People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

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VinodTK
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by VinodTK »




Vast cities are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost uninhabited ghost towns. It's estimated there are 64 million empty apartments. For more on Adrian Brown's…

The video is really amazing, wonder who will pick up the losses!
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by SSridhar »

China's stepped up moves in Maldives worries India
Alarm bells are ringing afresh in the Indian security establishment over renewed efforts by China to expand its footprint in Maldives, even as New Delhi and Beijing continue with their strategic shadow-boxing all across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

With China poised to establish a full-fledged embassy at Maldives, strategically located southwest of India astride major sea lanes in IOR, officials say Beijing has stepped up its "lobbying'' to bag a couple or more of crucial development projects in the 1,190-island archipelago.

China, in particular, seems interested in developing Ihavandhoo and Maarandhoo Islands, with transhipment ports among other things, as well as grabbing a piece of action in the development of the country's second international airport at Hanimaadhoo.

"The islands in question are located in the Haa Alif Atoll, situated in the north of Maldives. China wants a presence in these islands since they are the closest to India and Sri Lanka,'' said an official.

There have also been reports about Chinese plans to establish a naval submarine base in Marao, an island of Maldives, but they have remained shrouded in mystery.

China's efforts to make further inroads into Maldives have gained momentum after the visit of Wu Bangguo, the chairman of the standing committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, to Male in May.

China has for long being building maritime and other linkages with eastern Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia, among others. Pakistan has been a more-than-willing partner in all this, with the Gwadar deep-sea port being built with Chinese help in Baluchistan.

China's main aim is to ensure the security of its sea lanes facilitating its critically-needed energy imports. But there is no getting away from the fact that it also amounts to a virtual encircling of India, in what is called the "string-of-pearls" construct.

Indian military brass' concerns about the "serious challenges" posed by China's expanding footprint in IOR as well as South Asia, incidentally, are expected to figure once again during the annual combined commanders' conference to be addressed by PM Manmohan Singh on Tuesday.

India, too, has been taking steps to counter China's strategic moves by stepping up its defence engagement with countries like Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. After defence minister A K Antony's visit to Male in August 2009, for instance, Indian warships and Dornier reconnaissance aircraft are helping Maldives in maritime patrol and surveillance. New Delhi is also assisting Male to set up a network of ground radars in all its 26 atolls and link them with the Indian military surveillance systems.

Earlier, apart from hydrographic surveys and other military assistance, India had 'transferred' INS Tillanchang, a 260-tonne fast-attack craft designed for fast and covert operations against smugglers, gun-runners and terrorists, to Maldives in 2006.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by SSridhar »

India-China to resume defence dialogue early next year
India and China are seeking to put the recent exchanges over oil exploration in South China Sea behind them with below-the-radar contacts that could lead to an agreement on border incursions before the year end and resumption of the defence dialogue early next year. Diplomats are also working on ensuring that the 15th round of talks between Special Representatives on the border issue is held before the year ends.

These initiatives would add to the impetus provided by the first-ever Strategic Economic Dialogue, an idea proposed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during which the two sides held in-depth discussions on water and energy besides other subjects. After a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the two sides resolved to hold the second round within six months instead of the customary wait of a year during which Beijing would provide greater specificity on providing capital for India's infrastructure sector.

Asserting that there was no Chinese demarche on Oil & Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) plans to step up investment in South China Sea, government sources, however, were not unhappy with the manner in which the incident played out. But they discounted the impression that ONGC's oil exploration plan and the earlier ``non-event'' of a Chinese ship accosting an Indian Navy ship would affect the overall shape being given by both Governments to bilateral ties.

Explaining India's stand on the oil exploration issue, the sources said both blocks given to the ONGC for exploration lie partly in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and partly in the sea claimed by China. “Our stand is that this is a purely commercial activity undertaken by a company. The dispute is for the two countries to sort out and India's participation in oil exploration does not amount to a political stand in favour of either country. Once the two countries sort out the issue India will talk to the country concerned{Isn't this similar to the position that PRC once had on the gifting of 5000 Sq. Kms of GB to China by Pakistan ?},'' said the sources ahead of the visit by Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang.

The sources put faith in the early signing of the “Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs.” Both sides have agreed to move fast and two rounds of talks have been held since the idea was discussed by Dr. Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao in April this year. Besides finalising the agreement, both sides are working on dates for a high level interaction at which the agreement could be signed.

“India wants to ask the world to look at the gamut of engagement with China and not one or two aspects,” {If GoI wants to believe that it is only one or two aspects, they are deceiving themselves. I hope they are saying this only for public consumption but otherwise better prepared than in 1962.} said officials. It is in line with this that the Strategic Economic Dialogue was held for the first time with China with some issues discussed in depth for the first time. The 15th round of Boundary talks will be held before the year end in Delhi and both sides are also working on a fresh programme for defence exchanges that could be announced during the annual dialogue early next year.

India is also reaching out to emerging Chinese leadership. Last month, it invited Song Xiuyan, vice chairperson of the All Chinese Women Association and till February, the first woman Governor of Qinghai Province. The next high-level visitor will be Governor of Xinxiang who will come with a small business delegation.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

What about Wuxi province near Beijing.

This is the most powerful province where most of the leadership - 90% of PRC comes from. Will have opportunity t meet some.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

China’s Highly Unequal Economy
By Victor Shih


And, lest we begin to think of China as a dynamic market economy, the latest data showed that of the 27.8 trillion yuan in fixed asset investment, 15 trillion was accounted for by investment undertaken by state-owned enterprises or investment in real estate. Even among the ‘joint stock’ firms, many are actually state-controlled. Thus, at least in terms of investment, the state still controls the lion's share. Meanwhile, well-financed state owned enterprises have nationalized firms in the coal, automobile, and steel industries in recent months, meaning competition and efficiency in these sectors might actually have suffered from large-scale, state-led investment.

Why does China have an economy that is highly unequal and dominated by the state? The answer is quite simple when considering China’s political system and contemporary history. Despite economic reforms that liberalized goods markets and the labour market, the state continues to hold a tight grip over most of the financial institutions. The financial sector in essence takes money from foreign exchange earnings and from household savings and channels it to state-owned firms controlled by the central or local government. Having little choice, households in China must deposit money in the state banks, and when there’s inflation as there is today, they earn a negative real interest rate from the banks because the government fixes deposit rates at a level that is below inflation. Meanwhile, real estate developers with political connections and large state-owned enterprises can borrow money at interest rates that are near zero in real terms.
This is a commentary from a white collared Chinese about his country.
Very interesting
http://the-diplomat.com/whats-next-chin ... l-economy/
China’s political system.

