tibetan neighbors, the Uygurs have a history of struggle, but when Carolyn began covering them more than a year ago, she had no idea that the conflict would explode into one of China’s most deadly uprisings since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. By June of this year, she thought her coverage was finished; she returned home to Istanbul. Then hints of unrest began to filter back to her. “At first I didn’t realize the severity of it. I started sending emails to my translator and friends in Kashgar, Hotan, and Urumqi, but no one responded.” She anxiously searched news sources, but the picture of what was going on seemed incomplete and unclear. There was only one way to fi nd out: return to China. She did so in July.

Carolyn, writer Matthew Teague, and a Uygur woman with a cell phone camera all took great risks to bring us the story of a struggle for human rights. Many people carry cameras these days. Sometimes they help us find the truth.

Yes, sounds like the human rights abuse Chinese police are at it again. If picture is worth a thousands words, maybe the picture would better explain why.

Here’s the link to the blog.

http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2009/11/editors-note-uncommon-courage.html

Of course the blog is a story about the ‘human rights’ struggles in Xinjiang and the July 5 protests.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/uygurs/teague-text

Even in the colorful story in the National Geographic magazine, they didn’t explain about how the so called ‘protests’ got ugly and almost 200 people died, namely by those knife wielding maniacs whom National Geographic refers them as ‘protesters.’

I have seen some other propagandized reporting such as this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/22/china-executes-tibet-protesters

But this National Geographic article takes the cake.

Extremes of Two Nations

Last modified on 2009-11-21 19:47:36 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

US and China are two countries of extremes to each other. It could be the difference in their cultures, their wealth, and/or changing of wealth. It would be best for both countries to move at least 10% away from their extremes.

Spending.
US. Like no tomorrow.
China. Saving for fear of begging in the street.

Health Care.
US. Encourages folks to be lazy, so they get free health care.
China. If you do not pay in yuan, you die.

Foreign countries.
US. Either my puppet or my enemy.
China. Non interference.

Environment.
US. Our pollution is not too high (translation: pollution per capita is).
China. My pollution per capita is not high (translation: total pollution is).

Human rights.
US. Killing for the name of liberty! or keeping our weapon suppliers rich.
China. Lifted 300 millions from poverty. Is this basic human right?

Military might.
US. New carrier with two nuclear generators.
China. 0 carrier.

Sports.
US. #1 in all sports. Get them at all costs.
China. Let’s get 100 Walmart shoppers and have a race to see which nation is fitter.

Natural resources/farm land.
US. Can support double the current population.
China. Can support half the current population.

Politics.
US. Do everything for votes.
China. If you do not listen, you disappear.

Gun control.
US. Need guns for the wild, wild cities.
China. Thanks NRA for allowing us to sell them to your citizens.

View each other.
US. Job snatcher, banker.
China. Job provider, loaner.

—————
The above are my thoughts from previous posts at FM.

—————-
Being a Chinese America, you may enjoy the following song related to the topic. It is sent to me from a friend.
http://groups.wenxuecity.com/discussion.php?gid=727&pid=48395

Films are Powerful Connector Among Culturally Different People – AMBASSADOR OF TAIWAN

Last modified on 2009-11-09 16:06:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Ambassador of Taiwan His Excellency Mr. Wenchyi Ong said that beside its unifying force a good film can easily strike a chord in the viewer. He was formally inaugurating the festival of films from Taiwan at Asian Academy of Film & Television. Family value, respect for the elderly, belief in democracy and diversity, working as a team and attaching importance to spiritual life are the dominant commonalities between the people of Taiwan and India he added. In his introductory remarks Prof. Sandeep Marwah said that watching films from Taiwan would indeed be a refreshing experience for the students. The Ambassador disclosed that he has invited the well known Taiwanese Director Ang Lee to make his next film in India and hoped that collaboration with Indian film producers will lead to making great films to tell the world remarkable stories of both India and Taiwan. The Ambassador of Taiwan accepted the life membership of International Film & Television Club on this occasion. Later he spoke to Noida people through Radio Noida 107.4 FM.

Tsien Hsue-Shen, the father of China’s missiles.

Last modified on 2009-10-31 17:37:44 GMT. 20 comments. Top.

He passed away at 98.

The description of his life in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Xuesen.

I just finished a book on him by Iris Chang. It is translated from English to Chinese. A very fascinating life.

99.9% chance he was not a communist when he was in US. He was a dedicated scientist.

The joke of the century is the witch hunt of communists in US and drove Tsien back to China to help China to develop missiles. It speeds up China’s missile development by at least 10 years when China did not know how to build good bicycle.

Did Middle East and N.Korea benefit from his initial work?

The book mentioned one or two flaws in his life. I believe he needed to do so to be political stable and be able to secure the funds for his work.

Lou Jing, you had me at 80% – 100%

Last modified on 2009-10-22 19:25:49 GMT. 13 comments. Top.

Just finished watching an interview with Lou Jing. She is an amazing young lady.

Other than the fact she doesn’t look like most other native Shanghainese, Lou is completely Chinese. The way she talks, attitude, is pretty much like any of my China-born nieces. She identifies with a cartoon pig who’s speciality is being ordinary.

She’s more Chinese than I will ever be.

Following is transcript of the 1st half of an interview Lou Jing gave Wangyi News:

WN: Lou Jing, what prompted you to enter the Eastern Angel contest?

LJ: Honestly, our teacher entered us into the contest. Some of my classmates and many in the drama school all went.

WN: How did you do?

LJ: I was really timid the first day. First try out there were 200 of us in the plaza stairway, waiting to be judged. Some people didn’t finish half their song and a bell would ring, telling them to stop. I was so nervous I called my mother – “mom, mom, you have to come, if you don’t come I can’t go thru with this” she was at work and she hurried over.

I did not make the show at first, only as a backup contestant. Two hours later they called and asked me to second try out. From preliminary to Shanghai final it took 7 days, then suddenly I realized, whoa, I’m in the final five.

WN: What score would you give yourself?

LJ: 80%, hehe. I’m more brave now.

WN: You’ve had couple nicknames since little, one is “Ganggang”?

LJ: Yeah “Ganggang”, means simpleton in Shanghainese.

WN: Why people call you that?

LJ: Because I’m the docile type. My Mom always tell me to be forgiving. When I thought I were being angry, my classmates say “is this it, you’re angry?” I can’t be angry at anyone, always like to help. Some people think I’m dumb, because my kindness isn’t always repaid. But I’m okay with that, what makes others happy makes me happy. That’s why they call me that.

NW: Another nickname is “little black”

LJ: Right, that’s because of my skin color. Some of my closer classmates call me that. Other people wouldn’t. Because we know each other well, since junior high. But strangely they wouldn’t let other people call me that, something like – “you can’t call her that, only we can.”

NW: Does that make you angry?

LJ: At first, then I’m used to it. Also when we were young people aren’t mean about it; they give me nickname, I give them nickname.

NW: We’ve seen some of your baby pictures, you always have such a big smile. When did you notice you were different than the other children?

LJ: In the city. You are not always in the same environment. If you’re in one place people get used to you. But if you go some place new, people would say your skin color is different, then I’m more self-conscious.

NW: Anything you are uncomfortable with?

LJ: Not when I was little, now maybe. It’s not obvious when you’re in familiar territory, but Once you’re somewhere new, people don’t know you – if I don’t talk it’s okay, but when I open my mouth people will ask me questions, then it’s like “not again”.

NW; you mentioned your skin color has brought you inconveniences, what inconvenences?

LJ: Not much when I was little. A lot on inconveniences now, especially after this contest, haha. I can’t recall what childhood inconveniences. Proverb goes “when god closes a door, he opens a window”. When I’m out, people always want to talk about me. Some are kind, some are not so kind and yell at me. I just let them talk.

People around me who know me are always nice to me, I thought that’s enough. Until after the contest I realized the world is not like that.

NW: Are there times you’re really angry with the impolite things people say about you?

JL: Does this contest count? Haha. During this contest, some media said irresponsible, untrue things. I feel put out, but us little people can’t really do anything about it.

NW: Anything happen druing the show?

JL: Sometimes. Like that KDS travel agency bad mouthing me, they had people visit the set. They comment about all five finalist’s look, and “black ape’ – I couldn’t care less. Let them talk. When you are on the show people will talk, you can’t shut their mouth.

NW: When You were little, you probably noticed other children have father but you don’t. When did you ask your mother about your father?

JL: About eight. I asked and Mom didn’t want to answer, so I stopped asking. I never do anything against my mother’s wish.

NW: When did your mother finally tell you about your background?

JL: On my 18th birthday. She casually mentioned it over cake, and I casually accepted it.

NW: were you a good kid?

JL: I think I was a good kid. I’d help my mom with greeting cards, cook dinner when she is late. I was a good kid, haha. I got good grades, teacher never called home to complain. Mom didn’t have to worry about me.

NW: You mentioned you were timid when you were little, don’t want to be noticed.

JL: When you are different and have to exist in the environment, you accept the fact you have to be invisible. You try not to attact attention. For example when teacher ask a question, I never raise my hand. Even when I know the answer I’d wish the teacher would pick me, then watch teacher pick some kid who doesn’t know the answer. I’m a very low key student, sitting in the back kind, haha.

NW: I read somewhere you used Maidou’s motto to describe yourself, “not dumb, but good natured”

JL: When my friend saw the Maidou movie, she called me and said “Lou Jing, this suits you, you’re not dumb, but good natured”, and I got upset “what are you talking about? I’m smart!” Then I thought this is true, I never cared about the little things. As long as everyone is happy, I’m okay. That’s why she describe me that way.

[Rest of the interview consists of her denying the online rumors. I will respect her wish and not focus on it.]

China’s 4 billion Investment in Afghanistan: Nation building?

Last modified on 2009-10-16 12:38:00 GMT. 15 comments. Top.

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/14/2098654.aspx

It looks China’s investment policy toward many African countries is taking root in Afghanistan. It is the usual kind of investment; building roads, schools, railway, hospitals, telecoms, etc… in exchange for copper in Aynak mines. Given the poverty rate in Afghanistan, this is something badly needed there. In some way, the US was kind of unhappy about this because US has provided some kind of stability in Afghanistan to make way for China to put their investment there.

US has been investing in Afghanistan into nation building in terms of defeating the Taliban and having elections there. However they have been focusing on political and social changes within Afghanistan which might’ve upset some locals while China focuses on the economic side of nation building. Can China succeed where US failed?

Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize

Last modified on 2009-10-16 12:37:55 GMT. 15 comments. Top.

Gladly we accept Nobel Prize for Obama.
For nothing he did during his nomination.

Potentially he holds the key for peace.
By not pressing the button to send nuclear missiles to destroy the world,
Or not sending the nuclear carrier to enforce his kingdom.
Or buying peace with money like no tomorrow.

Practically Deng saved a million from starving every year.
Not a nomination nod for this short guy.

Not destroying is more important than saving life.
Or Black is a better color than Yellow.

Wake up, you idiot committee.

[Translation] The Chairman’s Clothes Can Not Be Patched?

Last modified on 2009-10-14 21:25:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

A friend recently visited Mao Zedong’s hometown, Shaoshan, during China’s national holiday week. One of the photo he took was a recount of conversation with Mao about his shabby pajama:

A day in the Summer of 1963, I went to Zhongnanhai’s laundry to fetch the Chairman’s clothes. The comrad at the laundry said the Chairman’s pajama is too old, can’t be washed, and is it time for new one? Few days later, I was eating with the Chairman. He was wearing the very pajama.

I said: “Chairman, time to change your pajama this year?”

The Chairman casually said: “The nation is going thru some difficulties, patching will do!”

I hushed a complaint: “But you’re the Chairman.”

“Oh, I’m the Chairman, Chairman’s closthes can’t be patched? Aren’t you wearing patched clothes?”

“Chairman, you and I are different.” I explained.

“How are we different, because I’m the Chairman? Aren’t I but one among the People?”

[Translation] Carbon Trading Prelude To Low Carbon Economy

Last modified on 2009-10-12 06:56:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Below is a short article on China’s state of Clean Development Mechanism(CDM) under Kyoto Protocol, and future of China’s low carbon, green development:

http://www.epciu.com/Html/0908/17/3471B33FF1937070.html

Carbon Trading Prelude To Low Carbon Economy

Environmental China, 8/17/2009

(Carbon trading market is a hopeful prelude to “low carbon economy”. Beijing Environmental Exchange CEO Mei Dewen says China, being the nation with largest carbon resource, has tremendous development potential in carbon trading. Thru Clean Development Mechanism, in 2012 China may receive 1.8 billion tons of carbon trading credit, as much as several hundred million USD.)

China’s carbon-based economy is a must, says Mei Dewen. Establishing exchange, develop products, speedy connection with international channels, Mei believes, developing market and pricing mechanism, attracting qualified financial institution and enterprises, is central to the future of carbon-based economy.

As 2005 Kyoto Protocol framework relates to China, in recent years, global carbon trading and marketplace had exponential growth, From 377 million Euro in 2004 to 91 billion Euro in 2008, with expert projection of 140 billion Euro in 2012, surpassing oil market as largest marketplace.

Carbon trading and derived financial market is on the horizon. According to World Bank’s estimate, half of the 5 billion ton emission reduction target by developed nations will be realized from CDM, and China have the potential for 35% to 40% of the global CDM.

However, financial development area is lacking, Mei Dewen says. Although China has the largest carbon capital, carbon economy and carbon trading are left and rigt legs, without support from carbon economy, China will lose out on carbon trading like pricing mechanism, and lose out on opportunity in development of new financial sector.
Currently, carbon trading is mostly monopolized by developed nations, such as ETS in EU, ETG in UK, and CCX in US. Although China has established environmental exchanges in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjing, these 3 exchanges are limited to conservation and environmental protection technology transfer transactions, and still far from monetizing on carbon trading. China’s carbon marketplace development not only far behind developed nation, it’s even behind India.

In concrete terms, China’s carbon trading is akin to farm commodity market, while India’s carbon trading has elevated to level of currency market. Mei says, India’s carbon marketplace development is more advanced than China, in terms of trading platform or CDM capability. India’s carbon credit is 2-3 Euros more per ton than China.

China’s sustainable forestry, biomass industry, green development efforts

Last modified on 2009-10-06 16:22:24 GMT. 13 comments. Top.

Recently there have been some discussion on China’s rapid development, industrialization, increased pollution and destruction of environment such as deforestation. Not being knowledgeable or ever being interested in the subject, I decided to look for answer to the question – Is China recklessly polluting the planet?

The answer seems to be no. China seems to be aware of its rising role in global emisson and pollution, scale of its impact, and has implemented emission reduction measures such as carbon trading in accordance to Kyoto Protocol (which it signed in 1997.) On the issue of deforestation, China seems to have, as with other countries, gone thru the same cycle of exploitation and subsequent rebalancing of environment, thru forestation, reforestation, managed forestry and other sustainable practices.

Following article is from SW Securities on China’s sustainable forestry and biomass investment, which also touched briefly on China’s history in green development. Not being an expert on the subject, I introduce this article for critical examination:

http://finance.sina.com.cn/stock/t/20090623/12502909640.shtml

SW Securities: Forestation, Reforestation, And Biomass Energy Investment Strategy For Second Half Of 2009

China Marketweb News

On 9/23 SW Securities published a report on forestation, reforestation, and biomass energy, for 2nd half of 2009. According to the report, low-carbon economy is promoting naturally lowered emission:

Among the nations, US and China have the largest trade difference, as well as highest carbon emission. The IEA projects China will become the largest CO2 emitter in the world in 2010. Accelerating trade difference will also increase cost of emission globally. Climate change will cause greater agricultural loss than industrial loss, as Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development both place China’s emission reduction benefit at 7% of GDP. As effects of climate change moderates, China will become more interested in lowering emission.

Naturally reducing emission is key in future of lower carbon emission. Controlling green house gases by improving biological system is the preferred method for its sustainability and superior results. This mainly includes reducing deforestation, forestation, reforestation, composting and other agricultural practices.

Forests are key part of land-based ecosystems, mainly taking advantage of the sun’s energy. SWS found cost of lowering emission via forestation is less than industrial methods, with tremendous hidden potential.

Percentage of forest land in China was 8.6% in 1949, and currently at 18.21%. Old growth forest is about 12,456 million square meter, with managed growth forest at 13,618 million square meter, and 53 million hectare of man-made forest representing 53.2% of global increase in man-made forest. Cumulative CO2 absorption between 1980-2005 is about 4,680 million ton, and 43 million ton from controlling deforestation.

Clean development will promote greater forest industry in China, while obstacle is mainly rights to forest land, profits, and transfer of rights. Additional profit and subsidy derived from forest carbon sink credit, will bring social impetus to invest in forestation and bring valuation to forest and related resource industries. SWS recommends Yongan Foestry(6.69,0.16,2.45%), Jilin Forest Products(8.69,-0.19,-2.14%), Shengda Forestry(6.80,0.15,2.26%), Yueyang Paper(8.51,0.16,1.92%).

China’s future biomass development strategic areas are: 1) elevate use of solar efficient plant resources; 2) biomass resource; 3) development and use of micro organism; 4) development in sustainable biological resource; 5) genetics; 6) specialized used of biomass — organic material and technology.

While main focus of carbon trading is natural reduction of emission, bio-methane power generation and related field are being promoted, contributing to a new low-carbon economic model. China’s agricultural and biomass resources are plentiful, diverse, widely available. Live stock include hundreds million head of pigs, cows, goats, fowls. With large amount of live stock, the amount of waste is also large. In response to China’s rapid industrialization, there’s great potential for methane reclamation in composting, garbage collection, waste water treatment. Methane power generation is  an energy saving, environmentally friendly venture that reduces carbon emission and applicable under carbon trading. Main areas for methane reclamation are: landfills, waste water, live stock farming. SWS recommend observing methane power generation ventures from live stock companies such as Yiming Corp.(13.43,-0.14,-1.03%).

China Yearns to Form Its Own Media Empires

Last modified on 2009-10-06 16:23:40 GMT. 66 comments. Top.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/business/global/05yuan.html

When many people think China and media industry, many would probably be right to think that it would be a paradox. It seems that China’s government is encouraging consolidation of the media entertainment industry and possible partnerships with Western companies to create a media industry within the China’s market. The question is that would these Western Media companies would work within China and comply with Chinese laws and governance? Many of the Tech companies working within China are already doing that. Cisco has supplied the technology for their GFW. Google’s search engine within China blocks out sensitive information like the TS 1989 incident. Yahoo has provided China information which lead to arrest of an Chinese dissident. My guess that many media companies who are looking to do business in China would comply with China’s laws and censorship. What do you think?

Buffett praise for Chinese suits

Last modified on 2009-09-26 02:01:47 GMT. 12 comments. Top.

Here is one of the many links on this story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8262477.stm

This is free advertising for Made-in-China corp. – different from another bad story on bad quality on Chinese products.

The story has a kind, warm human touch too. Thanks Buffett!

Censored again – probably by Raj

Last modified on 2009-09-16 18:25:18 GMT. 36 comments. Top.

rolf Says: September 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
rolf, you’ve been warned against thread-jacking and off-topic nonsense before.
Post deleted (probably by Raj)

I think this is quite serious. In a way I am warned that if I mention CIA/NED once more, I will be banned. The person(s) who is doing this wants probably the discussion on Xinjiang to focus on the contradictions between Hans and uighur, which will make Hans the main culprit and harm Chinas unity.

In my opinion it is impossible to have such strong and cruel riots as in Xinjiang and Tibet, without a strong organization and outside backing and training. Ordinary people just don’t kill, invalidize and hurt so many in such a short time. It can only be done by trained killers. The main culprits are Al-Qaeda, some Istanbul based Big-Turkey-organizations and CIA/NED. CIA is the most plausible. If you look at www.ned.org you can see that CIA supports the Xinjiang and Tibet separatists economically. If you listen to or read http://www.voa.gov the link to the American government is strengthened a lot. The same if you read http://www.uyghurcongress.org

It has been very alarming to look at some of the You Tube videos from the riots in Tibet and Xinjiang – where you can see how well-trained and focused some of the rioters are.

I am now not allowed to mention CIA in connection with Xinjiang. I protest this censorship. The person(s) who censor these views are not at all deserving their administrator responsibility.

Fools Mountain is indirectly and unintentionally supporting separatism by suppressing views about imperialism. I felt this at once when I first looked at your site about a year ago. It is a bit sad because you are the only “Western” site on the internet which is positive about China. In a way by your administrator policies you are leading the discussion astray.

Regards Rolf

Memories of Mao

Last modified on 2009-09-16 16:04:50 GMT. 61 comments. Top.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KI17Ad03.html

As the countdown of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the modern China looms, it seems that China is getting ready for the big party, from the restoration of Chang’an street to the Film created for the special occasion Jianguo Daye. One thing that seems to be absent in this occasion is Mao himself.

By all means Mao is regarded to many Chinese as the George Washington of China when China rose as a nation from the burning ashes of WWII. Yet, the Chinese media did not mention anything of his death at September 9. The movie released at 10/1 Jianguo Daye means “Lofty Ambitions of Founding a Republic” doesn’t sound ‘patriotic.’ Even textbooks are devote less space for Mao than the previous years.

Chinese history wrote of Mao’s deeds of 70-30 (70% good, 30% bad). The older generation Chinese remember China before 1949 have great regards of Mao because they have seen the devastation of WWII. The middle generation Chinese have bad memories of Mao because of the cultural revolution and great leap forward. The young generation Chinese care less about Mao, and tend to remember what Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao did.

What do you think of him?

Four In Urumqi Indicted Over Needling Pedestrian

Last modified on 2009-09-09 15:46:47 GMT. 7 comments. Top.

Four In Urumqi Indicted Over Needling Pedestrian:

According to Xinhua News on 9/7, prosecutors in Urumqi indicted 4 people over Shaoximen needling case on 9/3. This is the second case of needling the Urumqi prosecutors have filed.

