Hey my CSExy classmates! Julian here! Chanced upon these videos on the net. They're by South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com/) and they're murderously hilarious!

Video #1: Debate on Who's the President and When it was confirmed (Note the pun and the news bulletin that scrolls below!)



Video #2: Bush's keynote address on Hu Jintao's visit to US

Labels: Posts by Julian the great, videos about China

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China's education department will start pilot projects to teach students in primary and secondary schools how to perform Peking Opera, one of the nation's unique cultural treasures.
"It is a significant move not only to Peking Opera itself but also the whole Chinese culture," Wu Jiang, president of the China National Peking Opera Company told Xinhua.
It will bring today's children and teenagers closer to the heart of Chinese traditional culture, he said, "Peking Opera is not only a form of art but also a concentration of cultural traditions."
The Ministry of Education is to add Peking Opera into music courses for primary and secondary schools in 10 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions including Beijing this year, as part of the efforts to promote traditional culture.
In the coming new semester, 20 schools in Beijing will launch Peking Opera courses.
Peking Opera, with a history of more than 200 years, is a synthesis of music, dance, art and acrobatics and is widely regarded as a symbolic expression of Chinese culture. Many historical events are adapted into the plays, which in the past were an important primer on history and ethical principles.
The education department has chosen 15 pieces of Peking Opera, including both classical and modern ones, said Wang Jun, an official of the artistic education division under the city education department.
Teachers are asked to not only teach students how to sing and perform but also introduce to them the storylines and background information so as to help children develop understanding and taste about traditional culture, he said.
"We have found that many children are weak in traditional literature and arts," Wang said.
The schools will also invite Peking Opera performers to train music teachers, he said.
To make the course easier for kids, schools will begin with modern plays, such as The Red Lantern, one of the eight Model Plays written some 40 years ago, which tell stories of Chinese revolutionaries.
"The storylines and lyrics are closer to modern culture, compared with the classic ones that tell stories from hundreds of years ago," said Zeng Yue, headmaster of Shuangyushu school in northern Beijing.
Classical plays will be introduced to students in higher grades that are more informed about ancient literature. Students of the sixth grade will start to learn a classical play Zha Mei An that tells of Bao Zheng, a legendary judge from China's Song Dynasty (960 to 1279 A.D.) who investigated a case involving the emperor's son-in-law.
"I think that the plan is not aimed to foster Peking Opera artists or fans," Wu said, "It just opens a door to children, giving them a chance to develop interests in traditional culture. If they are not interested, at least they are getting to know something about it."

COMMENTS
I think that reviving Chinese Opera among school children is a fantastic idea. Lost in the world of consumerism and of newer culture and ideals, many Chinese children have never come across events so rich and steep in culture. But how the school children respond to this will also be an issue. The emphasis on education is school is on academics, and coupled with most Chinese children being an only child, and their parents' hope, it seems almost unlikely that children will see the importance of understanding and knowing their own culture. on a more serious note, they might even see it as a waste of time. I understand what China is trying to do, and i applaud them. But the question is, what makes them so sure that this will be a good idea which doesn't waste time and resources?

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Wen Says Visit to India Historic
Visiting Premier Wen Jiabao said in New Delhi Tuesday that his visit to India was a historic one with fruitful results.
Speaking at a press conference before ending his four-day visit to India, Wen said both China and India have seen fruitful results through the visit.

"It is better to say it is a historic visit. We all believe that China's stability and development are in the interest of India, and India's stability and development are in the interest of China. The stability, development and prosperity of South Asia are in the interest of the whole world," the Chinese premier said.

To specify the importance of the visit, Wen said it has produced three major results.

The first result was that the governments of China and India "have been able to sign a joint statement to which the two sides have announced the establishment of a strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity. This means we have actually taken this relationship to a new level."

The second result, he said, was that both sides signed an agreement on the political guiding principles for the settlement of boundary question. "This is a sign that we have taken the settlement of the boundary question to a new stage as well."

The third major result was that the two countries had adopted a five-year plan for the all-round economic cooperation and trade between the two countries. "According to this plan, we have the objective that we'll make our two-way trade volume at the level of US$20 billion in 2008 and US$30 billion in the year 2010," he added.

In addition, Wen said he had made extensive exchange of views with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Indian leaders on bilateral relations and international issues of shared interest and both sides had reached agreement basically.

COMMENTS
I think it's a good thing for themselves that China and India are both forging better bilateral relations. but the problem is, how will the rest of the world take it? it's a good thing for the 2 huge developing economies as they can exchange expertise and help each other's economy improve. but one major cause for concern is that when they get too pally with each other, it's almost as if they can become a threat to the rest of the world given their immense size of the population, economy and the source of labour. for example, between them, China and Indie account for a high percentage of the world's cheap labour. Imagine if they gang up and use their large population size to their advantage, wouldn't it spell trouble for the rest of the world who are so dependent on Indian and Chinese goods and labour? But on the other hand, it is not guaranteed that China and India can smooth out all their past wrinkles so easily. sure, it's easy to say on agreements and on paper, but practically, it's a whole new ball game. there are many other factors to consider, and if these existing problems have lasted for decades, what makes China and India think they can settle them with the help of agreements, in just a few years?

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SHANGHAI — Chinese officials said Wednesday that they were grappling with ethnic unrest on a second front, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims protested Chinese rule last month even as Tibetans rioted in the southwest.
One Uighur demonstration, which appears to have been quickly suppressed, took place in the town of Hotan on March 23, at the same time China was deploying thousands of security officers across much of its southwest to put down Tibetan unrest.
Officials said the protest was staged by Islamic separatist groups seeking to foment a broader uprising in Xinjiang. China often accuses what it calls splittists and terrorists of being behind any ethnic disturbance. Human rights groups say that Chinese Uighurs, like Tibetans, have fought for greater freedom to practice their religion as well as more autonomy from Beijing.
The news of the protest in Xinjiang underscored the breadth of China’s problems with ethnic and religious minority groups in the country’s vast western regions, where there is a long history of unhappiness with Chinese rule. Ethnic groups Beijing has sought to pacify with economic development programs and suppress with a heavy police presence appear to be using the coming Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing in August, as an opportunity to press their grievances and attract international attention.
“A small number of elements tried to incite splittism, create disturbances in the marketplace and even trick the masses into an uprising,” a statement published on the Web site of the Hotan local government said in the first official acknowledgment of the disturbances.
Uighur residents of Hotan reached by telephone either claimed not to understand Chinese or refused to talk about recent events there. But Han residents said that as many as 500 Uighurs had protested. Some reports have said the Uighurs were objecting to restrictions on wearing Islamic scarves and head coverings. Some people who were interviewed, however, said the protesters were seeking independence. The demonstrators were arrested by the security forces.
Zhu Linxiu, a senior police official in Hotan, declined to comment about the protests, saying it was “inappropriate to publicize.” He refused to confirm the number of protesters or arrests, but said the demonstrators were “instigated by bad elements.”
Two weeks before the reported protest in Hotan, China announced the discovery of what it called a terrorist plot in Xinjiang, which it said involved the smuggling of combustible liquids onto a commercial airliner by a Uighur woman who had spent time in neighboring Pakistan.
Officials called the incident part of a terrorist campaign by a radical Islamic independence group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Uighur groups have denied the reports and called them part of an effort to justify increased security in the region and the suppression of dissent before the Olympics.
In recent days, the Chinese government has also accused supporters of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, of plotting a suicide bombing campaign against China, as part of a separatist movement.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International criticized the government for its crackdown on protests in Tibetan areas of China, and it said the country’s efforts to silence dissidents before the Olympics violated the government’s pledges to improve human rights before the Games. “The Olympic Games have so far failed to act as a catalyst for reform,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “Unless urgent steps are taken to redress the situation, a positive human rights legacy for the Beijing Olympics looks increasingly beyond reach.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, denounced the Amnesty statement as “biased.”
Like Tibetans in Tibet, Uighurs have historically been the predominant ethnic group in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. In both Tibet and Xinjiang, indigenous groups have chafed at the arrival of large numbers of Han Chinese, the country’s predominant ethnic group, who have migrated to western regions with strong government support.
Uighurs, like Tibetans, have complained that recent Han arrivals now dominate their local economies, even as the Han-run local governments insert themselves deeper into schools and religious practices to weed out cultural practices that officials fear might reinforce a separate ethnic or religious identity.
In telephone interviews, Han residents of Hotan and nearby areas said there was a long history of distrust and tension between the Han and Uighurs. Some Han migrants said that the atmosphere remained volatile and that the Uighurs had been inspired by the Tibetan unrest.
“Some jobless people here have heard about the situation in Tibet, and they also want to make trouble,” said Wang Guoliang, a Han grocery store owner in Hotan. “They want independence and they want to expel the Han, whom they dislike.”

