30th April 09

The New York Times

Editorial
China Can’t Have It Both Ways

The Chinese government issued two statements last Thursday. Both were only briefly, and separately, noted in the press. They make for a curious contrast. In one, China denounced Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso for making an offering to the Yasukuni shrine. In the other statement, China demanded that the United States cancel a visit by the Dalai Lama

Kaixin – The Editorial shows the usual lack of understanding of Chinese culture and history. The two are separate issues and call for different policies. The Editorial shows a lack of understanding of the Tibetan issues, which is clearly seen through the rose tinted glasses of the Dalai Lama. It also shows a lack of knowledge of the atrocities committed by the Japanese in the first half of the 20th Century when they invaded and occupied a weakened China, in particular the rape of Nanking. Japan has never apologised to China and does not acknowledge its history. Making and offering to the Shrine by Japan’s Prime Minister throws that history in China’s face.

A Gift Bowl Serves Victories to a Village

MANNAO, China — The dragon boat came first in the procession, all 75 feet of it, carried by a tractor past the Buddhist temple and a grove of towering coconut palm trees.

Taiwan Takes Step Forward at U.N. Health Agency

HONG KONG — President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan announced Wednesday that Chinese officials had dropped their objections to Taiwan’s participation as an observer at a United Nations body, a step forward in Taiwan’s effort to win greater international recognition.

The Age

China cracks down for party's party

John Garnaut, China Correspondent, Beijing

BEIJING appears to be reintroducing the tight visa controls and security measures that drastically reduced the capital's population during last year's Olympic Games, this time in anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Asia Times Online

A helping Chinese hand
By Brian McCartan

CHIANG MAI - A new investment fund and loan package to help alleviate the impact of the global financial crisis for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) represents the latest overture of China's "soft power" campaign towards the region. Many believe the aid package unveiled in Beijing this month was strategically announced to steal a commercial and diplomatic march over the economically ailing United States.

SUN WUKONG
Corruption taints China's police heroes
By Wu Zhong, China Editor

HONG KONG - It was inevitable in today's China that some corrupt officials would be exposed as the result of an investigation into a rags-to-riches tycoon suspected of economic crimes, but few suspected that previously revered police officials would be implicated.

German potash finds growth in China
By John Helmer

MOSCOW - In the global marketplace for potash - one of the vital nutrients for plant growth, food production and fertilizer fortunes - no one is sharper at spotting a bargain than China, whose farmers and state fertilizer distributors comprise the world's largest consumers and importers of potash.

The hard and simple maths of crisis
By Julian Delasantellis

David X Li, born in the early 1960s as Xiang Lin Li in China, might, in some way, be considered something of a real-life Forrest Gump, for, twice in the past 50 years, on opposite sides of the globe, he has been present during disasters of truly epic proportions - the first witnessed as a child, the second as a key participant. As a small boy in Mao Zedong's China, he was sent with his family to live in the countryside when his father, a minor police official, was purged during the Cultural Revolution.

China deal helps out Kazakhs
By Robert M Cutler

MONTREAL - The US$10 billion deal this month allowing China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to purchase 50% of Kazakhstan's privately owned MangistauMunaiGaz (MMG) and a $5 billion loan from China will come as welcome boost to the Central Asian country's economy, which shrank in the first quarter after years of double-digit growth.