Suspects Abdul-Rusuli Abdul-Kedl, Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Razzaq, Abdul-Keyoumu Abdul-Aufu, Abdul-mithi Mamati, around 9/3 10:30 followed a woman (surname Lee) into pedestrian underpass in Urumqi’s Shaoximen area. When they passed Lee, Abdul-Rusuli Abdul-Kedl with help of three others, stabbed Lee’s neck with a hyperdermic needle.

Withe the help of the crowd, the four were caught at the scene. On the 3rd they were detained by Urumqi police on the charge of endangering public safety. On the 7th, the case was moved to the prosecutors, and the four were offcially arrested. Urumqi police carried out the order on the 7th.

Urumqi prosecutors said, these four suspect ignored established laws, needling women in the public, severely distrupted social order with serious consquences. A crime has clearly taken place, with concrete evidence.

Where was the current US President born?

Last modified on 2009-09-09 15:48:12 GMT. 39 comments. Top.

A case was filed last month at a US Court alleging US President Obama was born at hospital in Coast Province, the Repulic of Kenya. The case file can be read from here

http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/kenyan-birth-motion-to-expedite-authentication.htm

The core piece of evidence is a birth certificate obtained through back channel by an immigration lawyer.

http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/obama-certified-copy-of-registration-of-birth-in-kenya.htm

More can be followed on this attorney’s blog

http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/blog1/

There were some allegation during last year’s US President election but was rejected as speculation. With newly found evidence, what will be the outcome of this case?

City of Dreams, or nightmare?

Last modified on 2009-09-07 05:33:29 GMT. 24 comments. Top.

The Boston Globe article on this Sunday.

“In 1842, on a British warship anchored off the city of Nanjing, Chinese and British representatives signed a treaty that brought the First Opium War to an end. The British victory had been decisive, and along with the reparations and trade concessions exacted from China was the requirement that Hong Kong, a coastal island sparsely populated by farmers, fishermen, and the occasional pirate, be given to the British in perpetuity as a crown colony.’

———
A kind of upset of the article twisting history and the truth. It reflects the ignorance of the west and journalists.

How outrageous to say the opium pusher (the Britons), was good for the victim (Chinese)?

If it is your reason using force to enforce the opium trade to developing countries, what kind of civilization we’re in?

The British Parliament favored trade profit over justice. They had nothing to trade with China’s silk, porcelain…, but plenty of opium grown in India.

Britons did provide Hong Kong with stability (but stole a lot from Hong Kong as most colonial masters did). HK’s success is on mainly due to its special location (close to China), the expert businessmen from Shanghai and the cheap labor of the refugees.

Jon Huntsman Challenges in China

Last modified on 2009-09-03 15:35:38 GMT. 30 comments. Top.

Jon Huntsman the current Ambassador to China has an interview with WSJ about the current challenges in China.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125191530217380465.html

BEIJING — Relations between China and the U.S. are at a critical phase, with the next few months likely to test whether the two sides really have built strong and lasting ties, said the new U.S. ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman Jr.

In his first sit-down interview with Western media since arriving here last month, the 49-year-old former Republican governor of Utah spoke of his long ties to China, including his 10-year-old adopted Chinese daughter’s excitement at returning to her roots and how as a young man himself he had a brush with global diplomacy when he helped former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger set off on a secret mission to China.

Mr. Huntsman on Wednesday mostly mused about the array of serious challenges that the two countries have to deal with in the next few months, including climate change, the global economy and military ties.

“We’re putting the relationship to the test, there’s no doubt about that,” Mr. Huntsman said. “And I suspect we have more on our plate than ever before in our 30 years of a formal diplomatic relationship.”

On Wednesday, for example, the U.S. trade representative was due to make a recommendation to President Barack Obama on a request by U.S. tire manufacturers to limit Chinese-made tire imports. The two sides have to cooperate on addressing global economic woes, with China critical of the ballooning U.S. budget deficit and weak dollar. In addition, the two sides face sticky issues in dealing with North Korea and Iran, two countries that aspire to develop nuclear weapons.

The two sides are also engaged in difficult negotiations about climate change, with pressure building for a deal during President Obama’s planned trip to China in mid-November. Before setting out for China, Mr. Huntsman said, Mr. Obama told him to focus on a few big-picture issues: global economy, energy and climate change.

U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Jr., says relations between the countries are at a critical point. Still, Huntsman expressed hope that despite inevitable disagreements, the two nations could work together.
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“China is in fact a stakeholder in all of these issues, and arguably wasn’t in years past,” Mr. Huntsman said. “If there’s one aspect of the relationship that’s unique and different from what it was before, it is the number of truly global issues that together we’re approaching and hoping to seek solutions on.”

Mr. Huntsman said there already are signs of progress. Ties between the two countries’ militaries are restarting after a year of frosty relations that was triggered by Washington’s agreeing to sell weapons to Taiwan, China’s rival. Also, a regular dialogue on human rights is due to restart this year after more than eight years of virtually no discussion.

The two countries’ more mature ties were reflected in talks Mr. Huntsman had with Chinese leader Hu Jintao, when the ambassador was received last week in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in downtown Beijing, seat of the central government’s power. “He was very forthright in saying we have to realize we’re not just going to always agree on all issues. I didn’t expect to hear that.”

Mr. Huntsman succeeds Clark T. Randt, whose more-than-seven-year term made him the longest-serving U.S. ambassador to China. Unlike Mr. Randt, who went to college with George W. Bush, Mr. Huntsman isn’t personally close to President Obama — and indeed is from the other main U.S. political party.

But Mr. Huntsman does have extensive experience in Asia. He was a Mormon missionary in Taiwan, where he learned to speak mandarin Chinese fluently, and he served briefly as ambassador to Singapore. He also worked in the office of the U.S. trade representative when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

His family business, Huntsman Corp., has business ties in China, but Mr. Huntsman said he had long since sold his stake in the company and has no ties to it. He also said he had signed standard ethics papers recusing him from any issues surrounding the chemical company.

In the weeks before his departure, he said his adopted daughter eagerly anticipated returning to the country of her birth — a feeling that has become infectious. “I see it in her eyes every day the excitement of living in a place she never thought she’d return to,” he said.

He also recounted his own childhood experience: how as an 11-year-old he was at the White House where his father was working as a staff assistant. It was 1971 and Secretary of State Kissinger invited him to his office and let him take his bag to his car before setting out on one of the path-breaking trips to China, which led to the re-establishment of relations in 1979.

“The part I remember best was when I said where are you going?” Mr. Huntsman said. “He said please don’t tell anyone: ‘I’m going to China.’ ”

I do have a question about the relations between the 2 countries are on the ‘critical phase.’ China has more or less enjoyed the relationship with the US under the George W. Bush’s presidency. Huntsman’s predecessor Clark T. Randt Jr, did little to engage China on the sensitive issues while promoting economic ties between the 2 countries. Also, GWB’s insist to go to the Olympics opening ceremony despite mounting criticism was much a face saving gesture to China.

The other US presidents wasn’t as kind to China. Then first lady Hillary Clinton came to China in 1995 and ‘shamed’ China on women’s rights. George HW Bush put sanctions on China after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. GWB’s presidency was the best thing since Henry Kissinger decided to have formal ties with China. Could Barack Obama and Jon Huntsman do better than what GWB did during his 8 years of presidency?

The Chinese Female Army: a liability or an asset.

Last modified on 2009-08-23 16:24:42 GMT. 19 comments. Top.

They conquer the world – who wants to fight this powerful army (see pictures). They have the right stuffs (and dual missiles too).

This is also the reason China has been invaded so many times.

You be the judge and let me know whether yours is a male’s point of view or a female’s.

A Nation of No Losers

Last modified on 2009-08-04 22:49:10 GMT. 28 comments. Top.

We do not let you be a loser!
Your mistakes will be rewarded handsomely.

When you bought clunkers that you should not have, we give you $4,000.
When you had mortgage that you cannot afford, we’re going to bail you out.

When you lose your job, we extend your benefit.

When you do not have saving, we give you free health care.
When you have saving or a job, we punish you by taking your health care away.

Teenagers, the more babies you have, the more benefits you have.

Drunk drivers, no one will prosecute you as the entire jury are drunk.

All athletes are rewarded with millions for taking drugs.
However, we will strongly oppose to any foreign athletes doing same.
It is an America invention!

No other country lets their citizens owning guns to kill other citizens.
NRA and his puppet politicians will give you millions of funny ‘reasons’.

When any company fails, we bail it out.
The executives are rewarded with bailout bonuses for bringing down a company

We need you to vote and re-elect us in 4 years.
The children of today cannot vote, so let’s pass our debts to them.

—————–

The country above is US. However, I can write one on China. China and US are just two extremes. Hope each will choose middle ground.

Health care on China: If you do not pay, you die. Just one of the many examples I can think of. Depending on whether you’re a China basher or a China apologist (see another Letter), you will poke some fun on them.

China-America story compare

Last modified on 2009-07-30 18:48:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Here are two stories of neglect and abuse, both involving children:

China: six year old locked in chick coop for a year

US: three children locked motel bathroom for a year

Thou oceans apart, both are tragic, inexcusable, and similar in terms of public reaction, sympathy for the victims, and reflection on each’s values.

Letter: China?

Last modified on 2009-07-29 14:43:37 GMT. 15 comments. Top.

Hello to Fool’s Mountain:Blogging for China. I have been watching the furor over the global economy for the past 8 months as a past time, being unemployed union carpenter since thanksgiving of ’08. Much has been made of the “cause of this global crisis’ mostly revolving around mindspeak from the economic community on Wallstreet. Television reports assure us daily that everything will soon be corrected and America will continue to lead the world down the primrose lane towards happy ever after, or something akin to this.

Watching CNBC the other day I happened to see Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital, an investment broker for Asian Markets. The CNBC announcer seemed to cut Mr. Schiff of abruptly when he began speaking about China as the emerging market that will be predominant in the coming years as the world tries to climb out of this financial hole the “experts” have gotten us into.

I’m not blaming anyone, since the world is a pretty big place, but, it would appear to me that honesty requires more than opinions to be true. If the Media Opinion is that Americans are too gullible or niaive to handle the reality of China’s ascendance as the future global power, I welcome them to hold that “opinion”, but I do not happen to be well enough informed to simply agree with them.

Based on 50 years living in the good ole USA, I think we are more than capable of facing reality if we ever get a chance to hear just what it really is, instead of sending us off on some wild goose chase trying to figure it out for ourselves. But BUT BUT , I know, still (lol) but,, I am fed up with halfbaked and manipulative reporting which only tells me what someone else wants me to hear for my own good or for whatever politically expedient or socially correct reason.

So i took a chance and began investigating Mr. Schiff’s URL at Europacific.com.

Turns out for once I was correct in my analysis, the CNBC gang consider him a prophet of doom. Well I couldn’t disagree more. Not that I know the first thing about economics or finance, don’t get me wrong, but I do know a little about FOX style News Service slanting everything they say to promote their own ideals and opinions, and this is what is passing as news today in America.

So my intuition doesn’t think Euro-Pacific Capital is the savior of humankind, nor the anti-christ just yet, but my intuition tells me that Mr Peter Schiff is for all intents and purpose a well intentioned financial investor that thinks for whatever expert reasoning he employs that for the long term right now, China is the place to put your money, and where the next few years economic engine is going to be generated from. I don’t have much in the way of proof to back up his contention, but am somewhat inclined to agree with him at least tentatively.

That is to say, Yes it is true I don’t know what I am talking about, and that is why I am looking around in places like Fool’s Mountain trying to find out.

I read a lot, and contrary to popular belief we are not all that different from China in the free access to world literature not necessarily because of censorship, but definitely because of language. I am not multi lingual so to speak, I speak english, and my Barnes and Noble doesn’t offer much in the way of NEW from China on that note. Not that it offers much in the way of anywhere else either unless it was published and editted by some American firm, heck, I can hardly get Canadian Authors around here anymore let alone writers from across the pond, east or west, and what I do get is typically slanted towards something I consider socially palatable material.

This begs the question in the land of milk and honey where “freedom” of speech and expression is os prized and heavily touted, what the heck is going on?

My suspicion is that fear has taken a big bite out of the prideful sails of liberty. This to me is a sad and disappointing conclusion that I have labored hard to deny and avoid. Still being anything but numero uno after being numero uno isn’t an easy prospect, but it is one that I think the world is going to have to get used to pretty quickly here concerning America, and our place in the world. I hate to say it, but for whatever divine reason or profane purpose, America has fallen like Humpty Dumpty off our Proverbial Perch, and not only have we not gotten up yet, but we don’t even know we fell yet. This is too me far more pressing than my small personal need to find a job. This strikes me as a paradigm shift in the power structure of the world. With China on the rise, and America on the decline.Naturally America is going to do whatever we can to regain our superior position, of strength in this game, and it would only go without saying that China will do the same as well as every other Tom Dick and Harry nation etal out there from Russia to … you get my drift, everyone wants to be Top Dog. the fleass aren’t as thick in the upper atmospheres. maybe?

Anyway. I came across a few reads, about emotions and the global economy as well as oil, and all the other distracting realities of fear inspiring rhettoric , and such. I read a lot so I am not completely ignorant to what is going on, only about 90% ignorant with 5% informed and 5% misinformed I think?:)

That makes me about equal to the greater population of earth maybe?Maybe not. Everyone has opinions. I would like to have an opinion too, but for some reason since it sounds like life or death and all that end of the world hoopla is involved here, I’d sorta like more information, and maybe try to make an Informed Opinion, something I don’t quite trust the American Media to supply me with without slanting it to some patriotic fervor. Everybody seems to be scared, Why? We could all die in a global disaster yes, but then again we could also discover gold and live happily ever after on the big rock candy mountain too!Speculation seems to take on a life of its own here in the USA driven by political, religous and other sordid reasonings of social correctness.

I’d just like to think in spite of all evidence to the contrary that we do really still have certain liberty here in the good ole USA like the freedom to speak our mind or think without fear of our thoughts condemning us. Lately I have been wondering about this?

So I guess what I am trying top say, is when China assumes her Place on the Throne of Global whatever, I hope she doesn’t take too seriously all the wonderful attributes that they hear about us, because quite honestly we are just as dysfunctional now as we were when the pilgrims stepped off the boat at Plymouth, maybe even more so. at least then we knew we didn’t know anything at all, mow we’re really not sure, maybe we do know soemthing, but I doubt it when it comes to the big picture, Thank God Buddha or whomever you want to credit , I don’t think any of us mortals have a clue what is going on, and this in my humble opion just may be our only hope for salvation as a species is to realize that collectively and together try to figure it out without annhilating ourselves.

Maybe this shift isn’t just economical after all, maybe we can start seeing each other as mortal fragile human beings with a life expectancy that doesn’t allow for the inconveniences of war and violence to interupt our discovering life while we still are alive. Life is too short to bother with all these moral ambiguities that tend to distract from the real purpose of being, to enjoy it while it lasts.Maybe you do get some superficial unearthly halo and a box of virgins when you die, I don’t really care, what good are a 100 virgins when you don’t have physical human arms and legs to feel them and touch them? Living in someone elses imagination is my idea of heaven after I die, very vicarious at best, I already have a crummy vicarious life as it is, why would I want to have it permanently I hope I can finally get some sleep when my time on earth is through, and I don’t want to come back to life , not unles it is a lot more enjoyable than a tinkers damn.

Okay, maybe I wouldn’t mind, after all, I have had some fun too in this mixed up existence. Back to China and the Ship of Fools . Where were we?
Oh yes, I was just saying hello, and wondering if anyone thinks we have a prayer in hell to survive the coming eternal torment , or is that just another way to say situation normal all fouled up too? LOL!:)

Please don’t call me an agnostic though, I believe in God, and love the whole reality of God, this creation is a pretty neat place to hang, beats the heck outta the moon. I admit being a earthling gives me somewhat of a bais so suit me.

In case your wondering what this is all leading to, absolutely nothing, just my dysfunctional way of saying hello and maybe revealing a little bit of humanity to myself while exposing the web me to posible scrutiny, God I love anonymity:P

I could ltell you meglamaniacly speaking that I have it all figured out, and am just kidding, but all I have is a lot of questions after 53 year of reading and stoning and whatever we mortals do to pass the time. Is it this way for Chinese too?

One thing I will say for growing older, the fear tends to subside with experience, and then its just a constant annoyance instead of a termianl angst. Isn’t that ironic?
So what we’re all gonna die,(hopefully not for a long time yet) meanwhile we got this great big planet and all these cool toys to play with. I could be playing xbox360 right now blowing up all sorts of alien creatures that endanger our reality and derange our imaginings, but I already finished my latest games so I’m here taking a break from saving the world form reason control and all the other evils of modern regulation.

One thing I do know, whether your in China or the USA, you gotta eat, you need water to live and sleep. Other than that being human shelter is always a nice thing, and then there is the pursuit of happiness or the casino as I like to say. I am teribel at craps, but I keep throwing the dice thinking one of these days I’m gonna climb that mountain and win!

Not today though, it’s too hot.Basically these are what I like to call lonely words from a finite planet. Love is nice, Truth is great, but there’s nothing like hitting a jackpot on the slot machine to restore your faith in humanity, even if it is only for a moment, until the news comes back on.

So take a deep breath, and think about this, 1000 years from now, after all the arguing and fighting is finished and done with there will still be teenagers arguing with their mom and dads, there will still be college students that know more than their professors, and they will all grow up to realize they were wrong.. isn’t that a laugh?
China , Global Dominion looks good on ya! My hats off and God Bless you. Either way this dog and pony show turns out, the world is becoming a lot more aware that we are all fundamentally the same no matter what God or flag we wave around. Being the boss aint easy, but in a civilized world someone has to do it, only not me. I’d rather go hide up in the mountains with the rest of the fools and watch from afar, and hope and pray we don’t annhilate ourselves being right. It’s a dirty job, and that is why it should pay a union scale.LOL

In a perfect world, every time I swing my hammer, I am making a dent in the differences between dirty dishes and unfinished business.This is how I pray, with my arm smacking a number 16d vinyl coated made in china nail right on the head, and hoping I don’t hit my thumb… again. oops!Ouch!
Global Warming , Economic Meltdown, Pandemic Swine Flu, War on Terror, not too mention the price of gas and food, then there is the darned taxes they impose on cigarettes, jeez! 6-+ bucks for a box of weeds! Nuclear Annhilation, old age , poverty, homelessness, hunger,dementia, yipes, the list goes on and on!

Life is tough on baby rats, I should know, squeak!

Enough amusement already ,make your point. Being afraid is a choice, and so is not being afraid. I choose not to be afraid, and in order to do this in a scary world I find humor is the best medicine. Yes the world could end, but so what, if it does nothing I am thinking or doing or saying is gonna change thta, meanwhile I am still alive, and so are you, so while we still breath let’s just try to mind our own business and get along as best we can. Never mind the grand meeting of the minds, it aint gonna happen if we are ever gonna save ourselves it won’t be by saving the planet, it will be by saving oursleves, and hopefully making it easier for the next generation to do the same after all we gotta live with the consequences of survival, all that eternal torment and stuff, aint that just another way of saying life?

Like God stood up in front of his only living son the first born and all, Lucifer, and says, mow look , life is short and if your gonna make anything of yourslef your gonna have to learn to listen and think. And the devil says, yeah but, too which Dad responds yeah yeah I know, I been there too!
This is our fate, to live and die on the greatest planet in all of creation what can be better? Maybe enjoying life while we are still alive?That would be nice for starters?

Oye Vey! What are ya new?

So the devil says your not gonna die, Dad, your gonna live forver.

And Dad says, “No Way” You’ll have to take my place, I’m tired.

And then he passes into oblivion, happy ever after and the Big Rock Candy Mountain, leaving behind poor Buddha too explain all this nonsense to the next bunch of ne’er do wells that comes down the pije, and finally Buddha figures out nirvana is just another way to say godbye, and all these years he couldn’t bring himself to say Uncle!
If his Uncle was anything like mine I can understand why!LOL! Mean surly gay old so and so, but he was a dear sweet man when the dust settled, it’s just that I expected miracles from my elders, and learning to settle for hockey on the BBC takes a little time and patience to adjust too.

I like to think when my Daughter asks me all the Man in the Moon questions I’ll have all the answers, and she’ll rest peacefully knowing she is safe in my foolish minds eye.While I’m thinkin the pimps are scheming, and life is conspiring to make all my answers wrong anyways. Does China ever think of these things too, I think she does, just as I sometimes imagine in my wildest dreams America sometimes wonders about our omnifescents and what it all really boils down to after the party is over.Not much.

I’m Lucky though, I have some Indain Blood from the aboriginees in me, and I can always pretend that my dreams for happy ever after will come true someday in spite of myself. I hope everyone else is able to do the same.
In my perfect dream . the world sleeps, and while it is sleeping, Granny Goodwitch kneads the earth like a loaf of bread, and places it in the oven, where she bakes it for about an hour and a half at 375 degrees. When she takes it out of the oven, all the countries have been cooked into one loaf of bread, and they can’t tell where China begins and America leaves off.

Geez, maybe we are in heaven already and we just don’t know it? Ya think?

I just never expected heaven would include paying taxes, and batchelorhood.

oh well, it coulda been worse, instead of being a carpenter I might have been a writer, then I’d really have to think and work for a living like the poor schmucks on wallstreet. All I gotta do is play my hammer like its a steel guitar, and try to keep my head down when the boss struts by, holding his Mutual Fund smugly to his chest while handing out pink slips.

Hello China, Love ya, Peace out!

Are you a Chinese basher or a Chinese apologist?

Last modified on 2009-07-31 19:32:58 GMT. 14 comments. Top.

Most likely your answer is neither. It is human nature to assume him/herself is unbiased.

Both the bashers and apologists have been brain washed. They will not listen to a different point of view, let alone discuss with you with open minds.

Depending on the topic I could be guilty as charged.