The fact is this country has no serious governmental system, election system or judical system. It’s a hybrid.

Before 1953, there was a premature democratic governmental system firstly led by KMT and then led by CCP. But in 1953, the interim Constitution ‘Common Program’ was abolished. A new version of Constitution was enacted mainly bearing the thoughts and claims of CCP.This Constitution effectively established a CCP dominated oligarchy government.

In 1957, the Anti-Rightist Movement initiated by President Mao marked the beginning of a series of political movements towards purified goverment & society, which muted all oppositional forces outside CCP.

Then President Mao gave out his governmental position to his fellow comrade Liushaoqi, but still ruled as Chairman of CCP. Soon, he found himself in embarrassed situation. The CCP in the government led by President Liu was going out Chairman’s control.

Well, Chairman mao didn’t take back his governmental position from Liu, which might expose his embarrassment. He simply chose to destroy the Constitution and the Government. He even publicly said ‘I don’t remember what Constitution says’. The president Liu was beat up even with a printed version of Constitution in his hands and had been claiming he was protected by the Constitusion. During 1966~1976, Mao succeeded in taking back all powers by manipulating grassroots to overturn govermantal system in China.

From 1966 to 1982, China had a party-ruling system instead of government-ruling system, which was duplicated in Libya by Colonel Gaddafi using relatives and friends to act as party members. Mao was the dictator and Deng was the next. All power belongs to our people, they kept saying. But actually, no power leaked outside their small political circles in CCP.

In 1982, a new Constitution was formed to re-establish govermental system in China to offer a cover to quarantine all blames towards CCP itself. But party was still the ruler, whose power was exposed in 1989. President Zhaozhiyang was abolished by CCP tycoons, not by the nominal governmental Congress.

After 1989, the governmental cover and the CCP power entity merged through organizational arrangements. The top positions of CCP and the top positions of China government mingled.


Is China government a dictatorship?

Not anymore. Because there is a election system in governmental system that avoid one-strong-man-type dictatorship created by Mao.

Is China politics a oligarchy pattern?

Not yet. The real powers are in monopoly CCP. No one else can share it, no matter how wealthy or influential they are. Anyone aims the political previliges has to join in CCP and take part in CCP power communities.

How about the election system in rural areas?

Generally a joke. All powers sterm from CCP system not election system.

How about the new trend of China politics?

Well, many many offsprings of early CCP leaders now possess the power communities of CCP and take important governmental positions after have made a lot of money using their advantages of being politically previliged. There is a trend that China is becoming a oligarchy country because the power of new generation CCP leaders stems not only from inside of CCP but also from where they earn their wealth. Different power foundations will differ the CCP leaders and diversify the power distribution of China.

Future China will be ruled by a hybrid of some CCP leaders whose parents are ex-leaders of CCP,non-CCP individuals behind CCP leaders and a small part of governmental leaders who’ll be elected by either CCP or governmental Congress.

Nothing will change to Chinese people if a true democratic system doesn’t exist. Some day, may be CCP will be obsolete as a power hive due to too many historical evils. However the ruling families will remain active and dominant.

In fact, present premier Wenjiabao has a nickname given by Chinese people, ‘yingdi’, literally ‘best actor’ like those winners of OSCAR.

LOL, Chinese people know everything about this wierd political system but still hesitate to make any change. They don’t like revolution anymore. Because last time, the most revolutionary figure Chairman Mao manipulated all sincere revolution supportive people.
They are afraid of being defrauded by another ‘revolution’ party like CCP.
That’s why China Jasmine Revolution is going so much cry, little wool.
That’s why few Chinese people care about the inprisoned winner of nobel peace prize 2010, Mr. Liuxiaobo.

Chinese people are in some extent political indifferentism or nihilism due to severe hurts in past social movements.
Nowadays,what we concern is money, money and still money, until being hurt by local political power personally.
Many younger Chinese people are very unsatisfied with current state structure, but few of them are naively think of taking part in a revolution.

PS: The ‘50 cents’ appears in Yu’s reply refers to ‘the 50 cents party’ hired by China CCP&Gov to argue for them in cyber society. They get paid at a rate of 50 cents CNY per post many year ago and now 4 times, that is 2 CNY due to inflation ^_^

And their opponents mainly Chinese liberalists who admires USA or western patterns and criticize CCP&Gov are tagged by ‘50 cents party’ as ‘5 cents party’. There was a rumor that CIA hires these people to assault China CCP&Gov at a rate of 5 cents USD per post, about 40 cents CNY years ago and nowadays only around 30 cents CNY.That’s a great depreciation if the rate hasn’t changed. LOL again.

Maybe I made some grammar mistakes but I tried my best to depict China political system through an educated Chinese white-collar point of view.
Hope you guys like the freshness of an authentic China common person’s post.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Prasad »

Well well well.....

Relief for India as China says no Brahmaputra diversion
In a rare admission which will be welcomed in India, China has stated that it will not divert the Brahmaputra river.

Jiao Yong, vice minister at China's ministry of water resources, told a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday that although there is a demand among Chinese to make greater use of the Yarlung Tsangpo (Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra), "considering the technical difficulties, the actual need of diversion and the possible impact on the environment and state-to-state relations, the Chinese government has no plan to conduct any diversification project in this river".

India has been very edgy ever since reports that China meant to divert the waters of this mighty river towards the parched provinces in the north-east, or even Xinjiang in the north-west.

The idea was first raised in a provocatively titled book, 'Tibet's water will save China', by two retired PLA commanders, Gao Kai and Li Ling.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Christopher Sidor »

^^^^
If this news is true and PRC actually follows it, then this is a good sign.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by SSridhar »

Blame China for Stubborn Indian Inflation
There is a China hand in India's inflation, one important reason why the steady rise in interest rates may not be cooling the high inflation. About 25% of imported inputs that go into manufacture of goods produced locally are imported from China. In addition, a third of consumer goods imported into India come from China.

The inflation in goods exported by China was 10% in July, much higher than its overall inflation of 6.1% during September. "Since a majority of India's imports of manufactured goods come from China, higher nonfood inflation there is feeding into higher prices in India through tradeables," said Bibek Debroy, professor at the Center for Policy Research, a think tank.

