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03/02/2014

China’s Xinjiang sizzles with green energy – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a major power supplier in China, has accelerated the development of green energy as it recorded higher installed capacity in 2013.

English: Wind power plants in Xinjiang, China (Taken with a Nikon D70.) 中文: 中国新疆的风力发电厂。 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Statistics with the Xinjiang branch of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) showed that by 2013, the combined installed capacity of wind power, hydropower and solar power stations exceeded 1,368 million KW, accounting for about one third of all installed capacity in Xinjiang.

The installed capacity of wind power stations reached 500 million KW, nine times of that in 2009, while the figure of solar power stations increased to 277.1 million KW from zero in 2010, according to a report released by the SGCC Xinjiang branch on Sunday.

Xinjiang is rich in both traditional and new energies.

A project to connect the Xinjiang power grid to the northwest China grid was launched in 2010 to transmit Xinjiang\’s redundant electric power to other parts of the country. The money made from this is used for developing Xinjiang.

The SGCC Xinjiang branch has put an average annual investment of 500 million yuan towards green energy projects.

Total installed capacity is expected to reach 6,048 million KW by the end of 2014, and that of green power will exceed 2,200 million KW.

via China’s Xinjiang sizzles with green energy – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Electricity, energy, Environment, Good news | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, energy, green energy, State Grid Corporation of China, Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

03/02/2014

China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse | Reuters

China has unveiled new rules telling officials not to cover up what should be publicly available information using the excuse it is a state secret, in what state media said was a move towards greater government transparency.

China has notoriously vague state secret laws, covering everything from the number of people executed every year to industry databases and even pollution figures, and information can be retroactively labeled a state secret.

The issue received international attention in 2009 when an Australian citizen and three Chinese colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.

But the government has come under pressure from its own people to be more open, especially on sensitive issues like the environment, which have no obvious implications for national security.

The new rules, carried by the official Xinhua news agency late on Sunday, mandate that government departments \”must not define as a state secret information which by law ought to be public\”.

Xinhua said that the move, due to come into force on March 1, was \”an effort to boost government transparency\”.

via China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Good news, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, Classified information, Japan, New York City, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Toshihide Maskawa, United States

31/01/2014

China’s Xi Jinping calls for less pollution in year of the horse – FT.com

The Mongolian steppes was where Chinese president Xi Jinping offered his televised New Year’s greeting as Chinese people worldwide celebrated the year of the horse with fireworks and feasting.

While the content of his message varied little from previous years, the choice of setting shed light on the great strains confronting today’s China.

And this year, the message was pollution.

The lunar new year, which began on Friday, is the main holiday in the Chinese calendar. Far-flung families, gathered for holiday meals, inevitably tune to state television, which this year emphasised Mr Xi’s theme of a “Chinese dream” and urged viewers to lay off on fireworks in order to reduce pollution.

Urging “continued struggle with one heart and mind” and prosperity for the motherland, Mr Xi did not address specific policies directly. But Chinese leaders’ New Year’s visits often coincide with priorities for the year ahead, including visits to coal miners, Aids patients and impoverished country villages.

This year the wide-open grasslands framed behind Xi’s dark winter coat and black fur hat are a fitting symbol for the country’s new focus on pollution, which clashes with its enormous appetite for coal.

The herders applauding Mr Xi in the freezing wind at Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia, have been on the receiving end of a black gold rush, as state-backed mining companies from richer provinces rip up the grasslands in search of coal.

China’s leadership is now trying to reduce coal pollution in wealthier cities, but renewed plans for coal development in the north and west could cause new stresses in arid and ethnically distinct areas like Xilin Gol.

via China’s Xi Jinping calls for less pollution in year of the horse – FT.com.

Posted in China alert, Good news, Politics, Pollution | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Chinese calendar, chinese new year, Chinese people, Inner Mongolia, New Year, pollution, Xi JinPing

29/01/2014

Corruption: Less party time | The Economist

FOR a sense of how President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign is doing, a recent report by Xinhua, the official news agency, is a good place to start: it said that 56 five-star hotels in China had asked to be downgraded last year in order to survive, as local governments have been prohibited from using luxury hotels. Chen Miaolin, chairman of New Century Tourism Group, told Xinhua that revenues at his group’s (mostly five-star) hotels fell by 18% last year.

