Archive for November, 2012

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24/11/2012

* India and China row over new map in passport

This provocative action is most curious as China seemed to have moderated its attitude to territorial disputes at the recent ASEAN summit. Wonder if it is national policy or the over-enthusiastic actions of a newly-appointed Foreign Ministry after the 10-year leadership change?

BBC: “A fresh row has broken out between India and China over territorial claims in the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin area in eastern Kashmir.

A woman holds the new Chinese passport on 23 November 2012

In new passports, China’s maps show the two areas as Chinese territory.

The Indian embassy in Beijing is said to have retaliated by stamping Chinese visas with a map of their own which shows the territories in India.

Several of China’s neighbours have also protested against the new map.

Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan have all objected because it shows disputed islands in the South China Sea and Taiwan to be a part of China.

They have described the new design as a violation of their sovereignty.

Chinese official maps have long shown Taiwan and the South China Sea to be part of its own territory, but the inclusion of such claims on the passport has caused considerable anger.

The potentially oil-rich Paracel Islands, claimed by Vietnam since their troops were forced to leave by China in the 1970s and also claimed by Taiwan, make an appearance on the map, as do the Spratly Islands, part of which are claimed by the Philippines.

The disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, at the centre of recent tension between China and Japan are not included in the new document.

Relations between India and China have been uneasy – the two countries dispute several Himalayan border areas and fought a brief war in 1962.

Delhi is yet to officially take up the row over the map with Beijing.”

via BBC News – India and China row over new map in passport.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/11/22/5365/

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, GeoPolitics, India alert, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

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24/11/2012

* Guizhou man who broke tragic story of dumpster boys sent on ‘vacation’

Two steps forward, one step back OR is it one step forward , two back?

SCMP: “A former journalist who broke the story of the deaths of five street children in Bijie, Guizhou, a week ago has been sent on “a vacation” by local authorities trying to contain the fallout from the tragedy.

Li Muzi, the son of Li Yuanlong, said his father had been taken away by the authorities at 1pm on Wednesday and put on a plane at Guiyang airport for “a holiday” at a tourist destination he did not want disclosed.

“My father told me he received several phone calls before he was taken away from home,” said Li Muzi, who is studying in the United States. He keeps in contact with his father over the internet and by phone. “Apparently they are trying to prevent him from helping other reporters follow up on the incident.”

Li Yuanlong, a former Bijie Daily reporter, has written four postings on Kdnet.net  – a popular online bulletin board on the mainland – since last Friday  detailing the circumstances that led to the five boys’ deaths in a wheeled refuse bin in Bijie’s Qixingguan district that morning.

The victims, all brothers or cousins aged nine to 13, died of carbon monoxide poisoning after lighting a fire in the bin to escape the cold, according to an initial investigation by the city government.

Follow-up reports by mainland media that accused the local authorities of failing to act on parents’ pleas about the five missing boys for more than a week triggered a huge outcry.

Li Muzi said he spoke to his father around 9am yesterday and his father had asked him to delete a microblog entry he had written about  the  disappearance. He said his father was worried it could have a bearing on how long he would be kept away from home.

Li Fangping, a Beijing-based lawyer who has asked the Bijie city government to provide more information on its handling of the  boys before their deaths, said the local authorities had violated the law by  ordering Li Yuanlong’s disappearance.

“It’s the same kind of overkill in the name of stability maintenance that we saw in the lead-up to the Communist Party’s 18th national congress,” he said.

“What we’re seeing now is at odds with the harmonious and beautiful China that new leadership tries to project to the world.””

via Guizhou man who broke tragic story of dumpster boys sent on ‘vacation’ | South China Morning Post.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/11/23/assistance-mechanism-set-up-after-street-kids-death/

Posted in China alert, Economics, Household registration, Human rights, Justice, Migrant workers, Rule of law | Leave a Comment »

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24/11/2012

* Chinese company plans to build world’s tallest skyscraper – in just THREE MONTHS

Given the prediction that China’s urban population will continue to expand as more rural workers migrate to cities seeking jobs and a better life, this kind of ‘system building’ may be the answer.

