REFLECTIONS IN A CHINESE EYE : May 2012

May 2012

05/06/2012

Imitation Outrage: Faking Concern for the Chinese Masses

Do Westerners care about human rights in China?

This journalist clearly believes they do not.

Let’s stop jacking the Chinese around. We do not care a whit now — nor have we ever cared — about their human rights or any other aspect of their lives as long as they satiate our unbridled appetites. To pretend otherwise is to deny centuries of exploitative history in which the West drugged the Middle Kingdom and plundered it for its resources and cheap labor while obliterating any sign of popular resistance to our imperial sway.

From the Opium Wars to the contemplation of using nuclear weapons to bomb China back to the Stone Age because of our differences with it over Korea and Vietnam, the response of the West has been one of brute intimidation. Never have we been willing to acknowledge that China, for all of its immense contradictions, upheavals, sufferings and errant ways, represents the most complex and impressive example of national history.

Instead we intrude upon China in fitful moments of pique or treat it as a plaything. Who owns China? That was the question that marked the first period of U.S. involvement, when we joined other Western imperialists in carving up China into economic zones. And then came the bitter argument in the U.S. in the late 1940s and the ’50s about “Who lost China?” Now Americans find themselves preoccupied with how best to exploit China’s amazing economic prowess while feigning interest in the well-being of its people.

My problem with the article is the use of the word “We,” as if this lack of interest in human rights in China is monolithic and universal. Is it not possible that many of us care about human rights violations in China? Who is the “We” that doesn’t “care a whit” about the subject? Who are these “Americans” who feel this way? Are they to a large degree strawmen?

I would probably agree that most of the government and the oligarchy of multinational companies don’t care much if at all. But there are many sincere people in the West who do truly care. They are probably the same people who care about human rights in other countries, the kind of people who were appalled at the treatment by the US military of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and who spoke out against atrocities committed in the name of the “war on terror.” Most Western journalists I know in China care deeply about the plight of dissidents in China. I know I do, just as I care about the repression of women in Saudi Arabia, or the arrest and torture and murder of innocents in Syria.

The U.S. Cannot Confront China on Every Move it Disagrees With

Republicans criticizing Obama for not being tougher on China's human-rights abuses are delusional about where America stands in today's global power dynamic, says Zachary Karabell.

The saga of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has become the latest source of tension between China and the United States. And the way that story has entered domestic American politics sheds disturbing light on how in denial the United States remains about the state of the world in the early 21st century.

Since at least the time of Woodrow Wilson, the United States has approached the world with a particular moral framework. Of course, you can find strains of morality well before that, but the modern lens owes much to an early-20th-century spirit that saw Americans championing the rights of individuals to freedom of expression, religion, and democracy, as well as the right of nations to be free from the threat of invasion by rapacious competitors. Americans frequently violated those principles in practice, but they remained woven into the tapestry of American foreign policy.

For every realist like Henry Kissinger who treated human rights as secondary to maintaining the international order, there was a Jimmy Carter who placed human rights at the center of his foreign policy agenda. Historians will note, correctly, that the actual differences in foreign policy were less sharp than the rhetorical ones, but at no point could an administration abjure concern for human rights altogether.

In the second half of the 20th century, American foreign policy unfolded in the context of overwhelming power and competition with the Soviet Union. The Soviets, with their gulags and political prisoners, were seen as human-rights violators par excellence. While America could do little to ease the plight of Soviet dissenters, it could present itself as a beacon of hope and freedom compared to the harsh authoritarianism of the Soviets. As for the Chinese under Mao and the Cultural Revolution, that regime was seen as even more beyond the pale, but was less a focus of American policy. In both cases, there was little in the way of trade or economic links. There was only rivalry and the threat of war. A firm commitment to human rights was part of a global struggle, carried few costs, and allowed the United States to stand on the side of angels.For every realist like Henry Kissinger who treated human rights as secondary to maintaining the international order, there was a Jimmy Carter who placed human rights at the center of his foreign policy agenda. Historians will note, correctly, that the actual differences in foreign policy were less sharp than the rhetorical ones, but at no point could an administration abjure concern for human rights altogether. , AFP / Getty Images ; Tom Wargacki, WireImage / Getty Images

05/04/2012

Fake Chinese beer seized in Metro Manila

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized from three warehouses in Metro Manila nearly 10,000 bottles and cans of counterfeit Chinese beer that was illegally imported into the country.

The beer, contained in 780 cases, was valued at over P395,000 with unpaid duties and taxes of P221,362, said Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon.

The fake Tsingtao beer was also declared “unsafe for consumption” following an inspection and testing by authorized distributors of China’s second largest brewery, Biazon said.