The 15% appreciation in the China's currency during the last six months has added to the rising labour costs in the country, making manufactured products expensive. In fact, not only India, but almost the entire world is feeling the impact of the higher export prices from China, the country's biggest trading partner now. A report by the International Monetary Fund on Thursday has devoted extensive space to analyse the impact China's high inflation on other countries.
Out of India's total imports, 27% of iron and steel, 18% of chemicals, 24% of manufactured metals come from China where annual non-food inflation rate is at a 10-year high. According to the September wholesale price index (WPI) estimates, the inflation in iron and semis, basic metal products/alloys and chemicals was 21%, 11% and 9%, respectively.

In addition, imports of other manufactured goods, such as projects goods and machine parts, 25-50% of which is sourced from China, are used as inputs for production of final goods. Therefore, price rise in China also pushes up prices of such final goods. "Rising export prices from China will likely add some inflationary pressure to the rest of the world," a recent report by Nomura said.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by shiv »

"Relief for India" when some Chinese is reported to have said something? Typical language of losers, PhDs in defeatology and langoti soiling.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by vishvak »

link
The Water Hegemon
-Brahma Chellaney (contributions at above site)
China’s rise as a hydro-hegemon with no modern historical parallel.
...
is rapidly accumulating leverage against its neighbors by undertaking massive hydro-engineering projects on transnational rivers
...
This makes China the source of cross-border water flows to the largest number of countries in the world. Yet China rejects the very notion of water sharing or institutionalized cooperation with downriver countries.
...
China does not have a single water treaty with any co-riparian country. Indeed, having its cake and eating it, China is a dialogue partner but not a member of the Mekong River Commission
...
China deflects attention from its refusal to share water, or to enter into institutionalized cooperation to manage common rivers sustainably, by flaunting the accords that it has signed on sharing flow statistics with riparian neighbors. These are not agreements to cooperate on shared resources, but rather commercial accords to sell hydrological data that other upstream countries provide free to downriver states.
...
China is now locked in water disputes with almost all co-riparian states.
...
The Great Western Route, centered on the Tibetan Plateau, is designed to divert waters, including from international rivers, to the Yellow River, the main river of water-stressed northern China
...
China has also emerged as the largest dam builder overseas.
Wonder what friends of China in India have to say to this.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

China-India: In nuclear denial
By Fiona Cunningham - 21 October 2011 2:50PM
The list of strategic tensions in the China-India relationship is dismally long.
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/201 ... apons.aspx

While there are elements of increasing cooperation, notably in trade and global governance (think Copenhagen), mistrust underpins the bilateral relationship. The root of that mistrust is the disputed border and China's 'all-weather friendship' with Pakistan, but other problems have emerged in recent years — India worries about China's presence in the Indian Ocean; China worries about the India's newfound warmth for the US and its role in Tibetan politics. Add to that resource and diplomatic competition, rising nationalism and poor public perceptions and things are not looking too rosy.

Understanding the asymmetry in Sino-Indian relations is critical to evaluating just how dangerous the nuclear factor is. China is quite relaxed about India and sees little threat from its southern neighbour. India, on the other hand, is very concerned about the Chinese threat.

Part of India's anxiety stems from the fact that China can strike just about any location in India's territory with a nuclear missile, while India has no such capability to hit Chinese cities. This asymmetrical deterrence anxiety has motivated India to seek longer range missiles and the ability to launch nuclear missiles from submarines. A submarine launch capability will, however, need to carry longer range missiles if it is to avoid the dangerous mission of hugging the Chinese coastline in the event of a crisis.

Uncertainties also abound in the relationship — both countries are dabbling in missile defence technology which may decrease their confidence in deterring the other. Both could also abandon their restrained nuclear postures and build bigger arsenals, changing deterrence calculations. And both appear to be using their partnership with the major strategic rival of the other — Pakistan and the US — pragmatically.

While none this bodes well for the future, China and India are not in an arms race, and there is a window of opportunity now to stabilise the nuclear dynamic before competition intensifies. But there is little basis for official talks on such sensitive matters at the moment — China will first need to stop refusing to talk to India about its nuclear weapons on the grounds that India is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, perhaps in return for some gesture from the Indian side, probably on the Indian Ocean.

Once the two powers are clear about how their nuclear weapons deter the other, clear about how to manage crises and reassured of each other's strategic intentions, they could aim for a bilateral no-first-use agreement and push for other nuclear-armed countries to adopt this restrained nuclear posture.

In this way China and India could possibly turn the dangers of denial into a norm of no-first-use.

The Nuclear Reactions column is supported by the Nuclear Security Project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, as part of a wider partnership between the NSP and the Lowy Institute.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

U.S. Pivots Eastward to Address Uneasy Allies
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: October 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/world ... china.html
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — China was never mentioned, but when a sailor in the Japanese Navy asked Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta here on Monday whether the United States planned to cut back its forces in Asia, Mr. Panetta knew exactly what he meant.
Related

“I want to make very clear that the United States is going to remain a presence in the Pacific for a long time,” Mr. Panetta responded. “That means, just so you understand, that we are not anticipating any cutbacks in this region. If anything, we’re going to strengthen our presence in the Pacific.”

Mr. Panetta’s message, delivered the day before in Indonesia as well and certain to be repeated later this week when he travels to South Korea, is the new call of the Obama administration as it winds down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and scrambles to project its power in Asia. But this eastward pivot, meant to shore up Asian alliances and send a clear signal that the United States opposes China’s claims to island territories far beyond its shores, comes at a difficult time.

Like everyone else, Asian allies see an ailing American economy and coming Pentagon budget cuts — at least $450 billion over the next decade — and a growing isolationism among Republicans eager for the White House. Just last week, Mitt Romney suggested at a debate that the United States should, in effect, outsource some of its foreign aid to China. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to borrow money from the Chinese to go give to another country for humanitarian aid,” he said. “We ought to get the Chinese to take care of the people.”

Pentagon officials say there are no plans to reduce the 85,000 American service members in the Pacific or to cut back the 7 of 11 aircraft carriers based in the region. But they are concerned that a Congressional deficit reduction panel may fail in its mission to find additional budget cuts next month, setting off automatic across-the-board reductions of another $600 billion from the Pentagon. Defense officials say that it would be catastrophic and that it could force troop reductions in the Pacific. They argue that even a small drawdown of, say, 5,000 troops would be seen in the region as a symbolic retreat even as China rapidly expands its military capabilities.

In China, analysts say a military modernization program for the People’s Liberation Army is a delayed and essential upgrading after decades when the Communist Party subordinated military needs to civilian ones. In the Chinese military’s view, the buildup is needed to defend against what it sees as a growing and potentially unfriendly American presence in the Pacific.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =141647527
"Today we are at a turning point after a decade of war," Panetta said. Al-Qaida is among a range of concerns that will keep the military busy, but as a traditional Pacific power the United States needs to invest more effort in building a wider and deeper network of alliances and partnerships.in this region, he said.