In big cities business is down at many of the best private clubs and restaurants. A number of luxury brands have reported sharp falls in revenues. Rémy Cointreau saw sales of its flagship cognac fall by more than 30% in the last three months of 2013 over the previous year, mostly owing to falling Chinese demand.

The campaign begun more than a year ago by Mr Xi has been surprisingly broad and sustained, and is intensifying as it enters a second year. The Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection, the party’s watchdog, says that 182,000 officials were punished for disciplinary violations in 2013, an increase of more than 20,000 over 2012, and of nearly 40,000 over 2011. Thousands of officials have been disciplined for extravagances such as hosting lavish banquets, weddings and funerals, spending public funds inappropriately on travel, the improper use of government vehicles and constructing luxurious government buildings. But two recent developments illustrate the difficulty and sensitivity of the task the party has set itself.

On January 21st a report by a team of media outlets led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an American organisation, revealed the secret offshore holdings of close relatives of some of China’s elite, including Mr Xi’s brother-in-law and the son of Wen Jiabao, the former premier. Then on January 22nd authorities began criminal trials in Beijing of independent anti-corruption activists who campaigned for, among other things, public disclosure of official assets (see article).

The message from Mr Xi is that the party, and only the party, will patrol itself, and is perfectly capable of doing so. But the ICIJ report hints at the failures during decades of self-policing.

via Corruption: Less party time | The Economist.

Posted in austerity, China alert, corruption, Economics, Good news, Internal politics, Politics, Social & cultural | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, British Virgin Island, Center for Public Integrity, China, ICIJ, luxury hotels, New Century Tourism Group, Rémy Cointreau, Wen Jiabao, Xi JinPing

27/01/2014

* First Chinese-Taiwan Government Meeting Set, Daily Reports – Bloomberg

China and Taiwan officials set a date for talks next month, the United Daily News reported today, paving the way for the first official government-to-government meetings since a civil war six decades ago.

The head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, Wang Yu-chi, will meet with the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Zhang Zhijun, on Feb. 16 in the mainland city of Nanjing, the Taipei-based newspaper reported, citing an unidentified person. Nanjing was China’s capital before the civil war forced Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang Party to flee to Taiwan in 1949, ceding power to Mao Zedong’s Communists. Taiwan and the mainland have been governed separately since then, with the island’s constitution retaining the Republic of China’s name and territorial claims.

“The meeting is a considerable breakthrough because this is the first time that two government officials are going to meet in their formal capacities, representing a certain level of mutual recognition,” said Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong.

President Ma Ying-Jeou, speaking on an official visit to Honduras, said the meeting is an “inevitable” step in cross-strait relations, the Central News Agency reported yesterday.

via First Chinese-Taiwan Government Meeting Set, Daily Reports – Bloomberg.

Posted in China alert, Good news, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: China, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, City University of Hong Kong, government officials, Joseph Cheng, Kuomintang, Kuomintang Party, Ma Ying-jeou, Mao Zedong, Nanjing, Taiwan, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, United Daily News, Zhang Zhijun

26/01/2014

* Poverty relief to become priority for poor counties – Xinhua | English.news.cn

The Chinese government seems to appreciate the management axiom that “you don’t manage what you don’t measure”. When implemented, this new ruling should be good for the poor as well as ensure that some local authorities don’t jack up their debt any further to increase their GDP.

“Chinese officials in poverty-stricken counties can stop worrying too much about regional GDP figures from now on, as the central authorities have moved to make poverty relief the priority for their work.

The country will reform the evaluation system for officials from poor counties by prioritizing the work of poverty reduction rather than the regional GDP, according to a guideline released Saturday jointly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the Cabinet.

GDP figures will no longer be a standard for counties with fragile ecology or where development is restricted by the government to ensure sustainable growth, the guideline said.

\”The country will take improving the livelihood of people in poverty and reducing poor population as major indicators\” to guide officials in poor regions to put their work priority on poverty relief, it said.

Chinese leaders have recently set new standards for local officials, stressing that their performance cannot be simply based on regional GDP growth rates, but should include resource and environmental costs, debt levels and work safety.”

via Poverty relief to become priority for poor counties – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Good news, poverty | 1 Comment »

Tags: China, GDP, Gross domestic product, Poverty, Poverty reduction, State Council of the People's Republic of China, Sustainable Development

22/01/2014

China urges respect for ethnic traditions in restive Xinjiang | Reuters

Ethnic traditions in Xinjiang must be respected, the top official in the restive far western region of China said, despite criticism that government policies there unfairly target the Muslim Uighur ethnic community.

Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Zhang Chunxian delivers a speech during a tea forum celebrating the Corban Festival in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, November 5, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily

The government must implement \”ethnic unity education and propaganda\” among all communities, especially among the region\’s youth, the ruling Communist Party\’s Xinjiang chief Zhang Chunxian said in comments carried in state media on Wednesday.

\” must treat issues of local tradition with respect and resolve issues of violence with rule of law and severe measures,\” the official Xinjiang Daily cited Zhang as saying.

China has intensified a sweeping security crackdown in Xinjiang, further repressing Uighur culture, religious tradition and language, rights groups say, despite strong government assertions that it offers Uighurs wide-ranging freedoms.

In November, officials demanded that lawyers in Turpan, an oasis city southeast of the regional capital, Urumqi, commit to guaranteeing that relatives do not wear burqas, veils or participate in illegal religious activities, and that young men do not grow long beards.

Many Uighurs resent local policies imposed by the government and an inflow of Han Chinese migrants, and some Uighur groups are campaigning for an independent homeland for their people.

Experts say China\’s repression of religious practices has pushed some Uighurs to more strongly embrace Islamic traditions.

Zhang\’s pledge follows state media reports in early January that President Xi Jinping was shifting the region\’s focus to maintaining stability over development, after a series of attacks last year fuelled by what the government said was religious extremism.

\” must acknowledge the long-term, acute and complex nature of the anti-separatism and violent terrorism fight,\” Zhang said, adding that there was no contradiction between stability and development.

via China urges respect for ethnic traditions in restive Xinjiang | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Ethnic clash, Good news, Politics, Religious clash | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Han Chinese, Turpan, Uyghur people, Xi JinPing, Xinjiang, Zhang Chunxian

20/01/2014

India’s Hardware Mashups Inspire Frugal Technology Abroad – India Real Time – WSJ

In 2009, Vinay Venkatraman was strolling the streets of Mumbai with two colleagues when he saw a group of people tinkering with old computer monitors and turning them into televisions.

After observing the men over three weeks, Mr. Venkatraman and his team found that the workers were stripping the computer monitors, usually brought from the secondhand markets, and inserting T.V. circuits.

They even made T.V. remotes by scavenging components from the scrap market, said Mr. Venkatraman.

“It was really eye-opening as an experience for me,” he said in a recent telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal from his home in Denmark.

India is home to many such master recyclers and re-purposers and Hindi even has a special word it, ‘Jugaad’, meaning “frugal improvisation” which is catching on as a business principle.

The country also boasts of some innovative products such as Mitti Cool, a refrigerator made with clay, and a floating soap, that is less dense than water.

Inspired by those workers involved in what he calls “silicon cottage industries” in India’s financial capital, Mr. Venkatraman, started Frugal Digital in 2010 — a research organization based in Copenhagen and specializing in making low-cost technology equipment.

The nonprofit company makes use of common items such as outmoded mobile phones and clocks to design equipment such as hearing aids and projectors.

Mr. Venkatraman, 34, who grew up in India, graduated from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2003– the top design school in India — and completed his post graduate studies in Italy.

It was his childhood and experiences of Jugaad in India and while living in Nigeria, that inspired his current venture to help people access basic things though inventive recycling.

via India’s Hardware Mashups Inspire Frugal Technology Abroad – India Real Time – WSJ.

Posted in Economics, Good news, India alert, Technology | Leave a Comment »

Tags: computer monitors, Copenhagen, Denmark, India, Jugaad, mumbai, National Institute of Design, Nigeria, Venkatraman, Vinay Venkatraman

17/01/2014

Golden Statue of Chairman Mao, Pricey Liquor Among the Reported Details of a Chinese General’s Wealth – Businessweek

When armed police a year ago searched the mansion of Lieutenant General Gu Junshan of China’s People’s Liberation Army, they seized three symbolic items along with dozens of others: a wash basin for fortune, a model boat for luck, and a statue of Chairman Mao.

All three were made of gold.