COMMENTS
Discontent among ethnic minorities has always been a problem for China. I guess this is probably due to the fact that the Chinese government is not sensitive enough to these minority races. Drawing parallels with Singapore, our government seems more sincere when dealing with such racial and religious problems. But then again, China is not even half the size, nor does it have even 1/3 the population of China, so i concede that China's problems are definitely not easy to solve given the huge scale. China's biggest problem now is the emphasis it places on economic development, and this includes improving the standards of living of the Chinese people as a whole. If the Chinese government concentrates on just trying to improve living standards for economic wellbeing and development, while it neglects the wellbeing of its people, then of course, China will always have the problems of discontent and unsatisfaction present. And this, is why i think China's problems of racial and religions issues will always be present

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The people of the scrub hills of China's eastern Shandong province have an ancient get-rich-quick formula. Just find the home of the sun god. When he tired of flying in his chariot, the legend goes, he would rest in a gold-filled cave on Mount Luo. For thousands of years people have searched for the sun god's lair, and they're still at it today. At the Dayingezhuang mine 19 miles (30 km) south of Mount Luo, workers take an open elevator car for a 21/2-minute plunge down a dark, icy shaft. At the bottom, amid swirling condensation and suffocating dankness, they enter a large hall labeled as face number 5,206. The night before, an engineer used 2-meter lengths of dynamite to blast 150 tons of rock from the roof. Now two men use an earthmover to load the rock so it can be hauled to the surface, where it is crushed and mixed in a bath of chemicals to leach out the precious metal.

The sun god's crib it isn't. But for every ton of rock pried from the earth, two grams of gold will be produced. Last year the Dayingezhuang mine turned out 78,000 ounces of gold, worth more than $78 million at the current price of around $1,000 an ounce. There's more ore where that came from. The mine's operator, Hong Kong-listed Zhaojin Mining Industry Co., expects to get 80,000 ounces from Dayinggezhuang this year. It's a story that is playing out at thousands of other Chinese gold mines that, with metal prices soaring, are ramping up production — and changing the shape of the global gold-mining industry in the process. China's gold output has climbed nearly 50% over the past five years; the total surpassed 276 tons last year, enough to make China the world's largest producer of the precious metal, for the first time supplanting South Africa, which had been No. 1 since 1905. This isn't a fluke. China's surprisingly high reserves and growing domestic demand mean the country will likely remain the industry leader in coming years. Says Paul Atherley, managing director of Leyshon Resources, an Australian mining company: "China is going to become dominant in the world gold industry as a producer, consumer and explorer."


In a way, the country is merely regaining its former glory. The Chinese have been pulling gold from the earth since the Song dynasty 1,000 years ago. But after the communist takeover in 1949, mining went dormant for decades. Personal ownership of gold was banned as a bourgeois extravagance, and production rarely broke 20 tons a year. That started to change with economic reform in the 1990s. Small wildcat operations began to proliferate, and these relatively unsophisticated outfits dominate the sector today. While countries such as South Africa, Australia, the U.S. and Canada get most of their production from a few dozen large, efficient mines, China has an estimated 2,000 mines scattered throughout the country. And because of their sketchy practices, the smaller operators are "a problem," says Zhang Yongtao, general secretary of the China Gold Association. "Their technological standards are weak, their management is insufficient and they don't make money."


The backwardness of China's gold-mining business is apparent to anyone visiting Zhaoyuan, a Shandong province city of 580,000. More than 60 mines operating in the hills around Zhaoyuan annually unearth about 15% of China's gold — enough to qualify the little city as the de facto gold capital of China. Yet even with gold prices soaring, Zhaoyuan is hardly a boom town. Beyond the sycamore-lined downtown streets, which display the modest prosperity of a midsize Chinese city, you find block after block of drab, low houses. At night, the closest thing to an entertainment district is an unlit street with two drafty karaoke bars.


Locals say the money made by the mines flows mainly to investors located in China's wealthy coastal cities. It certainly isn't winding up in the pockets of workers. An average miner makes $420 a month. That's not a bad wage for China, but the work is tough and dangerous. China's mines are the world's deadliest, and while most of the accidents occur in coal pits, the government says 2,188 died in gold and other metal mines last year. Such poor working conditions persist in China because workers' rights are weak and there are no independent unions.


Still, better days lie ahead for Zhaoyuan and for China's gold-mining industry. Beijing began reforms in the mid-1990s, encouraging the hodgepodge of small operators to consolidate and allowing foreign companies to form joint ventures so that Chinese companies could learn modern management practices, financial controls, and environmental and safety standards. China now has several publicly traded gold-mining companies, among them Fujian Zijin Mining Industry Co., Lingbao Gold Co. and Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. Their IPOs over the past several years provided an influx of investment capital — Zhaojin Mining raised $282 million from its listing — and also introduced the mining industry to shareholder scrutiny for the first time. "There is a correlation between the huge rise in gold production in China and the listings of those companies," says Auslan Ishmael, general manager of the China International Mining Group, an industry association. "This definitely put pressure on those companies to get a good return." Zhaojin Mining, for example, has seen its revenue soar by more than 100% a year for the past four years.


One big reason why diggers are excited about China's future is because of the large amount of gold that may still be in the ground. "Some of the world's biggest remaining deposits are in China, for sure," Ishmael says. Now miners are going all out to find it. Nationwide the commercial-exploration budgets for gold and other metals have climbed from $20 million in 2003 to more than $300 million last year, according to Metals Economics Group, a Canadian research firm. China's Geological Survey Bureau says that last year five new gold deposits with reserves estimated at 600 tons were found.


