Archive for August, 2012

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07/08/2012

* In China’s Power Nexus, a Tale of Redemption

WSJ: “Liu Minghui’s battle to clear his name and save his business, a fight that pitted him against some of the most powerful forces in China, began the day of his company’s Christmas party in 2010.China Gas

Mr. Liu was set to leave his 18th-floor office in Shenzhen to cross the nearby border to Hong Kong for the party when plainclothes Public Security Bureau officers arrested him on suspicion of stealing money from the company he ran and co-founded, China Gas Holdings Ltd.

The former managing director spent nearly the next year in a Chinese jail, during which time he was forced to leave his executive and board roles at the company while remaining a substantial shareholder. He emerged from detention in time to see one of the country’s biggest companies launch a hostile offer for China Gas, the first by a state-owned business against a privately controlled company.

Now Mr. Liu’s comeback is nearly complete. He has been exonerated in the embezzlement case and is poised to win his fight with state-owned energy giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, and its partner, ENN Energy Holdings Ltd. The bidding consortium on Monday extended the deadline for the US$2.15 billion offer until early September, saying the bid is still waiting regulatory approval. But with the stock trading at a 22% premium to the offer price of 3.50 Hong Kong dollars a share, the group seems unlikely to attract the shareholder support needed to take control.

…

The case highlights the harsh nature of business in China, where the legal system is opaque and the fate of companies can be decided in Beijing. It remains unclear why Mr. Liu was arrested and then cleared, why Sinopec bid for his company and why a surprising group of white knights came to Mr. Liu’s rescue.”

via In China’s Power Nexus, a Tale of Redemption; Sinpec, China Gas, Liu Menghui – WSJ.com.

In the same issue of WSJ.com, this article shows the positive (though still opaque) side of Chinese criminal justice and another the opposite: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/08/07/chinese-criminal-procedure-at-its-worst/

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07/08/2012

* Chinese Criminal Procedure at its Worst

WSJ: “On July 23rd in Guizhou province, lawyers obtained a partial victory for some  of the defendants accused of involvement in organized crime. Not all the accused were as fortunate, and the limited results came with the support of an intense Internet campaign to publicize gross violations of China’s Criminal Procedure Law by police and judges.

This case shows Chinese criminal procedure at its worst. It exposes extensive cooperation between police and court officials in violating Chinese procedural law to obtain convictions in a case brought during a nation-wide campaign with strong political overtones.  At the same time, it also provides a glimpse of the work of dedicated lawyers defending their clients and how they have begun to use the Internet to publicize the problems they encounter. The case is reported in great detail in a blog post on Tea Leaf Nation that is well worth reading and is the source of the following account of the events in this case to date.

In March 2010, Li Qinghong, a real-estate businessman, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for alleged involvement in organized crime  The case against Li and 16 others had begun in 2008 with a charge of gambling, but escalated in 2010 when a nation-wide “crackdown” campaign against organized crime was launched.  In this case, the Guizhou Provincial Coordination Office to Fight Organized Crime organized a meeting to mobilize police, prosecutors and courts to cooperate closely.

The case was remanded by the Guizhou Provincial Court for “lack of factual clarity,” and the Guiyang City District Court reprosecuted the case this year and increased the number of defendants to 57. The defendants’ lawyers took to the Internet to appeal for additional legal assistance, and were ultimately joined by lawyers from outside Guiyang Province. According to the CCP-led Global Times, a total of 88 lawyers formed a panel for the defense.

The defense lawyers say they regarded the case as a test of the entire criminal defense system, because it involved illegally obtained evidence, false testimony and the complicity of police and the courts in these procedural violations. At the trial more than 10 defendants testified to having been tortured, the police were not allowed to testify, and the court refused to exclude evidence that allegedly had been obtained illegally, according to the Tea Leaf Nation account. In addition, during the proceedings the court expelled four lawyers for their aggressive arguments on procedural violations.

The account goes on to say that court officers promised the defendants who were represented by lawyers from outside of Guizhou that they would receive lenient sentences if they fired those lawyers, which some did — only to reveal three weeks later that they had released their lawyers solely because of great pressure on them. Some of those defendants then rehired their lawyers.  After these events, one lawyer was quoted as saying “The criminal defense system in China is near its doomsday.”