Daily Mail: “A construction company yesterday revealed plans to build the world’s tallest skyscraper – in just three months.

Massive: An artist's impression of the planned 220-storey Sky City building planned for Changsha, south-east China. The mammoth building is planned to be built in only three months

Sky City in Changsha, south-east China, will be a 220-storey structure standing at an incredible 2,749ft (838m).

It will house 17,400 people and also boast hotels, hospitals, schools and office space with occupants using 104 high-speed lifts to get around.

Massive: An artist’s impression of the planned 220-storey Sky City building planned for Changsha, south-east China. The mammoth building is planned to be built in only three months

The half-mile high superstructure will be 32ft taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai – the current tallest building – and is expected to cost almost half as much.

It will dwarf the Shard in London, standing more than 530m above the western Europe’s tallest building and, when completed, will mean nine of the 10 tallest skyscrapers in the world are in Asia.

More…

Get ready for mobile phones that BEND, stretch, and even fold into your wallet! Samsung unveils plan for smartphones with bendable screens ‘next year’

Archaeologists unearth 10,000 year-old home – and reveal residents were partial to hazelnuts

Machu Picchu captured in highest ever resolution: Zoomable picture of Inca citadel allows viewers to see it in impressive detail

But the most impressive thing about Sky City is that its designers, Chinese-based Broad Group, plan to start and finish it in just 90 days.

This astonishing pace, which will see five storeys go up a day, is down to the revolutionary method of prefabricated building where blocks are built off site and slotted together to save time.

Despite concerns about its structural rigidity, Broad Group says the half-mile high building will be able to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake.

The idea isn’t pie in the sky thinking either, with Broad making headlines last year when they built a 30-storey building in 15 days.”

via Chinese company plans to build world’s tallest skyscraper – in just THREE MONTHS | Mail Online.

Posted in China alert, Construction, Economics, Housing, urban development | 1 Comment »

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24/11/2012

* India may be top recipient of remittances in 2012: World Bank

Loyalty to one’s family has always been a strong trait of Indians

 and Chinese. And nothing demonstrates this stronger than money!

Economic Times: “India is expected to be the top recipient of remittances from its Diaspora in 2012, according to a World Bank report.

The country is set to receive about $70 billion by the end of the year, with China coming second with remittances of $66 billion, according to the study. Philippines and Mexico, with $24 billion each, and Nigeria with $21 billion follow India and China on the list. The other large recipients include Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Lebanon.”

via India may be top recipient of remittances in 2012: World Bank – Economic Times.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Economics, India alert | Leave a Comment »

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24/11/2012

* No meatballs’ as IKEA hits hurdles in India

India cannot make up its mind, it seems, whether to welcome foreign retailers or not.

Hindustan Times: “Swedish retailer IKEA said Friday it was reviewing sweeping curbs imposed on what it can sell at its planned new stores in India that will reportedly prevent it offering its famed meatballs. India’s foreign investment panel has rejected 15 of IKEA’s 30 product lines, a report said on

Friday, underscoring the regulatory hurdles faced by foreign stores who are eyeing the Indian market with renewed interest.

“We are now internally reviewing the details (of the investment board’s decision),” an IKEA spokeswoman told AFP, adding that she could not confirm the curbs as reported by The Economic Times on Friday.

Among the lines IKEA has been told by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board that it cannot sell are gift items, fabrics, books, toys, consumer electronics and food, the newspaper reported.

The group will, however, be allowed to sell furniture — its core business.

The investment panel also reportedly told IKEA it cannot offer customer financing schemes because that would violate banking regulations, or open cafes and food markets because that would break food policy regulations.

IKEA’s entry into India — it has pledged to invest $1.9 billion in the coming years — is being closely watched by competitors as a test case for how a large foreign corporation negotiates India’s byzantine rules and red tape.