I wrote a piece in comparing human right between China and US. I have the highest approval rating from one forum. More than 100 read the long comment and voiced their approval.

The piece is here.

My piece on Tibet did not fare that well. Judge it for yourself.

There were more comments on my comment than the original article. Most are Tibetan exiles I guess. So, their POVs are completely different from my Han’s POV. I understand and accept their disapproval.

We hope we’re all be able to understand each other’s POV even if it completely different from yours. We do not want to limit our point of view like the frog under a well but a fool that can move mountain.

Reading the recent posts inspire me to write the above. Hope it will not offend any one.

Straight Times: Three Blade Weilding Uyghurs Shot

Last modified on 2009-07-20 00:52:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

According to this AFP report three men disrupted prayer service, attacked  an unarmed police inside the mosque, before they were shot by armed police outside the mosque. Two died one injured:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_402959.html/

BEIJING – THREE Uighur men tried to incite other Muslims to launch a ‘jihad’ and attacked a mosque security guard before police shot and killed two of them, state media reported on Tuesday.

The incident began when around 150 Muslims were praying in a mosque in Urumqi, the capital of the northwest Xinjiang region on Monday, Xinhua news agency said, citing an unnamed imam who was giving a service at the time.

One man stood up and tried to take over the prayers but was stopped, the imam told Xinhua. A few minutes later the man reportedly stood up holding a green banner and started calling for a ‘jihad’.

The imam then ended the prayers, adding: ‘We will definitely not follow you. Get out!”, according to Xinhua.

As the man was being ordered from the mosque, two other men took out three 50 centimetre long knives from a bag, Xinhua said.

Security guards then tried to stop the men. One of the guards, aged in his 40s who did not want to give his name, said the group chased him out of the mosque wielding the knives where they met patrolling police, Xinhua said.

Police fired warnings shots to try to stop the men before shooting at the three, killing two and injuring one.

A government statement released on Monday soon after the attack said: ‘Police shot and killed two suspected lawbreakers and injured one suspected lawbreaker using legal means.’ The statement said the three Uighurs were trying to attack another person from the Uighur minority group.

The government’s statement and the Xinhua report conflicted with accounts by two Uighurs who said they witnessed the incident from 50 metres away and that three Uighur men had been trying to attack security forces. ‘They hacked at the soldiers with big knives and then they were shot,’ said one of the witnesses, who said the incident took place across the street from a mosque.

The incident showed the city remained volatile despite a huge security clampdown following unrest on July 5 which left more than 180 people dead, in the worst ethnic violence to hit the country in decades. Thousands of Han Chinese retaliated in the following days, arming themselves with makeshift weapons. Despite a hefty security presence, authorities have since struggled to keep a lid on sporadic violence. — AFP

Engdahl: Washington Is Playing a Deeper Game with China

Last modified on 2009-07-17 01:59:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Journalist and historian William Engdahl lays out his case for the origin of Urumqi riot:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14327

After the tragic events of July 5 in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China, it would be useful to look more closely into the actual role of the US Government’s ”independent“ NGO, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). All indications are that the US Government, once more acting through its “private” Non-Governmental Organization, the NED, is massively intervening into the internal politics of China.

The reasons for Washington’s intervention into Xinjiang affairs seems to have little to do with concerns over alleged human rights abuses by Beijing authorities against Uyghur people. It seems rather to have very much to do with the strategic geopolitical location of Xinjiang on the Eurasian landmass and its strategic importance for China’s future economic and energy cooperation with Russia, Kazakhastan and other Central Asia states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The major organization internationally calling for protests in front of Chinese embassies around the world is the Washington, D.C.-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC).

The WUC manages to finance a staff, a very fancy website in English, and has a very close relation to the US Congress-funded NED. According to published reports by the NED itself, the World Uyghur Congress receives $215,000.00 annually from the National Endowment for Democracy for “human rights research and advocacy projects.” The president of the WUC is an exile Uyghur who describes herself as a “laundress turned millionaire,” Rebiya Kadeer, who also serves as president of the Washington D.C.-based Uyghur American Association, another Uyghur human rights organization which receives significant funding from the US Government via the National Endowment for Democracy.

The NED was intimately involved in financial support to various organizations behind the Lhasa ”Crimson Revolution“ in March 2008, as well as the Saffron Revolution in Burma/Myanmar and virtually every regime change destabilization in eastern Europe over the past years from Serbia to Georgia to Ukraine to Kyrgystan to Teheran in the aftermath of the recent elections.

Allen Weinstein, who helped draft the legislation establishing NED, was quite candid when he said in a published interview in 1991: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

The NED is supposedly a private, non-government, non-profit foundation, but it receives a yearly appropriation for its international work from the US Congress. The NED money is channelled through four “core foundations”. These are the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, linked to Obama’s Democratic Party; the International Republican Institute tied to the Republican Party; the American Center for International Labor Solidarity linked to the AFL-CIO US labor federation as well as the US State Department; and the Center for International Private Enterprise linked to the US Chamber of Commerce.

The salient question is what has the NED been actively doing that might have encouraged the unrest in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and what is the Obama Administration policy in terms of supporting or denouncing such NED-financed intervention into sovereign politics of states which Washington deems a target for pressure? The answers must be found soon, but one major step to help clarify Washington policy under the new Obama Administration would be for a full disclosure by the NED, the US State Department and NGO’s linked to the US Government, of their involvement, if at all, in encouraging Uyghur separatism or unrest. Is it mere coincidence that the Uyghur riots take place only days following the historic meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization?

Uyghur exile organizations, China and Geopolitics

On May 18 this year, the US-government’s in-house “private” NGO, the NED, according to the official WUC website, hosted a seminal human rights conference entitled East Turkestan: 60 Years under Communist Chinese Rule, along with a curious NGO with the name, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO).

The Honorary President and founder of the UNPO is one Erkin Alptekin, an exile Uyghur who founded UNPO while working for the US Information Agency’s official propaganda organization, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty as Director of their Uygur Division and Assistant Director of the Nationalities Services.

Alptekin also founded the World Uyghur Congress at the same time, in 1991, while he was with the US Information Agency. The official mission of the USIA when Alptekin founded the World Uyghur Congress in 1991 was “to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics in promotion of the [USA] national interest…” Alptekin was the first president of WUC, and, according to the official WUC website, is a “close friend of the Dalai Lama.”

Closer examination reveals that UNPO in turn to be an American geopolitical strategist’s dream organization. It was formed, as noted, in 1991 as the Soviet Union was collapsing and most of the land area of Eurasia was in political and economic chaos. Since 2002 its Director General has been Archduke Karl von Habsburg of Austria who lists his (unrecognized by Austria or Hungary) title as “Prince Imperial of Austria and Royal Prince of Hungary.”

Among the UNPO principles is the right to ‘self-determination’ for the 57 diverse population groups who, by some opaque process not made public, have been admitted as official UNPO members with their own distinct flags, with a total population of some 150 million peoples and headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands.

UNPO members range from Kosovo which “joined” when it was fully part of then Yugoslavia in 1991. It includes the “Aboriginals of Australia” who were listed as founding members along with Kosovo. It includes the Buffalo River Dene Nation indians of northern Canada.

The select UNPO members also include Tibet which is listed as a founding member. It also includes other explosive geopolitical areas as the Crimean Tartars, the Greek Minority in Romania, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (in Russia), the Democratic Movement of Burma, and the gulf enclave adjacent to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and which just happens to hold rights to some of the world’s largest offshore oil fields leased to Condi Rice’s old firm, Chevron Oil. Further geopolitical hotspots which have been granted elite recognition by the UNPO membership include the large section of northern Iran which designates itself as Southern Azerbaijan, as well as something that calls itself Iranian Kurdistan.

In April 2008 according to the website of the UNPO, the US Congress’ NED sponsored a “leadership training” seminar for the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) together with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. Over 50 Uyghurs from around the world together with prominent academics, government representatives and members of the civil society gathered in Berlin Germany to discuss “Self-Determination under International Law.” What they discussed privately is not known. Rebiya Kadeer gave the keynote address.

The suspicious timing of the Xinjiang riots

The current outbreak of riots and unrest in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang in the northwest part of China, exploded on July 5 local time.

According to the website of the World Uyghur Congress, the “trigger” for the riots was an alleged violent attack on June 26 in China’s southern Guangdong Province at a toy factory where the WUC alleges that Han Chinese workers attacked and beat to death two Uyghur workers for allegedly raping or sexually molesting two Han Chinese women workers in the factory. On July 1, the Munich arm of the WUC issued a worldwide call for protest demonstrations against Chinese embassies and consulates for the alleged Guangdong attack, despite the fact they admitted the details of the incident were unsubstantiated and filled with allegations and dubious reports.

According to a press release they issued, it was that June 26 alleged attack that gave the WUC the grounds to issue their worldwide call to action.

On July 5, a Sunday in Xinjiang but still the USA Independence Day, July 4, in Washington, the WUC in Washington claimed that Han Chinese armed soldiers seized any Uyghur they found on the streets and according to official Chinese news reports, widespread riots and burning of cars along the streets of Urumqi broke out resulting over the following three days in over 140 deaths.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency said that protesters from the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority group began attacking ethnic Han pedestrians, burning vehicles and attacking buses with batons and rocks. “They took to the street…carrying knives, wooden batons, bricks and stones,” they cited an eyewitness as saying. The French AFP news agency quoted Alim Seytoff, general secretary of the Uighur American Association in Washington, that according to his information, police had begun shooting “indiscriminately” at protesting crowds.

Two different versions of the same events: The Chinese government and pictures of the riots indicate it was Uyghur riot and attacks on Han Chinese residents that resulted in deaths and destruction. French official reports put the blame on Chinese police “shooting indiscriminately.” Significantly, the French AFP report relies on the NED-funded Uyghur American Association of Rebiya Kadeer for its information. The reader should judge if the AFP account might be motivated by a US geopolitical agenda, a deeper game from the Obama Administration towards China’s economic future.

Is it merely coincidence that the riots in Xinjiang by Uyghur organizations broke out only days after the meeting took place in Yakaterinburg, Russia of the member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as Iran as official observer guest, represented by President Ahmadinejad?

Over the past few years, in the face of what is seen as an increasingly hostile and incalculable United States foreign policy, the major nations of Eurasia—China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan have increasingly sought ways of direct and more effective cooperation in economic as well as security areas. In addition, formal Observer status within SCO has been given to Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia. The SCO defense ministers are in regular and growing consultation on mutual defense needs, as NATO and the US military command continue provocatively to expand across the region wherever it can.

The Strategic Importance of Xinjiang for Eurasian Energy Infrastructure

There is another reason for the nations of the SCO, a vital national security element, to having peace and stability in China’s Xinjiang region. Some of China’s most important oil and gas pipeline routes pass directly through Xinjiang province. Energy relations between Kazkhstan and China are of enormous strategic importance for both countries, and allow China to become less dependent on oil supply sources that can be cut off by possible US interdiction should relations deteriorate to such a point.

Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbayev paid a State visit in April 2009 to Beijing. The talks concerned deepening economic cooperation, above all in the energy area, where Kazkhastan holds huge reserves of oil and likely as well of natural gas. After the talks in Beijing, Chinese media carried articles with such titles as “”Kazakhstani oil to fill in the Great Chinese pipe.”

The Atasu-Alashankou pipeline to be completed in 2009 will provide transportation of transit gas to China via Xinjiang. As well Chinese energy companies are involved in construction of a Zhanazholskiy gas processing plant, Pavlodar electrolyze plant and Moynakskaya hydro electric station in Kazakhstan.

According to the US Government’s Energy Information Administration, Kazakhstan’s Kashagan field is the largest oil field outside the Middle East and the fifth largest in the world in terms of reserves, located off the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, near the city of Atyrau. China has built a 613-mile-long pipeline from Atasu, in northwestern Kazakhstan, to Alashankou at the border of China’s Xinjiang region which is exporting Caspian oil to China. PetroChina’s ChinaOil is the exclusive buyer of the crude oil on the Chinese side. The pipeline is a joint venture of CNPC and Kaztransoil of Kazkhstan. Some 85,000 bbl/d of Kazakh crude oil flowed through the pipeline during 2007. China’s CNPC is also involved in other major energy projects with Kazkhstan. They all traverse China’s Xinjiang region.

In 2007 CNPC signed an agreement to invest more than $2 billion to construct a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China. That pipeline would start at Gedaim on the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and extend 1,100 miles through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Khorgos in China’s Xinjiang region. Turkmenistan and China have signed a 30-year supply agreement for the gas that would fill the pipeline. CNPC has set up two entities to oversee the Turkmen upstream project and the development of a second pipeline that will cross China from the Xinjiang region to southeast China at a cost of some $7 billion.

As well, Russia and China are discussing major natural gas pipelines from eastern Siberia through Xinjiang into China. Eastern Siberia contains around 135 Trillion cubic feet of proven plus probable natural gas reserves. The Kovykta natural gas field could give China with natural gas in the next decade via a proposed pipeline.

During the current global economic crisis, Kazakhstan received a major credit from China of $10 billion, half of which is for oil and gas sector. The oil pipeline Atasu-Alashankou and the gas pipeline China-Central Asia, are an instrument of strategic ‘linkage’ of central Asian countries to the economy China. That Eurasian cohesion from Russia to China across Central Asian countries is the geopolitical cohesion Washington most fears. While they would never say so, growing instability in Xinjiang would be an ideal way for Washington to weaken that growing cohesion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization nations.

William Engdahl is the author of Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order.

China auto after Detroit

Last modified on 2009-07-15 20:45:02 GMT. 21 comments. Top.

China is finally coming after Detroit from this WJS article
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124761586630042303.html

Random thoughts.

* With the recent bad quality problems of Chinese products, China really cannot establish a name brand outside China – at least for a while. It is a good way to buy a brand name.

* Cost too much to build dealerships in foreign countries and learning international marketing and laws. It is a good and cost effective way. They are many former US dealers begging for dealership with ample of cheap retail space.

* China still lacks a lot of expertise in top auto technologies such as engine, transmission and environmental control devices. All these can be transferred from Volvo. A win-win situation.

* With China’s (or the company’s) reserve, it is a timely bargain that will return better than most of the past foreign investments, let alone the US treasuries.

* Why China will succeed in this deal?
– The $25 or so (with exception of Mexico) hourly wage cannot compete with $1 hourly wage else where.

– The huge and growing market of China itself.

– The Chinese engineering graduates are no dummies. They’re so dedicated and they work longer hours than most in the west. 12 hour work for one engineer actually equates to 16 hour work of the counterpart in the west working 8 hours when you consider coffee breaks, socializing in the office, holidays, vacations…

* It is the major part of the auto market. Electric cars from another Chinese company is a very small part of today’s auto market. I was a little surprised they did not bid on some division of GM like Pontiac.

* Volvo is a good and reliable car, but on the more expensive side. My friend after surviving from a could be fatal accident with a Volvo is buying Volvo cars for life.

Hope it will not go to Germany way to build cars so sophisticated that it is a big problem to own one in US with expensive parts and unqualified technicians.

China’s Ethnic Fault Lines

Last modified on 2009-07-11 12:47:56 GMT. 39 comments. Top.

I would like to bring readers’ attention to this article in the WSJ. As I do not personally live in China, I do not wish to comment at length on the issue though I personally feel the natural regionalism is countered by an equally strong cultural ethos of staying united, especially after so many attempts to divide up the country.

Details And Time line of the Urumqi Riot

Last modified on 2009-07-07 05:03:48 GMT. 27 comments. Top.

Details and time line of the incident as reported by China News Service:

Details of Urumqi violence: rioters kill Han people on sight

In the afternoon of 7/5, a crowd gathered in Xinjian’s capital Urumqi, attacking pedestrians, torching vehicles. They toppled street dividers, causing traffic to stop. Police have arrived to maintain order.

On 7/5, violent incidents involving vandalism, arson, murder occurred in the City of Urumqi. Up to now, 140 people have died, 816 injuries, 196 vehicles torched and vandalized, some store fronts and two buildings were torched. Police have arrested over 100 people suspected of assault, vandalism, robbery, and arson. Right now, Urumqi traffic and social order have returned to normal.

On 7/6 local authority reported the situation during a news conference. Preliminary investigation indicates this incident is premeditated. Separatist element headed by Kadeer’s “World Uygher Congress” has exploited the Guangdong Shaoguan incident to incite, organize, and coordinate these severe violent crimes in China.

On 6/26, a group brawl between Uygher and local workers occurred in Shaoguan, Guangdong. It is an ordinary public safety case being handled carefully. After the incident “World Uygher Congress” used it to denigrate China’s ethnic and religious policy, using it to foment unrest, create disturbance. Some inside China also started inciting on the Web.

Since the evening of 7/4, some netizens on QQ, forums and blogs, started calling for gathering on 7/5 5pm at Urumqi Square’s south gate, to coincide with “World Uygher Congress” demonstration overseas. Large amounts of text messages were sent to gather people towards Urumqi. “World Uygher Congress” leader Kadeer publicly announced that a large incident will occur in Urumqi, and asked people within China to observe and collect information pertaining to this incident.

As directed by outside, two hundred some people gathered at the Square at 6:20pm on 7/5, and was dispersed by the police. Around 5:40pm, around 300 people were on Renmin Road, South Gate area blocking traffic, was again dispersed by police. Around 8:18pm, people started vandalizing, tipping over street dividers, destroying three buses, the police again dispersed them. The incident escalated around 8:30pm, rioters started burning police cars along Jiefan Road South, Longchuan street, chasing and assaulting pedestrians. 700-800 people moved toward West Gate area from the Square, looting, burning, killing along the way. Initial investigation at 11:30pm shows, 3 people were killed, 26 injured, including 5 police, as the incident escalated for the worse.

In order to protect Urumqi’s social stability, local government and police headed towards People’s Square, South Gate, Tuanjie Street, stable district, Xinhua Road South areas according to law. At 10:00pm, rioting in the main streets and business districts were under control. But the rioters altered their course and split down multiple streets, acting out outside the patrolled area, in streets and alleys in the fringe of town. Han people were killed on sight, cars were trashed, torched. Local authority immediately adjusted tactic, organizing a mobile teams to rescue citizens and arrest rioters district by district.

Right now there are still people on-line inciting, plotting to create, expand this incident. Local authority is strengthening prevention and control, resolving to ensure societal stability, protecting citizen’s life and property.

Honduras, Iran, and China, Part Deux, Detractors missing basic point

Last modified on 2009-07-05 02:33:01 GMT. 51 comments. Top.

There has been much comments, analysis, blogs over the Honduran “Incident”.

But the detractors of the current “new government” of Honduras miss the fundamental contradictions of their own arguments.

They argue that “this is not a coup, because ex-President Zelaya was removed for a good reason”. But that is simply an “end justifies the means” argument. Military Coups are wrong, not because we judged upon the justifications of the coups, but because we recognize that use of military force to change a government is simply the wrong means. It cannot be a Constitutional method.

They argue that “this is not a coup, because the military acted under the order of the Supreme Court of Honduras.” But they simply miss the point of even having a Supreme Court. A Supreme Court cannot simply make an order legal, when the Articles of Constitution of Honduras clearly does not prescribe “exile”.  “Removal” simply means removal from official authority.   After that, Zelaya would be powerless to act upon anything, but he should still be able to rally his supporters as legitimate politcal expression.  “Arrest” or “Exile” are fundamentally beyond the scope of “removal” as written in the Constitution of Honduras.

In this, I am reminded of the foundational principle of “Separation of Power”, and “Judicial restraint” in many Democracies.

In US history, a case was decided by the US Supreme Court, Marbury v. Madison, where the justices refused to sanction President Thomas Jefferson for ordering non-delivery of “appointment letters” for several judges. Thomas Jefferson had essentially refused to execute laws and appointments passed by the US Congress on the previous term. The US Supreme Court avoided the confrontation with the Executive body by dismissing the case on a “standing” issue.

The US Supreme Court believed that such issues would work themselves out by the People over the long term. And “judicial restraint” means that the court should refrain from making any orders to compel the other 2 political branches in show downs. Let alone use the military or side with the military in any arguments with the President.

They speak of the “unconstitutional referendum”, and how unpopular Zelaya is. But if he is indeed unpopular, then why worry about the “referendum”? Even if he won the “referendum”, it would not legally change the “Constitution”. The Honduran high court has already ruled that the “referendum” would have no legal effect on the Constitution.

The detractors have simply missed the whole point. The fundamental wrongfulness of “military coup” is in the madness of the “method”. Undoubtedly, many previous military coups listed similar “justifications”, but we do not look up the “justifications”, only the process of law. Whether Zelaya should be removed is not the question, but whether the Supreme Court of Honduras had the legal authority order “exile”, and whether the military of Honduras could legally execute such an order.

For such an order, and such justifications, the Supreme Court and the Military of Honduras, have done far more damage to the Democratic process of Honduras than a single Zelaya could possibly do with his “referendum”.

Had Zelaya succeeded in his “referendum”, it would at least be representative of the People’s will, and political branches of Honduran government can reach compromises, or even stand firm and refuse to accept Zelaya as President for a new term. (Surly that cannot be that difficult, if Zelaya is so unpopular.)

But now, we have a precedent of Honduran Supreme Court ordering the military to “remove” a president into “exile”.

The damage to the credibility of the Court’s impartiality and the military’s non-involvement in politics is untold.

And now, the Supreme Court of Honduras will have to deal with the consequential question, can they now be “removed into exile” by the foreign and domestic supporters of Zelaya?  Whatif tomorrow, 1 of the generals use his troops to “remove” the Justices into “exile” on the order of Congress?

*
I for one, now finally and fully appreciate the wisdom of Justice Marshall in Marbury v. Madison, and the principle of Judicial restraint.

Honduras, Iran, and China

Last modified on 2009-06-30 00:19:26 GMT. 54 comments. Top.

Honduran President was forced into Exile by a group of military soldiers who stormed his house and forced him onto a plane at gun point.

