2nd December 08

Kaixin - We moved house, hence the break - The article by Spengler is a must read.

China’s six-to-one advantage over the US

By Spengler - Asia Times Online

America outspends China on defense by a margin of more than six to one, the Pentagon estimates. [1] In another strategic dimension, though, China already holds a six-to-one advantage over the United States. Thirty-six million Chinese children study piano today, compared to only 6 million in the United States.[2] The numbers understate the difference, for musical study in China is more demanding. It must be a conspiracy. Chinese parents are selling plasma-screen TVs to America, and saving their wages to buy their kids pianos - making American kids stupider and Chinese kids smarter. Watch out, Americans - a generation from now, your kid is going to fetch coffee for a Chinese boss.

Sydney Morning Herald

China's first homegrown airliner makes maiden flight

China's first fully homegrown commercial aircraft, the ARJ-21, successfully made its maiden flight on Friday, a key step in the country's ambitious aviation program. Authorities said earlier this month that they planned to make the flight sometime after November 25. Unusually clear skies in the region made Friday a good opportunity to go ahead, and the test flight was successful, said an official with the Aviation Industry Corp of China, or AVIC, confirming reports in the state-run media. Like many media-shy Chinese officials, he gave only his surname, Peng.

Asia Times Online

Obama's collision course with China
By Benjamin A Shobert

In the past several weeks, two Congressional Commissions - the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) - have submitted reports on China that are likely to serve as indicators of what we may expect from an Barack Obama administration. Given the state of the American economy, Obama's direct comments about China have been limited, and usually presented as secondary, to other domestic priorities. One of the president-elect's greatest strengths is an ability to be diffuse until he needs to take a public position, which allows others to project onto him their own agendas and thoughts; this is perhaps nowhere more visible than in his policy positions towards US-China relations.

China's US$9bn hostage in the Congo war
By F William Engdahl

The legitimate question is whether it is mere coincidence that Africa appears just at this time to become a new geopolitical "hot spot" or whether it has a direct link to the formal creation of AFRICOM. What is striking is the timing. No sooner had AFRICOM become operational than major new crises broke out in both the Indian Ocean-Gulf of Aden regarding spectacular incidents of alleged Somali piracy, as well as eruption of bloody new wars in Kivu Province in the Republic of Congo. The common thread connecting both is their importance, as with Darfur in southern Sudan, for China's future strategic raw materials flow.

China outdoes Europeans in Congo
by John Vandaele

BRUSSELS - The massive deal that China signed with the Democratic Republic of Congo last year is not the "second colonization" that some Europeans allege it is. The agreement appears, in fact, a promising way to kick-start an economy. The agreement on developing infrastructure through "resource-backed finance" certainly gives China a lot of influence in a country where Europeans are used to dealing the cards. European countries now look with a certain envy at what China has achieved. President Joseph Kabila's political future depends on this Sino-Congolese deal, and, with that, at least a part of the economic future of Congo itself.

China: Partner or predator in Africa?
By Greg Mills and Chris Thompson

The conventional wisdom is that China presents Africa with major threats and opportunities, and that there is growing tension between the United States and China over the latter’s evolving African interests. On paper, at least, the nascent interest of China in Africa looks to the latter’s advantage. China’s trade with Africa has dramatically increased from US$11 billion in 2000 to $56 billion in 2006, making it the continent’s third-largest trade partner behind the United States and France. Beijing also has an African trade target of $100 billion by 2010 [1]. Africa is a new continental market for lesser-priced Chinese exports, while it is a major source of raw materials, especially oil. China has rapidly become the most assertive investor nation in Africa.