"Most importantly, we have the opportunity to strengthen our presence in the Pacific — and we will," he said.

He did not elaborate on whether that would mean adding ships or other forces, but he emphatically said budget cuts would not be a factor.

"We are not anticipating any cutbacks in this region," he said.

In an opinion piece published Monday in a Japanese newspaper, Panetta accused North Korea of "reckless and provocative" acts and criticized China for a secretive expansion of its military power.

He wrote that Washington and Japan share common challenges in Asia and the Pacific.

"China is rapidly modernizing its military," he wrote, "but with a troubling lack of transparency, coupled with increasingly assertive activity in the East and South China Seas."
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

Image
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 96030.html
How Many Nukes Does China Have?
Plumbing the secret Underground Great Wall.
By BRET STEPHENS

Shortly after the end of the Cold War, an American defense official named Phillip Karber traveled to Russia as an advance man for a visit by former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci. "We were meeting with Russian generals," Mr. Karber recalls, "and we met a three-star who told us they had 40,000 warheads, not the 20,000 we thought they had." It was a stunning disclosure. At a time when legions of CIA analysts, Pentagon war-gamers and arms-control specialists devoted entire careers to estimating the size of the Soviet arsenal, the U.S. had missed the real figure by a factor of two.

Mr. Karber, who has worked for administrations and senior congressional leaders of both parties and now heads the Asian Arms Control Project at Georgetown University, tells the story as a preface to describing his most recent work. In 2008, he was commissioned by the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency—which deals with everything from arms-control verification to nuclear detection and forensics—to look into a mysterious Chinese project known as the "Underground Great Wall." The investigation would lead Mr. Karber to question long-held assumptions about the size—and the purpose—of China's ultra-secret nuclear arsenal.

The agency's interest in the subject had been piqued following the devastating May 12 earthquake that year in Sichuan province: Along with ordinary rescue teams, Beijing had deployed thousands of radiation specialists belonging to the Second Artillery Corps, the branch of the People's Liberation Army responsible for the country's strategic missile forces, including most of its nuclear weapons.

Enlarge Image

Global Times
China has built 3,000 miles of military tunnels.

The involvement of the Second Artillery wasn't entirely surprising, since Sichuan is home to key nuclear installations, including the Chinese version of Los Alamos. More interesting were reports of hillsides collapsing to expose huge quantities of shattered concrete. Speculation arose that a significant portion of China's nuclear arsenal, held in underground tunnels and depots, may have been lost in the quake.

Mr. Karber set about trying to learn more with the aid of a team of students using satellite imagery, Chinese-language sources and other materials—all of them publicly available if rarely noticed in the West. History also helped.

Tunneling has been a part of Chinese military culture for nearly 2,000 years. It was a particular obsession of Mao Zedong, who dug a vast underground city in Beijing and in the late 1960s ordered the building of the so-called Third-Line Defense in central China to withstand a feared Russian nuclear attack. The gargantuan project included an underground nuclear reactor, warhead storage facilities and bunkers for China's first generation of ballistic nuclear missiles.

China's tunnel-digging mania did not end with Mao's death. If anything, it intensified. In December 2009, as part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic, the PLA announced to great fanfare that the Second Artillery Corps has built a cumulative total of 3,000 miles of tunnels—half of them during the last 15 years.

"If you started in New Hampshire," notes Mr. Karber by way of reference, "and went to Chicago, then Dallas, then Tijuana, that would be about 3,000 miles."

Why would the Second Artillery be intent on so much tunneling? There are, after all, other ways of securing a nuclear arsenal. And even with a labor force as vast and as cheap as China's, the cost of these tunnels—well-built, well-lit, paved, high-ceilinged and averaging six miles in length—is immens
"Ten percent of the Chinese pople are born again Christians. China has more Christians than any country on earth. I have spent a large part of my life learning from their Christian teachers and pastors. They are the best. The Chinese christians are "nice people"...We just need to stay strong and let them [the Chinese leadership] know we are not nice either....By the way; At a retirement party for one of the past head of China's government, he was asked "if you could make one wish for China what would it be"? He answered "that China would become a Christian nation". True story."

That is probably the best long term hope we have. A prosperous and truly moralistic China would be a powerful proponent of peace and stability in the world.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Victor »

Boom to Bust Concerns
Fitch Ratings estimated ... that as much as 30 percent of all loans in China’s banking system -- or $2.46 trillion -- could become nonperforming.
Investors ... said they expect China to grow only 5 percent annually by 2016, half the current rate.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by A_Gupta »

Acharyaji's link on the TSP thread:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/ ... 9X20111025
One of China's most popular newspapers warned on Tuesday that nations involved in territorial disputes in the South China Sea should "mentally prepare for the sounds of cannons" if they remain at loggerheads with Beijing.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Christopher Sidor »

Victor wrote:Boom to Bust Concerns
Fitch Ratings estimated ... that as much as 30 percent of all loans in China’s banking system -- or $2.46 trillion -- could become nonperforming.
Investors ... said they expect China to grow only 5 percent annually by 2016, half the current rate.
2.8 trillion USD of stimulus and NPAs are about 2.46 trillion USD. Maybe NPAs are due to deteriorating economic conditions in north Atlantic region. But still one gets a sense that China's stimulus was wasted.

What was needed was a stimulus to restructure the Chinese economy, so that it is less oriented towards exports and consequently less dependent on North Atlantic countries.
What appears to have happened is that PRC panicked and threw money onto the streets.

Makes one wonder the utility of a single party system, were decisions are made quickly without a thought to their impact. It makes the Indian way of deliberate and conscious debate oriented decision making more mature. After all there is no benefit in making a quick decision if the decision itself is wrong.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by SSridhar »

Concern as China mulls over anti-terror laws
Chinese lawmakers have this week begun discussing a landmark draft law on anti-terrorism, which has been welcomed by security officials as boosting counterterrorism efforts but has also evoked concern among legal experts about civil rights.

The draft bill, expected to be passed this week during the bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, will “pave the way for further crackdowns on terrorism”, said the state-run Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

The law would address the “lack of clear definitions” under the current criminal law to prosecute terrorism-related cases, which had “direct, adverse effects” on China's counterterrorism battle, said Yang Huanning, the Vice-Minister of Public Security. “China is faced with the real threat of terrorist activities, and the struggle with terrorism is long-term, complicated and acute,” he told the NPC.