The reason? He tried to push for a referendum to extend his terms of office.

His replacement was quickly sworn in, but massive protests have broken out.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had this to say:

“Our immediate priority is to restore full democratic and constitutional order in that country. As we move forward, all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that have led to yesterday’s events, in a way that enhances democracy and the rule of law in Honduras.”

*I’m all in favor of “all parties” owning up responsibilities. But it seems, the Honduran ex-President didn’t do anything other than push for a vote by the People.

His replacement now calls it NOT as a Coup, but an Exile by “legal process”, that Zelaya was arrested by a process of law.

But that excuse is rather flimsy. If Zelaya committed a crime, he should be arrested and tried, and not “renditional Exiled” in his pyjamas to another country where he can’t even have a day in court.

So, I wonder why US is tip-toeing around this little coup, when it is so obvious.

But here some interesting factoids that might hint the US motives:

(1) Military leader for the coup was General Romeo Vasquez, a graduate of the infamous “School of Americas”, a US military training school for Latin American military dictators and human rights abusers.

(2) Newly installed Honduran President, Roberto Micheletti, was born in Italy, and technically, according to Honduran Constitution, cannot serve as President.

*What’s going to happen if Honduran protest turns bloody? Who will bear responsibility? Will Honduras have an Iranian Revolution? Or will the US trained Honduran General roll the tanks (BTW, they are already sitting at the Presidential Palace)?

Is China faking economic recovery?

Last modified on 2009-06-26 15:15:34 GMT. 47 comments. Top.

I found this story on an Indian newspaper based out of Mumbai, DNA (Daily News and Analysis) on how the GDP of China, as announced by the country is fabricated and the actual GDP is much lower. They have quoted Albert Edwards, chief global strategist, Societe Generale and International Energy Agency (IEA) to come to such a conclusion. Here is the full exerpt on the story

Venkatesan Vembu / DNA

Hong Kong: Cynical crunchers of statistical data believe there are three degrees of ‘mistruths’: lies, damned lies and statistics.

Increasingly, economy watchers are beginning to believe falsehood could go a step beyond: China’s GDP numbers. Ever since the official Chinese statistical agency announced earlier this year that the country’s GDP grew 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, there have been murmurs of scepticism about the authenticity of those figures. A few have observed that the GDP data are inconsistent with other data, such as weak power production.

Those murmurs have in recent weeks turned into a high-decibel chorus that is beginning to openly rubbish the validity of the official numbers.

“The Q1 6.1% GDP outturn is simply a lie,” notes Albert Edwards, chief global strategist, Societe Generale. “It helps explain why the Chinese data is derided by so many economic commentators.”

Commodity prices worldwide have surged in recent weeks on the hopes of a robust V-shaped revival in the Chinese economy. But Edwards, who had rightly called the Malaysian economic crisis of 1997 and the dotcom bust of 2000, believes that “to the extent that the renewed surge in commodities and the metals and mining sectors are based on the Chinese growth miracle, the markets are relying on a combination of hype, lies and wishful thinking.”

Edwards isn’t alone in questioning the validity of the official data. Last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) observed that China’s first-quarter GDP data “does not tally with oil demand data, which contracted by 3.5% year on year.” One explanation for this, IEA analysts reasoned, “is simply that real GDP data are not accurate, and therefore should not be taken at face value.”

Simultaneously, analysts at Lombard Street Research, a London-based economic consultancy, too argued that the 6.1% GDP growth figure was inconsistent with the 20% decline in trade volumes over the same period, because it would have required domestic demand to expand by 9% in real terms. Using official nominal annual growth rates for GDP and consumption for the first quarter, and consumer and fixed investment price indices as deflators for consumer spending and investment, respectively, Lombard analysts claimed that domestic demand expanded at most by 2% year on year in real terms.

They therefore concluded that real GDP growth in the first quarter was probably slightly negative or nil at best, and even in the fourth quarter of 2008, real growth was likely negative or flat. “If so, the last two quarters would effectively signal, from a Chinese perspective, a recession of a rare magnitude.”

China’s official statistical agency, the National Bureau of Statistics, responded to IEA’s scepticism with a stern rap on the knuckles. “It is regrettable that the point of view in the… article is groundless,” a notice on its website said.

“We believe that, for an international organisation, this approach lacks seriousness.””
Even economists who point to anecdotal evidence of China’s recovery concede that interpreting official Chinese data is problematic.

“Trying to understand China’s GDP data is always a nightmare for professional China economists,” observes Credit Suisse chief regional economist Dong Tao. “Since I joined this industry 14 years ago, I’ve had this trouble, I still have this trouble, and I suspect I will continue to have this trouble.”

He points out that there is abundant anecdotal evidence of a “phenomenal improvement” in China’s economy over the previous quarter too. “Go to restaurants, talk to real estate agents, count the number of shipping containers at terminals, see the number of cars being sold… I believe in my eyes.”

The plain-speaking Edwards, however, argues that “if the bubble of belief in China’s medium-term growth prospects finally bursts, it will have huge investment implications.”

It is all too easy, he reckons, for investors to buy into “beguiling growth stories, which are in fact utter nonsense.” He concedes that China’s mammoth 4 trillion yuan stimulus has had a beneficial effect on economic activity this year, but says that he still questions the “quaint notion the markets now seem to have that the Chinese economy can grow at a respectable rate when the rest of the world is in a deep recession.”

The “bullish group think on China is just as vulnerable to massive disappointment as any other extreme of bubble nonsense I have seen over the last two decades,” says Edwards. “The fall to earth will be equally shocking.”

Now the questions to be raised here are:
1> Why would China do it? To project themselves as the new economic centre of the world?
2> Does it do more harm than good? Considering economic decisions involve a lot of speculation… if trade has picked up because of these figures doesn’t it do good for the world economy?
3> It is okay for a country (assuming this report to be true) to project false figures to prevent people from panicking?

It’s time to define new Chineseness

Last modified on 2009-06-25 16:57:21 GMT. 50 comments. Top.

Many western press and intellectuals appear to suffer a deep perception gap on modern day China. The root cause is their persistent refusal to recognize the political legitimacy of modern-day Chinese philosophy and ideology. To many western liberals and conservative alike, they perceive the current CCP government as helpless and inward looking, trying hard just to stay in power. Such perception may look logical on the surface, yet can not more farther from the truth.

The handful generations of Chinese leadership since Man and Deng have established a unique brand of worldview for themselves through internal philosophical debate and in practices. They always have a clear thinking of what they want to be in the future and in the world, yet still follow Deng’s wisdom of “holding capabilities to yourself and bidding for your own time”, recognizing the stage of development in Chinese society and bending backward hard to rise the living standard for common people. They are not afraid of looking outside to introduce themselves to new ideas and opportunities, yet still persistent on self-reliance and self-development. The contradiction raised from passiveness and dynamism, stubbornness and openness, showing of leaping progressive attitude with very little regard to western liberal values may confuse and arouse many in the West, yet look perfectly harmonious through the lens of Chinese culture and philosophy.

The modern-day Chinese brand of philosophy and ideology was founded first by great leaders like Mao ZeDong, further shaped by late giants such as Deng XiaoPing, with a deep influence coming from China’s philosophical past. While Mao may be a giant on philosophy and ideology, he was a peasant and gambler on economical development policy. While Mao may be scorned widely by the West, he is still a hero to many common people in China and throughout the world. Deng succeeded on where Mao failed, and also contributed to his brand of pragmatism.

As China continues her development and the process of nation building, it’s also time to define a new sense of Chineseness. Please share your thought on this subject through debate and discussion.

As a source of food for thought, you may read interesting and provocative articles from a serial by the newspaper Guardian from the link here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/will-china-rule-the-world)

The emerging drug trafficking problem from African continent

Last modified on 2009-06-24 22:17:58 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

Chinese government has been fighting hard on drug trafficking, sale and consumption. However, the dire situation only get harder to crack due to an increasing affluence among urban population as well as the influence of modern popular life-style. Due to the past history of Opium wars, China’s anti-drugs law is harsh with no mercy.

The increasing connection with African continent also started a new trend of drug trafficking problem from a distant continent by drug barons and individuals. Recently, there are several reports of death sentence to African nationals as well as their associates in China (see below).

US Government is also fighting hard on illegal drug problem. There are many things these two nation can learn from each other. Given the difference on local culture and law, please share your perspective on the outcome and difference between two governments’ action.

“Five Kenyans to hang over drugs in China”
http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144015775&cid=4&ttl=Five%20Kenyans%20to%20hang%20over%20drugs%20in%20China

“China to execute more African drug dealers”
http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-06-06/China_to_Execute_More_African_Drug_Dealers.html

“Kenya has no basis to request China to commute sentences”
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/609996/-/4ksldl/-/

“Nigerian drug dealer sentenced to death in Dongguan with his Chinese girlfriend and associate”
http://www.danwei.org/front_page_of_the_day/nigerian_drug_dealer_was_sente.php

Seeking television justice in China

Last modified on 2009-06-18 12:44:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

According to this BBC News segment titled “Seeking television justice in China”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8066908.stm

In China, if you fall out with a neighbour or a relative over money or property it can be hard to find anyone to help you resolve the dispute.

Often people feel the justice system does not have any answers for them, it is not geared up to deal with small claims, and many ordinary Chinese do not really understand where else they can go for help

So people try to appeal to a different kind of justice, the court of public opinion.

The show airs on a Shanghai TV station seven nights a week with different “mediators”, as they prefer to be called, in charge.

Is this a kind of social innovation, among others, emerging from China? Will the same approach work in a western country? Please air your opinion

6/4 and Zhao Ziyang’s Chinese’ reactions around the World…

Last modified on 2009-06-09 01:06:27 GMT. 12 comments. Top.

6/4 came and went and I came to this article about the Overseas Chinese’ reactions to these this event. Much credit given to China Beat.

http://thechinabeat.blogspot.com/2009/06/64-around-world.html

I rather not discuss issues pertaining to Media nor from the Chinese dissidents living in that country but rather get a consensus of what the Overseas Chinese’ reactions to 6/4 incident and as well as Zhao Ziyang’s memoirs.

Here’s some reactions from several countries that I have found so far:

Hong Kong – 60,000-150,000 held in Candle light vigil.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8083569.stm

Taipei – Around 20 Taiwanese protesters held Candle light Vigil.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_385657.html

From the China Beat Article: I quote some interesting responses.

Paola Voci, New Zealand

Here in Dunedin, 4 June is a day like all others.

Because today was my last lecture, I decided that at least I had to check how many of my students knew about what happened 20 years ago (of course many students were not even born then!). To my relief, only a couple had no idea about what 4 June and the Tiananmen Square protest meant. Most had some sort of knowledge that “a protest took place and people died”. We took some time in class to just go over some of the basic facts, some of the issues and the relevance that they still have in today’s China. That was my very small contribution to keep the memory of this tragic event alive and stimulate some discussion on its significance…

Chinese students associations on campus (either from mainland or Taiwan) do not seem to have organized anything to commemorate the event. At least nothing visible. But, the day is not over yet…

Since I came to live here, I felt that for NZ, China has a rather strange proximity and remoteness. Yet, I was expecting a little more discussion about China in the media today…to match at least some of the interest that the Olympics were able to inspire. But, at least so far, it seems as though, even without any CCP intervention, June 4 has been forgotten in NZ.

Tom Pellman, Lima (Peru)

Peru’s leading newspaper El Comercio printed a brief dispatch from its Beijing correspondent Patricia Castro describing this year’s measures by Beijing to pre-empt protests on Tiananmen. Castro’s piece mentions the government’s banning this year of then-student leader Wu’er Kaixi (exiled to Taiwan after 1989) from re-entering the mainland ahead of the anniversary. Other dissidents and activists in Beijing were also forced to leave the capital, the newspaper reports.

Aside from minor coverage in El Comercio, Peru.com, from Peru’s blogosphere, adds a report on Beijing’s efforts to censor popular websites like hotmail and twitter in addition to controling the capitol’s main square. Interestingly, in a city with more than one hundred years of Chinese immigration and tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants living in Lima, there has been less attention paid to the Tiananment anniversary than might be expected.

John Ruwitch, Hanoi (Vietnam)

Six-four didn’t make its way into the official Vietnamese media, of course, but reports about it on CNN, which is widely available in Hanoi, were not censored. When I told a Vietnamese friend I found that mildly surprising, given the somewhat similar positions that the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist Parties find themselves in, plus their much-trumpeted friendship, she laughed and said: “But we hate the Chinese”. Long history there, obviously.

I did not scour the VN blogosphere for info on six-four. I did notice, however, that a seasoned journalist/blogger called Huy Duc wrote a blog quoting from the newly published memoirs of one deposed and deceased CCP gen-sec whose name in Vietnamese is “Trieu Tu Duong”. Huy Duc discusses how DXP ultimately sided with Li Peng, leading to the crackdown, and comments: “There are men like Li Peng everywhere, but only in places where the fate of a nation lies in the hands of a few individuals could could a network of people be ground up by tanks like that.” At the end of the piece, the author concludes: “The aspirations of a people can never be crushed with tanks and bullets.” I thought that was fairly strong stuff coming from inside a country where the leadership, again, is engaged in a juggling act similar to that of its giant neighbour and freedom of speech is limited. Then again, the longer I’m in Vietnam, the more I wonder if the differences between the two out number the similarities.

China Beat have more responses from Singapore, Tokyo Japan, India and Italy. But I chose to ignore them because they got consensus from the Media or from the dissidents instead.

Taiwan To Accept Mainland Postgraduate Students

Last modified on 2009-06-04 11:01:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Ministry of Education: Post-graduate Study Should Be Open to Mainland Students Next Year

From The Liberty Times:

[Central News Agency] Deputy Minister of Education Lu Muling says, if the legislature is able to complete legal revision on university, professional studies, and cross-strait civic interaction, mainland students should be able to come to Taiwan for master’s and PhD classes next spring.

Lu Muling clarified the issues around mainland students studying in Taiwan during a press conference.

As to undergraduate study, Lu says that has to wait until next fall.

Enrollment will gradually expand, with yearly cap of 2,000; Ministry of Education will form a committee to accept school’s plan for accepting mainland students. Once approved by the committee they can start admission.

Lu stresses that, mainland student enrollments are extra allocations that will not compete with local students. Also the 2,000 head count is small compared to 30,000 foreign and expat students.

Political paradigm

Last modified on 2009-06-02 01:14:47 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

A supernova occurring on July 4, 1054 formed the Crab Nebula, a well known supernova remnant in Taurus. The ancient Chinese recorded detailed observations. It was a previously unseen star that became for a time bright enough to be visible in the daytime. Some Native American Tribes also made records of the event.

Around the same time, Venice, Genoa, and the Byzantine Empire (or the Eastern Roman Empire) were near their full power. Yet strangely, none of these Christian nations of the time made any observation of the visible event, which lasted almost 2 years.

Historians attributed this to the problem of “paradigm” in scientific theories, where upon the scholars of the Western world were simply unable to break some basic assumptions of their theories, and thus consciously or subconsciously decided to ignore ALL data that does not fit their assumptions.

Western nations of the time, because of the Christian Church, believed in the “Immutable Heaven”, ie. the “celestial sphere” cannot change.

**
Some historians have explained also, that Chinese astronomers were not bound by any theoretical assumptions, and therefore, they were able to make very detailed and accurate observations of the stars, without worrying about running into contradicting “Holy assumptions” of their times.

On the same explanation, there was a general argument that ancient Chinese were less interested in “theoretical causes”, ie. they didn’t bother to formulate too many theories about “why”.

Afterall, with the volumes of astronomical data in the Chinese historical archives, and the amazing astrological clocks built by the ancient Chinese, why is it that the Chinese never bothered to make many models for the solar system??

**
Some have also theorized that the Chinese version of the “scientific theory” is more about systematic “trial and error” rather than a “Method and test” (as in the Western and modern scientific methodology).

Indeed, many Chinese inventions and discoveries were often more based upon “accidents”, rather than any methods of search.

**
Of course, now we assume that the “Method and test” scientific method is the better way to get at the truth.

But we also know that historically, the “method and test” method has ran headlong into the “paradigm” problem over and over again.

**

On the parallel of Political theories, analogous systems are seen in modern China and the West.

China, with its “trial and error” method of political reforms and leadership selections. Versus the West, “Method” is always right, regardless of the actual results.

Which one is better?

But let us challenge another basic assumption, Is the Chinese system really simply “trial and error”???

One could argue that one can develop mathematics and algebra by simple “trial and error”. Afterall, if one count the results of “1+1”, one can easily arrive at 2 as the answer.

One can reach “result oriented theories”, ie. 1 star will be at this location at this particular time of the year, just by repeated detailed observations. Without ever having known the composition or actual location of the star itself.

Given the problem of “paradigm”, I would posit that the “Western Method” of “democracy” is in a problem of “paradigm”, that its assumptions of “correctness” is simply another way for the adherents to ignore unwanted data.

In actuality, all political systems are based upon “trial and error”. Trying to develop a method to explain the correctness of own’s “accidental choice” is rather like explaining why one rolled a 5 in craps. Yes, you rolled the dice, but it’s not really a choice.

Next Generation of Hongkongese More Spoiled Than Ever

Last modified on 2009-05-23 09:39:50 GMT. 5 comments. Top.

香港下一代愈來愈嬌生慣養

Next Generation of Hongkongese More Spoiled Than Ever

The next generation of Hongkongese are more spoiled than ever. Survey revealed 8 out of 10 one-year-olds can not eat on their own, had to be fed by parents or nannies.

Hong Kong has one of the lowest birth rate in the world, with less than 1 rearing average. Although China’s one-child policy does not affect Hong Kong, due to the hardwork in raising children, many couples Hong Kong only have one child. University conducted a survay interviewing 1,100 some families, showing the majority feel Hong Kong’s only child are becoming more spoiled becasue the parents are over-protective of them. Not only does it feel this way, facts prove over-protecting children may not be good for them. Survey shows Hong Kong’s infants have hight % of doctor visits, with 3.47 doctor visit every 6 months. That’s to the doctor’s once every month and a half.

China slams US foreign affairs bill proposal

Last modified on 2009-05-19 23:48:24 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

US Congressman Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced “Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 and 2011 (H.R.2410)” on May 14. It drew some criticism from the Chinese government about this because “It meddled in China’s domestic issues of Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong.” It can be accessed here.

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2410ih.txt.pdf

Among most of this 320 page broad proposal, it has some interesting tidbits about about Tibet (sorry I didn’t properly format it yet):

22 SEC. 237. TIBET.
23 (a) TIBET NEGOTIATIONS.—Section 613(a) of the
24 Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–228; 22
25 U.S.C. 6901 note) is amended—
1 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the pe2
riod at the end the following: ‘‘and should coordinate
3 with other governments in multilateral efforts to4
ward this goal’’;
5 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para6
graph (3); and
7 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol8
lowing new paragraph:
9 ‘‘(2) POLICY COORDINATION.—The President
10 shall direct the National Security Council to ensure
11 that, in accordance with this Act, United States pol12
icy on Tibet is coordinated and communicated with
13 all Executive Branch agencies in contact with the
14 Government of China.’’.
15 (b) BILATERAL ASSISTANCE.—Section 616 of the Ti16
betan Policy Act of 2002 is amended—
17 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub18
section (e); and
19 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol20
lowing new subsection:
21 ‘‘(d) UNITED STATE ASSISTANCE.—The President
22 shall provide grants to nongovernmental organizations to
23 support sustainable economic development, cultural and
24 historical preservation, health care, education, and envi25
ronmental sustainability projects for Tibetan communities
1 in the Tibet Autonomous Region and in other Tibetan
2 communities in China, in accordance with the principles
3 specified in subsection (e) and subject to the review and
4 approval of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues
5 under section 621(d).’’.
6 (c) SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR TIBETAN ISSUES.—
7 Section 621 of the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 is amend8
ed—
9 (1) in subsection (d)—
10 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at
11 the end;
12 (B) by redesignating paragraph (6) as
13 paragraph (7); and
14 (C) by inserting after paragraph (5) the
15 following new paragraph:
16 ‘‘(6) review and approve all projects carried out
17 pursuant to section 616(d);’’.
18 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub19
section:
20 ‘‘(e) PERSONNEL.—The Secretary shall assign dedi21
cated personnel to the Office of the Special Coordinator
22 for Tibetan Issues sufficient to assist in the management
23 of the responsibilities of this section and section
24 616(d)(2).’’.
1 (d) DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION RELATING TO
2 TIBET.—
3 (1) UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN BEIJING.—
4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State
5 is authorized to establish a Tibet Section within
6 the United States Embassy in Beijing, People’s
7 Republic of China, for the purposes of following
8 political, economic, and social developments in9
side Tibet, including Tibetan areas of Qinghai,
10 Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces, until
11 such time as a United States consulate in Tibet
12 is established. Such Tibet Section shall have the
13 primary responsibility for reporting on human
14 rights issues in Tibet and shall work in close
15 cooperation with the Office of the Special Coor16
dinator for Tibetan Issues. The chief of such
17 Tibet Section should be of senior rank.
18 (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA19
TIONS.—Of the amounts authorized to be ap20
propriated under section 101(a), there are au21
thorized to be appropriated such sums as may
22 be necessary for each of fiscal years 2010 and
23 2011 to carry out this paragraph.
24 (2) IN TIBET.—Section 618 of the Tibetan Pol25
icy Act of 2002 is amended to read as follows:
1 ‘‘SEC. 618. ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNITED STATES CON2
SULATE IN LHASA, TIBET.
3 ‘‘The Secretary shall seek to establish a United
4 States consulate in Lhasa, Tibet, to provide services to
5 United States citizens traveling to Tibet and to monitor
6 political, economic, and cultural developments in Tibet, in7
cluding Tibetan areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and
8 Yunnan provinces.’’.
9 (e) RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN TIBET.—Section
10 620(b) of the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002 is amended by
11 adding before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, in12
cluding the reincarnation system of Tibetan Buddhism’’.