The customs chief said the distributors declared the beer unfit for consumption due to the disparity in container sizes, particularly the bottled beer.

Chinese are coming and building one of the biggest developments in Ireland

Plan for China trade hub to be set up in the midlands of Ireland is unveiled

By JANE WALSH,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Plans for a 300-acre international China trade hub in Athlone have been unveiled.

The Europe China Trading Hub at Creggan, near Athlone, Co. Westmeath will provide a base for Chinese companies to promote business in Europe and the western world, the Irish Independent reports.

The proposed lucrative one-stop trade and exhibition center will initially create 1,530 jobs and the team involved say the first phase could be up and running in three years. The estimated cost of the five-phase development is $1.8 billion (1.4 billion euro).

May 4, 2012 3:33:39 AM | Current Affairs

U.S., China grapple with trust gap amid Chen fallout

Ananth Krishnan

Chinese police officers watch over journalists outside the hospital where Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is recuperating in Beijing on Thursday. Photo:AP

United States and Chinese officials on Thursday called for measures to deepen trust at the start of an annual strategic dialogue, a day after the two countries grappled with a major diplomatic crisis over the case of Chinese lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng.

The fate of the visually challenged rights campaigner remained unclear on Thursday after it emerged that he had expressed strong reservations about a deal reached by U.S. and Chinese officials to arrange his leaving of the American Embassy in Beijing, following a six-day stand-off with Chinese authorities.

U.S. officials came under strong criticism from activists on Wednesday after Mr. Chen revealed that he had actually wanted to leave China along with his family, and only agreed to exit the embassy after Chinese officials threatened to send his wife back to their home village in Shandong, where she had been beaten by local security personnel in recent days.

Mr. Chen spent Thursday at Beijing's Chaoyang hospital, which was surrounded by dozens of police personnel. He is receiving treatment for injuries sustained during his daring escape from Dongshigu village, where he had been kept under illegal house arrest for more than a year and a half on account of his legal activism against forced abortions.

U.S. officials on Thursday mounted a defence of the deal they reached with Chinese officials, saying Mr. Chen had changed his mind after agreeing to a deal to enroll in a university in China following assurances given by Chinese authorities over the safety of his family.

Activist: U.S. will help me leave China

Chen Guangcheng regrets leaving U.S. Embassy

BEIJING (CNN) -

Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic firestorm, reiterated his intention to leave China and said he expects U.S. assistance.

"I believe they will help me," he told CNN in an interview early Friday, but declined to elaborate.

The activist, who left the refuge of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing after he escaped house arrest in his eastern China hometown, said Thursday that he regretted the move and now wants U.S. officials to help get him and his family to the United States.

Now in a hospital, Chen told CNN in an interview early Friday that he spoke with U.S. representatives by phone Thursday. They also met with his wife, Yuan Weijing.

When Chen left the embassy Wednesday, it was announced that the United States and China had worked out a deal for his future.

05/02/2012

Blind activist goes free after promises of safety

BEIJING — A blind Chinese activist who fled persecution by local officials in his rural town and sparked a diplomatic standoff by holing up in the U.S. Embassy for six days emerged Wednesday after U.S. officials said China had assured his safety.

Chen Guangcheng's escape from illegal house arrest in eastern China and his flight into the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing last week had threatened to derail annual U.S.-China strategic talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton starting Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke escorted Chen to Chaoyang Hospital, where he was reunited with his family as he awaited medical treatment for injuries suffered during his escape. On the way, the activist called his lawyer, Li Jinsong, who said Chen told him: "'I'm free. I've received clear assurances.'"

Chen, 40, also received a call from Clinton, whom he thanked in Chinese for raising his case, a U.S. official said. Chen then told Clinton in halting English, "'I want to kiss you,'" the official said.

A close friend of Chen's gave a sharply different account, saying Chinese officials forced Chen to choose between going into exile alone or staying in China with his family.

Zeng Jinyan said she spoke by phone with Chen and his wife while he was in the hospital. A disappointed-sounding Chen told her that his wife's life had been threatened, she said.

"He said what he wanted was totally different but because no one can protect his wife and children" he had to accept, Zeng said via Skype.

How Muddy Waters spots fraud in China

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Investing in China can be complicated, to say the least. Just ask Carson Block, the founder of Muddy Waters Research, known for his keen eye for spotting fraudulent accounting practices at Chinese companies.

Block first noticed a deep-rooted problem within Chinese companies, particularly those listed on U.S. and Canadian stock exchanges, less than two years ago. At the request of his father, who was seeking to invest in small Chinese companies, Block looked into Orient Paper (ONP), a paper manufacturer and distributor based in the Hebei province and listed on the American Stock Exchange.

