Posts tagged ‘China’

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31/08/2012

* China’s Hu seeks clean power handover with ally’s promotion

Reuters: “China’s outgoing President Hu Jintao is angling to promote one of his closest allies to the military’s decision-making body, sources said, in a move that would allow him to maintain an influence over Beijing’s most potent instrument of power.

China's President Hu Jintao smiles during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing August 30, 2012. REUTERS/Diego Azubel/Pool

Three sources with ties to the top leadership said Hu hopes to cut all of his direct links to the top echelons of power by early 2013, on the understanding that his protégé, Vice Premier Li Keqiang, is made a vice chairman of the military commission at the party’s five-yearly congress later this year.

Hu wants a clean handover of the party leadership, the presidency and the top military post to his anointed successor, Xi Jinping, over the next seven months, to avoid a repeat of the past internal rancor when a transition of power took place, sources say.

They point to the example of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who clung onto the top job at the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission for two years after stepping down as party chief and president, a move seen as unpopular with party cadres and the public.

Hu, as president, is the current military commission chairman and, like Jiang, could choose to stay on as its chief for another couple of years beyond his handover of the presidency to Xi in March 2013.

In what is seen as the ultimate bulwark of power, the commission oversees the 2.3-million strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as the People’s Armed Police which enforces domestic security.

Hu has not made public his plans for retirement but, unlike in the West where former presidents and prime ministers tend to fade from the public eye, Chinese leaders seek to maintain influence to avoid possible adverse political repercussions down the road.

The government generally does not comment on elite politics and personnel changes before the official announcement.

As a senior member of the commission, Li, who is also set to be named as the next premier in March 2013, would be expected to help protect Hu’s legacy in the area of military affairs, which has included a more moderate approach towards Taiwan and to territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

“Hu hopes to go down in history as the first leader (since 1949) to step down when his term ends instead of being reluctant to go,” a businessman with leadership ties said.

As well as helping to preserve Hu’s legacy, analysts say Li’s promotion will ensure there is no political retribution against Hu or his family by rivals who remain in power once he is gone.

But bargaining over the next leadership line-up is not over, and there is still room for change and surprises.”

via Exclusive: China’s Hu seeks clean power handover with ally’s promotion – sources | Reuters.

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31/08/2012

* Does China’s next leader have a soft spot for Tibet?

Reuters: “For decades, Beijing has maintained that the Dalai Lama is a separatist, but Tibet‘s exiled spiritual leader once had a special relationship with the father of Xi Jinping, the man in line to become China’s next president.

China's Vice President Xi Jinping speaks with Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (not pictured) during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing August 29, 2012. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool

Few people know what Xi, whose ascent to the leadership is likely to be approved at a Communist Party congress later this year, thinks of Tibet or the Dalai Lama.

But his late father, Xi Zhongxun, a liberal-minded former vice premier, had a close bond with the Tibetan leader who once gave the elder Xi an expensive watch in the 1950s, a gift that the senior party official was still wearing decades later.

The Dalai Lama, 77, recalls the elder Xi as “very friendly, comparatively more open-minded, very nice” and says he only gave watches back then to those Chinese officials he felt close to.

“We Tibetans, we get these different varieties of watch easily from India. So we take advantage of that, and brought some watches to some people when we feel some sort of close feeling, as a gift like that,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview in the Indian town of Dharamsala, a capital for Tibetan exiles in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The Dalai Lama gave the watch to the elder Xi in 1954 during an extended visit to Beijing. Xi was one of the officials who spent time with the young Dalai Lama in the capital where he spent five to six months studying Chinese and Marxism.

The Dalai Lama fled to India five years later, after a failed uprising against Communist rule, but as late as 1979, Xi senior was still wearing the watch, the make and style of which the Dalai Lama can no longer remember.

Xi senior was a dove in the party, championing the rights of Tibetans, Uighurs and other ethnic minorities. He also opposed the army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen student protests and was alone in criticizing the sacking of liberal party chief Hu Yaobang by the Old Guard in 1987. Xi senior died in 2002.

The Dalai Lama has never met Xi junior but his fondness for the father is, for some, a sign that China’s next leader may adopt a more reformist approach to Tibet once he formally succeeds President Hu Jintao next March. Some expect him to be more tolerant of Muslim Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang, and also of Taiwan, the independently ruled island that China has vowed to take back, by force if necessary.