After reading this, it seems to be that the US government is running the TAR region. This proposal doesn’t mention much about Hong Kong and Taiwan though. I think that this bill was brought by Pelosi and company. I hope that this proposal won’t be signed into a bill.

Chinese think tank investigation report of 3.14 incident in Tibet

Last modified on 2009-05-23 17:09:34 GMT. 299 comments. Top.

Chinese think-tank (公盟法律研究中心/Beijing Gongmeng Consulting Co., Ltd. ) established by Beijing University law professors, and joined by several Beijing economics professors. Following the unrest and demonstrations in Tibet which started Mach 10th, 2009, they decided to see for themselves what was really happening in Tibet by visiting Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and Labrang, outside Tibet Autonomous Region.

Their findings are astonishing. They find that a new Tibetan aristocracy has taken over power. This aristocracy is even worse than the old Tibetan aristocracy. In the old system the aristocracy was reliant on some sort of accord and agreement with the people, since they were dependent on the people to pay taxes. The new aristocracy get all their funding directly for Beijing (Central government) due to “stability” reasons, and thus they do not have any incentive to care about the well-being of Tibetans.

They show how the new aristocracy cover up their own shortcomings in governance and lack of qualifications by pointing fingers at foreign forces and the Dalai Lama. This new aristocracy came to power in the cultural revolution. In other parts of China, this type of unqualified leadership was purged in the 80s, but in Tibet (due to their absolute loyality to Beijing), they were kept in power, up untill today.

They point to specific educational policy problems and find that the younger generation of Tibetans who grew up in a “liberated” Tibet has stronger Tibetan national identity than the elder generation.

The report can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df4nrxxq_91ctcf6sck

—————————————————————————

3.14 events Tibetan social and economic causes of the investigation report

Legal Research Center, Public League

【Contents】

Preface. 1

First, the rapid modernization process in the Tibetan economy and social change. 3
1, Central led the rapid modernization process. 4
2, a specific path to speed up the process of modernization under the social consequences. 7
Second, 70,80 was born during the survival of the Tibetan plight of young people. 12
1, the existence of serious problems in basic education. 12
2, vocational education and lack of social opportunities. 13
3, living in a more open process of modernization of the relative deprivation of a catalyst to strengthen the national consciousness. 14
4, on the national historical and cultural traditions of the lost and forgotten. 15
Third, the existence of Tibetan governance structure of the main problems. 16
1, the evolution of Tibetan governance structure. 16
2, under the regional autonomy of the Tibetan problem in the power structure. 19
Fourth, the Government has dealt with 314 incidents of errors in the follow-up. 21
Five, at this stage, the complexity of the issue of Tibetan religion and culture. 22
6, conclusions and recommendations. 24

Appendix:. 26
(A) possession of an area with Guardian Recalling historical and cultural background. 26
(B) ethnic Tibetan areas in the state policies, laws and regulations change carding. 30
(C) compilation of research interviews. 30
(D) contact form research object. 30

HK Donald Tsang “raped public opinion” about 6/4 incident.

Last modified on 2009-09-15 01:00:24 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

http://zonaeuropa.com/200905b.brief.htm#008

After watching this video I am disappointed on not about Donald Tsang’s believed on how people in Hong Kong felt, but how the pan-Democrats scolded Donald Tsang like a bunch of 5 year olds.

The strange thing is how the press reacted to this incident.

The coverage in the Chinese-language newspapers falls along the usual political lines, including:
– Nothing was found at Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po
– One small story in Oriental Daily, The Sun, Sing Tao and Headline Daily
– One front page story in am730 and Metro
– Multiple stories in Apple Daily, but the front page was assigned to the related story about the secret memoirs of Zhao Ziyang

And yes, press is much more freer in Hong Kong than in the Mainland, yet there is much self-censorship regarding to these sensitive issues.

Amy Yee talks about how Tibet is discussed at family dinner time

Last modified on 2009-05-10 21:20:25 GMT. 77 comments. Top.

Chinese-American Amy Yee is New Delhi correspondent for Financial Times. In this new article she explains how nationalism and facts can sometimes become contradictory, she gives the example of her own brother, and their dinner time discussion in Boston. I found the article interesting and think similar discussions happened in many Chinese homes during the last year.

“But I knew why my brother was so angry. We are Chinese. I believe my brother was mistaking protests against the policies of the Chinese government with some slight against him as a Chinese person.”

The whole article can be found below:

http://www.feer.com/authors-corner/2009/may56/Pro-Justice-Not-Anti-China

Pro-Justice, Not Anti-China
by Amy Yee

May 11, 2009

During the past year that I’ve reported on Tibetan issues from my base in India, one of the Dalai Lama’s recurring messages has struck a chord in me. It isn’t his well-known calls for peace, nonviolence and compassion. Rather, it’s his constant reminder that “We are not against Chinese people. We still have faith in Chinese people.”

The Dalai Lama repeated that again in March of this year, which marked the 50th anniversary of China’s rule in Tibet and his exile to India. That message has become his mantra as he travels the world and almost desperately tries to meet Chinese people.

His call has grown more urgent as he tries to defuse surging Chinese nationalism that peaked with the Olympics in Beijing. Official talks with Beijing broke down last autumn so the Dalai Lama’s outreach to Chinese people is the only way to advance the Tibet issue in China.

But I fear that his outreach to Chinese won’t work because reason is too easily obliterated by the flames of nationalism. Too many Chinese people confuse protests against the policies of the Chinese government with being anti-Chinese.

The Dalai Lama’s outreach to Chinese people isn’t lip service. I am Chinese, though born and brought up in the U.S. by immigrant parents. Even though I wear the face of the “enemy,” I have always been treated warmly by Tibetans during the considerable time I have spent in Dharamsala, home to the Dalai Lama and about 12,000 Tibetans. I have waited for a Tibetan to treat me bitterly or with scorn but it has never happened in dozens of interviews I have conducted here.

Many Tibetans can tell I’m Chinese and even call out “Ni hao!” as I walk through the streets of this hill town. Sometimes we converse in Mandarin, not out of any sense of obligation but because Tibetans still have an affinity with Chinese people even if their religion, language and culture have been repressed by the Chinese government.

After a four-hour prayer service in March, the Dalai Lama thanked the people in Tibet, the international community and “Chinese friends.” At a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of Tibet’s failed uprising against Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama shared the stage with 30 Chinese pro-democracy activists. Another group of 30 filmmakers and journalists from Taiwan were also present.

When Han Chinese travel to Dharamsala the Dalai Lama eagerly grants them a coveted private audience if they speak and write Chinese and can somehow convey his message into China.

Why this charm offensive with Chinese people? The Dalai Lama says that Tibetans and Chinese will have to live together in the future, no matter what happens. Communication and exchange is necessary, especially if official negotiations are fruitless.

Since 1994, the Tibetan government-in-exile has printed magazines and newsletters in Chinese. It also launched a Chinese-language website that attempts to convey his point of view within China to those savvy enough to get around Chinese blocks.

However, it is unclear whether the charm offensive is working. Chinese who support Tibet are suppressed in China and branded as traitors on Chinese blogs. When the Olympic torch passed through Canberra last year there were about 10,000 Chinese and some 1,500 pro-Tibet demonstrators.

When the Dalai Lama met with some Chinese in New York who were protesting his visit last year, he said five of the seven wouldn’t listen to him. Fortunately it was a large table or they might have slapped him, he admitted at a press conference last year.

Even overseas Chinese in the U.S., Australia and Europe where there is free media and access to information, waved signs that read “Dalai is a Liar.” I’m not sure what they accuse the Dalai Lama of lying about. He openly advocates autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule, not separation as China insists.

Is he lying about human-rights violations in Tibet? Why not ask former political prisoners from Tibet who have sought refuge in India? Why not ask thousands of Tibetans who have been arrested since China began its harsh crackdown in Tibet a year ago? And if the list of those arrested is fake, as some claim, why not produce the Tibetan in question to show they are alive and well?

For all of China’s insistence that Tibetans are content and should be happy that they have longer life spans than 50 years ago, the forceful repression in Tibet indicates that something is terribly wrong. The wise thing to do would be to somehow come to the table to discuss how, at the very least, the plight of Tibetans in Tibet could be improved. Measures on improving education and access to jobs for Tibetans are well within China’s reach.

The Tibetans who rioted in Lhasa last year should not have resorted to violence and it is tragic that Chinese people died in the clashes, as the Dalai Lama himself has said. But why not allow an independent investigation into exactly what happened last year in Lhasa?

I know firsthand the effects of Chinese nationalism that can cloud reasoned judgment. Last summer my brother and I were at my parent’s house in Boston when the Olympic torch relay came up. My brother was angry and disgusted by the pro-Tibet protestors. I was taken aback by his response.

We grew up in a progressive part of Boston where activism and questioning of the establishment was de rigueur. U.S. policies were often raked over the coals during dinner table conversations.

But I knew why my brother was so angry. We are Chinese. I believe my brother was mistaking protests against the policies of the Chinese government with some slight against him as a Chinese person.

I didn’t start a heated debate. I simply told him what I knew from reporting in India, where I have lived since 2006. “They shot a 16-year-old Tibetan girl in the head,” I said, referring to Chinese security that shot and killed unarmed and peaceful Tibetan protestors in western China last year. “What’s wrong with protesting?”

I refrained from pointing out to my brother what he already knew: that I lived in China for two years, taught English to about 120 Chinese university students, learned Mandarin and traveled for nearly a month in Tibet in 1998. During that trip many Tibetans I met in Tibet were scared of me until I told them that I was American.

When I mentioned Lhundup Tso, the 16-year-old Tibetan girl whose body was photographed in a pool of blood, my brother’s face contorted. Perhaps his newfound sense of Chinese nationalism was battling with the education—based on reason, fact and analysis—that we both received. Fortunately the latter prevailed. “As long as it’s nonviolent,” he said grudgingly.

I glanced at my mother, who had threatened to disown me when I announced I was going to China after college partly because she feared what Chinese authorities might do to me. She prudently chose to remain silent.

It is easy to confuse protest against Chinese policies in Tibet with being anti-Chinese. But wanting a better way forward in Tibet is not anti-Chinese people or even anti-China. It is, as the Dalai Lama likes to say, pro-justice.

Amy Yee is a journalist based in New Delhi.

Swine Flu Scare, is it too much hype or just right amount of alertness?

Last modified on 2009-05-21 03:06:08 GMT. 15 comments. Top.

It’s not permanent Orange Alert condition, but the latest swine flu cases around the world has definitely caused some small amount of panic.

Is it too much hype or just right amount of alertness? I don’t know.

It’s not Duct tape your house in case of chemical attacks, but some in the West have accused China (including HK) of overreacting, in the latest cases of quarantines imposed on Mexican travelers.

Over 300 guests in HK’s Metropark Hotel have been quarantined for several days now.

Some Mexican travelers in China have been put into quarantines despite having NO symptoms of swine flu.

Mexico has denounced these quarantines as discriminatory and “inhumane”.

But let’s put this in perspectives:

(1) the Guests in Metropark Hotel are mostly NON-Mexicans. That’s not “discriminatory”.

(2) the 1 confirmed case Swine flu of Mexican traveler who was on a flight to China, initially also did NOT show any signs of illness. So much is unknown about this particular strain of swine flu, including how long does it take from initial infection to showing symptoms.

This indeed justify some quarantines of travelers from some geographic origins.

This is not “discriminatory”.

(3) Mexico itself has imposed blanket shutdowns of virtually all public places, including schools, shops, etc., to prevent the spread of swine flu, with no end in sight.

One can hardly claim that China’s limited quarantine procedure in this case is unjustified when the Mexican government itself has imposed a far more draconian dragnet operation.

In terms of economic damages, Mexico’s own shutdowns have caused far more damages to its own economy and impacted far more of its own citizens than China’s quarantines.

*

While specific targeting of quarantines might be more helpful and less stressful to individuals, but one must face reality, even the CDC doesn’t know for sure how the swine flu is being spread. Undoubtedly it could be any number of means.

Even some in US are suggesting an outright border sealing with Mexico.

When you really love your job

Last modified on 2009-05-21 03:08:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

This post is inspired by the following video, that many of you will have seen already.

Beijing dancing traffic cop

Personally I think this is someone who enjoys his job, or otherwise woke up with a spring in his step that day.

I certainly love my job. People often see work differently, and that will be even more so whilst the global recession lasts where there’s less choice over where you can work and what you can do. But I would feel sad if I didn’t feel that I liked what I did every day.

What about you? Does work make you feel happy, or is it a means to an end? What about the other people in the country you live in?

China in WW2

Last modified on 2009-04-30 01:03:03 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

The following is circulated to me by my friends on China during World War 2. They are commented by American government to tell Americans why they were sent to fight Japanese (thanks, Americans). I also include 12 pictures (out of 34) on Nanjing that I hope Allen or some one will write a post on Nanjing.

They’re circulated in the internet, so I do not claim any credit or steel the thunder from my friends.

——————

Please stroll down the page to go the following websites to see 具有珍貴歷史價值的近 代記錄.

THE 2ND WORLD WAR Website:

《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》1-7集原名《我們爲何而戰》的這套紀錄片，是美國政府于第二次世界大戰期間制作的。

　　爲了向美國人解釋爲什麽要去中國抗日，美國制作了這部短片。開始時的目的在于讓美軍知道美國爲何參戰，到後來，索性向美國民衆公開，以争取舉國上下支持聯邦政府打勝這戰争。

《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（1）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/lQTWtokeF5Q&hl=zh_TW&fs=1
　　
《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（2）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/DcjVWe3xgAo&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

　　《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（3）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/dKTIylgLDHE&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

　　《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（4）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/M6z-fZwpmME&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

　　《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（5）
　　 http://www.youtube..com/v/VKHk6eepm0E&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

　　《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（6）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/L_zntg-eFF0&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

　　《二次大戰真實紀錄片-中國篇》（7）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/k0hZiD5Uk5I&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

　　《美國副總統華萊士訪問重慶與蔣介石會談》（1944年6月20日）
　　 http://www.youtube.com/v/xbttAZ_EVGs&hl=zh_TW&fs=1

Boo Hoo Evil China Banned My Website!

Last modified on 2009-04-28 13:12:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Have you ever heard of this thing called Plurk? Well, just heard about them, and the context presented is big bad Chinese government banning some (not so) popular micro messaging website – seemingly as lead-in to bring emphasis to the 20th Anniversary of TAM, by the best China propaganda tool my tax dollar can buy, Radio Free Asia.

Plurk.com also posted its plight on it’s own website. Plurk, you are well advised to not merely bitch and moan about it on your blocked website, but instead try to understand China’s laws in this regard.

In US we outlaw on-line child pronography, and some Arab countries don’t even allow wemen’s uncovered face on websites. As logic follows, China, as a sovereign nation, has the right to regulate information that traverse its sovereign territory.

Now, where would you go to get yourself legit and unblocked in China? You might want to start with industry counterparts in China, and some sound, local, legal advise. Here are couple starting points.

– China Ministry of Information Industry: http://www.miibeian.gov.cn

– Beijing Association of On-line Media (an information industry non-profit): http://baom.sina.com.cn/english

Good luck.

Letter: Mainland Han human rights lawyers defend Tibetan lama

Last modified on 2009-04-26 00:06:25 GMT. 34 comments. Top.

Amid the depressing news of the trial of Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, a respected lama from Kardze (western Sichuan), is a hopeful sign: he is being defended by two Han Chinese human rights lawyers. They say that they have had some harrassment from the police, but they have not been prevented from serving as counsel to a man they believe was unjustly accused. They have helped him have his day in court, which is better than nothing. In my opinion, democracy and nationalism, etc., are less important than simple rule of law applied impartially. Is that something Tibetans and Hans can make common cause for? It ought to be.

Web search for Tiananmen not censored, but do people care?

Last modified on 2009-04-22 04:43:40 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

As a readers of China blogs for quite some times, I’ve read my fair share of reports of Tiananmen being a taboo subject in China, and a sensitive terms that’s filtered by the Chinese government’s GFW (here, here).

But those reporting filtering/censorship seem to have categorically fell silent when it appears the term “Tiananmen 64” (in Chinese and English) is not being filtered. For what reason or motive, I don’t know – but there appears to be zero, I mean, ZERO follow-up on this appearant good news.

Anyway, here’re what appear to be uncensored search results from two major Chinese-language search engines:

Sohu (Chinese, English)

Baidu (Chinese, English)

“Chinese need to be controlled”

Last modified on 2009-04-19 12:08:38 GMT. 16 comments. Top.

Jackie Chan: Chinese People Need To Be Controlled

Action star Jackie Chan said Saturday he’s not sure if a free society is a good thing for China and that he’s starting to think “we Chinese need to be controlled.”

Chan’s comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese audience of business leaders in China’s southern island province of Hainan.

I have often thought that actors should stay out of politics, though as everyone is entitled to their view this was a useful way of addressing something I’ve noticed in the past. It seems to me that rich Chinese can be quick to assert similar sentiments. Certainly the article mentioned that the business leaders applauded him on that point.

If all Chinese were incapable of making decisions no Chinese person could be a politician and China would be run by foreigners, so he must think some Chinese can be in control. Thus I suspect what people like Chan actually mean when they say these things, but could never say because they would be ripped to shreds, is “people with lots of money like me can act sensibly but the majority of Chinese are too dumb to make the right decisions”.

Chan added: “I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.”

So Chan thinks that currently Chinese are not doing what they want to do? Is their sense of freedom really just an illusion? This seems like a highly controversial statement to me.

What are your thoughts on these comments and more widely how poor, middle class and wealthy Chinese see this subject?

“Fifty Cent Party” definition broaden to people not paid 50 cent

Last modified on 2009-04-14 12:59:55 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

Oh, boy, these days it’s dangerous to have a pro-Chinese government view on the Internet, even if you genuinely believe it, out of your own volition, and volunteer such sentiment freely, without acceptiong a 50 cent pittance.

Here, you can see Rebecca MacCannon just expaned the definition of “Fifty Cent Party” to include those “paid or who volunteer to post pro-government opinions”

Wow! How dare they! Like I said, heaven forbid any Chinese should have a different opinion of their own government than us American.

The Chinese are coming!

Last modified on 2009-04-14 01:47:58 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

The quality problems of Chinese products show up almost every month. It is the experience of most developing countries on their way to a developed country. The last one is S. Korean which adopted a similar model as Japan.

What have not been reported extensively are the improvement of the Chinese products and why Chinese will compete with the best in the world.

The following article reports BYM company but it is only one of the many innovative companies in China. How can the west compete with the engineers in China working 12 hours a day at about 10% of the salary?

http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/13/technology/gunther_electric.fortune/index.htm

Did the Chinese government really tried to hide quake fatalities?

Last modified on 2009-04-13 11:26:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Recently GVO’s Oiwan Lam accused the Chinese government of hiding figures and names of the 512 quake victims.

But few searches on Baidu.com seem to contradict GVO’s claims:

1) In the aftermath, casualty figures have been regularily updated and published by various government agencies including hospitals

2) As result, many media outlets in China have been able to create reportings dedicated to the disaster. For examples Sina, qq, 163, including casualty figures and name lists, and missing persons resource.

3) Ai Weiwei’s victim list isn’t new. Many of the quake victim’s names can also be found in the media and government domain as public records. For examples (.gov.cn):

Hsu Tsong徐聪, Jian Chin江倩, Dong Yang董洋, Lan Tsen Dong兰成栋, Liao Jiping廖礼平

4) According to a 11/21/08 press conference, a Sichuan deputy govenor stated student casualty figure is still being verified, and the November 19,065 casualty figure is but the 1st of many updates.

IMHO these evidence seem to suggest the accusation GVO is promotion lacks factual basis.

ATTN: Bloggers and Travelers Alike

Last modified on 2009-03-31 10:20:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The World of Chinese magazine is seeking potential contributors to its Travel Section, On the Road. Entries must be intelligent and humorous.

We are a three year publication funded by the Chinese Commercial Press and based out of Beijing. We seek to offer readers insight into China by exploring its vast landscapes, deep-rooted culture, and current unprecedented growth. Our team of native Chinese speakers and seasoned journalist offer an outlook from both native and foreign perspectives. We also place a particular emphasis on studying the Chinese language; throughout our pages you will find mini language lessons ranging from beginner to advanced levels.

In order to be published in our magazine please provide us with detailed accounts of your trips through China.

Contact Robert Livingston at recondite28@gmail.com for more details and some samples from previous issues.

Thank you for your time. And all the best.

The World of Chinese

Smurf Emancipation Day: 50 years of harmonious oppression

Last modified on 2009-03-29 01:16:01 GMT. 142 comments. Top.

In light of the mega attention and millions of yuans that chinese government use to establish a new holiday in Tibet “Serf Emancipation Day”, and advertise this around the world, clever Tibetan youth in Tibet created the following cartoon: “Surf Emancipation Day: 50 years of harmonious oppression”.

http://woeser.middle-way.net/2009/03/blog-post_28.html

Tai Chi Scooter One-Ups The Segway

Last modified on 2009-03-21 00:09:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A mechanical engineer at Purdue University has one-upped the Segway guys with a hands-free scooter that uses the principles of Tai Chi, the ancient Chinese martial art, to keep you from falling on your face.”

Original article can be found here.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/students-build.html

Death penalty in China

Last modified on 2009-03-20 13:07:04 GMT. 7 comments. Top.

Today, I found out from talk radio that our dear Governor of New Mexico had signed a bill to repeal death penalty. It upsets me greatly.
But it got me thinking, what is the death penalty like in China?
A caller yesterday called into the same talk radio station, mentioned something about Chinese court in Shanghai would try you on Friday and if found guilty execute you on Saturday. I don’t think this was an accurate depiction.
What is the correct process? And under what crimes the death penalty should be applied?

P.S I am all for Death penalty against murderers, psycho paths, pedophiles and cop killers

Is China the plug in hybrid vehicle paradise?