After digging into the company's financial documents and visiting a manufacturing plant, Block issued a report calling the company a fraud, alleging that it misappropriated tens of millions of dollars and overstated its revenue, assets, inventory and profit margin figures.

He sent his report, which highlighted Muddy Waters' bet against the stock, to just 50 acquaintances in the investment world. It went viral, and Orient Paper's stock sank almost 40% in the three days following the report's release.

Chinese activist leaves U.S. Embassy on 'own volition'

Human rights activist Chen Guangcheng appears on YouTube after slipping away from house arrest

Beijing (CNN) -- A Chinese human rights activist who escaped house arrest and took refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing left for a hospital Wednesday, opening a new chapter in the life of a man at the center of a controversy between the United States and China.

Chen Guangcheng's presence in the U.S. Embassy prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity between the United States and China. It threatened to overshadow U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's scheduled meetings with senior Chinese leaders this week.

The situation has presented a complex test for the Obama administration's approach to relations with China, creating a strain between upholding human rights and maintaining steady ties with Beijing.

Chen departed the embassy "of his own volition" after spending six days there, reported Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency. He will be treated at a medical facility in the Chinese capital, where he will be reunited with his family, a senior U.S. official said.

How Chongqing People View Bo Xilai

One April day in my birth city of Chongqing, I encountered a rare quarrel in People’s Park. The park is one of several places in downtown Chongqing that offer low-cost “baba cha” (open-space tea), where retirees and others with time on their hands lounge under leafy banyan trees with their teacups and bird cages for a good part of the day. Two fiftyish men sat at a plastic table drinking tea and chatting about Bo Xilai, their city’s ousted leader. One of the men said that Bo’s promotion of “people’s livelihood” had been a fake show, because during his four-year rule, prices of meat, food, and other daily goods had risen steeply in Chongqing. Two young women, who happened to be nearby, cellphones in hand and apparently waiting for someone, did not like what they heard and started to argue that Bo made Chongqing better. The man got very upset; his face reddened and he raised his voice, which attracted the attention of onlookers, including me. I asked the man whether his criticism was formed after Bo’s downfall. He was insulted. “This has always been my opinion! I’m not brainless, I was once a journalist!” he yelled.

Tea-drinkers in People's Park, Chongqing (April 2012)

This scene is rare because, seemingly illogically, in the weeks since his downfall, Bo’s local dissenters have been much quieter than his supporters.

Chongqing people’s attitudes toward Bo Xilai range from supportive to condemnatory to “who cares” and everything in between, a broad spectrum with two heavy ends. (For the indifferent, a typical expression I often heard was “The gods fighting is none of our business.”) So far, however, foreign journalists seem to have a hard time penetrating the famous fog of the river-mountain city to find more than one stratum of views. In the English media it is easy to see headlines such as “Bo Xilai Still Admired Locally in China” and “Bo Xilai Remains Popular in Megacity He Once Oversaw.” In those reports quoting “the average people on the street,” the term “average people” generally does not include intellectuals, writers, journalists, academics, and so forth.

In fact, among local intellectuals, professionals, and the middle class, there has been an overwhelming sentiment against Bo’s doings in Chongqing since 2009, according to a dozen such men and women I have spoken to this month, all of whom requested anonymity. One reason their opinions have not been widely reflected in the foreign media is that they are much more reluctant to speak than the “stick men” (棒棒, or porters-for-hire) who roam the streets. When I asked why they were still afraid of speaking up even after Bo was gone, a local journalist told me that the government had issued orders forbidding them from talking to foreign journalists.

Ageing population should see China and Australia joined at hip

THERE are 8 million Chinese over 80 years of age and, by some estimates, there will be 100 million Chinese octogenarians by the middle of this, the Asian century.

And although old age may bring brittle bones, there is a view that Australia's ties to China could benefit from a hip replacement. Half a million even.

That's how many operations Stephen Leeder, the director of Sydney's Menzies Centre for Health Policy, estimates will be needed in China each year by 2050 - offering Australia a unique chance to foster closer links with Beijing by helping China cope with the consequences of an ageing population.

Professor Leeder yesterday told former Treasury boss Ken Henry, who is drafting the federal government's forthcoming white paper Australia in the Asian Century, that Australia should spruik its medical expertise in the region, not only in aged care, but also, as China's economy grows, what he calls the ''unintended consequences'' of middle-class life, such as increased rates of diabetes and heart disease.

''We know how to fix hips, we know what to do in terms of preventative strategies,'' Professor Leeder said.

''We've got a chance while these populations are ageing to put in place preventative strategies against the unintended consequences of middle-class affluence that could save them a motza.''

REFLECTIONS IN A CHINESE EYE