“To understand what kind of leader Xi Jinping will be, one must study his father’s (policies),” said Bao Tong, one-time top aide to purged party chief Zhao Ziyang. Bao was jailed for seven years for sympathizing with student-led demonstrations for democracy centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

“No (Chinese) Communist will betray his father,” he added.”

via Insight: Does China’s next leader have a soft spot for Tibet? | Reuters.

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30/08/2012

* China to buy 50 Airbus planes for $3.5bn

BBC News: “China has signed a deal to buy 50 planes worth $3.5bn (£2.2bn) from Europe’s Airbus.

The agreement is part of a slew of trade deals signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of a two-day visit to China.

An agreement on Airbus plane assembly in China was also signed, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday his country would continue to invest in the EU.

Emissions row

This is the first significant deal in China for Airbus, whose parent company is EADS, since a dispute between the country and the European Union over the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

Effective from 1 January this year, the ETS charges airlines for the carbon they emit.

China and other countries say the system is not fair, as it charges airlines for the full journey, not just over European airspace.

Following this in March, EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said Airbus was facing “retaliation measures” by China.

According to him, China had blocked firms from buying planes made by Airbus. Beijing did not comment on the allegation.”

via BBC News – China to buy 50 Airbus planes for $3.5bn.

Although $3.5bn sounds big, it is only half that being ordered by the Philippines: Airbus wins $7 bln Philippine Air order (vancouverdesi.com)

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30/08/2012

* Miners killed and trapped in China colliery blast

BBC News: “A gas explosion at a coal mine in south-west China has killed 19 people and left 28 trapped underground, state media say.

Rescue workers carry survivor out of Qianqiu colliery in Henan province - 5 November 2011

Efforts are underway to rescue the remaining miners at the Xiaojiawan mine in Panzhihua city in Sichuan province.

The blast happened on Wednesday evening when about 150 miners were underground, city officials said.

By Thursday morning, more than 100 people had been rescued and taken to hospital, reports said.

Chinese state television said rescue teams had retrieved the bodies of 16 miners who died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Another three people died in hospital.

The mine is owned by Zhengjin Industry and Trade Co Ltd. Its officials are assisting in a police investigation, the city government said in a statement on its official microblogging site.

Accidents are frequent in China’s mining industry, which is criticised for poor safety standards.

Official figures show that 1,973 people died in coal mining accidents in the country last year.

While this represented a 19% drop compared to the year before, some have suggested that actual numbers could be higher as not all incidents may have been reported.

China’s central government has introduced measures aimed at improving standards but these directives are often ignored at local level.”

via BBC News – Miners killed and trapped in China colliery blast.

Another week, another disaster. China has a very poor record of mine safety, though central government is trying its best to set standards. But road, bridge and rail safety are also issues. Though, thankfully, there have been no recent air disasters.

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29/08/2012

* In China, Sons Fight Railways Ministry Over Crash

NY Times: “Henry Cao has stark memories of the moment the high-speed train he was riding rear-ended another last summer in the eastern city of Wenzhou: the pleasantly hypnotic rocking that gave way to a jolt he likened to an earthquake, followed by blackness and the sensation of falling as the car plummeted 100 feet off a viaduct.

Henry Cao, left, and his brother, Leo, at the site of a train crash that killed their parents and injured Henry in Wenzhou last year.

“We were flying like rag dolls,” he said.

The crash killed 40 passengers, injured 191 and shook the nation’s confidence in its ambitious high-speed rail system. Mr. Cao, 33, a Chinese-American importer from Colorado, barely survived; he lost a kidney and his spleen, and head injuries have left him mired in a perpetual daze, unable to stay awake for more than an hour or two. His parents, naturalized American citizens taking him on a triumphant tour of their native land, were killed.

As Mr. Cao has struggled to recover over the past year, he has found himself drained by a different sort of battle: trying to wrest compensation from the Ministry of Railways, an unbending government behemoth unaccustomed to dealing with determined foreign citizens.

This month Mr. Cao returned to China for the first time since the accident. He and his brother, Leo, came to collect their parents’ remains and to press negotiations with the ministry. “They know how to wear you down,” said Leo Cao, 30. “First they let you scream and yell, then they stall you, and finally they tell you vague and empty words. Now they say, ‘You’re lucky you’re getting anything.’ ”

Their painful and politically fraught odyssey has highlighted the workings of an omnipotent ministry that employs more than two million people and rivals the Chinese military in size and influence. The experience has been disorienting for the Cao brothers, who left China as adolescents two decades ago. “This place is not how I remember it,” said Henry Cao, speaking faintly as his eyes flickered and lost focus. “Everyone is rushing around to make money. Life here is cheap.”