Last modified on 2009-03-16 00:00:56 GMT. 14 comments. Top.

Casually browsing through the internet I stumbled over this article about plug in hybrid cars. Here is the link

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=electric-cars-cost-per-charge

The article compares the relative costs and advantages of plug in hybrid vehicles respect to conventional gas powered vehicles.

The article makes some major claims about energy resource consumption and pollution, that when translated to CH would have a greater impact that in the US, mainly:

• Powering a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) would cost the equivalent of roughly 75 cents per gallon of gasoline—a price not seen at the pump for 30 years.
• 52% of US oil imports could be spared.
• three-quarters of the country’s current small vehicle fleet could be charged by our existing electrical grid without building new power plants.
• Reduction of greenhouse gases from 3.4 to 10.3 billion tons.

Some of the major promise of (PHEV) can, of course, only be achieved if certain conditions hold.

• Average daily displacement within range of vehicle batteries
• Hybrid vehicle able to be propelled by electric engine only
• Increase electric load would not mean an increased pollution of coal fired power plants or could be taken by renewable non polluting energy sources: Solar, wind power and hydro power(non polluting?).

Which type of vehicle would provide the greatest economic and envriomental advantages when substitured by its equivalent PEHV?

• Personal cars
• Taxis
• Trucks
• Public buses

Given the rapid growth on car ownership, trucks on the road, industrial and traffic generated pollution in CH main cities, population density, etc. Could be CH the PHEV paradise?

What do you think?

Letter: Crouching Dancer, Hidden Jargon

Last modified on 2009-03-14 00:42:44 GMT. 18 comments. Top.

Thu, March 12 2009

At the food court in Vancouver’s Sinclair Centre, a young well-dressed Asian woman was last week handing out glossy leaflets promoting something called the Divine Performing Arts, or DPA.

She spoke softly, explaining to those who took her yellow pamphlets that the show, which is slated to hit a Vancouver stage next month, is about China’s culture and heritage.

The literature promoting the show is full of superlatives like gloriously colorful, exhilarating, elite, masterful choreography, gorgeously costumed, stunning and breathtaking.

But is this really a show about China’s traditional arts?

Look beyond the pamphlets and the website of the Divine Performing Arts Company, and it is quite evident that this spectacle is nothing more than a vehicle to showcase the beliefs of the Falun Gong movement and denigrate the Beijing regime.

Truth be told, Divine Propaganda Arts would be a better moniker for the show that has been panned by some big name critics in New York and Toronto.

Toronto Star theatre critic Susan Walker described the show as “spectacularly tacky” and heavily laden with “Falun Gong messages as to negate any pleasure the dancing and singing might have afforded.”

A scathing New York Times review said dozens of people walked out of the show because of the heavy Falun Gong propaganda underscoring the performances by the lackluster dancers, singers, drummers and flying angels.

To be fair, the show has also received its share of positive reviews as well – most of them collected by volunteers from audience members to divinely end up in The Epoch Times – a Falun Gong-friendly newspaper chain.

So what and who is the Divine Performing Arts?

For those answers one has to look at the Falun Gong movement, which portrays itself as non-hierarchical parallel units when facing problems and solidifies into a considerable structure when propagating the bizarre belief system that is focused on a mystery man called Li Hongzhi.

This self-styled prophet and possessor of unique supernormal abilities has claimed his teachings are at ” . . . a higher level than those of Buddha and Christ . . . .”

Li claims to have been found at age 12 by a “Taoist immortal” who then led him up the mountains to train him in the art of telekinetically implanting the falun, or law wheel, into the abdomens of his followers, where it absorbs and releases power as it spins.

The man – who has been variously described as an anti-Chinese doomsday cult leader, head of a sinister organization and a spiritual master – apparently also can fly, believes that Africa has a two billion-year- old nuclear reactor, and that aliens who look human, but have “a nose made of bone,” invaded Earth to introduce modern technology.

Chinese media have a different version of Li, portraying him as an unexceptional student with a flair for the trumpet who held jobs as a guesthouse attendant and a grain store clerk, who founded the Falun Gong movement before taking off to the United States, where he is reportedly somewhere in New York.

Take what you want from this man’s teachings, which are enshrined in the Falun Gong bible called Zhuan Falun, but the international Falun Gong movement now claims 100 million followers worldwide after China outlawed the group and cracked down on its members.

Today, this army of adherents, which is mainly ethnically Chinese, is quick to criticize China for using “fronts” to discredit the Falun Gong movement, while the group itself uses the same two-faced technique.

In the Falun Gong diaspora, followers run printing presses, newspapers, websites, TV stations and stage productions to highlight communist China’s alleged repression of their movement.

While maintaining a public distance, these businesses all acknowledge by word and deed a special relationship with the Falun Gong movement.

Readers of the Asian Pacific Post newspaper in Vancouver know this all too well. The award-winning paper was held hostage by Epoch Press, which is operated by Falun Gong followers, because the followers did not like the “balanced approach” to a story about the Divine Performing Arts show. (See ‘Hypocrisy in slow motion’ on www.asianpacificpost.com)

Maria Chang of the University of Nevada, who wrote a book about the Falun Gong, said the Falun Gong movement treats organizations it has created as front components to influence public opinion through propaganda campaigns.

Describing such strategies as counterproductive in democratic societies, Chang in a published interview said: “Being secretive and deceptive will just play into the image they’re a kooky group with something to hide.”

The Falun Gong movement also claims to be apolitical, which is as believable as having a spinning wheel in your tummy.

Much of their actions, from morbid street skits to silent demonstrations to noisy parades, are aimed at drawing attention to their plight and creating agitation against Beijing.

Similarly, the Divine Performing Arts show is nothing more than another theatre of the absurd in Falun Gong’s on-going proxy war against China.

It’s just crouching dancer, hidden jargon.

China’s Interaction with Israel and the Jewish People

Last modified on 2009-09-15 01:06:34 GMT. 8 comments. Top.

The unique history of China and the interaction of Chinese people with the rest of world give China many friends around the world. Those ties have been both strong and historical, despite Chinese’s common animosity towards old Western colonists and Japanese imperialists. This historic foundation will continue to benefit both China and the world for a long time.

The following article is an interview with a well-known Jewish scholar, covering topics both past and present, including sensitive ones such as Muslim world and China, 2008 Beijing Olympics and Steven Spielberg.

Chinese student sue for infringement of rights

Last modified on 2009-09-15 01:07:36 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

I was looking at back news for the last month or two in the society section of Xinhua.
This news is extremely interesting… A chinese student had to change his name because the official told him they can’t issue him a new ID card that represents the letter C.
So he sued in court but he ended up having to change his name anyway.. what justice is that? The only benefit that he seemed to get out of it is free id card.

*sigh* poor kid that is all I have to say…
And I think the government of Jianxi Province should upgrade their computer system.
——————————————————————————–
Chinese student, police don’t “C” eye-to-eye over name on ID card
www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-26 23:39:29 Print

NANCHANG, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) — Is a strange name a crime?

When a certain Zhao family in east China’s Jiangxi Province had a son 23 years ago, they decided to give him a highly unusual name– namely, C. As the family tells it, C stood for China, and it was also intended to encourage the boy to learn English.

But it caused the college student trouble with the police, and he had to change his name.

The Yuehu branch of the Yingtan public security bureau in Jiangxi went on trial Thursday afternoon, as Zhao C sued it for alleged infringement of his rights, a court source said.

The court hearing started at 3 p.m. in the Yingtan Intermediate People’s Court. After a three-hour hearing, Zhao agreed to change his name, but he has yet to decide a new name comprising Chinese characters.

In return the police bureau has agreed to issue him a new ID card free of charge.

Zhao had told the court the police office refused him a new ID card as part of a nationwide replacement program. The police claimed that it was technically not possible to put English letters in names and told him to get a new name.

“I was registered at birth under that name,” Zhao said. He contended that allowing the first registration meant the name was accepted by local security officials.

“I like my name. It is easy to remember and my classmates called me Cici,” he said.

The case first went to court in January 2008, when Zhao’s father, Zhao Zhirong, who himself was a lawyer, sued the Yuehu branch on his son’s behalf. The People’s court of Yuehu District sided with Zhao and ordered the security bureau to issue a new ID card.

But Wan Cheng, director of the Yuehu branch, refused, saying: “It is against China’s regulations to include letters in people’s names.” The branch appealed last June.

According to the fourth clause of the Law of Citizen’s Identification Cards, characters, numbers and symbols could be used on people’s new ID cards.

Zhao Zhirong argued that “C” as a symbol could be used in the name.

However, lawyer Liu Xiqiu noted that the clause actually meant characters, numbers and symbols could be used in “different areas of the card”. “Just as characters are used in names, numbers and symbols are used in the birthdays, addresses and ID numbers,” he said.

Filling the spaces incorrectly would result in the computerized registration system failing to accept the application, Liu added.

“If you fill the name space with letters in the computerized registration system, you won’t be able to submit the form,” he said.

But in 1985, when Zhao was born, registration forms were hand-written, and there were no such problems.

Some students of similar age to Zhao sympathized. “It is unique,” said Lan Tian, a student from the Nanchang University. “The name has been used for so many years and it was the fault of the government at the beginning that resulted in the lawsuit, why should Zhao be punished?”

But another student, 21-year-old Liao Zhenhua, said changing the name was the right decision. “Adding a foreign letter in the name is an erosion of Chinese culture.”

“People should be serious with their names, as they are symbols that will accompany you throughout life,” said Ma Xuesong, head of the sociology research institute of the Jiangxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

“People’s names should be in line with their nation’s culture. If you want uniqueness, you can have strange pennames or online nicknames,” he said.

Liu Xiqiu believed that the case reflected a flaw in the Law of Citizen’s Identification Cards.

“Relevant clauses should be specified so as to prevent similar problems,” he said.
Editor: Yan

USA and China: from a marriage of convenience to one of inconvenience

Last modified on 2009-02-20 15:06:11 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

USA and China came together in the 70s. Being one of the richest and most powerful vs. one of the poorest yet most populous, it was really an odd marriage pushing together by world’s geopolitics at the time. Now, USA and China are being tied together once more in the midst of current world-wide financial tsunami.

Can the two country build a strong and lasting relationship based on genuine trust? Are the two people willing to learn from each other and form a common destiny? Please share your insight on this intersting subject.

Below is my own take:

The future is still very cloudy, yet has a high possibility if the two can learn to overcome their significant difference. Here is one small place to start with: one is too talktive and the other is too hardworking.

New press rule could help China improve civil rights protection

Last modified on 2009-02-14 09:53:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

BEIJING, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) — A new entry in government-issued press cards, to be added later this month, might help many Chinese reporters persuade tight-lipped officials to talk.

The entry will say: “The governments at all levels should facilitate the reporting of journalists who hold this card and provide necessary assistance.”

“Without a proper reason, government officials must not refuse to be interviewed,” said Zhu Weifeng, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication.

Many considered this a positive signal that the authorities welcomed supervision from the media.

The new press card statement followed a regulation on the disclosure of government information, effective last May, which was the first government rule safeguarding citizens’ right to be informed.

“Media and public supervision are among the arrangements the country is making to control the power of the state and protect civil rights,” said Li Yunlong, a human rights expert at the Institute for International Strategies of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

“How to prevent state power from infringing on civil rights is a very important issue in human rights protection,” Li said.

This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva conducted its first review of China’s human rights record, and it acknowledged the country’s efforts in human rights protection.

The country took a long and winding road to acceptance of the concept of “civil rights” but was headed in the right direction, Li said. “I have seen a trend toward increasing supervision of the authorities and more restrictions on their power.”

Mo Jihong, a research fellow with the Law Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, saw the same trend in legislation. “The changes in the Constitution were obvious,” said Mo.

China’s first three Constitutions, issued respectively in 1954,in 1975 and 1978, all had a chapter on the fundamental rights and duties of citizens. But none of those versions defined “citizen,” which affected the implementation of these items, he said.

The current Constitution, adopted in 1982, closed this loophole and put the chapter on citizens’ rights before that of the structure of the state, he said.

“It showed the country acknowledged that the state derived its legitimacy through protecting citizens’ rights, rather than by giving rights to citizens.”

In 2004, an amendment to the Constitution added an article stating that the state respects and preserves human rights.

“Through the amendments, the Constitution gave more responsibility to state organs to protect civil rights,” Mo said.

The country has also adopted laws to restrict the exercise of state power. In 1990, the law on litigation against the administration provided the first way for the common people to sue government departments.

Further, the law on legislation, adopted in 2000, included an article stating that only laws can limit personal freedom. This had the effect of barring any authority, except the legislature, from issuing regulations or rules to limit personal freedom.

“But the implementation of laws remained a problem,” Mo said. “The authorities who enforce the laws should be carefully watched.”

Li noted that China’s unique culture played a role. Traditionally, Chinese seldom talk about “rights” but instead stress the concept of people’s obedience to the society.

“Civil right is a concept borrowed from the West. That’s why it will take time to make everyone aware of it, especially those holding power,” he said.

“But we should not give up because we don’t have such a tradition,” he said. “China does not need to make itself a Western nation but can explore its own way based on its own culture and reality,” he said.

Last year, in the wake of an increasing number of protests nationwide, the government launched a campaign requiring officials to talk with citizens and consider their requests regularly. The move proved to be an effective way to ease public anger and reduce misunderstanding.

A trial program to invite independent inspectors to detention houses in northeast Jilin Province also received acclaim as an innovation in this field.

The two-year program ended late last year. The 20 independent inspectors, who were teachers, doctors, businessmen and community workers, examined conditions in these detention houses and examined their records so as to ensure that custody procedures were in line with the law and detainees were not treated inhumanely.

“The concept of ‘putting people first’ raised by the present CPC leadership can be regarded as an effort to respect and protect civil rights,” Li said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/13/content_10816802.htm

“Just what else do you want?” Chinese Vice President, Xi JinPing, talking tough to foreigners

Last modified on 2009-02-14 03:08:30 GMT. 32 comments. Top.

In a speech by Mr. Xi, China’s next top-leader on waiting, to members of the overseas Chinese community in Mexico. Xi proudly reiterated that China has already made its biggest contribution to the world by feeding its own 1.3 billion population during the financial crisis, and warned that “there are a few foreigners, with full stomachs, have nothing better to do than try to be backseat drivers of our country’s own affairs.”

“China does not export revolution, hunger, poverty, nor does China cause you any headaches,” Xi said indignantly. “Just what else do you want?” (Here is one of the few websites that still have video of Xi’s speech; other mainland sites have taken down the footage.)

http://china.blogs.time.com/2009/02/13/a-chinese-leader-talks-tough-to-foreigners/

Tim Geithner Calls Wang Qishan, But Why

Last modified on 2009-02-09 23:15:08 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

It’s reported US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner called his Chinese “counterpart” Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

There is a problem there. Geithner’s counterpart should be Finance Minister Xie Xuren.

From President Obama to Treasury Secretary Geithner, it’s only one level down.

From President Hu Jintao to Geithner’s real counterpart Xie, there are two more levels: Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice Premier for Trade
and Finance.

I won’t want to cut out Premier Wen’s job because China is too big. But I’ll definitely cut Vice Premier Wang Qishan out of the equation.

China and the Economic Crisis

Last modified on 2009-01-30 11:11:08 GMT. 26 comments. Top.

Intro: China’s accumulation of foreign currency is a hotly debated topic. Secretary of Treasury Geithner recently characterized it as “currency manipulation,” a legal term of art which allows the United States to take retaliatory measures.

I have written a paper that approaches this practice from a different angle, and recommends a different solution. The paper can be downloaded here http://ssrn.com/abstract=1332842

In this paper, I revisit the historic ideas surrounding miserliness and usury. I explain why these were economically pernicious activities, and why they were socially stigmatized or made illegal. The paper then moves onto international relations. I argue that China has been acting as miser and usurer on the world stage, at the expense of its own needs and global productivity. The world needs to balance spending vs. saving/investing/lending, and if there is too much of the latter then a rebalancing is inevitable. China has been doing too much of the latter, and the current economic crisis is that rebalancing.

The preferred solution to this problem is not trade protectionism, but rather increased trade. Over the past decade Americans have spent trillions of dollars on Chinese goods and services. This created employment in China and helped the country achieve its potential. The Chinese have responded by hoarding and lending that money. But a relationship where Americans spend and Chinese save and lend is not viable. Only when China takes the dollars Americans spend to employ Chinese, and uses it to employ Americans, will there be a sustainable relationship that can tap the productive potential of both countries. The United States has taken the first step and spent to establish this relationship. It is now China’s turn to spend, to advance that relationship.

I am interested in comments before the paper is published, so please do not hesitate to write me at the link above with any feedback.

Note: post title and content changed per the author’s request. -admin

Rural Chinese woman attends Int’l conference

Last modified on 2009-01-20 03:41:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

By BI Yantao, China

An international conference on Struggle Against Sexism and Racism is to be held in London January 31 to February 8, 2009. More than 150 participants from 21 countries will attend it.

The 10-day conference consists of 5 five seminars to discuss respectively:

1. Grassroots Struggle Against Sexism and Racism: an International Comparison;
2. Our Debt to Haitians – the First to Abolish Slavery;
3. Rape and Prostitution – A Question of Consent;
4. Invest In Caring, Not Killing: Valuing the Work of Caring for People and the Planet;
5. Rediscovering Tanzania’s Ujamaa –Tribute to the Great Ntimbanjayo Millinga and the Ruvuma Development Association.

This conference is organized by Global Women Strike and International Women Count Network, two grassroots organizations which are headquartered in London.

The organizers say, Mothers who produce all the workers of the world are not considered contributors to the economy and must fight for every penny to feed families. Some are fighting to survive floods, droughts or other climate catastrophes. Others are separated from their children. Domestic workers who produce time for others are marginalized and exploited. Rural workers who grow the food we eat are the most neglected.

Invited by International Women Count Network, Miss Wang Shumei, a rural woman from mainland China, will attend this international gathering. She will introduce the effect of China’s reform and opening-up on its political, economic and social ecology in the countryside. Wang Shu Mei will exchange experiences with grassroots women from other countries. On her return, she will be reporting back on these common concerns.

It is noticeable that this international event will be staged at the Venezuelan Embassy in London.

The Rising Tide: A Documentary on Chinese Contemporary Art

Last modified on 2009-01-19 19:49:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Robert Adanto’s The Rising Tide, which recently screened at Art Basel Miami Beach, examines China’s economic and cultural metamorphosis through the work of some of the Middle Kingdom’s most talented video artists and photographers, including the internationally recognized Cao Fei, Xu Zhen, Wang Qingsong, Chen Qiulin and Zhang O. It is narrated by Rosalind Chao and Gordon Chang.

“Adanto’s surprisingly grim film highlights both the vitality and urgency of China’s burgeoning new culture while allowing its subjects to speak of the darker and more painful aspects of change,” says Gerry Mak in the on-line publication Flavorpill.
The Rising Tide is an incredibly timely examination of China’s growing prominence in international culture. In a climate of industrialization, urbanization, and increased freedom of expression, Chinese Contemporary Art has emerged as arguably the most vital and imaginative cultural force in the world today. “The rest of us better make an effort to grasp what their work is about, or get out of the way,” says Mark Lynch, host of WICN’s Inquiry, ” [The Rising Tide is] an ‘eye-opener’ in every sense of the word, if you are an artist, curator or art teacher be sure to catch this film.”

Thursday, 1/22 @ 7:30pm The Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, 2/05 Kansas City Institute of the Arts, Kansas City, MO
2/06 and 2/07 in NYC
2/21 in NYC
March 2009 Cape Winelands Film Festival, South Africa
April 20, 2009 Academy of Entertainment & Technology, Santa Monica, CA
May 2, 2009 The Peabody-Essex Museum- Salem, MA

For more information, visit www.therisingtidefilm.com.

Cramer Is Bullish on China

Last modified on 2009-01-15 10:19:47 GMT. 31 comments. Top.

No, not Cosmo Cramer. Jim Cramer of CNBC`s Mad Money fame tonight made Xinhua China 25 his [China] Play of The Day, and expressed his bullish confidence in China`s dictatorship.

This is while self-appointed expat China experts are making doom-and-gloom, Panarin-esq predictions that China will suffer fatal crisis or fall from revolution, from range of issues: unemployment, to porn sweep, to an essay few have read.

Please allow me to add one more possibility – PETA will take China down (Pamala Anderson will let y`all know when to get out of Dodge).

The Mystical Gaza Chinese Rocket

Last modified on 2009-01-01 16:01:15 GMT. 55 comments. Top.

While it is widely reported that Hamas have fired 122mm Grad rockets into Israel, an upgrade from the Qassam, few media have gone further and stated that the new rockets were Chinese-made.

Simple Google searches seem to suggest the reason very few media outlets have made the Chinese connection is because this is somewhat dubious:

– According to Wikipedia the Soviet designed Grad rockts have been profliferated to over 50 counntries, with over a dozon countries manufacturing them.

– None of China’s 122mm Grad rockets were ever exported according to SinoDefense.com: 1) Type 81-90 rockets were never successfuly exported and was decommissioned in the 1990’s; 2) Closest spec’ed WS rocket, WS-1E, never entered production.

So it is a mystery how did Hamas ever get their hands on supposed Chinese-made rocked when it doesn’t exist.

Dalai Lama to retire from politics?

Last modified on 2008-12-25 10:18:45 GMT. 75 comments. Top.

In recent statements (http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2008/12/dalai-lama-talks-of-complete-r.php), the Dalai Lama has strongly implied that he might retire from politics completely. I’m not sure how seriously to take this sort of talk—I tend to think it’s more likely that he’s sort of testing the waters.