Could the next BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, be Chinese? Observers say it's possible, given high metals prices and China's untapped reserves. But listed domestic miners have ambitions beyond China's borders. Zijin, China's leading gold miner, last year purchased a company with gold-mining and exploration rights in Tajikistan and a stake in a Philippine gold and copper project. Zijin also led a consortium that bought a majority stake in London-listed Monterrico Metals, which owns a copper and molybdenum project in Peru. "All the big mining groups started this way," says Atherley, the Australian mining-company executive. "They get a good mine and they start acquiring. It is really down to corporate fate. That's the only thing stopping Chinese groups." Says Zhang of the China Gold Association: "We can keep this up for a long time." Having passed South Africa and with its best years ahead, "China won't have any problems remaining on top for the next 20 years." The country's miners may have reached the sun god's lair after all.

-Joslyn Chew-
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The news out of Japan is likely to compound the nation's failures in dealing with its wartime abuses against China: The Japanese company responsible for removing chemical weapons abandoned by Japanese forces in China at the end of World War II will not be able to complete its work, with a corruption scandal forcing its closure. That leaves Tokyo with no immediate replacement to complete the complicated cleanup, which Japan is obliged to finish by 2012 under an international treaty.


But critics say the fault lies with the government itself, for a failure of oversight that allowed the Abandoned Chemical Weapons Disposal Corp. (ACWDC) to misappropriate approximately 100 million yen ($1 million) of public funds. And they question the government's commitment to removing the weapons, which remain lethal more than 60 years after the war. Cleaning up these caustic reminders of Japanese aggression in China would be a practical way for Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to act on his stated desire to improve relations between the two countries. Yet, while a Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said that the cleanup "is extremely important for improving trust," the government has not indicated how it plans to get the project back on track — nor has it launched a tendering process for companies to bid for the contract.


The ruling Liberal Democratic Party draws important support from organizations that downplay or deny Japanese use of chemical and biological weapons in China during the war. And there are deniers in the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, too: Jin Matsubara, a Democratic parliamentarian known for denying the killing of Chinese civilians by the Japanese Imperial Army in Nanjing in 1937-1938, recently used his speaking time at a Diet session dedicated to discussing the weapons to question their very existence.


The Chinese government says that Japan left some 2 million chemical munitions — shells, bombs and barrels of deadly agents such as mustard gas, phosgene, hydrogen cyanide and lewisite. The Japanese Cabinet Office, which handles issues related to the weapons, declined to estimate the number, but Japanese officials have previously said there were at least 700,000. According to the Japanese government's Abandoned Chemical Weapons Office, most of the weapons are in northeastern China, but some have been found as far south as Guangdong Province. Buried in fields and submerged in streams by the defeated Japanese Imperial Army in 1945, they have since caused an estimated 2,000 deaths, according to Beijing.


Zhou Tong and Liu Hao were among those unlucky enough to learn first-hand about the lingering danger. The two boys, aged 12 and eight at the time, were playing in a river in northeastern China's Jilin Province in 2004, when they came into contact with toxins that had leaked from the abandoned arms. The boys lived, but the illness induced by their exposure forced them to drop out of school. The Japanese government refused to pay damages to the boys' families, despite acknowledging that abandoned chemical weapons had been the cause of their sickness. Such cases inflame longstanding animosities, and potentially threaten to further damage the already fraught relationship between Beijing and Tokyo.


Despite the cleanup stalling over the corruption scandal, Japanese officials claim Tokyo can still fulfill its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention to remove and destroy all such munitions left in China by 2012. Minoru Shibuya, the Japanese ambassador to the Netherlands, where the convention is enforced by the Organization for the Prohibition for Chemical Weapons in the Hague, said that "the government of Japan continues to attach top priority" to the project. According to an Organization spokesperson, Japan has reported "no foreseen delays" to meeting its cleanup deadline. But Japan's record does not leave critics confident: The current 2012 deadline is an extension granted after Japan missed its initial deadline of 2007. Key disposal facilities have yet to be built, and Cabinet Office officials declined to say how they would find a replacement firm to take over where ACWDC left off.


Amy Smithson, a senior fellow at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, D.C., said that the technical difficulties and expenses for the cleanup are substantial, but that Japan has the technological base to get on with the project — if the political will is in place. "Not surprisingly," Smithson said, "the Chinese and some outside observers have criticized the snail's pace of destruction efforts." That pace has just gotten even slower, highlighting the difficulty the two countries continue to face in putting a nasty past behind them.

-Joslyn Chew-
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Labels: articles, Piracy, Posts by Julian the great

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Mattel and China Differ on Apology
Interpretation Sets Off Debate
By Renae Merle and Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 22, 2007; D01
Contributed by Julian Po

After weeks of uproar and suspicion about the safety of Chinese-made products, an executive of the Mattel toy company met with China's top product safety official yesterday to issue an apology. Just what the apology meant, however, was caught up in translation.

Mattel says that Thomas A. Debrowski, its executive vice president for worldwide operations, was in Beijing to repeat what the company had already said in Europe and the United States, that it was sorry for the recall of millions of toys, and that it was doing all it could to prevent further problems.

The Chinese press heard it differently. The state-run New China News Agency said Debrowski "apologized personally Friday to a senior Chinese official for the massive recall of Made-in-China toys due to design flaws committed by itself." Other media outlets said Debrowski apologized for harming the reputation of Chinese firms.

To an American ear, the news agency reports sounded as if Debrowski was making an apology for any blame placed on China.

In the United States, however, Mattel said in a statement that some reports of the meeting had been "mischaracterized."

When Debrowski said, "Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," the company said he was telling Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang what had been said elsewhere, including that a majority of the problems had been associated with design issues, not Chinese manufacturers.

The majority of Mattel's recalls, 17.4 million units, were associated with the firm's long-standing problem of strong magnets falling out of toys and endangering children who could swallow them, Mattel said in a statement. The rest, 2.2 million, Mattel blamed on Chinese firms that used lead-based paint, which is prohibited in the United States.

Mattel, of course, has every interest in maintaining a good relationship with China, even as it must shore up the confidence of its customers. The El Segundo, Calif., toymaker receives 65 percent of its toys from China and has made significant financial investments in the Asian country. Mattel's stock closed yesterday at $23.94 per share, up 38 cents.

The recall of nearly 20 million Chinese-made toys, including some Big Bird and Elmo products, and Barbie accessories came at a sensitive time. Chinese products had already had plenty of negative publicity, starting with the recall of tainted dog food, followed by recalls of toothpaste and then seafood with a banned antibiotic. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission yesterday added Chinese-made cribs to the list, announcing the recall of 1 million of the products that pose a suffocation hazard. The crib problems were not linked to Chinese manufacturing but to design flaws. Still, the words "Made in China" were reported.

The recalls have led to a series of congressional hearings where China, along with U.S. regulators, were cast in a negative light. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) has proposed suspending imports of food and toys from China. "There has been a cascade and that's caused a U.S. consumer perception crisis of China, not all of it justified," said Drew Thompson, director of China studies at the Nixon Center.