The defense lawyers took their efforts to the public via the Internet in addition to vigorous arguments in court. They say that at issue was “the last defense, a life-or-death moment for the rule of law and for criminal defense.” They obtained only a partial victory:  Although some defendants were found innocent, defendant Li Qinghong was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Li has appealed.

The defense lawyers ascribed their (partial) success to a massive use of microblogs, having posted more than 1,000 tweets, including extensive daily updates via Sina Weibo, during the 47-day trial.  They emphasized that their use of social media filled a vacuum created by traditional media’s lack of attention to the case. They are quoted in the blog post as saying that these efforts, in addition to raising netizens’ awareness of the issues at stake in their case, “balanced the voice of the official media,” and helped to protect the lawyers’ personal safety.”

via Chinese Criminal Procedure at its Worst – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

In the same issue of WSJ.com, this article shows the ‘worst of’ Chinese criminal justice and another more ‘positive’ case: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/08/07/wsj-in-chinas-power-nexus-a-tale-of-redemption/

See also: http://unintend-conseq.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/social-media-triggers-revolutions.html

Posted in China alert, Human rights, Illegal practices, Justice, Law suit, Politics, Rule of law, social media, Technology | 1 Comment »

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07/08/2012

* DreamWorks Plans Studio in Shanghai

WSJ: “DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. on Tuesday signed plans with Chinese partners to build a $350 million movie studio in Shanghai to capitalize on the success of its Kung Fu Panda film franchise as the studio looks to build up its presence in a fast-growing Chinese movie market.

The studio will be 45% owned by the California animation company, with the remainder held by media-related companies controlled by the Shanghai government. The partners also plan an entertainment zone that could bring the total investment to 20 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion) to be largely funded in China.

The foundation of the project is the animation studio, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said in an interview. “The talent must exist here in China if only they had the knowledge, training and opportunity,” he said.

The partners said the film “Kung Fu Panda 3″ will be co-produced in Shanghai for a 2015 or 2016 release. The Shanghai studio plans its first film by 2017 and would build toward one to three major films a year, with an aim to build an animation base in China that can produce films for a world-wide market.

The joint venture said on Tuesday that it plans to build a tourism and entertainment complex that it calls the Dream Center with an opening date of 2016 in Shanghai’s Xuhui district. The facility near an abandoned airport will include tourist attractions, restaurants and commercial space, the joint venture said. Mr. Katzenberg said his company will help design that aspect of the business but be a small minority partner in the park, which represents the largest share of the investment plans.

The moves—which were announced in part earlier this year—come as rival Walt Disney Co. also looks to build up its presence in Shanghai. The U.S. entertainment company last year began construction of its own $4.4 billion theme park with Shanghai-government partners that will also include hotels, restaurants and other amenities.

Western entertainment companies are looking for ways to tap the fast-growing Chinese entertainment market. China’s box-office revenue surged 42% in the first half of the year to $1.28 billion as increasingly affluent consumers head to the movies. But the domestic industry is still underdeveloped, with foreign productions dominating the business. Mr. Katzenberg said American movies have represented 70% of the Chinese box office so far this year.”

via DreamWorks Plans Studio in Shanghai – WSJ.com.

Posted in Affluence, China alert, Economics | 2 Comments »

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06/08/2012

* Chinese Consumer Products Get More Competitive

WSJ: “Gone are the days when big multinationals in China could easily dominate every consumer segment from toothpaste to laundry detergent.

For years, companies such as Procter & Gamble Co. PG mainly had to worry about counterfeits, as their brands, such as Crest, were the hot items for the newly expanding consumer market.

That isn’t always the case anymore.

Take for instance a Chinese herbal toothpaste for whitening and sensitive gums. It sells for the equivalent of about $8.60, roughly double the price of Crest 3D White Vivid, one of P&G’s pricier brands. Yet the herbal toothpaste’s market share in China grew to 8.8% in 2011 from 1.1% five years ago, according to market research firm Euromonitor International. Over that same period, P&G’s market share in the toothpaste category fell to 19.7% from 20.8%. Toothpaste market share in China for Unilever NV, which sells the Zhonghua brand there, fell to 9.9% from 12%, according to Euromonitor. (In other markets, Unilever produces Close Up and Signal brand toothpastes.)

