19th of October 2010
The Lion Awakes
Daily News, Culture & Current Affairs about China
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China Daily
Xi appointed vice-chairman of Central Military Commission
BEIJING - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping has been appointed vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Kaixin - See International News (below) for comment and photo
China is the global leader in biodiversity
BEIJING - China should show its global leadership in biodiversity protection, an expert said in a public speech in Beijing on Saturday.
The value of global ecosystem services is estimated at $16-$64 trillion, of which China accounts for 10 percent with its extraordinary biotic richness, John MacKinnon, an expert of EU-China Biodiversity Programme (ECBP) said.
The keynote speech of MacKinnon was the last of a series of speeches arranged by the ECBP to celebrate the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, which was declared by the United Nations with the theme "Biodiversity is life; biodiversity is our life."
US backs off in currency dispute with China
The Obama administration backed away on Oct 15 from a showdown with Beijing over the value of China's currency that would have caused new frictions between the world's only superpower and its largest creditor.
The Treasury Department delayed a much-anticipated decision on whether to label China as a currency manipulator until after the US congressional elections on Nov 2 and a Group of 20 leaders summit in South Korea on Nov 11.
Fears are growing of a global "currency war" as major trading powers, such as the United States and Japan, seek to weaken their currencies while emerging economies such as Brazil and South Korea raise or threaten tougher controls to limit capital flows.
The decision to delay the Treasury's semi-annual currency report reflects a desire by the Obama administration to pursue diplomacy to resolve the dispute with China rather than provoke a confrontation that could potentially lead to a trade war and affect long-term interest rates.
Appreciation must proceed 'gradually'
SHANGHAI - China's exchange rate reform will be a "gradual" process, said Yi Gang, vice-governor of the central bank, on Monday, while pressure for faster yuan appreciation remains despite the delayed release of the US government's currency report.
"Hopefully the renminbi exchange rate will be fairly stable at a close to equilibrium market-determined range," Yi said at a press conference following a meeting of International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials and central bankers in Shanghai.
He also said a more flexible yuan will help reduce inflationary pressure.
Op-Ed Contributor
China deserves Nobel Peace Prize
Morits Skaugen, a Norwegian entrepreneur, published an article in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten on Oct 12, in which he credits China for its development and progress and suggests that it is China that truly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Skaugen says China's development is the greatest economic development we have ever seen, and that it will have a profound effect on the future. It is possible that the United States and European countries will not be able to maintain their long held dominance over the world economy.
This year China will likely overtake Japan to become the world's second largest economy. However, it is still a developing nation in terms of per capita gross domestic product, which is still well below that of Japan.
Though, during the past 20 years, the living standards of the Chinese people have been greatly improved, many are still struggling hard for a better living.
Yet China has undoubtedly performed impressively in many areas, such as improving its education system, increasing productivity, constructing nuclear power plants and high-speed railways, and developing Internet technology. As for green technology, Chinese companies are striving to explore the domestic market and play a leading role in the world.
Of course China still has a long way to go, and there is no denying it has many problems that will require great wisdom to solve.
The past year saw workers go on strike in some cities in China for higher salaries and shorter working hours with the help of trade unions. Skaugen said according to his experience in China, such problems that do exist are not taboo and can be discussed.
When Westerners blame China for this and that, they should not forget that the United States and European countries went through the same stages developing their economies - and it wasn't that long ago. It was cheap labor that propelled the rapid economic development of the West. And it is strong economic power that guarantees democracy and human rights in the Western world.
China will soon complete its current development stage and enter the next with a more open and harmonious society.
Some Westerners assume that changes have occurred in China only because they have put pressure on it to improve its human rights. But China never submits to any external pressure, because it is confident of its own mode of development and most Chinese are proud of the way China solves its own problems.
Therefore, from this point of view, maybe it is China that truly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Proposals for next 5-yr development plan approved
BEIJING - The leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Monday ended a meeting to determine the country's development for the next five years with a call to improve living standards nationwide.
Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a work report on behalf of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the four-day fifth plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the CPC, which opened on Oct 15.
China quake film tops Asia Pacific award nominations
A Chinese film about a family's struggle to deal with a devastating earthquake topped a list of 31 films from 15 countries and regions nominated for the fourth annual 2010 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
"Tangshan dadizheng" (Aftershock), the highest grossing domestic film of all time in China, received a record six nominations including for top prize, Best Feature Film, according to the Academy of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Monday.
Actress Yu Fan is nominated for a Best Performance award for her role as the mother of two children in the Feng Xiaogang directed movie trying to cope with the aftermath of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake that killed at least 255,000 people.
