Archive for May, 2013

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14/05/2013

* India and China; making up, but what about trade?

FT: “Salman Khurshid, India’s foreign minister, is back from a trip to China last week, happy to see the end of a tense stand-off over a long-running border dispute. Settling that issue will re-open the way for a planned visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India and allow the two countries to concentrate on the big topic on Khurshid’s agenda: trade.

But here, too, relations between the region’s big powers are not entirely friendly.

Back in November 2011, India and China set a target for bilateral trade of $100bn for 2015. That’s quite a leap from $2.3bn a decade ago and marks a concrete step in bringing the two nations closer together.

But the balance of trade is strongly in China’s favour. Now Kurshid has put the November 2011 agreement “on pause” until the imbalance is resolved.

According to India’s department of commerce, India’s exports to China in April to December 2012 were worth $9.7bn. In the same period, China’s exports to India were worth $41.2bn – a bilateral trade deficit for India of $31.5bn, nearly a quarter of India’s entire trade deficit in the period.

Khurshid claimed not to have minced his words:

We said that let the trade imbalance be addressed upfront as an urgent priority, and then of course we can move to the next stage which is the regional trading arrangement.

What does the minister want from China? One target is better market access, especially for India’s IT and pharmaceuticals companies. Indian business leaders complain that exports to China would be much greater if China’s big state owned enterprises could be persuaded to source from foreign suppliers.

But others say a lack of competitiveness among Indian manufacturers contributes to the problem.

“China has a very competitive manufacturing sector that is able to produce at a large scale pretty efficiently and for reasonable prices,” says Louis Kuijs, chief China economist at RBS.

“Sometimes we would be inclined to think there is a lot of [Chinese] government policy behind this. People point to the subsidies that China’s government has given to industries in the past and companies having preferential access to loans. But in the bigger scheme of things, those subsidies aren’t the driving force. China is a bit ahead in industrialisation and has becomes very competitive globally.”

Kuijs doesn’t think this is about to change. Chinese manufacturers do good business in India in both consumer goods and capital goods. And he takes the view that, despite the current cyclical slowdown, both consumption and infrastructure investment will remain robust in India, so demand for Chinese products will continue to grow.

A little tinkering on a calculator provides a bit of good news for Indian trade, however. According to data from the World Trade Organization, India’s global merchandise exports grew faster than China’s between 2005 and 2012. Over the seven-year period, India’s exports grew at an average 18.3 per cent a year, against a figure of 16.3 per cent for China and 9.4 per cent for the world as a whole.

So, Indian exports are growing relatively quickly. But China’s lower growth comes from a far higher base. In 2012, China exported goods worth more than $2tn while India’s exports were worth $293bn. Even with their faster rate of growth, it will take a long time for India’s exporters to catch up on China’s lead.”

via India and China; making up, but what about trade? | beyondbrics.

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Defence, Diplomacy, Economics, Foreign invasion, GeoPolitics, History, India alert, Military, Neighbour conflict, Politics, Trade | Leave a Comment »

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14/05/2013

* China launches new crackdown on internet celebrities

My personal view is that “the genie is out of the bottle” or that you cannot shut “Pandora’s box” with the Internet and social media.

Telegraph: In its latest bid to contain the often riotous jumble of news and rumour on the Chinese internet, the Communist party has decided to bring the most high-profile and influential voices to heel.

China launches new crackdown on internet celebrities

Before his account was removed, Mr Hao had 1.85 million followers

On Saturday, Hao Qun, a famous 39-year-old novelist and frequent government critic who goes by the pen name Murong Xuecun, found his account on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, deleted. He tried to open another account but failed.

Before his account was removed, Mr Hao had 1.85 million followers and his postings on the site often went viral.

The world of Weibo, which had 368 million registered users last year, operates much like Speaker’s Corner. Its most famous inhabitants command huge followings and have the power to steer debate in a way that is often uncomfortable for the Communist party.

The deletion of Mr Hao’s account follows a series of actions against other high-profile users.

He Bing, the vice president of the law school at China’s Political Science and Law university was suspended last week “for deliberately spreading rumours”. Prof He, who had close to 500,000 followers, had posted a snippet of news, which later turned out to be false, claiming that there had been a mass stabbing in a hospital in Hefei.