Industry insiders say losses of a point or two are small enough in the short term for foreign companies to manage. But the Chinese brand, made by Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., one of many local competitors gaining market share at the expense of foreign giants, is a sign of a changing consumer environment, some people say.

“P&G and Unilever will have to fight harder for shelf space and fight harder to differentiate from domestic brands that are now offering a wider range of products and features,” said Ben Cavender, a senior analyst at China Market Research Group.

Chinese companies like Yunnan Baiyao are gaining as they sharpen their branding.”

via Chinese Consumer Products Get More Competitive – WSJ.com.

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06/08/2012

* China arrests 1,900 in crackdown on fake drugs

BBC News: “Police in China have arrested more than 1,900 people in a crackdown on the manufacture and sale of fake medicine, authorities said.

The country-wide operation began on 25 July, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Police seized products worth 1.16bn yuan ($182m; £117m).

These included millions of pills made to look like well-known brands used to treat diabetes, hypertension, skin problems and cancer, it said.

Despite the arrests, the problem of fake medicine was ”far from being rooted out”, authorities said.

Drug counterfeiting had become more ”elusive and deceptive” as ”criminals have come up with new methods” despite efforts to root out production and sale channels in recent years, they said.”

via BBC News – China arrests 1,900 in crackdown on fake drugs.

Posted in China alert, fake drugs, Illegal chemicals, Law enforcement | 1 Comment »

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05/08/2012

* China nabs 137 for organ traffick

China Daily: “Chinese police said Saturday that 137 suspects had been arrested in the latest crackdown on human organ trafficking, amid intense pressure on finding sufficient donors through official channels.

The operation was jointly conducted by 18 provincial police authorities in late July, who also rescued 127 organ suppliers, according to a statement from the Ministry of Public Security on Saturday.

Police said that the detained suspects illegally recruited suppliers over the Internet, facilitated the deals and made huge profits from the transactions, which had endangered the health of the suppliers and placed a heavy financial burden on the recipients.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that about 1.5 million Chinese need organ transplants, but only around 10,000 transplants are performed annually due to a lack of donors.

The huge gap has led to a thriving illegal market for human organs, though the government has repeatedly pledged to improve its regulations on organ transplants and increase organ supply.

In spring 2007, China’s central government issued its first national level regulations on human organ transplants, banning organizations and individuals from trading human organs in any form.”

via China nabs 137 for organ traffick |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

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05/08/2012

* Gorkhaland demand still alive

The Hindu: “Even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured the people of the Darjeeling hills that their demands would be met and urged them to refrain from getting into a conflict with the government, the spectre of a separate Gorkhaland loomed over the swearing-in of the elected and nominated representatives of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Sabha here on Saturday.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) president Bimal Gurung addressed the gathering as the people of “Gorkhaland,” and said the newly-elected representatives would work to usher in development and peace for those who live in the “Gorkhaland region.” After they were sworn in, most of the members of GTA Sabha hailed “Jai Gorkhaland” from the podium. The GJM leadership used the word “Gorkhaland” repeatedly, but avoided mentioning the party’s earlier demand for a separate State. The GJM leadership has already stated that it isn’t giving up on its demand for a separate State.

The Darjeeling hills have been on the boil in recent years, with a series of agitations and bandhs called by the GJM. On July 18 last year, a tripartite treaty was signed among the Centre, the State government, and the GJM and it paved the way for the setting up of the GTA — a development for which Ms. Banerjee takes the credit, for “having restored peace to Darjeeling in three months” (since her government came to power). “The process that began on July 18 has reached its final conclusion with the swearing-in of all members of the GTA Sabha,” said Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh.”

via The Hindu : States / Other States : Gorkhaland demand still alive.

Indian ethnic minorities continue to demand separate states.