"China has received a lot of blame for the recalls in the West," said Hari Bapuji, assistant professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada and lead author of the report, "Toy Recalls -- Is China the Problem?" "They do have problems, there is no doubt. But I think the blame they received was larger than their share of their responsibility for the problem."

In an earlier statement in China, Mattel had said that its recalls for lead-based paint had been "overly inclusive" and included toys that met U.S. standards. A Mattel spokesman could not say how many of the toys did not need to be recalled.

Mattel is "dependent on Chinese industrial capacity for its toys," said Eric Johnson, a management professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, who has studied the toy industry's migration to China. "They have significant investment of their own capital" in the country "and don't want to lose it. I suspect that Mattel has a vested interest in expanding into the Chinese market as well."

The news agency report was the latest in a series of statements from the Chinese government that suggest a new public relations strategy is underway that plays up evidence China was being treated unfairly. On Sept. 7, for example, after a meeting between Indonesian and Chinese officials over Chinese candy that allegedly contained excessive levels of formaldehyde, China said, "Indonesian authorities yesterday acknowledged that formaldehyde exists naturally in food" and regretted its earlier criticism. In turn, China promised to re-evaluate its decision to ban Indonesian seafood.

The prospect of a potential Mattel apology to China was criticized by some in Congress. "While I'm not going to argue with a U.S. company's apology for recent toy recalls, most would agree that China should be apologizing as well to consumers around the world for exporting shoddy products and dangerous food," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been critical of China's regulatory and export systems.

By emphasizing a public apology by Mattel, China gains a public relations advantage, experts said. "This is all about saving face and a private apology wouldn't have done that for China. They really needed this public apology," Johnson said.

Correspondent Ariana Eunjung Cha in Shanghai contributed to this report.

Julian's comments:

Eeew, and as a child, I kept mistaking lead-coated Thomas and Friends train tracks for chocolate bars...
...
...not Thomas Foo, lah!

Nevertheless, this is a typical case of overassumption, oversight and premature conclusion that China is to blame for everything. From the article, there could be a possibility that China has been used as a scapegoat for every MNC blunders; the fact that so many of these substandard products exist in China, has been exploited by these despicable corporations as an excuse for their own faults.

So, let this clear the smokescreen: when you see your child accidentally swallow a made-in-China Barbie's head, it might not have anything to do with China but the child un-friendly design of the doll. And who designed it? *pretends to not look at the holier-than-thou Westerners*

Oh, and here's my word of advice to Mr. Thomas (again, not Thomas Foo, lah!) Debrowski: fire your media correspondent!

Labels: articles, Posts by Julian the great, product safety

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Taiwan vice president-elect may meet China's Hu
Sun Apr 6, 2008 6:25am EDT
Contributed by Julian Po

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's vice president-elect may meet Chinese leader Hu Jintao at a trade fair in China this week, local media said on Sunday, an unprecedented step that would underline the chances for a thaw after years of diplomatic chill.

The trip comes soon after a landslide victory by President-elect Ma Ying-jeou and running mate Vincent Siew in elections last month on a platform to repair strained ties with China, which considers the self-ruled island its own.

Siew, who heads the Cross-Strait Common Market Foundation, will be leading a Taiwan delegation to the annual Boao Forum For Asia in China's southern island province of Hainan.
"Mr. Siew should be able to go. China hasn't said no and that's why we've decided to announce to everybody that we'll be going to the forum on April 11 and returning on April 13," Yu-chi Wang, spokesman for the delegation told Reuters by telephone.

Wang said it was not confirmed whether there would be a meeting between Siew and Hu, though local media, including Taiwan's TVBS television station and the United Daily News, said the two might meet since Hu would be attending the event this year.

The Taiwan Affairs Office was unavailable for comment.

Official talks between China and Taiwan have been suspended since 1999, when Taiwan's former president, Lee Teng-hui, redefined ties as "special state-to-state" relations.

But with the election of the more China-friendly Ma, some analysts believe more than half a century of hostility and tension between China and Taiwan might finally come to an end.

Siew, an ex-premier who has also held top economics posts in Taiwan, has been attending the annual forum in China over the past few years.

China sees Taiwan as a wayward province and wants to bring the island under its fold, by force if necessary. Despite political differences, trade ties have flourished and China has since become Taiwan's top trading partner and favourite investment destination.

(Reporting by Meg Shen and Ian Ransom in Beijing, writing by Lee Chyen Yee; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Julian's comments:
Ah yes, aren't we tired of Ah Bian's antagonistic, obonoxious attempts to internationalise Taiwan by renaming national monuments?

Finally, we have two political figures in Taiwan who understand the benefits of a united China, albeit One China, Two Systems. I mean, for the interest of everyone, Taiwan + Hong Kong + Macau + reunification with Mainland = 三媳妇回娘家 = one big, happy family, right?

Mind the digression, but China should be commended for wisely refraining from interfering with 2008's Taiwanese elections. Considering the amount of negative news pin-pointed towards China recently, having "China and Taiwan: 4th Straits Crisis" on the headlines would officially snub the former's dream of hosting a great Olympics.

On the Taiwanese side, the growing evidence of their loss of competitiveness to China would, all the more, necessitate greater economic cooperation between both parties. And with Hong Kong now on China's side (Imagine David + Goliath versus, erm, Mini David) and Japan starting to recover from recession, Taiwan is beginning to feel the pressure of compromising national interests for economic ones. Like Steve Martin would put it, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

Besides, with all the failed pleas to secure a seat in the UN, and with so few countries on official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, being nice to the Big Bro. aka China would seem like the only way to truly internationalise Taiwan and give her the status that she desperately craves for. So, are you listening, Ah Bian?

UPDATE! New article on China-Taiwan relations!

China to honour its commitment to send pandas to Taiwan
From The Hindu News Update Service

Beijing (PTI) China on Friday said it stood by its commitment to send two giant pandas to Taiwan, a move seen by many as Beijings 'panda diplomacy' to soften its ties with the self-ruled island.

Chinas offer to send the pandas was earlier rejected by Taiwan's outgoing administration of Chen Shui-bian, apparently under pressure from pro-independence forces who saw Beijings move as a "propaganda ploy".

However, in a major boost to China's attempts at establishing closer relations with Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, who is in favour of closer ties with Beijing scored a landslide victory in the recent presidential elections.

The newly elected Taiwanese leader recently gave his approval to receive the two pandas from China.

He said as Taipei mayor earlier, he had supported acceptance of the giant pandas from China and "so I am in favour of receiving the pandas".

The panda pair, named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan characters that go together meaning unite were healthy and happy at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre in southwestern Sichuan province of China, the State Forestry Administration spokesman Cao Qingyao said, according to Xinhua news agency.

"To let our Taiwan compatriots meet these two pandas at an early date, we hope that relevant organizations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will start communication and negotiations as soon as possible," Qingyao said.

Taipei and Taichung cities and Hsinchu county are vying with each other to host the pandas from the mainland, after the victory of Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan media said.

Taiwan had split from China during the civil war in 1949 but Beijing claims it to be part of its territory.