Since the Chinese media is carefully controlled, Weibo has developed into the country’s most important source of news.

And since newspapers and television stations are not allowed to report on many of the topics that are voiced on the internet, rumours often go unchecked and develop their own momentum.

“Some of the [high profile users] have become rumour relay stations,” noted the Global Times in an editorial last week. “Any frequent Weibo user knows that rumours cannot be widely spread unless there is a [high-profile user] helping to spread it,” it added.

“Theoretically they have the right of speech on the internet, but they should also have an equal responsibility. Currently they have no moral responsibility or legal liability for what they post.”

Kaifu Lee, the former head of Google in China, who has more followers (40 million) than Barack Obama does on Twitter (33 million), said he was careful to verify information before posting it on Weibo.

“I realise with the number of followers I have that I need to make sure the messages I forward are legitimate,” he said. “With great power comes great responsibility,” he added.

However, he noted that Weibo already has inbuilt checks that should prevent false news from gaining traction.

“If you suggest something that is clearly false and do not retract it, your reputation (online) will suffer. I think the social ecosystem should largely be self-reinforcing,” he said, adding that Sina already has a type of tribunal system that can rule over the veracity of certain posts.

Mr Lee said he did not know what the purpose of the new government “internet management” campaign was. There already exists a sophisticated censorship system that filters posts and deletes sensitive topics. “I am not in the government, so I cannot say why the government is doing this,” he said.

Zhang Lifan, a historian with almost 270,000 followers said the attempt to control high-profile users would be fruitless. “Shutting them down will not make much difference. For each account they silence, other people will speak up,” he said.

“Of course people should not spread rumours, but the government is using a double standard,” he said. “CCTV (China’s state television station) also sometimes reports the wrong news.”

The campaign appears to have sent a firm message however. Yao Bo, a commentator and restaurateur with close to 900,000 followers said a number of his friends had seen their accounts shut down. “Some of the accounts are shut down for criticising government policy, others for reporting bits of information. I now feel I need to watch what I say before I post something,” he said.”

via China launches new crackdown on internet celebrities – Telegraph.

Posted in Censorship, China alert, Dissident, Freedom, Internal politics, Internet, Openness, Politics, social media, Technology, Transparency | Leave a Comment »

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14/05/2013

* A shift in Chinese strategy on North Korea?

Wonder if North Korea is finally getting the message, that if it does not change its ways, its only friend, China, will be forced to abandon it.

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13/05/2013

* Alibaba’s Jack Ma and actor Jet Li open tai chi school in China

SCMP: “Movie star Jet Li has joined up with renowned Chinese internet entrepreneur Jack Ma to open a tai chi school in a bid to promote the traditional exercise.

Ma is founder of the world’s biggest online retailer, Alibaba, where he stepped down as chief executive last week saying he wanted to do more in education and the environment.

Former Alibaba CEO Jack Ma performs tai chi at the opening ceremony. Photo: Reuters

He is a keen devotee of tai chi, and has made references to Chinese martial arts in both business strategy and corporate culture.

Jet Li speaks at the unveiling of the school in Hangzhou. Photo: AFP

Li rose to fame for his kung fu skills and has starred in such films such as the Chinese historical epic Hero and the Hollywood blockbuster The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

The school in Hangzhou will teach tai chi and martial arts under a disciple of a well-known master, said a statement from Ma’s company provided on Monday.

It is part of a larger development in a wetlands park which includes commercial services, according to the statement.

The film star and the entrepreneur already have a jointly-owned cultural company which provides tai chi training to company employees.”

via Alibaba’s Jack Ma and actor Jet Li open tai chi school in China | South China Morning Post.

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13/05/2013

* Myanmar Pipeline Puts China Ahead in Energy Shipping Dilemma

WSJ: “A new crude oil pipeline through Myanmar due to begin operations in September will put China in a favorable position compared to other Asian economic powerhouses challenged by energy security issues.

China’s Myanmar pipeline, which in the photo is under the red dirt trail, means it will be less dependent on the Strait of Malacca for its imported oil needs.