China's criminal law, which mandates three to 10 years of imprisonment for those found to have organised or participated in terrorist organisations, has been used to convict more than 7,000 people since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S. after China intensified its efforts against the “three evils” of terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.

The law, however, gave “no concrete definitions of terrorist acts, terrorist organisations or terrorists”, Mr. Yang's report to the NPC acknowledged, Xinhua reported. He said the absence of a clear law had also hindered China's ability to cooperate on international counter-terrorism efforts. While officials say the absence of a clear law has posed barriers to terror crackdowns, rights activists argue that the absence of clear definitions has also led to convictions on less-than-concrete charges.

The new draft bill defines terrorist acts “as those acts which are intended to induce public fear or to coerce state organs or international organisations by means of violence, sabotage, threats or other tactics”.

The bill says the list of terrorist organisations and terrorists will be made public. It also includes a provision to freeze the funds and assets of terrorist organisations and terrorists when their names are made public.

The bill was welcomed by Chinese security experts. Pan Zhiping, a counterterrorism expert at Xinjiang University, told The Hindu that the law was a positive development because China “did not have a law to guarantee its actions in anti-terrorism before”.

He said it would also provide more solid ground for China to cooperate on international counterterrorism efforts. “China and India both have long been plagued by terrorism and the two countries have mutual interest in this area,” he said.

“The absence of a definition of terrorist activities in the current criminal law cannot meet the practical needs of anti-terrorism work,” added Li Wei, director of counter-terrorism research centre of the state-run China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), in an interview with the official China Daily . “The draft is a good beginning, but it is far from enough.”

Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch focusing on China, told The Hindu the prospect of a terrorism law raised a series of concerns, particularly because of a lack of independence in China's judicial system.

“Strengthening law enforcement powers without appropriate judicial checks and balances is dangerous,” he said.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by RajeshA »

Published on Oct 16, 2011
By Jamil Anderlini
A workshop on the wane: Financial Times
The eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou produces more cigarette lighters and spectacles than anywhere on earth, and has long been seen as an economic trend-setter for the entire country. So reports that dozens of factory owners in the city have absconded in recent weeks, leaving workers unpaid and mountains of debt, are seen by some as an ominous sign for the national economy.

Slowing global demand for cheap Chinese exports, rising production costs and unsustainable levels of debt have combined to crush some of the country’s most savvy entrepreneurs. In one tragic case, the owner of a Wenzhou shoe factory who owed more than Rmb400m ($63m) committed suicide three weeks ago. More than 90 other bosses have run away, according to state media.
“The drivers of China’s meteoric rise are on the wane,” says Robert Zoellick, World Bank president. “Resources have largely shifted from agriculture to industry; as the labour force shrinks and the population ages, there are fewer workers to support retirees; and productivity increases are on the decline.”

With its world-class infrastructure and existing domestic and international supply chains, China will remain a global manufacturing base for some time to come.

But minimum wages are rising more than 20 per cent a year in many areas, and land is increasingly scarce and expensive. In addition, the government is reducing the supply of cheap credit and has moved to liberalise prices for energy and other utilities. Meanwhile, the flood of investment in new factories, roads, airports and housing estates that has been the main driver of growth looks increasingly unsustainable.
Many experts believe China’s working-age population has already peaked and will decline in coming years, a trend exacerbated by the three-decade-old one-child policy.

It is also partly the price of success for the country’s meteoric economic rise, which is lifting the prices of almost everything and shrinking the pool of impoverished workers willing to toil in factories or on construction sites for a pittance.

The country’s leadership is well aware of the distortions that have built up in the economy; and freely acknowledges time is running out for a model that has served it so well. “China suffers a serious lack of balance, co-ordination and sustainability in its development,” President Hu Jintao said in a recent speech. “We must accelerate strategic adjustment of the economic structure, scientific and technological progress and innovation, and the building of a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society.”
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by krisna »

RajeshA wrote:Published on Oct 16, 2011
Many experts believe China’s working-age population has already peaked and will decline in coming years, a trend exacerbated by the three-decade-old one-child policy
china's people problem

All the four graphs- very telling.

1) life expectancy industrialised part of china(han region- towards the coastal parts) is 10 years more than the under developed regions- tibet/xinjaing/inner mongolia
2) number of boys vs girls is skewed in favor of boys in Han regions(developed parts towards the coastal areas). this is due to the strict one child policy enforced by CCP on mango chinese. rural regions are exempt from this incluidng tibet/xinjaing and inner mongolia. It does not matter in the overall scheme of things in CCP's china as the non han population is not substantially high. It is as high as 127-138 boys to 100 girls in han region.
3) comparison between population growth curves between India and china
4) population distribution between India china and Japan.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by SSridhar »

Fixing Trade Imbalance: Import Curbs on China Likely as Deficit Grows - Economic Times
Image
The commerce department has hammered out a "China Strategy" that calls for higher tariffs on most Chinese goods while proposing a complete ban on specific items, like power and telecom equipment. {Anil Ambani's ADAG makes huge imports from China in both sectors} The move comes as India's trade deficit with China, its biggest trading partner, jumped 160% to $23.9 billion in the five years to 2010-11.
Indian officials say China acknowledges that trade imbalance is a problem, but it has done little to address it. The commerce department said Beijing has ignored seven specific requests from Delhi to ease imports of Indian goods that could have narrowed the trade gap significantly. These requests, made by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during his Beijing visit last year and reiterated during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's New Delhi visit last December, included import relaxation for Indian pharmaceuticals, agricultural produce, IT products and heavy machinery.
The department also plans to encourage substitution of Chinese goods with those items from South Korea and Japan that face low tariff barriers.
Will India be able to do this ? Argumentative Indians will trot out a hundred reasons why such curbs should not be placed. Some will see chanakianness in allowing Chinese imports. Already some GoI officials are worried about WTO, G20 etc. Eventually, nothing may come out of this and the brave words will remain as hot gas.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Pratyush »

^^^

An Argumentative Indian reply to the above post.

The solution to the problem lies in the increasing the manufacturing jobs in the country. Regardless of what the PRC exports. Indian cost of manufacture will be cheaper then the whatever the PRC makes. In addition the Indian population will have to have invested in that manufacturing as it is a key to the generation of jobs for Indians.

When they start buying Indian the buying of the PRC made maal will automatically end. No need to impose any tarrifs on PRC made goods.

But what I am suggesting will never happen. The current think tank of the GOI is thinking of providing food subsidy to 800 million Indians in perpetuity. Rather then generation 200 million jobs in manufacturing sector (200*4= 800 million= self+spouse+ dependent children. I am not counting parents in the equation). Over the next 10 years.