Labels: articles, Panda, Posts by Julian the great, Taiwan

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Read the Writing on the Great Wall
Commentary: Read the Writing on the Great Wall
Jay Weiner for Business Week
Contributed by Julian Po

The world is watching China, and what it sees isn't pretty. But Beijing still has time to get the messageSeven years ago, when the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2008 Games to China, the Olympics were supposed to bestow on Beijing a sheen of progress.

Operating under the quintet of intertwined circles and the high-minded values that are trademarks of the Olympic Movement, it was thought, would compel Beijing's rulers to be more open, more democratic.

But now the five rings are starting to choke China. Instead of a sporting event that nudges the Chinese regime toward more fairness and transparency, the Games are serving only to highlight events such as the crackdown in Tibet.

Meantime, Human Rights Watch is spotlighting the squalid conditions of the migrant workers building Olympic venues, and on Mar. 31, Dream for Darfur is scheduled to release a "report card" on the response of Olympic corporate sponsors to China's support of "genocide" in Sudan.

To make matters worse, the IOC just announced that Beijing's miserable air quality might mean rescheduling endurance events. But no, there won't be an official boycott. The EU says it won't back one. And President Bush's Treasury owes too much money to China for the U.S. to rain on the most important parade since The Long March. Besides, a series of boycotts from 1976-84 almost destroyed the Olympics and punished no one but hard-working athletes.

"Boycotts don't work," says Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, a group pressuring China over its support of the Sudanese regime. "Boycotts are tired. They're old school. They're kind of fringy and lefty."

The political stage belongs to those who show up, not to those who stay away. Ask the angry Tibetan monks. So with a little more than four months to go until Opening Ceremonies, China's coming-out party has become a steady drip of organized protest. China's leaders can whine that there is no connection between politics and sports, but only the naive take them seriously.

The Olympics are a political event and have been forever thus. The Internet and YouTube—when they're not blocked by censors—will turn the runup to these Games into viral political theater. In the be-careful-what-you-wish-for department, the whole world will be watching China—and not just what Beijing wants it to watch.

ENDURING OPTIMISM

The touching contradiction is that, deep down, the people seem to want the Olympics to serve as a channel for what they call "public diplomacy"—the projection of the values and opinions of China to the rest of us, not the formal, measured diplomacy of dark suits in ornate rooms.

They're hoping for a transfer of good vibes. "Beijing's citizens want to be perfect hosts," says Zhong Xin, an associate professor of journalism and communication at Beijing's Renmin University and a visiting research fellow at the University of Maryland.

One fascinating finding from a survey of Beijing residents revealed that an overwhelming number saw the Olympics as an opportunity for "Chinese officials [to] show their capability in dealing with tough issues," Zhong says. So maybe it's helpful that all this dissent has come now.

China's decision-makers have time to digest the world's reactions and adjust their behavior accordingly. But if the leadership can't—or won't—read the clear signals, if they stonewall, if they censor, if they bludgeon, the Olympic Games will become a mere sideshow. And those five rings, once filled with so much promise, will become rings of fire.

Jay Weiner, based in St. Paul, Minn., has covered every Olympics since 1984 and will be in Beijing.

Julian's comments:

Like myself (an OCD sufferer,) China is realising that nothing can be perfect, not even an Olympic games. As China plays host to one of the largest world events, it is bound to be scrutinised by especially the foreign media.

Since it is impossible (and childish) for "a globalised world" to boycott the Olympics, as in the case of the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Games, China-bashers have decided to use the influential and outspoken traits of the media to publicise their atrocities, hoping to make the Beijing 2008 Games unforgettable... for the wrong reasons. Ah, those scheming jerks. *pretends to not look at the holier-than-thou Westerners*

However, considering the improvement in infrastructure and their ability to contain the Tibet unrests (for now,) China should be commended for doing a good job in preparation for their big celebration on 08/08/08.

What's more, if you were to look at the controversies of other Olympic hosts -- Salt Lake City's bribes on IOC members, Athens eleventh hour completion of olympic venues and London's "Har?! A hideous looking stadium for 470 million pounds!" -- all I could say is, thank goodness for bad air quality in Beijing. *smirks*

Labels: articles, Beijing Olympics, Darfur conflict, Posts by Julian the great, Too bad but I just mentioned Tibet in this article :P

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China Will Eat Our Lunch

Peter Schiff
NEWSWEEK
Nov 24, 2007
URL:http://www.newsweek.com/id/71991

Most economists attribute the recent spike in Chinese inflation (6.5 percent in October) as an inevitable consequence of rapid growth. Few question why a country that has made tremendous gains in productivity, and that is responsible for lowering prices around the world, cannot deliver lower prices at home. In contrast, similarly rapid industrialization in the United States in the 19th century produced sustained price declines for more than 100 years.
The truth is that high prices in China, and the rest of the world for that matter, are a direct result of low prices in America. When the Chinese government, and their counterparts in the Middle East and Latin America, finally move to snuff out local inflation, a massive realignment of global purchasing power will ensue, with Americans on the losing end.

Despite economists' efforts to obscure the obvious, prices are a function of money supply. More money chasing a constant supply of goods pushes prices higher. More goods introduced into a constant supply of money pushes prices lower.

To sustain its currency peg to the U.S. dollar, China must expand its supply of yuan to purchase the hundreds of billions of excess dollars that it earns annually by selling products to Americans. With few American products to buy, many of these dollars are held by China as currency reserves. This action lowers inflation in the United States by making Chinese goods cheaper for Americans and restricting the supply of dollars globally. Conversely, the supply of yuan expands rapidly and overwhelms the downward price pressures made possible by increased productivity.
However, as China's inflation problems make the maintenance of the peg increasingly untenable, the day will surely come when the Chinese allow the dollar to fall and their own currency to rise. Most economists fear this will kill American consumption, leading to global recession. My view: while it would sound the death knell for the golden age of American consumption, it would in fact be a boon for China.

The absurdity of an economic model that credits Americans' insatiable willingness to consume as a prerequisite for global prosperity can easily be understood when boiled down to its basic elements. Suppose five Asians and one American were shipwrecked on an island. To maximize efficiency the castaways devise a plan where one Asian fishes, another hunts, the third gathers fruit, the fourth gathers firewood and the fifth cooks. The American is assigned the job of eating. In the eyes of the modern economist, the American is clearly the engine of this microeconomy; without his heroic consumption, the economy would stagnate.

The truth is that consumption is a movable feast. Americans overconsume because the world props up the purchasing-power of our currency. As the dollar declines, so too will our ability to overconsume. But the purchasing power lost by America will be gained by countries whose currencies rise in relative terms. Factories around the world won't shut down if Americans stopped spending. Without the American to feed, the Asians would simply have more to eat themselves.

With a per capita GDP of $43,000 the International Monetary Fund currently ranks the United States fourth among all nations in economic output per person. At $7,600 per year, China ranks 86th. However, due to its massive population of 1.3 billion, China already ranks third in total economic output. Most forecasters assume the total size of the Chinese economy will eclipse that of the United States by the middle of this century. But by factoring in the weakening dollar and the inevitable slowdown that drop will inflict on the United States, the changing of the guard will occur much sooner, perhaps in the next five years. In short order, currency realignment could push the United States out of the list of the top 20 nations in terms of per capita GDP, behind such countries as Greece and Singapore.