At a capacity of 440,000 barrels a day, the pipeline—running from Myanmar’s coast at the Bay of Bengal to China’s southern Yunnan region—will allow China to send less crude through the Strait of Malacca. The narrow waterway by Singapore, where the U.S. Navy has a strong presence, is considered a major threat to secure energy supplies by major Asian economies dependent on crude shipments from the Middle East and Africa.

China—helped by its own domestic oil production of just over 4 million barrels a day—last year relied on the narrow waters for around 37% of its total demand. That share will drop to about 30% once the Myanmar pipeline comes on stream.

In comparison, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan all rely on the Strait of Malacca for around 75% of their total oil consumption, in part due to their small domestic production.

The Myanmar pipeline, which will run parallel to a major natural gas pipeline, comes on top of a string of oil and gas import pipelines already completed or planned to supply China’s less-developed inland regions.”

via Myanmar Pipeline Puts China Ahead in Energy Shipping Dilemma – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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13/05/2013

* China: unequal in death, as in life

FT: “The news that Guangzhou is to start building a costly cemetery exclusively for revolutionary heroes and government officials this October has stirred up something of an online controversy.

With the cost of cemetery space far higher than housing, it has highlighted the increasing inequality in Chinese society – in death, as well as in life.

The Fushan Revolutionary Cemetery, which will cover an area of 1,300 mu (870,000 sq m) and cost Rmb620m ($100m), is designated only for the privileged class, including “revolutionary martyrs”, “government cadres” and “military servicemen”, according to China Insight, a Beijing-based magazine, run by the Communist Party journal Qiushi (“Seeking Truth”).

The news, which came out last week, has created a buzz on the Chinese blogosphere and triggered criticism by many Weibo users (China’s answer to Twitter).

“No wonder people are trying so hard to get a job in the government; otherwise, they die without a burial place,” wrote one Weibo user.

“Chinese taxpayers take care of not only the living but also the dead [officials],” wrote another.

The discontent is shared by Fan Haiqun, a researcher at Guangdong Social Sciences Academy who specialises in funeral policy.

He was quoted by Insight China as saying: “Are there any new revolutionary heroes? Since the new China has been established for more than 60 years, most of people who sacrificed their lives in wars have already passed away. Today’s so-called revolutionary figures are just government officials.”

Guangzhou’s Civic Affairs Bureau later denied such accusations, saying the Fushan cemetery isn’t built for “only burying officials” and would also be open to the public, according to the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News. A lady who answered the bureau’s phone on Friday declined to comment on the issue.

However, such denials are not likely to convince the public or parts of the media. The Xi’an Evening News questioned: “Although the city’s Civil Affair Bureau denied the report [by China Insight], it didn’t offer any strong evidences to refute it, such as the proportion of the public graveyard [at the Fushan cemetery]. Therefore, it cannot shake off people’s doubts.”

On Sina Weibo, microbloggers fired back with sarcastic comments. “I would like to pay more tax if it’s built to bury them [officials] alive,” wrote one.

Apart from deep social inequality between the privileged and unprivileged in China, the issue highlights a new challenge for the country’s given the rate of urbanisation – scarcity of land for public cemeteries.

In Guangzhou, there are around 50,000 deaths per year, of which 30,000 are buried, according to China Daily. However, the city’s 10 commercial cemeteries are failing to cope with demand as there is no available land for new plots, reported Southern Metropolis Daily.

This has led the price of cemetery plots in Guangzhou to rocket – Rmb80,000 ($13,000) per sq m, much higher than that of local commercial housing (which is Rmb23,518 per sq m in April), according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

The sky-high price of plots is another hardship for Chinese people. As one blogger put it: “Life is never easy in China, now, [nor is] death.””

via China: unequal in death, as in life | beyondbrics.

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12/05/2013

* China’s Social Media Fuel Citizen Quake Response

NY Times: “Wang Xiaochang sprang into action minutes after a deadly earthquake jolted this lush region of Sichuan Province last month. Logging on to China’s most popular social media sites, he posted requests for people to join him in aiding the survivors. By that evening, he had fielded 480 calls.

地震催毀大量房屋，圖為進入汶川道路一境。A shot taken in the road h...

