China Digital Times

Date archive for November 2008

• Details Emerge About Longnan Riot (Photos Added)

  

  More details are emerging about the riot in Longnan, Gansu earlier this week. The Washington Post writes about it and a taxi strike Wednesday in Chongqing, and puts both incidents in a larger economic context:

  In both provinces, officials attributed the unrest to local disagreements or land disputes rather than to the economic slowdown. But leaders have also expressed concern about factory closings, promising to compensate many of those who have lost their jobs in the downturn.

  Wang Jinli, a 50-year-old Wudu farmer, said she saw police beat residents in front of the Longnan party secretary’s offices Monday and Tuesday, then watched as ambulances took the injured away. “They used their sticks to beat passersby no matter whether they were young or old,” Wang said, adding that more than 100 people had been arrested.

  “Although I don’t have money, the economic recession is related to everyone,” she said. “Right now, people can make a living even by picking up garbage, but if they move the city government, where will we find garbage? We eat rice and flour now, but if the center moves away, we will all be eating corn. It will move the economy back 20 years.”

  AFP also reports on a statement on the riots put out by the local government:

  At least 60 people, including police and officials, were injured during the riots, according to a statement on the government website of Longnan city in Gansu province, where the violence occurred.

  “Protesters used iron rods, chains, axes, hoes… to attack officials and policemen at close proximity,” the statement said.

  They also threw stones, bricks and flowers pots at the officials and police in front of the local government building, and attempted to hijack a fire truck that came to put out a blaze they started, according to the statement.

  Meanwhile, China Daily reports on statements by the nation’s top public security official encouraging local cops to build “harmonious” relations with the people:

  Speaking at a teleconference with local police heads, State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu said police should “be fully aware of the challenge brought by the global financial crisis and try their best to maintain social stability”.

  They must improve methods of law enforcement using “harmonious thinking to ease conflicts”, and by having “a harmonious attitude toward people”, he said.

  In an earlier article, Meng said: “In handling mass incidents, we must be clear that the chief tasks of the public security authorities are to maintain order at the scene, ease conflicts, avoid excessive steps and prevent the situation from getting out of control.”

  Update: In related news, in responding to a reporter’s question about whether labor unrest was the top concern for the Human Resources and Social Security Ministry, the top minister acknowledged that the employment situation is “grim,” according to a Xinhua report:

  Human Resources and Social Security Minister Yin Weimin on Thursday described China’s job picture as “grim” and said the global financial crisis could have further negative effects on employment.

  Yin also said in response to a reporter’s question that labor unrest was the ministry’s “top concern”.

  Worsening global conditions had begun to weigh on the job market last month, with unemployment resulting as some enterprises, especially smaller labor-intensive ones, shut down or suspended production, Yin told a press conference in Beijing.

  Also, 30 people have reportedly been arrested for the Gansu riots.

  Update 2: In a rare move, the governor of Gansu has traveled to Longnan to meet with a group of protesters to explain the government’s position. From Reuters:

  Xu Shousheng held a meeting with 10 representatives two days after the riot, a rare concession by a top leader and a sign of government concerns about stability as the economy slows. The protests were sparked by local residents’ worries about a government resettlement plan after the May 12 earthquake killed more than 80,000 people and made 1.8 million people homeless in Sichuan and neighboring provinces.

  Xu told the group he met that the changes in Wudu town were only in the planning stage and could be vetoed by the central government. He also promised to protect their livelihoods if the resettlement gets the go-ahead.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 11:50 PM

• Dispatches from the Chinese Bloggers Conference

  

  The following are dispatches from bloggers who attended the recently concluded Chinese Bloggers Conference in Guangzhou. Attendees at the conference included a broad range of bloggers who write on technology, business, culture, and a variety of other topics. CN Reviews blogged the conference and the presentations by many of the participants. Most of the discussions centered around technology, the Internet, culture and business. But inevitably a few bloggers turn their thoughts to more political topics, as these posts show:
  