My forecast is that as foreigners continue to walk away from dollar assets, the greenback will lose an additional 40 to 50 percent against the U.S. Dollar Index. Given that the yuan has been artificially restrained by the Chinese government for decades, its rise will likely be much steeper, perhaps twice as much as the index itself. Such revaluations would result in China's GDP quadrupling in dollar terms. At current levels, this puts the Chinese economy at nearly $12 trillion and the U.S. at $13.2 trillion. Based on this assumption, it would only take a year or two of oversize expansion in China and modest contraction in the United States for the economic crown to move across the Pacific.

In the current status quo, America plays the role of one of its cultural icons, Tom Sawyer, who convinced his companions that the satisfaction of whitewashing fences (or in this case providing goods on credit) was reward in itself. The day will soon come when China and the other emerging economies decide to tend to their own fences. When that happens, Americans will have to paint for themselves, and perhaps even make their own brushes.

Posted by: Elizabeth Tan 07s307
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Welcome to the Guanxi wiki
URL: http://guanxi.pbwiki.com/

Guanxi is a Chinese term, generally translated as "networks" or "connections," that is increasing discussed in Western business circles and among academics studying such aspects of community as affective networks and social capital. Although guanxi is often characterized as uniquely Chinese, similar relationships occur in other nations, especially in East Asia. In China guanxi has become especially significant in the last fifty years because it provides individuals with a patterned, structured set of relationships that to some extent replace the social networks of family, village, and clan that are more difficult to maintain in the face of population relocations, urbanization, and Westernization. Guanxi is a mechanism for dealing with social uncertainty in a complex social environment.

Guanxi has been a significant element in Chinese business relationships for several hundred years, "an intricate and pervasive relational network which Chinese cultivate energetically, subtly, and imaginatively" (Luo 1997, 43). Wide webs of guanxi tie Chinese businessmen and Chinese firms into a cohesive and functioning economy. The success and even survival of many businesses rests on the establishment and maintenance of guanxi. For Western businesspeople, the idea of guanxi is a useful reminder that trust, understanding, and personal knowledge can be vital components of economic relationships. The development of guanxi is not something that takes place instantly, and this can be one of the frustrating aspects of doing business in China for non-Asians who are accustomed to striking a deal and moving on.

Most guanxi relationships are based on individuals' having something in common, a phenomenon called tong in Chinese. The commonalities may be the fact of having attended or graduated from the same school, having the same place of employment, working in the same industry, or coming from the same village or region. In addition, guanxi relationships may sometimes be established through gift giving or personal favors. They can even be arranged by an intermediary. Guanxi relationships often have a strong emotional element, something easily overlooked by outsiders.
The essence of guanxi is that each relationship carries with it a set of expectations and obligations for each participant. A guanxi relationship may lead a person to feel obligated to help someone get a job or a promotion, or, conversely, may lead a person to have the expectation that a connection will help with a job search or a promotion. Similar obligations or expectations can be held with regard to gaining entrance to a school or university, meeting with an influential official, getting access to a desired material good, or receiving (or offering) help to family and friends. Those who meet these obligations gain face and status and expand their guanxi network. Refusing to help is a sign of inhumanity and can bring disgrace.

Thus, in addition to the instrumental and emotional components noted above, guanxi also involves the notion of honor and respect, two core values in Chinese society.

Guanxi is of interest not only to Western businesspeople, but also to Western sociologists and network analysts. Pressing research issues among Western scholars and analysts include the content of guanxi ties, what types of ties and networks tend to go together, and the relationship between guanxi networks and other sorts of ties. Those studying online network building are particularly interested in *whether electronic media and global connections can allow the development of the kind of intricate human bonds the Chinese call guanxi.* Some people call the Internet and the other communication technologies of the twentieth century guanxi enablers. They point out that e-mail address books and speed dial lists make it quicker, easier, and more affordable to make contacts and keep those contacts fresh. There are in fact a variety of customs and practices in the West that reflect concepts similar to those used to explain guanxi, concepts and rules that define the relationship between individuals and groups.

For example, traditionally European etiquette required a person to be introduced by a mutual acquaintance, never simply to strike up a conversation with a stranger, even at a private event. Western practices that are intended to build extended personal networks include school and college placements, high school foreign exchange programs, college programs of study abroad, internships, and traineeships in different companies or different departments within a business. These programs are intended to expand the individual's personal connections on a lasting basis, not just to provide or enhance an abstract understanding of other people and cultures.

Western businesspeople appear to see guanxi as a kind of capital to be accumulated. Nonetheless, in the West ties tend to be less strong, less structured, and less based on expectations. Old or distant relationships are also less important in the West than they are in China. For those reasons some experts argue that it is a stretch to label as guanxi relationships such as those formed during foreign exchange programs or traineeships. It may be that the elusiveness of the concept is what makes guanxi appealing to people in the West. It provides a useful way to corral a wide variety of human connections under one term and to see that networks of relationships have a kind of life of their own.

From "Guanxi" by Karen Christensen and David Levinson in the Encyclopedia of Community (Sage 2004).

Posted by: Elizabeth Tan 07s307
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Guanxi In China: Fugetaboutit!
URL:http://www.chinalawblog.com/2008/02/guanxi_in_china_fugetaboutit.html

Co-blogger, Steve Dickinson, just wrote an article for China International Business Magazine entitled, "Debunking the Guanxi Myth." (if you are not reading this magazine, you should be) (h/t to Travis Hodgkins over at the Transnational Law Blog. Steve starts out talking about how so often after he has informed a client that a proposed transaction is illegal, the client tells Steve they do not care because "they are working with a powerful political or military figure who will ensure that the normal legal rules and documentation do not apply." Steve sees this as a mistake for the following reasons:

No foreigner can recreate a Chinese-style guanxi network. In China, guanxi refers to a vast network of connections arising from party, family and work connections that may go back several generations. No guanxi network relies on a single individual. The elimination of one member of the network is therefore not fatal. Foreigners almost always rely on only one or two individuals for their supposed connection. This kind of network is too fragile to be of enduring value. Foreign investors who think they have created a guanxi network in China are usually simply deluding themselves.

Connections with local government officials are short-term and can be abruptly terminated. Many foreign investors do not realize that government officials in China are regularly moved from office to office and from region to region. As a result, the connection with a local official is unlikely to be a long-term connection. It is quite common to negotiate a project for several years and then learn that the official in charge has been transferred to a new post. Where the project is not in compliance with the law, their replacements will often refuse to sign the documents that have already been negotiated.

The Chinese provider of guanxi may suddenly disappear. If the project depends on the protection of a single individual, what will happen if that person dies, is demoted, or prosecuted for corruption? This change in fortune can be a particular disaster where the foreign investor has already contributed funds, because the project can be cancelled with no refund on the investment.

A project based on guanxi gives too much power to the Chinese side of the deal. In many cases, the provider of guanxi will make use of the fact that the project is not in compliance with the law to ask for additional benefits. Since the foreign side has no legal recourse, the foreign side must accede to what is in effect a blackmail request or risk the collapse of the project. When the foreign investor comes to a lawyer for help, there is nothing that can be done, since the project itself is either illegal or poorly documented.