However, if it turns out that he really does retire from politics, I wonder if that might not end up being better for the Tibetan movement in the long run. I think that the fundamental problem with the negotiations between Beijing and the Dalai Lama so far is that they are not interested in negotiating on the same subject. The Dalai Lama wants to negotiate on behalf of the Tibetan people for political reforms in Tibet. The government in Beijing has never said they wanted to talk about that; instead, they have said they will negotiate about the Dalai Lama’s personal status. If the Dalai Lama gives up his political role and leaves it to the exile prime minister to have political negotiations, then maybe it will become possible for him to start negotiations with Beijing regarding his personal status. That is, he might actually be able to return to Tibet as an individual. By doing so, he might be able to create a degree of trust and goodwill which would eventually make political reforms possible.

The tricky part that remains, though, is that the Dalai Lama can give up his political role, but I don’t think he can retire from his religious role. In order to return, he would probably need some kind of reliable assurances that there would be reduced political interference in Tibetan religion. Most importantly, how could he return to Tibet if he thought the CCP would still control the selection and education of the next Dalai Lama?

China: Teachers Strikes Spread Nationwide

Last modified on 2008-12-19 16:11:32 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

By BI Yantao, China

Today(December 19), Lianhe Zaobao (《联合早报》), a mainstream Chinese newspaper based in Singapore, reported that since this October on, teachers in Sichuan, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong went on strike to demand a salary raise.

An example of Western demonization/dehumanization of China

Last modified on 2008-12-19 09:08:51 GMT. 21 comments. Top.

Would an Indian reporter write about Western savages eating the holly cows,
Or Muslim reporter write about Western infidels eating pigs?
Taking matters out of cultural context, this piece of “news” is aimed at nothing but to demonize and dehumanize China, typical craft of the free press spin master.

======================================================================
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_as/as_china_cat_protest

* China pet lovers protest cats as food Slideshow: China pet lovers protest cats as food
By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer William Foreman, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 18, 9:06 pm ET

GUANGZHOU, China – While animal lovers in Beijing protested the killing of cats for food on Thursday, a butcher in Guangdong province — where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup — just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. “Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but if you really want cat meat, I can have it delivered by tomorrow,” said the butcher, who gave only her surname, Huang.

It was just this attitude that outraged about 40 cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful protest outside the Guangdong government office in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray felines they said were being rounded up by dealers.

“We must make them correct this uncivilized behavior,” said Wang Hongyao, who represented the group in submitting a letter urging the provincial government to crack down on traders and restaurants, although they were breaking no laws.

The protest was the latest clash between age-old traditions and the new sensibilities made possible by China\’s growing affluence. Pet ownership was once rare because the Communist Party condemned it as bourgeois and most people simply couldn’t afford a cat or dog.

The protesters’ indignation was whipped up by recent reports in Chinese newspapers about the cat meat industry. On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily — a Guangdong paper famous for its exposes and aggressive reporting — ran a story that said about 1,000 cats were transported by train to Guangdong each day.

The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were brought to market by dealers on motorcycles, crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes peering from a crowded crate.

Some people in Nanjing spend their days “fishing for cats,” often stealing pets, the report said.

One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid to let their pets leave the house for fear they will get nabbed.

“It’s never been this bad. Who knows, it might be because of the bad economy. I’ve heard that there are cat-nabbing syndicates from Hunan that are rounding up cats,” said the man, who would only give his surname, Lai, because he feared the cat business might be run by gangsters.

Animal protection groups have occasionally ambushed truck convoys loaded with bamboo cages filled with cats bound for Guangdong. In one recent case, hundreds of cats escaped after their cages were opened, though hundreds more remained penned in the vehicle.

Lai Xiaoyu, who was involved in the attempted “rescue,” said authorities couldn’t stop the cat shipment because the traders said the animals were to be raised as pets.

“The police did what they could, but there’s little they can do to stop or punish those traders from shipping live animals,” Lai said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, issued a statement Thursday decrying the cruel treatment.

“China has no animal protection laws, and throughout the country scores of cats and dogs are bred or rounded up, crammed onto trucks and driven for days under hellish conditions to animal markets, where they are beaten to death, strangled or boiled alive,” said a spokesman for the group, Michael V. McGraw.

Guangdong is home to the Cantonese people, famous for being the most adventurous eaters in China. There\’s a popular saying: “The Cantonese will eat anything that flies, except airplanes, and anything with legs, except a chair.”

Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong’s capital, Guangzhou, said people usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home.

“There’s a famous soup called ‘Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix,'” Zhu said. “It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together. In winter more people eat cats as they believe it’s extra nutritious.”

The wide-ranging Cantonese culinary tastes are on display daily in Guangzhou, also known as Canton, in the Qing Ping Market. Shopkeepers sit behind cages full of writhing snakes, tubs with turtles and plastic basins with mounds of scorpions crawling over each other.

That’s where the butcher, Huang, sells her meat, sliced on a blood-soaked cutting board in a stall filled with cages of chickens and rabbits.

Hanging on a hook from its head — with its snout cut cleanly off — was a skinned dog with a long curly tail, paws with small clumps of fur still on them and black claws. The dog’s jaw bone was displayed in a metal tray beneath the carcass.

“The cat meat we sell comes from legitimate sources,” said Huang, who gave only her surname because her boss doesn’t allow her to speak to reporters. “It’s from cat farms. The animals are raised the same way cows are.”

She said cat meat sold for about $1.32 a pound, while dog meat was cheaper, at about 95 cents a pound. Chicken was the best buy at 62 cents a pound, while lamb sold for about $1.32.

Huang said customers had to order cat meat a day in advance because it doesn’t sell as well as dog.

“Cat tastes a bit like lamb. I don’t like it much,” she said. “Young cats are tender, but the meat on the older ones is really tough. Usually old people like eating it.”

___

Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Beijing, researchers Xi Yue in Beijing and Ji Chen in Shanghai, and Carley Petesch in New York contributed to the report.

(Letter) Ethics of Chinese Government

Last modified on 2008-12-15 21:38:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The post “Is there a moral crisis in China?” made me curious about couple of “Ethical” or “Moral” issues that is going on in China that is being talked about in the rest of the world.

Morals have different standards with different countries and cultures. But with the world becoming more flat, these moral/ethical issues are being talk about today.

In my Ethics class I need to write a research paper on anything ethical issues and I thought I’d write it on China, specifically on Governmental Control of the Internet(The Great Wall), and how the Chinese government can freely tap your phone calls and monitor whatever you do on the internet and have access to your personal information.
By American Standards that is a violation of our Privacy Rights ergo by American standards, it is unethical… But how about in China… is it considered unethical for the government to do so?

I am curious on what are your opinions on this issue?
And please indicate if it is ok if I use you as a source in my paper…

Truth About China’s Civil Society

Last modified on 2008-12-13 12:25:10 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

China is at a critical intersection. As a communication researcher, I am sure it is the high time to stand up and take whatever responsibility I can.

To a great extent, China’s future will be shaped by its civil society. But what is the true situations China’s civil society is trapped in? What are their hardships and expectations? What roles and functions should the civil society perform in China’s development? How should China’s current policies regarding the civil society be redesigned to ensure China’s sustainable development?

To answer these questions, I am planning an independent research project from the perspective of political communication. My hypothesis is that China’s civil society will grow at a greater pace in the near future, and that a stronger civil society will definitely speed up China’s transition. I was hoping to travel around China to interview activists, academics, newsworkers and politicians, focusing on China’s policies regarding NGOs, religion, minorities, news media, etc. , and on the interactions between the political society and the civil society in China.

If everything goes well, my project will start before this Chinese New Year. I am ready to take any unavoidable risk.

If you are interested in this project, if you are hoping to join us in any possible form , if you are willing to offer me any kind of assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me via bytaishan@sina.com.

The moral dangers for Chinese athletes at the London Olympics

Last modified on 2008-12-10 11:36:11 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

The London 2012 web-site (www.london2012.com ) proudly proclaims that athletes staying at the Olympic Village will have easy access to the travel and leisure facilities of the adjacent Stratford City complex, and the High Speed Javelin shuttle service will link the Village to central London in just seven minutes.

Just seven minutes away – a young person growing up in a structured society like China’s being so suddenly exposed to one of
the most permissive in the world.

The following are Hogarthian moral disasters that are all too conceivable given the reality of original sin and the frailty of our human nature:

A young Chinese athlete from a traditional home could catch a sexually-transmitted disease in one of the brothels or lap-dancing clubs or sleazy pick-up joints that have become so flagrantly in your face in London.

He or she could acquire a taste for cannabis, so readily available on the streets of London following its reclassification. That is not as inconceivable as it sounds. A young athlete with time on their hands after being knocked out of their event could fall prey to the temptation to try something as manifestly non-perfor mance-enhancing.

He or she could get drawn into a peer-group of native teenagers who take them out on a drinking binge.

He or she could incur a gambling debt at the one of the tawdry casinos that the last decade has spawned and get sucked into a web of corruption leading them to throw their event in a deal with a seedy book-maker.

He or she, heaven forbid, could get involved in a knife-fight outside a night-club.Just seven minutes away for a young person with a soul to destroy and time to be killed.

The Chinese authorities would be advised to appoint the equivalent of a 1950s-style hospital Matron to keep an eye on the girls and for the boys the equivalent of a National Service Sergeant-Major. Though liberals may jeer that this comes straight out of an Ealing Comedy conjuring up images of Hatty Jakes tweaking some poor chinagirl’s ear, actually this is simply common sense.

Proper supervision of young athletes in London should be strongly supported by the Christian community in China. There are now estimated to be 130 million Christians in China, more than the population of the United Kingdom. There is a good chance Christians will be represented in Team China. If one of them were to get involved in moral corruption whilst in London and that were to get into the newspapers, both the deed and its exposure would be terrible for them and for their fellow Chinese Christians.

It would make life far harder for the Christian community in China who would get tarred with the brush of Western decadence. In fact, damage to the Christian cause would be bad for the Chinese nation as a whole because the growth of Christianity is its only realistic hope of developing a political culture of freedom under the rule of law.

London churches are in a position to provide support and hospitality in Christ’s name for Chinese athletes staying in the Olympic Village in 2012 and God willing that will be welcomed by the Chinese authorities.

In the Caligula film-set that 21^st century London is increasingly becoming, they would be well-advised to take the moral support that is being offered.

Julian Mann is vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension, Oughtibridge, South Yorkshire www.oughtibridgechurch.org.uk

(Letter) A Murderer or Hero in Shanghai?

Last modified on 2008-12-09 07:38:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Age of Enlightenment was the age of reason. The rise of reason over tradition in the past 200 years led to the empowerment of the individual and the belief in technological and social progress.

Reason, according to the Oxford Dictionary, refers to the power of the mind to think, understand and form judgements logically.

The concept of reason has two implications.

The first is that the individual HAS the ability to think, understand and form judgements logically. The second is that the individual SHOULD think, understand and form judgements logically.

Therefore, human freedom is NOT that we can do whatever we want. Rather, it is our ability to act according to reason. To act according to reason and reason alone affirms our autonomy, and thus our freedom.

But what is to act according to reason? It is essentially to act sensibly and rationally. To act nonsensibly or irrationally is to act against reason.

We can formulate a moral law: you should act sensibly and rationally.

Therefore, it is right to act sensibly and rationally and it is wrong to act nonsensibly or irrationally.

But how do you apply this moral law?

Let’s look at an example that happened in Shanghai.

Let’s say someone was abused by one police office or some police officers. He became angry at the police. He got into a police station and killed six police officers. He was convicted for the murders and executed.

You somehow consider him a hero.

I think you are wrong to think that. It is not reasonable that you think that. It is in fact nonsensible and irrational to think that.

I would reason this way.

After he was abused by a police officer, he should have reported the abuse to the police officer’s boss or a disciplinary board. The superior officer or the board either took up his case or didn’t.

If the boss or the board took up the case and resolved the complaint to his favor, then he should be satisfied with the outcome.

If the boss or the board didn’t take up his case or came down partially, he could still report the case to the boss’s boss.

If the boss’s boss didn’t care either, he might try something else, like the media, the Internet, etc…

But killing six unrelated police officers were nonsensible and irrational because they did not commit the abuse. Even if he could assume many or most police officers were corrupt, it was still nonreasonable to assume that six somehow deserved their fate.

Therefore he acted nonsensibly and irrationally. He was wrong. It was right convict him for his crimes.

Now you consider him a hero. It is nonsensible and irrational for you to think that. It is not sensible and rational to stand with the criminal rather than with the victims. Yes, the six killed police officers are victims. Their families are victims as well.

If you resent these six police officers just because some other police officers committed abuse, then you are unreasonable. Therefore, you are wrong.

If you know you are wrong and insist on it, you are not acting freely. Rather you are acting against reason.

If everyone acts like that, then we will lose our freedom because when everyone acts nonsensibly or irrationally, our freedom cannot be safeguarded.

(Letter) Night And Day Reportings of Lhasa And Mumbai

Last modified on 2008-11-30 23:30:28 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

Along the same line of amusing reporting, have you noticed the treatment being given to Mumbai “terror attack”? On-the-surface comparison seems to be night-and-day when compared to the “uprising” that occured in Lhasa:

– No scrutiny of why the attacked occured. It’s reported as “terror” rather than “uprising”

– Liber and verbatim reporting of the Indian government’s positions, including that attack of such maganitude must be foreign inspired, when domestic group have claimed responsibility

– Ample showing of victims, property damages, candal light vigil by the citizens

In contrast, my first recollection of seeing chared building, images of shopgirls torched alive in Lhasa was on anti-CNN, not CNN.

Intercultural relationship and marriages

Last modified on 2008-11-18 06:07:58 GMT. 43 comments. Top.

Living here in United States, I have become more and more exposed to certain racial problems and issues.
It seems like many Chinese women/men have no problem immigrate here and marry a white/black man. But there are some Chinese Americans and Asian Americans believe that these people who marry white people is catering to the “White Priviledge” and encouraging many other people of our race to worship the white culture.
What do you guys think? Do you believe it to be a problem? or do you have a problem seeing a Chinese gal/guy with a White gal/guy?

Where are the theaters?

Last modified on 2008-11-10 13:25:23 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

This is my first post. 😀

I saw a few movie theaters in Shenzhen, but compared to other places I have been, and to the number of people who are in China, I would think that movie theaters would be a booming business. Making movies is a long standing actiity in China.

Hong Kong makes a lot of movies.

So, I put the question:

Why are there so few movie theaters?

😀

(Letter) Embezzlement Fellon Receives Honoary Citizenship In New Zeland, Keeps 80 Million RMB

Last modified on 2008-11-03 03:43:46 GMT. 36 comments. Top.

(h/t to Kiwi Blog)

New Zeland recently granted honorary citizenship to Yan Yongmin(闫永明), ex-CEO of Golden Horse Pharmaceutical, wanted for embezzling 100 million RMB (20 million RMB was finally returned by NZ authority after 4 years.)

what happened? It seems Falun Gong NZ, who is on the take from Yan, claims he might be persecuted if returned, and worked with couple NZ politicans, who are also on the take from Yan, to work the magic.

(Letter) Being a Chinese American….

Last modified on 2008-10-31 16:53:15 GMT. 4 comments. Top.

Being a first generation immigrant, I sometimes wonder what right do I have as a Chinese/Taiwanese American to voice my opinion on Chinese/Taiwanese politics. Seems like every forum I join, I always get accused of because I am an “American” I just don’t get it. Of course being at a young age of 24, I took it as a personal attack. These last few months I have been part of this group at www.udn.com, but I have to keep my mouth shut because whenever I disagree with their opinion, they just say you just too ignorant because you are an American.
I personally hate my opinion being disregarded which is being done constantly so I just stop voicing my opinion. But being a hua ren, shouldn’t we care about the current affairs and share our opinion with others?

My question for you guys…
Being a Chinese American, how much credibility do we have when voicing our opinion in a Chinese/Taiwanese community? Are we ever going to be taken seriously?

How many families in China are single-child family?

Last modified on 2008-10-30 01:37:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Here’s a statistics that surprised me:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-11/10/content_729312.htm

“Currently, Guangzhou has 372,631 one-child families, about 15 per cent of the total.”

Only 15%? Does this number commensurate with rest of China? US, having no family planning law, has about 18% of families with only child.

(Letter) The Global Financial Crisis and China

Last modified on 2008-10-29 02:13:00 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Wall Street banks and mortgage companies went down first. Then down followed European banks. The nation of Iceland went bankrupt.

Stock markets around the world dropped. China’s was no exception.

UK nationalized its banks. EU countries were ready to do the same. Then the bastion of free market capitalism, the US, partially nationalized its nine biggest banks.

Asean countries and China, Japan and Korea rushed to establish a long delayed US$80 billon crisis fund. South Korea did not bother to negotiate a FTA with China, now wants China’s money as insurance.

It was not enough. American economist, Nouriel Roubini, named Dr. Doom, pronounced further disasters in hedge funds, emerging markets such as Hungary, Ukraine, etc.

Now many Western commentators wonder aloud if China could, would or should bail out the West or other countries, given its US$2 trillion reserve.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown even demanded China help beef up the IMF crisis fund, now at $250 billion. IMF is an organization where China has miniscule voting rights.

China will help. But bail out the West? Not likely. China has its own needs for the money. And China will want to buy real assets, instead of more papers.

Here is an example. Chinese PM Wen Jiabao is reportedly to sign a deal with Russian oil companies for granting them a loan of $20 to $30 billion in exchange of 300 million tons of oil supply over a 20 year period.

Some real deals please, Wen would say.

(Letter) The tragedy of China´s communication problems

Last modified on 2008-10-19 11:10:40 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Interesting article about China communication and public relation problems

http://news.imagethief.com/blogs/china/archive/2008/10/15/the-tragedy-of-china-s-international-communication.aspx

All countries, even the US, have problems projecting their image to the outer world, but China´s problems seems to run deeper, and giving its rapid rising more urgent to be addressed.

(Letter) China’s Agricultural Land Reform? Not So Fast!

Last modified on 2008-10-17 02:42:25 GMT. 16 comments. Top.

The other day, Chinese President Hu Jintao was reported to promote the land reform in a village in the Anfei Province before the CCP Annual Meeting.

The meeting came and went. Nothing concrete seemed to come out of it. News analysts inside and outside China speculate that there was resistance to the reform at the meeting.

I am not surprised of the resistance. It was a total blackroom operation. Not clear what reform ideas were entertained. Not clear what their impact would be. Not clear how this reform relates to urbanization.

I believe the whole thing was a rash job.

The real reform should be allow farmers move to cities. In fact, any migrant worker who now work in a city should be allowed to become that city’s resident. This should be the first step of the reform, not the complex and very ideological land reform.

(Letter) Open Letter to David Kilgour and David Matas on Falun Gong and Organ Harvesting

Last modified on 2008-10-14 11:52:30 GMT. 67 comments. Top.

(Backgournder on David Kilgour, David Matas, and their affiliation with Falun Gong\’s political lobby, CIPFG.)

Dear Mr. Kilgour, Mr. Matas:

While China’s human rights record should be examined, I would like to urge you to look into all the facts of the case regarding the organ harvesting allegation made by the relgious sect Falun Gong.

In my opinion Falun Gong’s actions not only discredited their own cause, they also detracted from honest examination of China’s problems. Falun Gong’s vivisection indictment muddled the rational discussion of issues such as Chinese society’s moral, ethical standards on dignity and treatment of the condemned.

It is in this spirit I would like to bring to your attention some contrarian facts:

– US State Department’s undercover investigation found Falun Gong’s Sujiatun/Auschwitz allegation not credible. [1]

– A US Congressional brief critical of China questioned the veracity of Falun Gong’s claim of genocide and credibility of Kilgour/Matas report. [2]

– Independent investigation by long time Chinese dissident Harry Wu found Falun Gong’s claim, and its witnesses, unverifiable. [3]

– The Ottawa Citizen published a report on the veracity of Falun Gong’s organ harvesting allegation, and credibility of the Kilgour report. [4]

– The gory photo admitted as evidence by Falun Gong is not evidence of vivisection. Specifically, photo of Mr. Wang Bin in the Kilgour/Matas report, Appendix 20 Case 1.

A pathologist review contradicted Falun Gong’s claim. [5] Even according to Falun Gong’s own reporting, an autopsy was performed as part of Mr. Wang’s murder investigation held by local authority. [6]

Another photo that is widely mis-used by Falun Gong is of Mr. Liu Yufeng, it too does not prove vivisection.

In reality these photos are medical in nature, and are not evidence of atrocity. For example Falun Gong used a photo of breast cancer to support their “sexual torture” allegation. This story ran for two years before a physician blogger noticed the misrepresentation. [7]

In conclusion, writing an allegory of “Schindler’s List” is not the way to examine China’s human rights record. If we can not be precise with our accusation, only resort of nefarious indictment – why should anyone take the issue seriously?

Sincerely,

Charles Liu
Community Activist
Seattle, WA

References:

1) http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=April&x=20060416141157uhyggep0.5443231&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html

http://www.usembassy.it/pdf/other/RL33437.pdf (section CRS-7)

2) \’The Collateral of Suppression\’, a brief written for Senator Dianne Feinstein, member of US Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC), where congressional researchers Emma Ashburn and Thomas Lum were quoted.

3)http://www.cicus.org/info_eng/artshow.asp?ID=6491

4) http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/observer/story.html?id=2c15d2f0-f0ab-4da9-991a-23e4094de949&p=3 (page 3, 4)

5) Review by Dr. Friedlander of Kansas City University School of Medicine, Pathology Dept. The photo exhibited ‘Y’ incisions in the neck and baseball stitch sutures, which are typical of autopsy. The fact organ removal by medical examiner during autopsy is routine, is omitted.

6) http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2000/11/16/6164.html

7) Review by Dr. Ramana: http://rambodoc.wordpress.com/2007/09/17/is-the-falun-gong-going-wrong

(Letter) Boy People Really Hate He Kexin

Last modified on 2008-10-03 20:01:13 GMT. 45 comments. Top.

I really wonder what did she ever do to all these people, that even after two international body investigations exonorated her of the underage accusation, people are still blogging as if she is guilty:

– This SHOCKING NEWS FLASH! from 10/3 neglected to mention He Kexin was exonorated of the underage charge.