India’s government announced a string of pro-market and investor-friendly reforms in September that relaxed or removed barriers preventing foreign retailers from operating in the country.

IKEA hopes to open 25 of its trademark blue-and-yellow stores in India through a 100-percent owned unit, Ingka Holding, as part of a wider push into emerging markets like China and Russia.

The government initially insisted that IKEA obtain 30 percent of its supplies from small Indian manufacturers that the Swedish retailer feared would not be able to keep pace with demand.

Later the government dropped the demand specifying the size of the supplier, but kept the 30 percent local sourcing requirement.”

via No meatballs’ as IKEA hits hurdles in India – Hindustan Times.

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23/11/2012

* Assistance mechanism set up after street kids’ death

Another serious consequence of the migrant worker issue.

China Daily: “The government of Bijie, a city in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, said on Thursday that it has initiated a mechanism to help street children after five boys were recently found dead in a dumpster.

The dumpster where the bodies of the five boys were found by a trash collector in Bijie City on Friday, November 16.

Luo Yanming, deputy head of the civil affairs bureau of the city’s Qixingguan District, said under the mechanism, relief centers will be established to help people living on the streets, including children.

“Billboards and guidance signs with helplines will be set up on streets in the district, while patrol officers will step up efforts to find them,” he said.

As part of the mechanism, the district’s education authorities planned to go to local primary and high schools to ensure that those under the nine-year compulsory education system are where they should be.

“Schools should keep records of left-behind children and report any cases of drop-outs,” said Chen Yong, deputy director of the education bureau of Qixingguan District.

“In the case of drop-outs, schools should inform their parents and try to persuade the children to return to school,” Chen said.

Five left-behind children were found dead in the dumpster on a drizzling Friday night in the district, spurring an outburst of grief from the public, who blamed the children’s caregivers and the local government for failing to take care of them.

Left-behind children are those who often stay with grandparents in rural areas while their parents work in cities.

One of the poorest provinces in China, Guizhou has an increasing number of people leaving to work in coastal cities where more jobs and better pay might be found.”

via Assistance mechanism set up after street kids’ death |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/02/23/china-finally-realises-that-migrant-workers-are-not-a-transient-issue/

Posted in China alert, Economics | 1 Comment »

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23/11/2012

* India test-fires missile interceptor

India flexes its muscles. Is it aimed at China or Pakistan; or both?

Times of India: “India on Friday test-fired a ballistic missile interceptor from a defence base in Odisha as part of its efforts to create a shield against incoming enemy missiles, defence officials said.

The indigenous Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile was fired from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, about 170 km from here.

The interceptor was fired a few minutes after the target missile was fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea in Balasore district, about 70 km from Wheeler Island.

India is developing the interceptors which have been successfully tested several times in the past, to provide air-shield to important Indian cities against hostile attacks.”

via India test-fires missile interceptor – The Times of India.

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23/11/2012

* Southeast Asian Nations Announce Trade Bloc to Rival U.S. Effort

It is not clear to me what motivates ASEAN nations to try and forma trading bloc that includes China, while Obama had initiated a similar pact to exclude China.  If may be a way of mollifying the strong stance ASEAN had taken regarding the South China Sea disputes. A ‘quid pro quo’ as it were.

NY Times: “Ten Southeast Asian nations said Tuesday that they would begin negotiating a sweeping trade pact that would include China and five of the region’s other major trading partners, but not the United States.

The proposal for the new trade bloc, to be known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, is enthusiastically embraced by China. The founding members, who belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said at the close of the association’s summit meeting here that the bloc would cover nearly half of the world’s population, starting in 2015.

The new grouping is seen as a rival to a trade initiative of the Obama administration, the 11-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes many of the same countries but excludes China.”

via Southeast Asian Nations Announce Trade Bloc to Rival U.S. Effort – NYTimes.com.

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23/11/2012

* Henan city refuses to stop clearance of graves to make farmland

One of the most honoured traditions of Chinese, reverence for one’s ancestors and tending of the family cemetery is going the way of so many old customs. But not if the people try and stand firm. However, there is no question that farm land is in short supply and so some new solution needs to be found. Is nothing sacred in China?