Steve recognizes the value of Guanxi, but not as a substitute for a soundly structured deal:
I do not mean to say that having good guanxi is of no value in China. It is of course beneficial in China, as in any country, to cultivate good government relations. Connections with the wealthy and powerful are also an advantage when working in a difficult investment environment.
However, these kinds of connections should never be seen as a replacement for carefully structured investment projects. All investments should be designed to comply with mandatory laws and regulations. The investment must be documented so that the foreign investor can defend its interests in the event of a dispute or changing conditions. Failure to follow this careful approach is the source of many self-inflicted foreign investment disasters that we see all too often in China.

Bottom Line: Be very skeptical of a China service provider who spends time talking about his or her China connections. Those who tout their connections/guanxi are almost always doing so because they have so little to say about their expertise and experience.

Comment:
This article provides advice for foreigners who are confident of relying on guanxi to see their investments through. For us China Studies students, it will help to understand better how guanxi works and the drawbacks of relying too heavily on it. The article is easy on the eyes and the mind!

Posted by: Elizabeth Tan 07S307
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Where ‘Guanxi’ Rules
Party politics, cross-Strait relations and good old greed still trump everything else in China.
Jonathan Ansfield
NEWSWEEK
Dec 8, 2007
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/74369

Chinese politics are often not what they seem, and a recent coup by citizens in the seaport of Xiamen is a case in point. In late May, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao ordered city leaders to freeze construction of a plant slated to produce PX, a toxic chemical used in plastic and polyester, after academics and journalists raised safety concerns. Then came massive street marches. Last week a long-awaited "independent" scientific review suggested building should resume only if the city limited pollution and residential building in the area.

It may have looked like folks were being heard. In fact, according to official media sources, orders to proceed with the plant had come two months earlier from none other than Communist Party boss Hu Jintao himself. Environmental issues didn't factor in his decree. Instead, the key issue was the plant's owner, Taiwan's Xianglu & Dragon Group, whose boss is a rival to (and fugitive from) the independence-minded regime in Taipei. Beijing, which still considers Taiwan a wayward province, sees any foe of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian as a friend. Hu made the call in order to buttress "cross-Strait relations" and "Taiwanese business interests," say the sources, citing official written instructions.

The case underscores an increasingly common clash in China these days. On one side stand newly networked intellectuals, media activists and citizens; on the other, the traditional closed-door world of party-investor relations. Despite all the talk about the empowerment of ordinary Chinese, it is still guanxi—old boys' networks—and the party's private interests that generally carry the day.

That's particularly true for companies like Xianglu & Dragon Group, whose boss is an enemy of Taiwan's leader. In such cases, China is happy to help defuse criticism over environmental and other abuses. "National leaders are very tuned in to what people here are saying," says one state journalist in Xiamen. "But the Taiwan business backdrop [is] a big factor."

Big enough to trump the fact that Dragon's boss, Chen Yu-hao, is a fugitive from justice. He began building his first factory in China in 1992. As his mainland business prospered, his Taiwanese holdings collapsed, and in 2003 Taipei charged him with breach of trust for embezzling $126 million in assets from his Taiwanese companies. Taiwan put him on its most-wanted list; Beijing responded by granting him a passport. Chen denies the charges but now lives in China and Los Angeles.

The acrimony grew during Taiwan's 2004 presidential race, when Chen publicly accused Chen Shui-bian and his wife and aides of taking bribes during past campaigns—bribes the businessman says he himself had paid (party records list him as a legitimate donor). The office of the president, who was narrowly re-elected, blamed Beijing for the charges. That same month Chen Yu-hao got his license to produce PX in Xiamen—a first for a fully foreign-invested concern.
This was despite the fact that Chen's other plants in Xiamen had already been cited for repeated emissions infractions—a point noted in the recent assessment. Residents of Wencuo say they have complained for years to officials about exhaust fumes, leaks, and the odor of vinegar coming from a nearby Xianglu plant. The controversy over the PX factory began when Zhao Yufen of Xiamen University organized a petition to Beijing warning of a slew of potential hazards, including leaks, explosions and increased risk of cancer and birth defects. Executives on the PX project countered that the plant is safe and denied any string-pulling by Chen, officially a company "adviser." And they recently brought a defamation suit against Zhao and a colleague for allegedly exaggerating the dangers. "We hope this will clarify the matter," says one company official.

Authorities have good financial reasons to approve the plant; local officials boast it will double Xiamen's GDP. With presidential elections coming up in March in Taipei, however, political concerns may be predominating. Beijing is treating everything Taiwan-related especially carefully, says Zhang Wensheng of Xiamen University. It has even reached out to Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang Party, to which Chen has been a major donor.

The final go-ahead for the PX plant could come within weeks—barring another big public backlash, that is. Still, the city is taking no chances; it has detained about a dozen protesters and muzzled Web forums. Lian Yue, a prominent blogger, recently wondered how Chen could "repay good with evil" after the "Xiamen people gave him the opportunity to rebuild his fortunes." The answer is that it's Beijing, not locals or green activists, that will determine Chen's opportunities on the mainland.

Comments:
This article uses one named example to highlight the operations of 'guanxi' and its standing in China today. The example that is used shows the domination of guanxi and how it can reflects poorly of certain parties-the government in this matter. One can draw from this article that guanxi holds serious drawbacks for China. Mainly, the problems that may arise when party interests clashes with the citizens' concerns and the citizens are overruled. I think that this will generally result in dissatisfaction with government and a loss in trust about their ruling. As when priorities about environmental conservation gave way to political concerns, as highlighted above, it is an indication that the government of China is pulling the wrong strings to hold on to its sovereignty.

Posted by: Elizabeth Tan 07S307
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China's African Misadventures
Beijing has dramatically outpaced its rivals in Africa. But at ground level, things don't always look so rosy.
Scott Johnson
NEWSWEEK
Nov 24, 2007
The town of Catumbela, in Central Angola, sits on a sprawling, fertile plateau planted with plantains and mangos. At the far end of town is a defunct paper mill. There, for several months earlier this year, a group of Chinese railway engineers and laborers camped out in the shadow of two idle smokestacks. The team was one of several sent to this isolated stretch of Angola's interior to build a railroad that will one day connect the African hinterlands to the Atlantic port city of Lobito, several hundred miles to the west. It's a $2 billion project and a colossal dream—a way to bypass Angola's sparse, decrepit roads, which like so many in Africa are strewn with land mines and liable to be washed out by flash floods.

There's only one problem: work has stalled. Along the railroad line at least 16 camps that once bustled with Chinese workers and equipment have been abandoned or shut down completely. In those that remain, row upon row of front-loading bulldozers, steamrollers and forklifts sit unused under the sleepy eyes of Angolan soldiers. And the Chinese? "They're gone," says a scrawny guard at the entrance to Catumbela's paper mill, as he stares disconsolately at the tracks. "I don't know when they're coming back—they ate their dogs and left."

Africa has rarely been kind to the grand visions of others—whether Dr. Livingstone or Bono. The Chinese are finding, to their surprise, that they're no exception. The Lobito railroad has fallen victim to a high-level dispute between the Angolan and Chinese governments. So have dozens of other deals, including another $2 billion contract, to build an oil refinery in Lobito. The American Embassy says that project will now most likely be awarded to Bechtel. "The Chinese thought they'd come in here and make a killing," says a Western diplomat in the capital, Luanda, who was not authorized to speak on the record. "Now they're facing the reality—it's hard to do things here."