Kaixin Chinese Movies - 'Aftershock'
Old Summer Palace to mark looting anniversary
BEIJING - Visitors can see more than 85 pieces of beautiful stone carvings exhibited at Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, Sunday to mark Monday's 150 anniversary of the looting of the imperial garden in the northwest of Beijing.
The 85 pieces of previously lost treasure were recovered from universities, public institutions or citizens in Beijing, Sun Chenlu, a staff member with the park's management office, told Xinhua Sunday.
Kaixin OpEd – It is an interesting moral question. Should items looted during the age of European Empire be returned to their country of origin?
From a legal standpoint, the answer is unequivocally ‘yes’.
An item that is stolen always remains the property of the person, entity (or country?) from which it was stolen. Possession of the item may have changed hands but title or ownership never does.
So, from a legal perspective, title still vests with the original owners.
There are many museums, art galleries and private collections in the ‘west’ that have possession of this stolen property.
There is no reason from a legal perspective that they should not be returned.
What about the moral dimension?
Located in northwest Beijing, Yuanmingyuan, built from 1709 onwards, had once been a resort for the imperial families of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).Yuanmingyuan was pillaged and burned down by British and French aggressor troops in 1860.
China's largest trade fair opens
GUANGZHOU -- Canton Fair, China's largest trade fair and a key barometer of its trade and economic development, opened Friday amid growing concerns that a stronger yuan would weigh on the nation's exports.
In addition to business opportunities, the multitudes of sellers and buyers at the fair, officially known as China Import and Export Fair, are watching closely the latest developments in the yuan exchange rate dispute.
"We are under great pressure. Should the exchange rate rise rapidly, many of us will be out of business," said Dai Chao, export manager of Wanjiale Gas Appliances, a medium-sized private company that sells gas appliances to east European and south American countries.
Part Two
Chinese Zodiac
Jewellry
Global Times
Death toll rises to 30 in China coal mine gas leak; 7 still trapped
The death toll from a coal mine gas leak in central China's Henan Province had risen to 30 as of Monday morning after four more bodies were found, the State Administration of Work Safety said.
But seven others are still trapped underground, the administration said in a statement.
Rescuers said Sunday that chances of survival for the trapped miners were very slim, and they could be buried in coal dust.
More than 2,500 tonnes of coal dust smothered the pit after the gas leak, which hampered the rescue, said Du Bo, deputy chief of the rescue headquarters.
The gas outburst happened at 6:03 a.m. Saturday when 276 miners were working underground in the mine in Yuzhou City. A total of 239 workers escaped but 21 were found dead and 16 were trapped.
An initial investigation showed that 173,500 cubic meters of gas leaked out in the accident.
Liu Wenbin, a deputy chief engineer of the company that owns the mine, was in the pit when the accident happened. He organized the escape.
"At around 6 a.m., I felt there was something wrong with the airflow in the shaft, and one of the team captains told me he also felt it and had already reported the problem," said Liu.
The mine is owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd., a company jointly established by four investors, including Zhong Ping Energy Chemical Group and China Power Investment Corp.
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The Wall Street Journal - China RealTime Report
Canuck Consensus Offers Pointers to China
Washington consensus and Wall Street wizards, make way for the Canuck code.
China’s regulators could learn a lesson or two from the Canadian financial system, speakers at an event at the Canadian Expo in Shanghai said.
China Shows Unease With Prospect of Quantitative Easing
Chinese commentators are starting to show unease at the increasingly likely prospect that the U.S. Federal Reserve will relaunch a program of buying bonds to push down interest rates. And no wonder: Even before it has actually started, such so-called quantitative easing is complicating the nation’s continued effort to manage its currency.
China Puts Xi on Track to Lead
BEIJING–China's Communist Party appointed Vice President Xi Jinping to a key military post, cementing his status as heir apparent to President and party chief Hu Jintao and removing much of the uncertainty surrounding the country's leadership succession.
China Vice President Xi Jinping
China Remains Top Holder Of U.S. Treasurys
WASHINGTON—China remained a net buyer of U.S. Treasurys in August for a second straight month, amid overall inflows into long-term U.S. assets, the Treasury Department said Monday.
China's holdings jumped $21.7 billion to $868.4 billion, remaining ahead of Japan as the largest foreign holder of Treasurys. That followed net purchases of $3 billion in July.
China had been gradually cutting back its U.S. Treasury holdings since late last year, raising concerns of a shift out of dollar-denominated assets by the largest creditor nation to the U.S. But part ...
The New York Times
Official on Track for China Presidency
BEIJING — Xi Jinping, China’s vice president, was named to an important military position on Monday, continuing his elevation into the top echelons of China’s leadership and reconfirming that the Communist Party had selected him as the successor to President Hu Jintao.