The seizures, including several cases of Moutai, a sorghum-based spirit served on luxurious occasions, came to light this week in a report by the publication Caixin, which specializes in investigative journalism. Caixin cited anonymous sources.

Gu was arrested by authorities in January 2012 and put under investigation. Since then, few details have emerged. This rare exposure of the extravagant possessions Gu accumulated while he was managing land owned by the Army has renewed popular interest in his case.

The Chinese Army controls plenty of property—and has unloaded a lot of it over the years. By 2009, the PLA had sold as much as 30 billion yuan ($5 billion) of real estate holdings, the Chinese state press reported that year. Sales included land in central Beijing that private developers later turned into Diaoyutai No. 7, a row of apartment buildings carrying a price tag of as much as 300,000 yuan ($50,000) per square meter in 2011.

According to the Caixin report, the Army had taken that property from a state enterprise in the name of conducting “science research.” It’s unclear whether Gu gained anything in the transaction. Regardless, the detail prompted this comment from one reader: “Holy Cow! The army is so powerful that it can find such an easy excuse to grab land!”

President Xi Jinping has moved to strip the military of some privileges, including luxury cars. Last month he banned drinking at receptions for military officials and warned against handling land improperly. Other military perks, including universal free parking and an exemption from tolls on roads, still rankle many.

Then there’s the Moutai, which has a market price of as much as 2,158 yuan ($356) a bottle. The crates of it authorities found in Gu’s house were a special supply for the military, according to Caixin’s report.

Regarding real estate, Caixin reported that Gu once got a 6 percent kickback on a 2 billion-yuan sale of military land in Shanghai. In downtown Beijing, he owned dozens of apartments and planned to use them as gifts, Caixin said, citing unnamed sources.

via Golden Statue of Chairman Mao, Pricey Liquor Among the Reported Details of a Chinese General’s Wealth – Businessweek.

Posted in China alert, corruption, Good news, PLA, Politics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, Caixin Media, chairman mao, China, Gu Junshan, Lieutenant General, Mao Zedong, People's Liberation Army, Shanghai, the Army, The Chinese Army, Xi JinPing

16/01/2014

India Is Polio-Free for 3rd Year, but It Can’t Afford to Be Complacent | TIME.com

Good news does not always flow freely in India. Too many children still go hungry. Violence against women endures. Inflation is soaring, and gay sex was just criminalized, again.

But today India got a boost: Jan. 13 marks the country’s third year of being free of polio, the highly infectious disease that attacks the nervous system of children in particular and can paralyze within hours. The last child to be crippled by polio in India was a 2-year-old girl in West Bengal, whose case was confirmed on Jan. 13, 2011. The fact that none have been found since is a stunning turnaround from 2009, when India hosted nearly half the world’s cases. That polio has been wiped from this vast, crowded country is arguably one of the greatest achievements in modern public health — and a stirring reminder that sheer determination can, in fact, change lives.

People used to say that ridding India of polio simply couldn’t be done. The virus has used the subcontinent as an incubator for centuries, and some experts argued that the slow process of vaccinating every child could never outpace the rapid transmission of the disease. Happily, they were wrong. Teaming up with groups like Rotary International, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Indian government launched yearly national vaccination drives carried out by millions of volunteers and, eventually, backed up by sophisticated disease-surveillance and population-monitoring systems. In 2002, there were 1,600 polio cases in India. By 2009, there were 741. Today, there are none.

via India Is Polio-Free for 3rd Year, but It Can’t Afford to Be Complacent | TIME.com.

Posted in Good news, Health, India alert | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Government of India, India, Infectious disease, polio cases, Poliomyelitis, Rotary International, Violence against women, West Bengal, World Health Organization

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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China’s Xinjiang sizzles with green energy – Xinhua | English.news.cn

China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse | Reuters

China’s Xi Jinping calls for less pollution in year of the horse – FT.com

* First Chinese-Taiwan Government Meeting Set, Daily Reports – Bloomberg

* Poverty relief to become priority for poor counties – Xinhua | English.news.cn

China urges respect for ethnic traditions in restive Xinjiang | Reuters

India’s Hardware Mashups Inspire Frugal Technology Abroad – India Real Time – WSJ

Golden Statue of Chairman Mao, Pricey Liquor Among the Reported Details of a Chinese General’s Wealth – Businessweek

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