地震催毀大量房屋，圖為進入汶川道路一境。A shot taken in the road heading to Wenyuan, the epicenter of 2008 Sichuan Earthquake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Never mind that the government had declared that the narrow mountain roads to Lushan were open only to authorized rescue vehicles. Two days after the April 20 earthquake, Mr. Wang was hitchhiking with 19 gear-laden strangers to this rubble-strewn town. While the military cleared roads and repaired electrical lines, the volunteers carried food, water and tents to ruined villages and comforted survivors of the temblor, which killed nearly 200 people and injured more than 13,000.

“The government is in charge of the big picture stuff, but we’re doing the work they can’t do,” Mr. Wang, 24, a former soldier, said recently, standing outside the group’s tent, which was cluttered with sleeping bags, work gloves and smartphones.

The rapid grass-roots response to the disaster reveals just how far China’s nascent civil society movement has come since 2008, when a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan, not far from Lushan, prompted a wave of volunteerism and philanthropy. That quake, which claimed about 90,000 lives, provoked criticism of the government for its ham-handed relief efforts. Outrage mounted in the months that followed over allegations of corruption and reports that the parents of dead children had been detained after protesting what many saw as a cover-up of shoddy school construction. Thousands of students died in school collapses during the quake.

Like the government, which honed its rescue and relief efforts after the Wenchuan earthquake, the volunteers and civil society groups that first appeared in 2008 gained valuable skills for working in disaster zones. Their ability to coordinate — and, in some instances, outsmart a government intent on keeping them away — were enhanced by Sina Weibo, the Twitter-like microblog that did not exist in 2008 but now has more than 500 million users.

“Civil society is much more capable today compared to 2008,” said Ran Yunfei, a prominent democracy activist and blogger, who describes Weibo as a revolutionary tool for social change. “It’s far easier now for volunteers to share information on what kind of help is needed.”

One of those transformed by the Wenchuan earthquake was Li Chengpeng, a sports commentator from Sichuan turned civic activist. When the Lushan earthquake hit, Mr. Li turned to his seven million Weibo followers and quickly organized a team of volunteers. They traveled to the disaster zone on motorcycles, by pedicab and on foot so as not to clog roads, soliciting donations via microblog along the way. What he found was a government-directed relief effort sometimes hampered by bureaucracy and geographic isolation.

Two days after the quake, Mr. Li’s team delivered 498 tents, 1,250 blankets and 100 tarps — all donated — to Wuxing, where government supplies had yet to arrive. The next day, they hiked to four other villages, handing out water, cooking oil and tents.

Although he acknowledges the government’s importance during such disasters, Mr. Li contends that grass-roots activism is just as vital. “You can’t ask an NGO to blow up half a mountain to clear roads and you can’t ask an army platoon to ask a middle-aged woman whether she needs sanitary napkins,” he wrote in a recent post.

The government, however, prefers to rely on state-backed aid groups to deliver supplies and raise money, largely through the Red Cross Society of China. But that organization is still reeling from a corruption scandal in 2011 that severely damaged its reputation and spurred greater support for nongovernmental charities, which are generally thought to be more transparent.

Faced with a groundswell of social activism it feared could turn into government opposition, the Communist Party has sought to turn the Lushan disaster into a rallying cry for political solidarity. “The more difficult the circumstance, the more we should unite under the banner of the party,” the state-run newspaper People’s Daily declared last month, praising the leadership’s response to the earthquake.

Still, the rise in online activism has forced the government to adapt. Recently, People’s Daily announced that three volunteers had been picked to supervise the Red Cross spending in the earthquake zone and to publish their findings on Weibo.”

via China’s Social Media Fuel Citizen Quake Response – NYTimes.com.

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12/05/2013

* China’s Evolving ‘Core Interests’

NY Times: “Whenever China wants to identify the issues considered important enough to go to war over, it uses the term “core interests.” The phrase was once restricted to Taiwan, the island nation that China has threatened to forcibly unify with the mainland. About five years ago, Chinese leaders expanded the term to include Tibet and Xinjiang, two provinces with indigenous autonomy movements that Beijing has worked feverishly to control.

An image of the Chinese flag and sailors standing on Spratly Islands is displayed on a big screen in Tiananmen Square, March 2, 2013.