– This blogger still insist He Kexin is 8.

– Finally a “Case Closed” blogpost – except the conclusion is still “there is no way that He Kexin is 16”.

Okay, so these are boobs don’t care about China. What about our esteemed expat China bloggers? Shouldn\’t they have some insight and balanced opinion?

– Will from Imagethief saw it fit to coin the term “baby gate” and update the IOC investigation, but so far has not updated his bloppost with He Kexin’s exonoration.

– Both John Kennedy and Oiwan Lam from Global Voices Online blogged about He Kexin being underage, but neither saw it fit follow up with the fact IOC has again found the allegation not true. Boy Rueters even paid for this. It seems China “voice” is only “global” when it\’s bad news.

(Letter) Interested in China?

Last modified on 2008-10-03 19:59:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Are you eager to know what China is really like? Are you working on a project on China or writing about China? If you need any cooperation or assistance from China, please don’t hesitate to contact Prof. BI Yantao via bytaishan@sina.com. Thank you.

(Letter) Call for Materials on Political Communication Studies

Last modified on 2008-10-03 08:20:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Daizong Meditation Room, established by Professor BI Yantao, is designed to promote the political communication studies in China and advance the democratization of the Chinese mainland. Situated at the foot of the world-famous Mount Taishan, Daizong Meditation Room is the first non-profit research center of its kind in China. It is open to all interested researchers over the world, free of charge. To push our career forward, donations of books, essays, diaries, etc. on political communication studies are welcome. For more information, please contact BI Yantao via bytaishan@sina.com. Thank you.

(Letter) He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin Innocent of underage accusation by USOC

Last modified on 2008-10-02 23:29:23 GMT. 4 comments. Top.

Yesterday the IOC announced the 2nd age investigation prompted by USOC CEO Jim Schurr, has again exhonorated the gymnasts of the under age accusation:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/sports/chinese+gymnast+declared+old+enough/2484522

“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had specifically asked the FIG to investigate double Olympic gold-medallist He, who was registered as 16 although online media reports suggested she may have been 14.

Gymnasts must turn 16 in the year of an Olympics to take part.

“Originals of official documents received from the Chinese Gymnastics Association, specifically passports, identity cards and family booklets or ‘Household Registers’, confirm the ages of the athletes,” the FIG said.

“The FIG has shared its conclusions with the International Olympic Committee, which originally requested the inquiry. It is considered that the case is now concluded.”

Let’s see if Mike Walker, the “computer expret/hacker”, will post an apology on his website, now that the news has been pointed out to him by multiple bloggers.

(Letter) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s Interview with CNN

Last modified on 2008-10-04 09:44:50 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

It was on Fareed Zakaria GPS (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0809/28/fzgps.01.html).

(Letter) Chinese advances in stem cell research

Last modified on 2008-09-25 19:38:30 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

I’ve been reading a lot of bloggs on this topic. It seems a lot are written by patients and asked for by the clinics (or by the clinics). I do not how many are true or just for propaganda. If you have a real case success or failure, please let us know.

(Letter) Chinese Passport Design and Content– What does it Say about the Government´s Role in People´s Lives

Last modified on 2008-09-22 21:57:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I have a U.S. passport and it is full of strange text and images designed to emphasis the positive aspects of the U.S., many of which are at odds with policy of the Bush regime and indeed the history of the nation´s formation. Much of the design and content of my U.S. passport is meant to be both aesthetic, patriotic and lend an air of ancient authority to the entity that issued it to me (the U.S. Department of State).

At the same time, my passport is a legal document that implies certain obligations and duties that, if not complied with, can result in criminal and civil sanctions (it says so right there on page 5).

The document doesn´t even belong to me– it´s property of the U.S. government.

In the important Information section on page 6, it tells me that while traveling abroad I should “Avoid Violating Foreign Laws and Avoid Becoming a target,” both admonitions that our foreign policy has made almost impossible. It suggest that I “do not wear conspicuous clothing or expensive jewelry, and do not carry excessive amounts of money or unnecessary credit cards.” And yet it is excess consumption, financial profligacy and bad taste that has come to characterize the majority of U.S. citizens, especially it often seems when they venture abroad.

In short, the document, my official passport, is full of amusing contradictions and ironies.

I was wondering if the Chinese passport is similar. What images does it contain? What text? Quotes? What legal obligations does it imply to the holder? What suggestions are made? How does this all compare to the reality of China today? The role of the government in Chinese society?

Thanks!

Tim Parsa

(Letter)End-Of-the-World-Meltdown of U.S finiance and how does it relate to China?

Last modified on 2008-09-21 08:36:44 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

So let’s have a discussion on this please. How does this affect U.S – China relations. What is the ramifications for the Chinese economy, the world economy?要案

And what do you think about these two articles?

http://www.caijing.com.cn/2008-09-18/110013626.html

http://www.fywj.gov.cn/Article.asp?id=3219

Note:

I’m completely retarded when it comes to anything financial or economical (I took macro-economics, but I don’t remember a thing) related. Well, I actual believe the stuff discussed in this “conspiracy” documentary called “money masters.” (see below). So feel free to slap me and tell me that I’m crazy. What this means is that I believe the current “monetary system” is a scam. This scam is what the “elites” use to screw us (i.e. controlling the bust boom cycle). It’s a stupid game that we need to wake up fast to and get rid of right now. I also don’t believe in “globalization” as defined by the globalists elites, it’s merely a scam to screw the people on the bottom. Majority of the profits goes to these globalists elites.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=money+masters&emb=0&aq=f#

(Letter)Special food for special people?

Last modified on 2008-09-21 08:38:06 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

Found a disturbing link in CDT about the last tainted food scandal in China. What do you think about it?

http://tinyurl.com/4olq9t

China Digital Times » China’s Tainted Food Products Only Harm the Average People, High-Ranking Officials Have Their Own Specially-Supplied Food Sources.pdf (543 KB)

(Letter) Jesse Owens, Hitler and Olympics (narratives and history as it really happened)

Last modified on 2008-09-17 19:29:35 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

This belongs to the “random musing” category. What’s your take?

In some quarters, the Beijing Olympics were compared to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. During the debates of that IMHO ill-conceived moniker “Genocide Olympics”, Jesse Owens’ name was often used. A dominant narrative was that in 1936 the more progressive United States, sent in some black athletes such as Jesse Owens to the Nazi Germany. The fantastic performance of Jesse Owens gave a black eye to Hitler.

Was it the history as it really happened? Hardly. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens

Owens recounted:

“When I passed the Chancellor [Hitler] he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.”

He also stated: “Hitler didn’t snub me — it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.” Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor bestowed any honors by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or Harry S. Truman during their terms. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower acknowledged Owens’ accomplishments, naming him an “Ambassador of Sports.”

Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that blacks in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend his own reception at the Waldorf-Astoria.

(Letter) Boohoo, “Laserdusche” Got Busted In Bejing For Protest (嗚嗚, “雷射B” 奧運抗議被抓)

Last modified on 2008-09-13 02:51:06 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

[Sorry my Chinese is not good, but just had to share this with the Chinese readers.]

吉米 “雷射B”, 計劃天安門激光抗議被捕

[早沒看見此採訪. I wish I has seen this earlir.]

“When I first got put into a detention cell I thought I was going to have to fight someone like a mad man or get owned — then this guy gives me a blanket and a candy bar, and I’m thinking I’m already being made his bitch,”
“當我被放入拘留室我想我必須像狂人一樣抵抗強姦 – 然後一個人給我條毯子和糖, 我以為已經是他的母狗”

[看見太多電影? Saw one too many prison movie?]

Throughout his incarceration, Powderly survived on a hard-boiled egg for breakfast, and a bowl of rice and broth for lunch and dinner.
在他的監禁中, Powderly 早餐只有一個水煮蛋, 飯和湯當午餐, 晚餐

[嗚嗚只有一蛋 – 吉米你比那些三鹿嬰兒吃得好. Boohoo only an egg – Jimmy you ate better than those Sanlu babies.]

(Letter) Beijing Paralympics Opening Ceremony

Last modified on 2008-09-09 20:06:29 GMT. 9 comments. Top.

China kicked off 2008 Paralympics on September 6 (h/t to CBC for covering it):

(Letter) One Person One ID Number

Last modified on 2008-09-09 02:02:10 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

China has just decided to fix the ID number for the Taiwanese who use Mainland issued travel document Tai Bao Zheng, to travel from Taiwan to Mainland. This travel document is the only valid legal ID document.

Previously, when the document was reissued every five years and the ID number got changed each time. This created difficulties in relation to bank accounts, home ownship and employment.

The new policy of fixed ID number for life bring convenience to the Taiwanese living on the Mainland.

More important, this ID number creates a permanent link between Taiwanese and the Mainland. Psychologically, this is a big thing. Over time, Tai Bao Zheng will be seen as Chinese passport for Taiwanese.

(Letter) Follow up on Yang Jia

Last modified on 2008-09-06 17:15:12 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

July 9th, Buxi posted a story about Yang Jia. I think many of us were hoping that his trail would have been public, would have been transparent. But it wasn’t. Rather it was done in closed session.

Chronicle of a death foretold – guardian.co.uk
Man gets death penalty for killing six police in Shanghai

Too bad.

(Letter) Ideas about Democracy

Last modified on 2008-09-04 10:03:53 GMT. 6 comments. Top.

Hi all,

I am writing from Germany with a question!
I would like to know more about how chinese people see democracy and what they think about it.
I am particularly interested in the difference that might excist between official statements about democracy ( opinion, possible implementation)and private views in the blogger community. I am happy with personal answers, weblinks, whatever gives me a glimpse on how democracy is percieved.

To give you a little information about myself:
I am a student of psychology who ist very much interested in poiltical psychology.
Personally I think democracy is a great thought as it endorses egalitarianism between all people and I firmly believe, that all people are equal. But the way western civilization has adapted democracy to the needs of a neoliberal economy is as egalitarian as monarchies in my view. I see a great chance to learn from nations like china or socialist countries in south america, to learn from each others experience, ideas, and mistakes through discussion about the past and future of democracy, economy and our societies.
thank you for your interest,
Marco

(Letter) Yang Peiyi and Lin Miaoke inside the Bird’s Nest

Last modified on 2008-08-29 23:48:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Here’s a photo of the two girls inside the Bird’s Nest, which makes Times UK’s “banned” reporting less reliable:

(Letter) Western Media’s Selective Reporting Of Gymnast Age Claim

Last modified on 2008-08-27 01:00:36 GMT. 3 comments. Top.

While news outlets such as NYT and Huffington Post were all too happy to “out” the Chinese government on misreporting and record errors, by citing unfavorable search engine results to bolster the “lie”, “cheat” conclusions – What our media doesn’t seem to care about, is the search engine results that are in support of the claim these girls are of age:

Jiang Yuyuan:
1. a report listing Jiang with 1990 DOB
2. Cached page from Google US showing Jiang with 1991 DOB
3. In Olympics documentary “Dream Weaver“, Jiang was interviewed in 2003 where she mentioned her age. The narrator of the documentary stated the gymnastics tryout took place in 2003(9:25), and Jiang identified herself(9:39) as 12 years old(9:45) then.

Li Shanshan:
1. Google US cache showing Li with 2/22/92 DOB

Fair and balanced, Fox style.

(Letter) Fakery Filled Closing Ceremoney A Fitting Finish

Last modified on 2008-08-25 12:01:54 GMT. 43 comments. Top.

Just watched the closing ceremoney, allow me to head off any potential criticisms:

– During the flag raising the 56 fake ethinic children are now being faked by 56 grown ups (I’m sure those children didn’t grow up in 2 weeks.) No doubt they are all Han (except a close up on a woman who appears to be ethinic, possibly CGI enhanced?) And they were again fake singing, no doubt using 56 other people’s voices.

– The king of the drums was not flying, rather hanging on wires – just like the moon goddess during the opening ceremoney.

– The perfectly synchronized fireworks aerial must be CGI. No doubt about it.

– The entire dance number was pirated from Circ De Sole, down to those giant drums that didn’t make a sound when the soundtrack was misqued (no doubt the drum sound were from a different drum, how cruel it is to the unseen drum.)

Did I miss anything?

(Letter) China Observed

Last modified on 2008-08-24 17:03:22 GMT. 4 comments. Top.

I have just started reading your blog and have found it informative and interesting, especially as to the Olympics. In the interest of international cross-cultural exchange and helpfulness, I venture the following inquiry.

My wife and I are traveling to China for the first time in about a month. We’re headed to Suzhou, but also want to go to Nanjing, Kaifeng and Kunming. We are interested primarily in ordinary day-to-day life, though we will also of course want to see what each of those cities touts as its proudest venues.

Are there any English language blogs you can recommend that we might usefully read before we depart for China?

(Letter) Five American Batters Hit By Chinese Pitchers In Brutal Olympics Game

Last modified on 2008-08-20 00:38:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Our relations with China were nearly broken at the plate.

A near-brawl with our Olympic hosts in a baseball game won 9-1 by the U.S. team Monday night resulted in an unexpected outbreak of tension for the international pastime.”

Read more & see the video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/18/five-american-batters-hit_n_119733.html

Another interesting pitch: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/sports/1114518,2_2_AU19_COUCH_S1.article

(Letter) Xinhua – Post games analysis has started.

Last modified on 2008-08-18 13:56:42 GMT. 5 comments. Top.

Beijing landlords reap disappointment at Olympics

Overall, I would say that the games have been a staggering success. I’m extremely happy for China.

But… since Xinhua broke the ice, one of the concerns I had leading up to the games was the shortfall of the economic benefit from expectations. Landlords didn’t get the occupancy they hoped for – 60% of the units were vacant. It will be some time before the ledgers are all balanced but I expect that it will be more than the landlords looking at much less profits than expected. A friend of mine in Beijing has decided to return to her home town because business just wasn’t happening for her.

What will the impact be?

Juan Antonio Samaranch and He Zhenliang

Last modified on 2008-08-16 15:36:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

We have two distinguished guests today. They come from different backgrounds and have held different positions. But because of one common goal, they got close to each other and eventually became friends. That common goal is to bring the Olympic Games to China . CCTV9 – Up Close

Air Time:
August 16 @ 09:15 15:15 23:15 Beijing Time

Someone once wrote on this blog that he thought that the honorable Juan Antonio Samaranch “is incapable of smiling.” This was the poster’s impression from his casual observation. Now, I would like to encourage viewers to tune on to CCTV-9 today to watch a smiling Samaranch together with Mr. He Zhenliang, Vice President, IOC.

During the show, the two elderly gentlemen were living proof that the West & East could work very well together. Listening to them compliment and interact with each other together with their sincere mutual mannerisms, these two global peace-makers obviously have much for all of us to take notes and seriously learn from.

At one point, Mr. Samaranch even told the audience something that very few people knew of his Chinese colleague, Mr. He. Samaranch revealed that under that calm exterior and wise disposition, Mr. He would not hesitate to defend the good name of his country, even yelled at members of the IOC committee for, in Mr. He’s own words, “talking nonsense.”

Mr. Samaranch when asked to use a sentence to describe his colleague and friend of 30 years, said, “He is wise and is my Chinese brother.” When it was Mr. He’s turn to do the same, he told the audience that, and I am paraphrasing here, the Chinese people have much to thank Mr. Samaranch because of his unreserved love for China and the Chinese people — which by his actions have well proved, and concluded by saying, “He is my mentor and my brother.”

What I got out of watching the program was, as someone here had brought up recently — the importance of the tone of voice — written or spoken. The other thing was how little non Chinese understand our culture. This was made clear when Mr. He told the audience that he was considered as a poet and a philosopher by many foreigners, when in fact like almost all Chinese, he has the common — very Chinese tendency to quote old sayings and common Chinese clichés. In fact, Mr. Samaranch said the same of Mr. He. This goes to show, people of different cultures and backgrounds don’t have to have an in-depth understanding of the others culture, to be able to be great friends or have a healthy working relationship. Respect, open mindedness and humility — not perceived facts or insistence in a certain set of world view — but the aforementioned attitude expressed in good manners, over time, with patience and quiet contributive efforts, will move mountains — for the light of truth and understanding to shine through. As they say, change must begin with oneself.

So, folks, the dragon can’t change its scales any more than the leopard its spots and neither do either need to. If only we all will or choose to adopt the right attitude and practice good manners, right? You all know exactly what and how to do this because the truth is, everything you need to learn about life, you learned them in Kindergarten — they are not complicated when the cure for the disease of arrogance and narrow mindedness is applied.

(Letter) Done Too Much?

Last modified on 2008-08-16 10:13:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Have the organizers put too much make-up on the Olympic opening ceremony? Isn’t it better to show a flawless-looking girl with imperfect voice or a perfect-voiced girl with not-so-good teeth? Because nobody can be perfect and if they make somebody perfect, they are inhumane.

“In Grand Olympic Show, Some Sleight of Voice”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/sports/olympics/13beijing.html

“I’m Singin’ in Beijing”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/opinion/14collins.html

(Letter) Chinese gymnasts age controversy

Last modified on 2008-08-21 20:18:34 GMT. 1 comment. Top.

Last night after the women’s gymnastics team final, NBC announcer Bella Caroli commented that the Chinese team cheated with underage athletes, and their passports were doctored by the Chinese government.

After some digging, it seems the age allegation had surfaced some time ago, but was quelled after passports and birth certificates where produced to the satisfaction of the gymnasts federation in charge.

Have not seen much of this since, except the NBC commentator and some 2nd tier reporting from NYT.

The reporter mentioned that there were some government documents on this, so I set out to find them. Here’s what I found while searching the gov.cn domain:

邓琳琳, 4/21/92:
Baidu
Google

李珊珊, 2/22/92:
Baidu
Google

何可欣, conflicting reports of 1/1/ 92 and 94:
Baidu
Google
Chendu city sports administration (also)
National sports administration

杨伊琳, conflicting reports of 8/26 92 and 93
Baidu
Google

江钰源, conflicting reports of 10/1 1991, 1990:
Baidu
Google

程菲, 5/29/88
Baidu

Update by Admin. Comments for this thread has been moved to Has He Kexin’s age been changed to older or younger? Please make your comments over the new thread.

(Letter) Bella Caroli: China cheated with underage gymnasts

Last modified on 2008-08-21 20:19:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Last night after the women’s gymnastics team final, NBC announcer Bella Caroli commented that the Chinese team cheated with underage athletes, and their passports were doctored by the Chinese government.

So far there has been little to no coverage on this allegation.

Update by Admin. We have a new thread Has He Kexin’s age been changed to older or younger? to discuss this issue. Please make your comments over the new thread.

(Letter) Patriotic Anthems Compared: China’s “God Bless America”

Last modified on 2008-08-15 01:49:05 GMT. 4 comments. Top.

Someone had mentioned the significance of a patriotic anthem “歌唱祖国” performed during the Olympics opening ceremony. Had to look it up since it is completely foreign to me. It’s also commented that it is the equivalent of “God Bless America”, a patriotic anthem that’s well ingrained with most Americans.

When compared it seems the lyrics are similar. For example both mention majestic land, and a preeminence (God and Mao, respectively). There are also differences, for example individual vs. collective references. But I can imagine a Chinese, upon hearing their anthem, well up with range of emotions about their country, good and bad, happy and sad. I also know it’s not a bad thing; I too feel that when I hear God Bless America.

Here’re my poor attempt to translate these two patriotic anthems:

God Bless America (主佑美国)
God Bless America,
主佑美国
Land that I love.
我爱之地
Stand beside her, and guide her
站在她旁, 引导她
Thru the night with a light from above.
依上天的光来通过黑暗的地方
From the mountains, to the prairies,
从高山,到草原
To the oceans, white with foam
到白泡沫的海洋
God bless America, My home sweet home.
主佑美国，我甜美的家

歌唱祖国 (Ode to China)
歌唱我们亲爱的祖国,
Ode to our beloved homeland
从今走向繁荣富强!
towards prosperity from now on

越过高山,越过平原,
Across the mountains, Across the plains
跨过奔腾的黄河长江;
Across the roaring rivers
宽广美丽的土地, 是我们亲爱的家乡.
Vast and beautiful land, our beloved hometown
英雄的人民站起来了!
Heroic people stand up
我们团结友爱坚强如钢!
Our resolve is strong as steel

(Letter) 2nd terrorist attack in Xinjiang

Last modified on 2008-08-11 19:41:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

[h/t to Nimrod]

After reports of terrorist attack ahead of the Olympics in Xinjiang, a 2nd attack days after the Olympics has been reported.

While Western source have not questioned the attack, many have reported there are “scant evidence” of terrorist plot. However, Ron Noble, head of the Interpol, had forwarned such terrorist plots three months ago.

(Letter) Olympics Broadcasting Schedule (US)

Last modified on 2008-08-11 19:45:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

H/T to The Boston Globe for a concise “Olympics TV Guide“.

(Letter) Wearing Masks During Olympics?

Last modified on 2008-08-07 00:18:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

With the Beijing Games days away, the air quality issue has again surfaced, appearantly above the haze that’s settled on the city in the last couple days:

– US cyclist Mike Friedman, who once suffered pulmonary embolism, walked thru the airport in facemask, while Australian cyclist Stuart O’Grady says he won’t wear one.

– The Watercube is filled with either smog or humidity depending on who you ask.

(Letter) Terrorist attack in Xinjiang ahead of Olympics

Last modified on 2008-08-05 06:23:52 GMT. 35 comments. Top.

BEIJING – Two men rammed a dump truck into a group of jogging policemen and then tossed explosives into their barracks Monday, killing 16 officers…

(Letter) Why Has ‘China Bashing’ Become So Popular?

Last modified on 2008-08-02 05:29:47 GMT. 14 comments. Top.

Alan Miller of Huffington Post explains the rise in negative reporting on China, and the bigger picture beyond the Olympics.

More Guest Posts …

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