Op-Ed Columnist
Paul Krugman
Rare and Foolish
Last month a Chinese trawler operating in Japanese-controlled waters collided with two vessels of Japan’s Coast Guard. Japan detained the trawler’s captain; China responded by cutting off Japan’s access to crucial raw materials
And there was nowhere else to turn: China accounts for 97 percent of the world’s supply of rare earths, minerals that play an essential role in many high-technology products, including military equipment.
Kaixin OpEd - Kaixin thinks that the basis of this 'them & us' thinking had its genesis in the TV westerns most of the decision makers and opinion makers watched in the 50’s and 60’s…… 70’s??
It seems to be all ‘black hat – white hat’ thinking.
America is the good guy, the friendly sheriff, and China is the bad guy, the sneaky guy with bad intentions, a less than handsome face and the inevitable black hat.
And the good guy only had 30 minutes, less advertisements, to triumph over the bad guy. Hence, everything has to be done NOW.
A cursory knowledge of how China thinks shows a completely different approach. One that is frustrating to Americans raised on 30 minute westerns.
China Escalates Fight With U.S. on Energy Aid
BEIJING — A dispute between China and the United States over Beijing’s subsidies to clean energy industries escalated on Sunday when a senior Chinese economic official warned that Washington “cannot win this trade fight.”
For Our China Trade Emergency, Dial Section 301
Unless the administration takes punitive steps in response to China’s unfair trade practices, the American economy — and the American worker — will continue to suffer.
Caixin Online
Guangzhou Joins in on Home Buying Restrictions
Seen as the most stringent measures taken by municipal authorities across China to date, the recently-issued regulations include an age requirement and a ban on sales to the newly-arrived
(Beijing) -- The Guangzhou Municipal Government issued measures to stiffen the housing market on October 15, following recent steps taken by city authorities in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
According to Guanzhou's policy, every household in the city is only eligible to for the purchase of one home, while migrant families without one year in tax payments and a social security record are completely barred from purchases. Guangzhou authorities have also set strict requirements on housing mortgage loans and have suspended loans for buying third homes through government-backed housing funds.
Believed to be the most aggressive measures issued so far by local governments, housing regulations in Guangzhou have also added an over-18 age requirement for home sales.
In addition to the four-largest Chinese cities, governments of nearly every second tier city including Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Sanya, Haikou, Tianjin, Xiamen and Chongqing have also issued similar restrictions on home buying.
Kaixin OpEd – If America had taken those actions, instead of lighting the fire with loans to anyone who could breathe and then throwing fuel on the fire with free money followed up by the totally amoral ponzi scheme of selling these mortgages to anyone gullible enough to buy them, then ………. there would not have been a GFC.
Talk of a real estate bubble in China demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of the dynamics behind the rise of real estate prices in China. It is driven by demand and it is sustained by vast savings and prudent lending. The Chinese government has taken the opposite approach to America and is moving to effectively contain the cost of real estate.
America took the approach initiated by President GW Bush of making housing accessible to all by giving everyone free money. It was a simple-minded scheme that was taken full advantage of by the Wall Street boys.
China is making housing accessible by making it affordable and raising the incomes of the workers, which flows to the middle class. The rich have never needed help in any country; they are rich generally because they are good at making money.
Until America gets back to the basics of hard work and thrift they will struggle. That is what made America great ....... and it is what is making China great.
Local Bonds and Breaking Public Debt Chains
Local governments borrowed to meet stimulus obligations and could use a bond mechanism to pay off debt
China responded to the global financial crisis by initiating proactive fiscal policies and introducing an economic stimulus package valued at 4 trillion yuan. Under the stimulus plan, unveiled at the end of 2008 and effective for more than two years, the central government invested about 1.18 trillion yuan and local governments had to raise 1.25 trillion yuan.
But because fiscal revenues declined incrementally, government borrowing became an important means for ensuring implementation of these proactive policies. Thus, over the past two years, local government debt has expanded sharply.
The subsequent financial risk is worthy of close attention. For this reason, discussions about local government bonds as well as the possibilities and constraints of standardized fiscal management are currently important.
Asia Times Online
Turkey inches closer to China
By Saban Kardas
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Turkey this month produced a range of agreements on economic matters that confirm Beijing's increasing importance in the region and Ankara's growing sense of a role independent of the United States. But when it comes to military matters, Washington's voice still counts.
Winds of Chinese change mostly hot air
By Kent Ewing
Comments made by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Shenzhen last month were interpreted by some as a signal that political reform would be on the agenda at the party plenum that just wrapped up in Beijing. But the reality is likely to be more empty rhetoric about "intra-party democracy"
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