continuously updated blog about China & India
You will be living in their world, very soon
Beware the Waking Dragon
Let us hope that the various calls for reform are genuine and sincere and not an attempt to ‘out’ pro-democrats in the manner of Chairman Mao’s “Let a hundred flowers bloom” call in the 50s that led to the anti-rightist movement and major purges that followed.
See also:
Xinhua: “China’s Ministry of National Defense says the Chinese People’s Liberation Army makes an important contribution to maintaining world peace and regional stability.
Speaking at a press conference, spokesman Geng Yansheng says the PLA has established military level relations with over 150 countries and set up defense consultation dialogue mechanisms with defense ministries and armed forces 22 countries.
China has taken part in more than 50 joint exercises with armed forces of over 30 countries. All these have helped PLA boost friendly relations and mutual trust with their counterparts.
Geng Yansheng, Spokesman, Ministry of National Defense, said, “The PLA has actively taken part in the UN peacekeeping program. In total, it has contributed more than 20,000 personnel to conduct 23 UN peace keeping missions. This has made China the largest contributing country among the five permanent members of UN security council. It has successfully completed UN mandated peacekeeping missions, such as cease fire monitoring, conflict resolution, supplying transportation and offering medical support.””
via Chinese military maintains world peace – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
NY Times: “A Chinese appeals court on Friday threw out a fraud conviction against a human rights activist who has fought on behalf of people evicted from their homes, but it upheld a separate conviction against her for causing a disturbance, her lawyers said.
A lower court had ruled that the activist, Ni Yulan, and her husband, Dong Jiqin, acted in an unruly way when they failed to pay for their stay at a hotel — where they had been detained by the police — and mistreated staff members. It also ruled that Ms. Ni had received money through deceit.
One of her lawyers, Cheng Hai, said the higher court, the Beijing First Intermediate Court, had rescinded the fraud conviction and reduced Ms. Ni’s prison sentence by two months to two years and six months after the person who gave Ms. Ni the money told the court it was a donation.
“We consider it a success,” said Dong Qianyong, another lawyer for Ms. Ni.
Public disturbance convictions against the couple remain, and Dong Jiqin’s two-year sentence handed down by the lower court stands, Mr. Cheng said.
Mr. Cheng said he planned to appeal again for Ms. Ni’s release.”
via China Court Dismisses Ni Yulan’s Fraud Conviction – NYTimes.com.
Yet another indication that China is softening its approach towards dissidents.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/05/20/china-dissident-chen-guangcheng-arrives-in-the-us/
BBC News: “Authorities in China say a project to build a waste water pipeline in the city of Qidong has been scrapped after a protest over pollution.
Demonstrators took to the streets of the city, north of Shanghai, and ransacked local government offices. They said the pipeline, proposed as part of a paper-making company, would pollute their coastal waters.
China has seen rising anger about environmental damage after three decades of rapid economic growth.
The thousands of protesters overturned cars as well as storming the local government offices and throwing documents from the windows. Items which the protesters allege are often received as bribes by officials – such as wine – were also seized from the offices, reports say.”
via BBC News – China waste water pipeline scrapped after protest.
Yet another example that ‘people power’ is beginning to affect decisions by local authorities in China.
See also: https://chindia-alert.org/2012/07/03/china-factory-construction-halted-amid-violent-protests/
BBC News: “The story of Scottish athlete Eric Liddell – a devout Christian who refused to take part in an Olympic race because it took place on a Sunday – became famous after being told in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. But almost a century later, why is the athlete regarded as a hero in China?
In the corner of a quiet Chinese courtyard, 5,000 miles from Scotland, stands a memorial in Isle of Mull granite. The stone commemorates Eric Liddell – one of Scotland’s greatest Olympians – who is buried nearby. The stone was gifted by Edinburgh University after a Scottish engineer, Charles Walker, rediscovered his grave in the Chinese city of Weifang.
Eric Liddell won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics in Paris
Liddell, the son of Christian missionaries, had been born in China in 1902 and lived there until he was five when he returned to Britain to be educated. While he was at Edinburgh University, Liddell excelled at athletics and also played rugby for the Scottish national team – as well as being a noted evangelist preacher.
At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, he famously refused to run on a Sunday, ruling him out of the 100 metres race to which he was best suited. Instead, he took part in the 400 metres race and, against the odds, still won a gold medal.
Soon after his Olympic triumph, Liddell finished his studies and returned to China to become a missionary. As well as religious duties, he worked as a science and sports teacher at the Anglo/Chinese College in Tianjin.
After the Japanese invasion in 1937, Liddell carried on his missionary work even when it became dangerous to do so. Liddell’s wife and children left China for Canada in 1941 but he stayed to help in any way he could.
In 1943 he was interned at Weifang and he died of a brain tumour just months before the end of World War II, at the age of 43.