See also: ability of the Indian central government to continue to hold the country together

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04/08/2012

* China – Muslim Fasting Discouraged

NY Times: “Several local governments in the western region of Xinjiang have ordered Muslim restaurants to stay open during the holy month of Ramadan and are telling civil servants and students to continue to eat and drink during daylight hours, when Muslims generally fast. Ramadan began on July 20.

A notice on the Web site of the health bureau of Urumqi, the regional capital, said local officials had discussed “increasing eating and drinking during Ramadan” and were urged “to increase the monitoring of collective eating with supplied food at work units.” The goal was to “guarantee the health of the masses,” the posting said. Local governments have been putting in place such policies for several years.

Southern Xinjiang and Urumqi have a large number of Uighurs, Muslims who often express discontent with ethnic Han, who dominate China.”

via China – Muslim Fasting Discouraged – NYTimes.com.

So while national government tries to be sympathetic with Muslims, local officials do the opposite.

See also:

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04/08/2012

* Corruption’s Reach in India Spawns New Political Party

NY Times: “The anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and his team said Friday that they plan to create a “political alternative” for India in the form of a new political party. While Mr. Hazare said he would not himself enter the general elections in 2014, he pledged to spend the next year and a half campaigning across the country.

Arvind Kejriwal, an activist widely believed to be the main strategist behind Mr. Hazare’s movement, said the party’s name and agenda are open to suggestions from the people.

“The movement against corruption will now take place both outside and inside Parliament,” he said in front of a crowd of thousands in New Delhi. He denounced India’s large parties, including the ruling Congress Party and the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, calling them “corrupt.”

“It is a daring, adventurous move,” said Yogendra Yadav, a political analyst and one of the signatories of a letter encouraging Team Anna to take on the existing political establishment. But it’s not going to be easy, he said, given the scale and complexity of India’s parliamentary elections and the diversity of its electorate.

Transitioning from a single-issue movement to a political party, with positions on a broad spectrum of topics, from national security and terrorism to the economy, is likely to be a complicated process that may test the unity of the group, analysts said.

And there are few such precedents in independent India’s history. Movements in the past have successfully transformed themselves to enter the political mainstream, but they have been based on religion or ethnicity. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, for instance, which governed India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh for a full term of five years, started as a movement for the rights of India’s so-called “backward” classes.

It will be very tough for a non-regional, non-ethnic, non-caste group to replicate the success of Mayawati’s party with a policy issue like corruption, said E. Sridharan, a political analyst in Delhi. “Team Anna has a diffused constituency. They don’t have a ready-made, mobilizable base,” he said, attributing the movement’s rise to prominence to an urban population and a sympathetic media.”

via Corruption’s Reach in India Spawns New Political Party – NYTimes.com.

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04/08/2012

* In China, Sun Protection Can Include a Mask

NY Times: “It was enough to make a trio of heavily tattooed young men stop their playful splashing and to prompt a small boy to run to his mother in alarm: a woman rising out of the choppy waves of the sea, her head wrapped in a neon-orange ski mask.

The masks, made of stretchy fabric commonly used in bathing suits, are catching on as beachwear in Qingdao, a German colony before World War I and home to the Tsingtao Brewery.

“A woman should always have fair skin,” one mask-wearing bather explained. “Otherwise people will think you’re a peasant.”

As she made her way toward the shore, more people stared. A man floating in a yellow inner tube nudged his female companion, who muttered the question many others must have been asking themselves: “Why is she wearing that?”

“I’m afraid of getting dark,” said the mask-wearer, Yao Wenhua, 58, upon emerging from the seaweed-choked waters of this seaside city in China’s eastern Shandong Province. Eager to show why she sacrificed fashion for function, Ms. Yao, a retired bus driver, peeled the nylon over her forehead to reveal a pale, unwrinkled face.

“A woman should always have fair skin,” she said proudly. “Otherwise people will think you’re a peasant.””

via In China, Sun Protection Can Include a Mask – NYTimes.com.

Strange that Chinese have a colour prejudice based on ‘cultured’ urbanites not wanting to be mistaken for peasants. In India too there is colour prejudice, partly based on the same concern but also pre-historically Aryan invaders not wanting to be mistaken for native Indians who were driven into the deep south.

Posted in China alert, colour prejudice, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

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