Since then, Chinese officials have spoken more broadly about economic growth, territorial integrity and preserving the Communist system. But recently they narrowed their sights again, extending the term explicitly to the East China Sea, where Beijing and Tokyo are dangerously squabbling over some uninhabited islands. Top Chinese military officials first delivered the message to Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he visited Beijing last month. The next day, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told reporters that “the Diaoyu Islands are about sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of course it’s China’s core interest.”

This wording, with its threatening implications, is raising new tensions in a region already on edge over North Korea and several other maritime disputes, and it will make it harder to peacefully resolve the dispute over the islands, called Diaoyu in China, and Senkaku in Japan.

While Japan has held the islands for more than a century, China also claims title and has sent armed ships and planes from civilian maritime agencies to assert a presence around them. The waters adjacent to the islands are believed to hold oil and gas deposits.

To some extent, China is simply throwing its weight around, challenging the United States and its regional allies. On Wednesday and Thursday, Chinese state-run newspapers carried commentaries questioning Japan’s sovereignty over the island of Okinawa, where about 25,000 American troops are based. Japan, whose wartime aggression against China and other countries still engenders animosity, has not helped. Last September, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda provocatively bought three of the islands from their private owner.”

via China’s Evolving ‘Core Interests’ – NYTimes.com.

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11/05/2013

* U.S., European Auto Makers Find Slow Going in India

WSJ: “Sleek new compact cars sporting the Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai brands stand out on the streets of India’s business capital against the mishmash of aging buses and black taxicabs.

image

The view is similar across India, a country where consumers have an affinity for smaller and fuel-efficient cars and, increasingly, for Asian auto brands. Much harder to spot are the logos of top Western mass-market car makers such as Volkswagen AG, VOW3.XE -0.88% General Motors Co. GM -0.73% and Ford Motor Co. F -0.63%

Profit margins are thin in India, where hatchbacks sell for as low as $5,000. Maruti and Hyundai together hold 54% of the nation’s new-car sales.

While major players in China, Asia’s other big and growing car market, the three are struggling to expand sales here. Each reported Indian sales fell between 16% and 20% year-over-year in the 12 months ended March, sharply underperforming the 2.2% rise among all passenger vehicle sales in the nation, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Their combined share of the car market stands at just 9%.

Some industry executives say these companies lack the compact models that consumers prefer in India, and have too few sales and repair outlets in the country.

Others say razor-thin profit margins on small cars make India a highly competitive and unprofitable market, and may explain the Western companies’ small shares. India’s compact hatchbacks usually sell for between $5,000 and $10,000 each.

“It isn’t that the international companies are incompetent, it is just that there is not much of a prize [in India] yet. It is a much, much smaller profit pool,” compared with markets like China, said Max Warburton, European and Asian autos analyst at investment research firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Maruti, the Indian unit of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Co., 7269.TO +7.53% and Hyundai Motor Co 005380.SE -2.33% . together hold 54% of the nation’s new-car sales, thanks to a broad sales and service networks and a loyal following for their cars and hatchbacks, which last year took seven spots out of the 10 best-selling models in India.

Japan-based Honda Motor Co. 7267.TO +3.18% and Toyota Motor Corp. 7203.TO +5.03% also are gaining here despite the overall market’s stagnant sales following several boom years. Asian-brand cars account for around 64% of the nation’s market.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen hasn’t launched a new compact model in India since 2010, save for refreshed versions of existing cars, while Ford launched just one, the new Fiesta, in 2011. GM launched its Sail U-VA last November.”

via U.S., European Auto Makers Find Slow Going in India – WSJ.com.

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11/05/2013

* Photograph of Chairman Mao goes under the hammer for 391,000 yuan

SCMP: “An original photo of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong went under the hammer on Friday in Beijing, and sold for 391,000 yuan (HK$490,490 or £40,000).

mao_auction.jpg

The picture, taken by his wife Jiang Qing, shows Chairman Mao sitting in a chair in front of Lushan Mountain in 1961.

Originally black and white, the photograph later had colour added by hand.

Although Jiang Qing, Mao’s last wife, was an actress, she was also very politically active and played a major role in the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). She was also known for forming the radical political alliance known as the “Gang of Four“.”

via Photograph of Chairman Mao goes under the hammer for 391,000 yuan | South China Morning Post.

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