The ministry, which runs its own court system and is largely impervious to oversight, has long been dogged by accusations of corruption. A former rails minister, Liu Zhijun, who was fired five months before the accident, is expected to go on trial next month for charges of taking millions of dollars in bribes and other unnamed “disciplinary violations.”

Zhang Kai, a lawyer who represented a passenger sentenced to three years in prison for slapping a train conductor, described the ministry as a “monster left over from the planned economy era” that resists reform or challenges to its authority. “It is common knowledge that the ministry is responsible for generating maximum profits while supervising itself,” Mr. Zhang said.

In a report released in December, government investigators placed the blame for the Wenzhou accident on flaws in signaling equipment. Investigators say the ministry bypassed safety regulations in its haste to create the world’s largest high-speed railroad network.”

via In China, Sons Fight Railways Ministry Over Crash – NYTimes.com.

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29/08/2012

* China’s Exports to U.S. Gain Traction

WSJ: “China’s exports to Europe have remained weak during the traditional peak season for shipping, but the country’s trade with the U.S. appears to have more traction, according to the chief executive officer of Maersk Lines, the world’s largest container shipping group.

Søren Skou, who took the helm this year of the container division of the Denmark’s A.P. Møller Maersk A/S said in an interview Wednesday with The Wall Street Journal that his confidence in global trade has deteriorated since June, mostly because of recessionary conditions in Europe, but he said volumes world-wide are likely to expand 4% for the full year compared with 2011.

August is a critical month for the containerized shipping industry, which depends on exports to the West from China for the bulk of its activity. Mr. Skou said his customers appear to be positioning for satisfactory holiday spending in the U.S.—but not Europe.

“The customers are expecting a Christmas season [in the U.S.], which doesn’t appear to be the case in Europe,” he said.”

via China’s Exports to U.S. Gain Traction – WSJ.com.

Some glimmer of hope for (part of) world economy!

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29/08/2012

* China’s aircraft carrier: in name only

Reuters: “When Japanese activists scrambled ashore on a disputed island chain in the East China Sea this month, one of China’s most hawkish military commentators proposed an uncharacteristically mild response.

A half-built Chinese-owned aircraft carrier Varyag, which is to be converted into a floating casino in China, is towed and escorted by a flotilla of tugboats and pilot ships past the Leandros Tower built in 419 B.C. on the Bosphorus Straits in Istanbul November 1, 2001. REUTERS-Fatih Saribas-Files

Retired Major General Luo Yuan suggested naming China’s new aircraft carrier Diaoyu, after the Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea. It would demonstrate China’s sovereignty over the islands known as the Senkakus in Japanese, he said.

For a notable hardliner, it was one of the least bellicose reactions he has advocated throughout a series of territorial rows that have soured China’s ties with its neighbors in recent months.

More typical was General Luo’s warning in April that the Chinese navy would “strike hard” if provoked during a dispute with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

One possible reason for General Luo’s restraint, military analysts say, is he knows it could be towards the end of the decade before China can actually deploy the new carrier to the disputed islands or any other trouble spot.

Despite public anticipation in China that the carrier — a refitted, Soviet-era vessel bought from Ukraine — will soon become the flagship of a powerful navy, defense experts say it lacks the strike aircraft, weapons, electronics, training and logistical support it needs to become a fighting warship.

“There is considerable uncertainty involved, but it could take anything from three to five years,” said Carlo Kopp, the Melbourne, Australia based co-founder of Air Power Australia, an independent military think tank.”

via Analysis: China’s aircraft carrier: in name only | Reuters.

See also: China’s military presence

Posted in China alert, Defence, GeoPolitics, Military, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

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29/08/2012

* China city party chief ‘fled with money’

BBC News: “A former top official of a city in northeast China has fled the country – reportedly with millions of dollars, Chinese reports say.

A person handling Chinese yuan bills

Wang Guoqiang, who was party secretary of Fengcheng city in Liaoning province, left for the United States in April with his wife, the People’s Daily said.

Local officials said Mr Wang, who was being investigated for corruption, had been removed from his post, it said.

Several reports cited 200m yuan ($31.5m; £20m) as the amount taken.

The local officials did not elaborate on allegations that he had embezzled and transferred the funds to the US, where his family is believed to be.

But rumours surrounding the case, the latest in a series of corruption scandals, have been circulating online for some time.