Liddell’s achievements are taught at the school on the site of the prison camp
The prisoner-of-war camp which held about 2,000 Westerners is now a place of learning for 2,000 Chinese teenagers. Every new pupil at the school is taught about the camp and Eric Liddell’s achievements on and off the track
“This part of history is a great treasure for our school,” said head teacher, Zhao Guixia.
“We can see the great value of humanity, especially in Eric Liddell’s stories.”
In the camp, Liddell was affectionately known as “Uncle Eric” because he spent most of his time teaching children, organising sports and helping others.
via BBC News – Chariots of Fire’s Eric Liddell is Chinese ‘hero’.
China Daily: “Vice-Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday urged the country to push forward with medical reform.
The basic public health insurance system has covered both urban and rural areas, but the system to insure people with acute diseases and serious chronological diseases has not yet been established, Li said. He said a person who suffers from such an illness is likely to impose a major financial burden on their whole family.
Li asked medical reformers to cover such diseases under the current public health insurance system.
He also suggested that the insurance industry and the government work together to help people combat such diseases. He said government, individuals and insurance companies can together share the burden of chronic disease.
China is set to build a “relatively sound” public service system and achieve “equalization” in public service supply by 2020, according to the country’s first national plan for public services.
The State Council issued the plan, which covers the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15), on Thursday. It specifies the scope of public services and defines standards and operating mechanisms for the provision of services.
The basic public services listed cover eight major sectors — public education, labor and employment services, social security, social services, healthcare, population and family planning services, and housing services, as well as culture and sports.
“It establishes a future trend that each Chinese citizen, regardless of gender, social status, wealth or place of residence, is equally entitled to basic social services, which will be detached as an ultimate goal from the household registration system,” Hu Zucai, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference.
Also, “it will help accelerate the transformation of the country’s economic growth pattern and boost domestic consumption”, he said.
“Promoting the equalization of basic public services is necessary to build a harmonious society and safeguard social fairness and justice,” he said.
At present, there are huge gaps in public service supply and access between urban and rural areas, different population groups and regions, Hu said.
For instance, the number of doctors serving every 1,000 people in urban areas is more than twice that in rural areas, according to the Ministry of Health.
To address discrepancies, the government will channel more social resources toward rural areas, poor regions and vulnerable social groups in order to ensure that all people have equal access to basic public services, Hu said.”
via China’s health reforms for all |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.
NY Times: “Sohan Singh’s shoeless children have spent most of their lives hungry, dirty and hot. A farmer in a desert land, Mr. Singh could not afford anything better than a mud hut and a barely adequate diet for his family.
Farmers waited this month to receive free guar seeds from an Indian company.
But it just so happens that when the hard little bean that Mr. Singh grows is ground up, it becomes an essential ingredient for mining oil and natural gas in a process called hydraulic fracturing.
Halfway around the world, earnings are down for an oil services giant, Halliburton, because prices have risen for guar, the bean that Mr. Singh and his fellow farmers raise.
Halliburton’s loss was, in a rather significant way, Mr. Singh’s gain — a rare victory for the littlest of the little guys in global trade. The increase in guar prices is helping to transform this part of the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, one of the world’s poorest places. Tractor sales are soaring, land prices are increasing and weddings have grown even more colorful.
“Now we have enough food, and we have a house made of stone,” Mr. Singh said proudly while his rail-thin children stared in awe.
Guar, a modest bean so hard that it can crack teeth, has become an unlikely global player, and dirt-poor farmers like Mr. Singh have suddenly become a crucial link in the energy production of the United States.”
via Fracking in U.S. Lifts Guar Farmers in India – NYTimes.com.
BBC News: “India looks set to resume bilateral cricketing ties with Pakistan after a gap of several years, with plans for Pakistani cricketers to tour India.
India’s cricket board says three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches have been planned for December.
Pakistan Cricket Board welcomed the proposal and said that millions of fans would be delighted.
The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was in 2007-2008 when the Pakistani team visited India.
Cricketing ties were suspended after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, blamed on a Pakistan-based militant group.
Indian government approval is still needed for the series to go ahead but analysts say this is just a formality.”
via BBC News – Pakistan cricket team to visit India in December.
China Daily: “China has set a target of producing and selling 500,000 energy-efficient and alternative-energy vehicles a year by 2015, and five million vehicles by 2020.
The blueprint, announced by the State Council on Monday, has outlined generous subsidies to consumers and producers of the new generation of greener vehicles, as it aims to ease the country’s heavy dependence on imported oil, cut emissions, and speed up the restructuring of its automobile sector into a more environmentally sustainable model.
According to the details, there will be heavy government investment in the core technology needed to build a strong and globally competitive new-energy vehicle industry.
The short-term emphasis will be on developing pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, as well as wider usage of hybrid vehicles and energy-saving combustion engine automobiles.
The world’s largest auto market has set an accumulated production and sales target of 500,000 units of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015, and that will be increased tenfold to more than 5 million units by 2020.”
via 5m greener vehicles on the streets by 2020 |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.
Continuing on the path to a ‘greener’ China – https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
continuously updated blog about China & India
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 