That will make the Indian population invested in Job security and any imports in the manufacturing sector will be seen a threat by them. Once that happens, you can rest assured that the trade figures will become more balanced.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by PrasadZ »

Been reading "The Party" by Richard Mc Gregor and found the 5th chapter "Why we fight" very interesting. The book was published in 2010 and aims to explain how CPC and communism remain relevant in modern China. A few nuggets from ch 5 that might be of interest to others on here :

1. Yan Xuetong, "one of the best known hawks" with a PhD at UC, Berkeley and chair of international relations at Tsinghua U, Beijing is quoted on Taiwan as "the government believes as long as people can make more money, they have the right to rule this country, no matter how much territory they might concede. This is the mainstream ideology in this country, but I think this position will lead to disaster"

2. PLA has 2.3 mio people and 90,000 CPC party cells operating inside it, an astounding one for every 25 people enrolled !
"It is no coincidence that PLA garrisons 3 armies near Beijing and combat forces around major cities" "The PLA remains the final arbiter of security in a crisis". Controlling the military is key to the party's long term survival. At the same time, mandatory political education is routinely flouted amongst younger cadres.

3. The Somalia anti piracy mission, the navy anniversary and Tiananmen parade in 2009 were made-for-TV events and carefully managed to engender pride and confidence in the forces at home such that it reinforces party control

4. On Taiwan, Jiang Zemin cosied up to hardliners to build credibility within Chinese system. Hu Jintao arrived in 2004 and de escalated. He got an anti secession law targeting Taiwan passed that built him a strong image at home and pursued high profile talks with friendly Taiwanese politicians that never involved Jiang's timetable for reunification. "In return for Taiwan taking formal indenpendence off the table, Hu pushed reunification off into an indeterminate future. For those hardliners in the system who recognized the deal for what it was, it was a bitter pill to swallow"

5. Chinese diplomats routinely joke of how they receive calcium tablets in the mail, sent by angry citizens who want them to stiffen their backbones in dealing with foreigners.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Stan_Savljevic »

Publication Bubble Threatens China's Scientific Advance
http://english.cas.ac.cn/Ne/CN/201109/t ... 5603.shtml
Chinese researchers published more than 1.2 million papers from 2006 to 2010 -- second only to the United States but well ahead of Britain, Germany and Japan, according to data recently published by Elsevier, a leading international scientific publisher and data provider. This figure represents a 14 percent increase over the period from 2005 to 2009. The number of published academic papers in science and technology is often seen as a gauge of national scientific prowess.

But these impressive numbers mask an uncomfortable fact: most of these papers are of low quality or have little impact. Citation per article (CPA) measures the quality and impact of papers. China's CPA is 1.47, the lowest figure among the top 20 publishing countries, according to Elsevier's Scopus citation database. China's CPA dropped from 1.72 for the period from 2005 to 2009, and is now below emerging countries such as India and Brazil. Among papers lead-authored by Chinese researchers, most citations were by domestic peers and, in many cases, were self-citations. "While quantity is an important indicator because it gives a sense of scientific capacity and the overall level of scientific activity in any particular field, citations are the primary indicator of overall scientific impact," said Daniel Calto, Director of SciVal Solutions at Elsevier North America.

Calto attributed China's low CPA to a "dilution effect." "When the rise in the number of publications is so rapid, as it has been in China -- increasing quantity does not necessarily imply an overall increase in quality," said Calto.
...
Cong Cao, an expert on China's science and technology, put it more bluntly in an article he wrote: "When the paper bubble bursts, which will happen sooner or later, one may find that the real situation of scientific research in China probably is not that rosy."
...
In China, the avid pursuit of publishing sometimes gives rise to scientific fraud. In the most high-profile case in recent years, two lecturers from central China's Jinggangshan University were sacked in 2010 after a journal that published their work admitted 70 papers they wrote over two years had been falsified. "This is one of the worst cases. These unethical people not only deceived people to further their academic reputations, they also led academic research on the wrong path, which is a waste of resources," Mu said.

A study done by researchers at Wuhan University in 2010 says more than 100 million U.S. dollars changes hands in China every year for ghost-written academic papers. The market in buying and selling scientific papers has grown five-fold in the past three years. The study says Chinese academics and students often buy and sell scientific papers to swell publication lists and many of the purported authors never write the papers they sign. Some master's or doctoral students are making a living by churning out papers for others. Others mass-produce scientific papers in order to get monetary rewards from their institutions. A 2009 survey by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) of 30,078 people doing science-related work shows that nearly one-third of respondents attributed fraud to the current system that evaluates researchers' academic performance largely on the basis of how many papers they write and publish.

According to Calto, China does mostly applied research, which helps drive manufacturing and economic growth, while basic research only accounts for 6 percent, compared with about 35 percent in Germany, Britain, and the United States, and 16 percent in Japan. "In the long term, in order to really achieve dominance in any scientific area, I think it will be necessary to put significant financial resources into fundamental basic research -- these are the theoretical areas that can drive the highest level of innovation," Calto said.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by devesh »

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/20 ... -religion/

Are China’s Rulers Getting Religion?
With worsening inflation, a slowing economy, and growing concerns about possible social unrest, China’s leaders have a lot on their plates these days. And yet when the Communist Party met at its annual plenum earlier this week, the issue given greatest attention was not economic policy but what it described as “cultural reform.”

The concern appears quixotic, but China is now in the grips of a moral crisis. In recent months, the Chinese Internet has been full of talk about the lack of morality in society. And the problem is not just associated with the very rich or the political connected—concerns shared in western countries—but with the population at large. This has been precipitated in part by a spate of recent incidents in which people have failed to come to aid of fellow citizens caught in accidents or medical emergencies. A few weeks ago, a two-year-old girl in Guangzhou was hit by a car and left dying in the street while eighteen passers-by did nothing to help her. The case riveted China, causing people to ask what sort of society is being created.

So, no sooner was the plenum over than the party indicated that it would limit the amount of entertainment shows on television and possibly set limits on popular microblogs. While it is easy to read this move simply as censorship, which it certainly is, it also reflects the new preoccupation with morality: many of the banned shows are pure entertainment—the party now wants more news programs—and Chinese microblogs have long been a forum for anonymous character assassination. Meanwhile, though it has been far less noted, Beijing is giving new support to religion—even the country’s own beleaguered traditional practice, Daoism.