According to the city’s website, Mayor Ma Yanchuan took over as Fengcheng party secretary earlier this month.

Premier Wen Jiabao has repeatedly called corruption the biggest threat to Chinese Communist Party rule.

Corruption among officials remains a huge source of anger among China’s population, says the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing.

While the finances of the top leaders are off limits, many other senior officials have been brought down by scandals, says our correspondent.”

via BBC News – China city party chief ‘fled with money’.

As this article says: “Premier Wen Jiabao has repeatedly called corruption the biggest threat to Chinese Communist Party rule.”

See also: Corruption by officials  is what makes Chinese citizens mad

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27/08/2012

* $135 – $12 = the pay gap the West can’t bridge

The Times: “We can’t compete with China on wages and are living beyond our means. We must retrench before we grow again

Two numbers — $135 and $12 — explain why Britain’s and Europe’s economies are stagnant or shrinking. Pundits and economists have lined up with suggestions about how to stimulate our economy: more quantitative easing; clever schemes such as “funding for lending”; while others say enough of austerity, let’s stop the cuts. But all that assumes that growth is the natural order of things.

None of these proposals will solve our problems because they ignore the two numbers $135 and $12. The first is what the average worker in the West earns per day; the second what the average worker in urban China earns.

This inequality in pay is the main reason our economy is in peril. What entitles the rich world’s 500 million workers to salaries ten times greater than the 1.1 billion workers in urban bits of the developing world who toil and study so much harder, let alone nearly 100 times greater than the 1.3 billion adults who live in rural poverty?

In the global marketplace it is now impossible to preserve well-paid jobs for Westerners. Many of those jobs have gone or are going south or east. In the 1950s the most successful company by market capitalisation was General Motors. In 1955 it employed nearly half a million Americans and 80,000 foreigners. Today Apple, the world’s biggest company, employs 4,000 Americans and more than 700,000 overseas contractors. And in jobs that have not moved, wages are under severe downward pressure: US high- school dropouts now earn less in real terms than their dropout grandfathers.

It was not always like that. For 55 years after the Second World War annual growth in jobs in Western economies was about 2 per cent and real wages grew by about 3 per cent year after year. The idea that we would all earn more without having to work harder, and that there would be jobs for our children, became a democratic “right”. But this right is now broken because, starting in 1990, developing nations ditched the failed socialist and Marxist policies that kept them poor. Since 2000 China’s economy has quintupled — while jobs, wages and GDP growth over the cycle for Western economies was, with few exceptions, negative.

For the first time in centuries we have to compete on a level playing field. We cannot compete on wages. Do we have other advantages that will protect our living standards? Aren’t Europe’s workers better educated? More creative? No: 10,000 science PhDs graduated from Chinese universities last year. In 1995, global patents granted to China amounted to 0.5 per cent of the total; in 2010 it had reached 9 per cent and is rising exponentially. Our best universities are educating many future business leaders and scientists of developing countries. Our advantage in physical and intellectual capital is eroding fast. What the developing world does not create, it can steal; the global value of counterfeit and pirated goods is forecast to rise by $1.5 trillion by 2015.

Most importantly, we consume more and invest less. China’s investment levels (however misdirected some of those investments may be) have risen to almost half of GDP, while the West is at about 15 per cent and falling. The truth is that Western nations have been living beyond their means. Our build-up in total debt — corporate, individual and government — has now become an enormous overhang. The UK is more indebted than Greece, Spain or Italy and only Japan and Ireland’s total debt per head is greater than ours.

So how do we get out of this mess?

…”

By Jon Moynihan, , 15 August 2012 | PA Consulting Group

via The Times – $135 – $12 = the pay gap the West can’t bridge, 15 August 2012 | PA Consulting Group.

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27/08/2012

* Car plate applicants exceed 1m in Beijing

China Daily: “A record 1-million-plus people in Beijing competed for fewer than 20,000 registration certificates qualifying them to buy cars through a lottery system on Sunday.

With a fixed number of car registrations issued each month and a lengthening waiting list, many potential car buyers are losing hope.

Some 1.05 million qualified applicants entered the registration lottery in August – 110,000 of them for the first time – and only 19,926 registrations will be issued, the city office in charge of the lottery system said on Saturday.

One in every 53 applicants will get the registrations, 80 percent fewer than in January last year, when Beijing introduced the lottery system to cap new car ownership at 240,000 a year.”

via Car plate applicants exceed 1m in Beijing |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

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