SCMP: “A city in central Henan province says it will push ahead with grave demolitions after the levelling of millions of tombs sparked outrage.

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Two million tombs in Zhoukou, one of the oldest cities on the mainland, have been removed over the past few months under a new provincial government policy to make more land available for agriculture.

A spokesman from the city’s civil affairs bureau, which is in charge of the grave demolitions, said the city government had no intention of halting the campaign, even though the State Council last Friday struck out a clause from regulations that allowed for forced demolition of grave sites.

“We are still clearing graves for farmland and we will definitely continue doing that,” he said. The spokesman said the State Council announcement only meant the civil affairs bureau had no right to carry out compulsory demolitions. “The courts and the police bureau will instead take responsibility for execution,” he said.

The revised version of the funeral and interment control regulation removed a sentence in Article 20 that allowed for forced demolitions.

The amendment, which will come into effect next year, came after an online petition campaign by a group of scholars and thousands of people from Henan.

State-run Xinhua released a report earlier this month praising the demolition project. A Henan reporter said mainland media ignored the petition, launched days before the Communist Party’s 18th national congress.

Jia Guoyong, a playwright originally from Zhoukou, said the new regulation would not stop the demolitions. He said he was shocked to the core when he returned to his hometown at the end of last month.

“I felt I lost my soul,” he said, describing an atmosphere like “the end of the world”, with people crying as tractors demolished graves and buckets of bones spilled everywhere.

An official document released at the start of this year said the province would make cremation compulsory within three years.”

via Henan city refuses to stop clearance of graves to make farmland | South China Morning Post.

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

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23/11/2012

* In China Schools, a Culture of Bribery Spreads

Even education is not immune to bribery & corruption in China.  Is anything?

NY Times: “For Chinese children and their devoted parents, education has long been seen as the key to getting ahead in a highly competitive society. But just as money and power grease business deals and civil servant promotions, the academic race here is increasingly rigged in favor of the wealthy and well connected, who pay large sums and use connections to give their children an edge at government-run schools.

In Beijing, some parents are forced to pay thousands of dollars to school administrators simply to enroll their children in elementary school.

Nearly everything has a price, parents and educators say, from school admissions and placement in top classes to leadership positions in Communist youth groups. Even front-row seats near the blackboard or a post as class monitor are up for sale.

Zhao Hua, a migrant from Hebei Province who owns a small electronics business here, said she was forced to deposit $4,800 into a bank account to enroll her daughter in a Beijing elementary school. At the bank, she said, she was stunned to encounter officials from the district education committee armed with a list of students and how much each family had to pay. Later, school officials made her sign a document saying the fee was a voluntary “donation.”

“Of course I knew it was illegal,” she said. “But if you don’t pay, your child will go nowhere.”

Bribery has become so rife that Xi Jinping devoted his first speech after being named the Communist Party’s new leader this month to warning the Politburo that corruption could lead to the collapse of the party and the state if left unchecked. Indeed, ordinary Chinese have become inured to a certain level of official malfeasance in business and politics.

But the lack of integrity among educators and school administrators is especially dispiriting, said Li Mao, an educational consultant in Beijing. “It’s much more upsetting when it happens with teachers because our expectations of them are so much higher,” he said.

Affluent parents in the United States and around the world commonly seek to provide their children every advantage, of course, including paying for tutors and test preparation courses, and sometimes turning to private schools willing to accept wealthy students despite poor grades.

But critics say China’s state-run education system — promoted as the hallmark of Communist meritocracy — is being overrun by bribery and cronyism. Such corruption has broadened the gulf between the haves and have-nots as Chinese families see their hopes for the future sold to the highest bidder.”

via In China Schools, a Culture of Bribery Spreads – NYTimes.com.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/prognosis/chinese-challenges/

Posted in corruption, Economics, education | 2 Comments »

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