After decades of destruction, Daoist temples are being rebuilt, often with government support. Shortly after the plenum ended, authorities were convening an International Daoism Forum. The meeting was held near Mt. Heng in Hunan Province, one of Daoism’s five holy mountains, and was attended by 500 participants. It received extensive play in the Chinese media, with a noted British Daoist scholar, Martin Palmer, getting airtime on Chinese television. This is a sharp change for a religion that that was persecuted under Mao and long regarded as suspect. What, exactly, is gong on here?

Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism) began as a philosophical tradition in early China. Its most famous work is the Daodejing, attributed to a person known as Laozi, who may have existed in the 6th century BCE. It developed into an organized religion by the 2nd century CE. Although its practices vary widely, it generally advocates self-discipline and good living as a way to attain immortality, as well as elaborate rituals to purge individuals or communities of evil. Its ideas of harmony with nature underlie many aspects of Chinese culture, from calligraphy and painting to architecture and medicine. For generations, its formal teachings were passed down by Daoist priests as well as lay practitioners.

During the Mao years many of its traditions, such as fortune telling, geomancy, possession by spirits, and popular rituals, were banned as superstitious. But it’s been making a limited comeback. Although still dwarfed by Buddhism, as well as newer religions, like Christianity, the number of Daoist temples has at least tripled over the past fifteen years, according to official figures. Priests and nuns who run the temples provide services to pilgrims and go out into the community to consecrate homes or businesses, and perform funerals. Others spread Daoist ideas through martial arts, such as Tai Chi, or medicine—two disciplines rooted in Daoism.

One reason authorities are now embracing Daoism as a source of moral guidance is that, in contrast to Christianity—which sometimes runs afoul of authorities—Daoism is widely seen as an unthreatening, indigenous religion. That’s true of Buddhism as well, which was founded in today’s India but took root in China 2,000 years ago. But Buddhism has long had a cadre of devoted, missionizing monks and nuns who try to spread the word, whereas Daoism is sometimes hard to crack—you often have to earn a Daoist master’s trust and respect before he or she will take you on as a disciple. Moreover there’s no Daoist Gideons International, dropping the Daodejing in Chinese hotels. And then, of course, Daoism can be seen as the original tune-in-turn-on-drop-out religion; many Daoist luminaries have preferred a life of contemplation to pursuit of earthly power.

Still, the Daodejing, says a lot about ruling, and one translation of that work’s title is “The Way and its Power.” Certainly, the text can be read profitably by authoritarians (translations from Lao-tzu’s Taoteching, Copper Canyon Press, 2009):

the rule of the sage
empties the mind
but fills the belly


Then again there are other verses that might well trouble a government trying to fight a perception that it is corrupt:

The reason people are hungry
is that those above levy so many taxes
or:

the reason people are hard to rule
is that those above are so forceful


Another part of Daoism that isn’t so easy for the government to swallow is that it has become a world religion, one that a government can’t easily control. Four months ago, for example, a very different international conference on Daoism had been held at exactly the same location—a conference that the government was far from excited about. Organized by Chinese and international scholars and practitioners, the conference did not have as much high-level support but it reflects something potentially more powerful: an explosion of popular interest into Daoism and Chinese religion. The authorities not only shunned it but put up roadblocks. It was almost canceled at the last moment and was eventually curtailed from five to three days, with many panels cut or abbreviated.

I attended that conference, which focused on the role of women in Daoism, commercialism of its temples and other issues facing the religion, and observed the discomfort of Chinese officials as the organizers announced that next year’s conference was going to be held at a German lakeside resort. One official later said to me that it should be up to the Chinese government, not a non-government organization of scholars, to determine when an important Daoist conference should be held. He was also skeptical of many of those who came, some of whom were practicing Daoists or martial artists—who were these people? Many weren’t even Chinese!

Tellingly, none of the participants from June—and very few foreign scholars save Mr. Palmer—took part in the recent government-sponsored conference. It wasn’t posted on scholarly websites and was treated by Beijing as something that didn’t really concern the outside world.

But the more China’s leaders try to use religion for their own purposes, the more difficult it may be to have an actual effect on perceived problems like society’s moral decline. Despite the rebuilding of temples, religious life is still tightly limited. Many practitioners do find a deeper moral answer in the teachings of Daoism and other religions. I have seen volunteers at Daoist temples provide food for the poor or engage in disaster relief. The teachings of compassion and unity with nature also make sense in a country that has pursued economic gain at the expense of charity and concern for the environment.

But religion is still fighting an uphill battle. The recent conference gave Daoism an unprecedented amount of media attention, but most of the time religious life is completely absent from Chinese television or other media outlets. Then again, as the Daodejing makes clear, human endeavors often miss the point:

Thirty spokes converge on a hub
but it’s the emptiness
that makes a wheel work
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Agnimitra »

Property capitalists hijack China's protest movement
Recent buyers of incomplete apartments in Beijing and Shanghai have hit the streets to demand compensation after plummeting housing prices wiped out potential returns. The agitations have drawn significantly less sympathy than typical protests over abuses of power or injustice, but the government's eagerness to compromise suggests any cause can exploit Beijing's sensitivity over "mass incidents".
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Klaus »

China to train its government workers in ethics
All civil servants will have to undergo at least six hours of ethics teaching by the end of 2015, Xinhua said, citing the State Administration of Civil Service.
Corruption by officials is routinely named in opinion polls as a top source of public discontent in China. :-? :?:

In a speech in July to mark the ruling Communist Party's 90th birthday, Chinese President Hu Jintao said the anti-graft fight was the key to "winning or losing public support and the life or death of the party".
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by arun »

Breath-taking arrogance from the P.R China Ambassador to India :x .

Anyone know who this patriotic Indian Journalist is :?: :
Zhang asked the journalist to "shut up" as he repeatedly questioned him about the map on the cover of a Chinese firm's brochure that showed Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh as part of China and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as that of Pakistan ………………………

"This is not China...it is India. We have full freedom here. How can you ask a journalist to shut up, if he is asking you something,'' the journalist told Zhang……………………….
From TOI:

Distorted map: Chinese ambassador tells Indian journalist to shut up
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by ramana »

New York Review of Books

Is China getting religious?
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Sushupti »

arun wrote:
Anyone know who this patriotic Indian Journalist is :?: :
Not clear. More details here

http://deshgujarat.com/2011/11/04/map-o ... ntroversy/
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by ramana »

There maybe p-sec angle to the affair also. Need more facts.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Gus »

Check the hundi's spin on the issue.