Overall, China's push into Africa has been remarkably successful. Chinese companies are sucking up oil from Sudan, cutting down timber in Guinea and mining copper and zinc from the Congo. Beijing recently bought a major stake in South Africa's Standard Bank to fund infrastructure projects throughout the continent. And the Chinese are far outpacing their Western rivals. China has opened more embassies in Africa than the United States has, and is even investing heavily in countries, like Rwanda, where the immediate returns are murky at best. Last year trade between Africa and China topped $50 billion. By 2010 it's projected to reach $100 billion.

But all that money—China has extended $11 billion in loans to Angola, more than the World Bank—doesn't mean the Chinese working in Africa are insulated from the continent's troubles. Kidnappings, killings and death threats have plagued Chinese workers from the Niger Delta to the eastern reaches of Ethiopia, where rebels ambushed and slaughtered 17 Chinese oil workers last year. Angola is now China's biggest supplier of crude oil, and Chinese money helped propel the local economy to a 24 percent growth rate last year. But it's also a chaotic, corrupt country that has only recently emerged from a vicious civil war. For Chinese businessmen and workers, it's turning out to be a sobering, even dangerous place.

Chinese laborers are venturing deep into the lush Angolan countryside, not just the capital and larger cities. Tens of thousands of Chinese-made PMN-2 mines are still buried there, remnants of the Angolan civil war, which killed more than a million people. De-mining crews are digging the explosives out of the ground, but nowhere near fast enough for the Chinese. So the foreigners improvise. "With a front loader we push the dirt and if there's a mine there it explodes," says Zhou Zhenhong, manager of Kaituo Construction and Enterprises. "It's faster that way, and less expensive than being late."

The costs, however, can be more than monetary: on Oct. 24 a Chinese laborer for the Chinese telecom giant Huawei was digging a trench for fiber-optic cable near the southern town of Benguela when a mine exploded, killing him. Two co-workers were also injured. "We've tried to tell them to be careful and they just shrug their shoulders," says Rebecca Thompson, who directs a Norwegian de-mining NGO in Luanda.

Western executives—hidden behind the walls of their villas—have bred a certain kind of resentment in Africa. In Angola the much more numerous and adventurous Chinese are suffering from another. Perhaps as many as 100,000 Chinese workers have spread out across the country, many breaking rock on highways or pouring concrete at construction sites. Most live in isolated camps. Few speak English; fewer still speak Portuguese.

State-owned Chinese companies prohibit any type of fraternization between their employees and Angolans. If a worker becomes romantically or sexually involved with a local, he's quickly hustled back to China. "Africans and Chinese think differently," says Xia Yi Hua, a regional director for China Jiang Su, a massive construction conglomerate with offices across Angola. Xia has been in the country for four years, and his company still sends him shrink-wrapped packets of Chinese food from back home, along with regular sets of chopsticks. Everything in his office comes from China. One coffee table is made of Angolan wood, he admits, but he flew in a Chinese carpenter to fashion the table.

Racist stereotypes are common: both sides accuse the other of looking or behaving like monkeys or pigs. The Angolans claim (without good evidence) that the Chinese eat their dogs. At most work sites Chinese supervisors oversee black laborers, which has created friction. "You Chinese come to Angola and order us around, but in your own country you are suffering," says an Angolan who works for a Chinese company. (He asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.) At one Chinese-run construction site NEWSWEEK visited, hungry workers begged for food, saying their Chinese bosses never fed them. (The bosses say that's not their responsibility.) Angolans laying fiber-optic cable for Huawei near Benguela say they must dig 16 feet a day, or else they won't be paid their $5 daily wage. They claim their Chinese bosses only use one Portuguese word, cavar, which is repeated again and again: dig, dig.

The tensions go all the way to the top of the food chain. The Chinese say Angolan government funding for the Lobito railroad has dried up mysteriously; the Angolans say the Chinese stopped working because of mines along the route. Western diplomats in Luanda, who customarily speak only on condition of anonymity, suspect that the dispute has to do with kickbacks but cannot prove anything. They say that the government's finances are incredibly murky, and its dealings with the Chinese murkier still. "Is it all getting stolen? I don't think so," one Western diplomat says of the billions in oil money flooding into Angola's treasury. "[But] it's not clear to me that there's anyone in the government who can actually tell you where all the money is. If there is, it's going to be somebody like Al Capone's bookkeeper."

Even China's success in Angola is creating headaches for its businessmen. The handful of business hotels in Luanda are booked months in advance. Good luck finding a cab—the city has only one official taxi service—or renting a car, which can go for as much as $12,000 a month. Rents for houses in Lobito are double that. The extremes of poverty and wealth are deep, and worrisome. Where there are roads in Luanda—much of the city remains a hive of rock-strewn dirt tracks—they are choked with bright yellow Hummers and souped-up Chevy Blazers. Chinese-built mansions for Angolan ministers loom grotesquely on Luanda's hillsides, just above shantytowns where millions of refugees took up residence during the worst years of war.

For Mr. Li, a local director for the Guang Xi construction company, the boom is a mixed blessing. Li, who asked that only his last name be used, lives in a cavernous supermarket warehouse in Lobito, with sheets hung on clotheslines to create sleeping areas for his 20 workers. He spends much of his time slogging around the city, begging for the cement his crew needs to build bases for cell- phone towers. On a recent day visiting potential suppliers, he returned long after dark with 12 small bags of cement, all bought at retail prices. "Everything is waiting, waiting," he says, worried about the pace of his project. A Brazilian company has promised to build two new cement factories in Luanda, but so far work hasn't begun.

Beijing takes the long view in Africa, figuring its investments now are building good will for the future. But every economy the Chinese help revive becomes that much more attractive to their rivals, too. Already American firms Bechtel and KBR are bidding for infrastructure projects in Angola. Oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron are increasing their presence in the country. The Brazilian firm Odebrecht is building a highway to compete with the Chinese railroad to Lobito, South African companies are repairing the electrical grid near the oilfields in northern Angola, and the Portuguese are horning in on construction projects in and around Luanda. "In this country, you can get projects for $10 million and do $1 million in profit," says Zhou Zhenhong, the construction executive, over lunch at a seaside restaurant in Lobito. For that kind of money, a lot of people will be willing to put up with the same hassles as the Chinese.

Comment:
It is no surprise that some projects initiated by China, in Africa, have been abandoned due to disagreement and conflict between the higher authorities. On the community level, under the roof of a work organisation, Africans and Chinese can barely meet each other eye to eye. Building camaraderie among the two races is not encouraged and even frowned upon. Scott Johnson mentioned that Beijing figures that its investments in African now are building good will for the future. I think that the security of this good will can only be ensured when mutual respect is attained between the head of both countries with the forging of strong diplomatic ties. This should also change the dynamics between the ordinary African and Chinese worker. Then, the proceeding of plans will stand a better chance to reach completion.

Posted by: Elizabeth Tan 07S307


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