A journalist marred a function here to introduce business persons of the remote Xinjiang Province of China in the presence of its Governor Nur Bekri, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan and senior Foreign Ministry officials.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by VinodTK »

China-gets-map-wrong-envoy-yells-shut-up
A politically incorrect map of India in a Chinese company’s brochure led to a hot exchange between China’s ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, and an Indian journalist here on Thursday. Peppered with questions on the map showing Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh in China and Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir in Pakistan, Zhang told the journalist to "shut up". He said the journalist "pushed, pushed, pushed" even when told it was a technical issue that would be sorted out. "We are working for friendlier ties with India... this will not help," he said.

The journalist shot back that unlike in China, there was full freedom in India. "How can you ask a journalist to shut up if he is asking you something," he asked Zhang.

Indian officials said even Indian companies have made similar mistakes in the past, and that it did not reflect Beijing’s official position.

Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary, external affairs ministry, said Zhang had accepted the map was wrong. "It is a private company (that goofed up), not the Chinese government," said Bambawale.

Earlier, the company, a heavy equipment manufacturing firm, signed a $400 million business deal with Gujarat.[quote][/quote]
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

With China, war-talk may be best bet for peace
From the other end of the jungle, China marks its territory with a warning growl – while its own jingoistic media rattles the cages some more.

The 1962 Indo-China war came about in large measure because Nehru ended up overcompensating for his excessive emphasis on making peace at all costs without sufficient reciprocity from the Chinese side.
It is, of course, somewhat disconcerting when countries conduct their diplomatic exchanges using megaphones (and a shrill hectoring tone) in public rather than in the civil discourse one associates with the foreign service. But, truth to tell, there is nothing new about the strains in India’s relations with China, or about the abrasive tone of the rhetoric.

In fact, the enduring myth about this complicated relationship relates to the brief period in the 1950s when it was seemingly characterised by bhai-bhai bonhomie. To anyone who cared to look beyond the Nehruvian naivete, the subterranean strains were plain to see. Among the few in Nehru’s Cabinet who was able to read the tea leaves clearly was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who tried to warn Nehru as early as in 1950 that China’s strategic approach held dangerous portents for India.

In an amazingly prescient letter to Nehru in November 1950, Patel wrote: “The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professions of peaceful intentions… Even though we regard ourselves as friends of China, the Chinese do not regard us as their friends.”

Pointing to a diplomatic cable from China, in the context of India’s protest over China’s occupation of Tibet, Patel notes that the language was rather more reminiscent of a “potential enemy.”

Nehru was evidently not convinced of the hardline that Patel took, but when his charm offensive failed to melt Chinese hearts, he too swung around to a position of distrust.

As Inder Malhotra noted recently, by March 1958, Nehru was counselling India’s Ambassador-designate to Beijing G Parthasarathi “not to believe whatever the foreign office might have told him about the state of India-China relations.” Of the Chinese, Nehru made an uncharacteristically frank appraisal, saying he “didn’t trust (them) one bit”. They were, he added, “arrogant, deceitful, hegemonist, and a thoroughly unreliable lot. We just cannot trust them at all. They are totally inimical to us…”
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Philip »

The arrogant Chinese ***&^%$#@ of an envoy has beautifully demonstrated his nation's total contempt for civilised diplomatic behaviour,especially when it conmes to dealing with what it considers "inferior nations".The arrogance of the envoy trying to muscle in a false map of the region,adding even more insult to injury of the nation,trying to pass it off as a mistake by the ad agency,must be dealt with both at the diplomatic level and the media level.The Indian media should in future boycott all functions of the PRC and PRC entities until the ambassador apologises. The feeling by the power corps that PRC heavy eqpt. being imported at lower costs than those of Indian companies, should face a 15% levy should be immmediatly implemented,also across the board for ALL Chinese imports.Chinese dumping threatens to destroy Indian industry.
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by Klaus »

Recent self-immolations by monks and nuns should be condemned: Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei
Many Tibetans in China are angry about what they see as growing domination by the country's majority Han ethnic group.

Most of the suicide attempts have taken place around the Kirti monastery, which has become a flashpoint for mounting anger at the erosion of Tibetan culture.

Xinhua reported that an initial police investigation had shown Thursday's case was "masterminded and instigated by the Dalai Lama clique, which had plotted a chain of self-immolations in the past months for splitting motives."

Hong echoed this, saying the "relevant activities are related to separatist forces overseas".
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by m_nair »

Gus wrote:Check the hundi's spin on the issue.

A journalist marred a function here to introduce business persons of the remote Xinjiang Province of China in the presence of its Governor Nur Bekri, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan and senior Foreign Ministry officials.

May be we need to teach The Chindu a lesson by starting a "Boycott The Hindu" page. The only language Commie Ram and cohorts will understand is $$$$$ :twisted:
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Re: People's Republic of China Nov 22, 2009

Post by svinayak »

Troop increase violates India's deal with China

Image
India will deploy 100,000 soldiers along its border with China over the next five years, The Times of India reported Wednesday.


An article published by The Times of India


"We have proposed to increase our strength by another 90,000 to one lakh (100,000) troops and that has been cleared by the Defense Ministry. The proposal is at present awaiting clearance from the Finance Ministry," army sources told Indian local media.

"India's troop increase along the disputed border areas with China is an offensive act," said Zhao Gancheng, director of South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS).

Zhao commented that India's proposed troop increase violates the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas signed by China and India in 1993. He added that it also violates the Agreement on Confidence-Building Measures in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control in the China-India Border Areas signed by the two countries in 1996.

According to these two agreements, China and India should reduce their troop numbers along the disputed border areas and each party must inform the other if it plans any new troop deployments, Zhao said.

According to the Daily Sunshine's Guan Yao, the U.S. strategy to use India as leverage against China has greatly increased India's confidence. India is acting so aggressively because it knows it has the support of the U.S.

Guan believes that India's proposed troop increase sends a warning to China. "We must keep an eye on this restless neighbor and stay alert in case it alters any of its strategies," he said.

Initially, India's main aim in developing its western areas was to counter Pakistan, according to Zhang Guihong, a professor at Fudan University's Institute of International Studies. Zhang added that India has shifted its development focus to the east to contain China, as little progress has been made on the China-India border issue.

"Meanwhile India has realized its military backwardness, Zhang said. "It has been making efforts to promote military modernization in an attempt to catch up with China."

India believes that China is currently focused on the South China Sea, so its troop increase may not attract too much attention, Zhang added.

But Zhang pointed out that relations between these two influential Asian neighbors are generally sound and stable, despite some conflicts along border areas in recent years.
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