  In the concluding speech of the conference, Chinese blogger Yang Hengjun reflected on how the Internet has played a significant role in informing the public in China, and how blogging has renewed his life (excerpts translated by CDT’s Linjun Fan):

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  • November 19, 2008 11:30 PM

• A Reader: Protests and Public Relations

  

  From China Beat blog:

  This morning the Los Angeles Times reported on a riot in Gansu that was touched off over disagreements on city planning issues. The report comes on the heels of an uptick in news in the last week on local protests in China. It is unclear if this increased coverage represents an actual increase in local protests (based on reports from the Chinese government in recent years, there are hundreds of local protests each week in China) or if the economic crisis has simply increased the relevance of these protests.

  But much of the coverage we’ve been reading has been less concerned with how representative these protests are; rather China watchers are focusing on what the government’s response to both protestors and media coverage tells us about a new CCP public relations attitude. Below, a selection of recent reports.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 2:44 PM

• Macro Indicators Positive Despite Flagging Growth

  

  Despite the acknowledged slowdown to single-digit GDP growth, some economic indicators suggest that the domestic Chinese economy is faring moderately well amidst the global financial turmoil, including the latest released figures on consumer spending, FDI and inflation.

  From the AP:

   

  China’s retail sales remained robust in October, a positive sign for Chinese leaders who want to boost consumer spending to insulate the economy from a global slowdown.

  Retail spending rose 22 percent in October from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. That was down from September’s 23.2 percent growth but still one of the strongest months on record.

  In addition to consumer spending, FDI was also up on an annualized basis.  From Bloomberg:

  Foreign direct investment in China climbed 35.1 percent to $81.1 billion in the first 10 months of 2008 from a year earlier.

  [...]The government’s Nov. 9 pledge to boost spending on housing and infrastructure to sustain growth may encourage overseas investors to keep channeling money into the fourth- biggest economy. PepsiCo Inc., the world’s largest snack maker, said it plans to invest $1 billion in China in the next four years to increase production and sales.

  Inflation has steadily decreased, and it was recently announced by the National Bureau of Statistics that China’s inflation rate fell to 4 percent in October, consistent with this forecast from TIME:

  After wrestling to control rising inflation over the past 18 months, the government reported recently that China’s Producer Price Index “declined sharply to 6.6% year-on-year in October, from 9.1% in September,” Ulrich of JPMorgan wrote in her report. She noted that the Consumer Price Index, which will be released this week, will also moderate further from last month’s level of 4.6%, which was the fifth successive monthly decline.

   

  

  Farmers in Shanghai unload shocks of chives at the marketplace.

   

   

  Tempering expectations of the $586 billion stimulus package’s efficacy, TIME also reports that:

  “I think that we’ll see a couple of weak quarters in 2009,” Simpfendorfer says. While the size of the package was welcome, “it’s the speed of its implementation that is really important,” he says. “My concern is that the contraction in demand will take place before the fiscal policies have time to take effect.” To an economy heavily dependent on exports, that period between stimulus and response could have significant implications. With up to 2.5 million migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta forecast to lose their jobs in the coming months as the worldwide economic crunch deepens and many already flooding back home to their villages, some political analysts have expressed concern that social unrest in rural areas could worsen.

   

   

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 1:06 PM

• Ex-Chinese Leader Ruffled as Magazine Breaks Taboo

  

  Officials have targeted the magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu for its positive reporting on the late party secretary Zhao Ziyang, who is usually not permitted to be mentioned in the Chinese media. From The Age:

  An official from the Culture Ministry visited the editor-in-chief of Yanhuang Chunqiu magazine at his home on Friday, seeking his resignation.

  The official told editor Du Daozheng that a retired leader had taken offence at the magazine’s favourable treatment of Mr Zhao, whose name has been taboo in the media for 19 years.

  But 85-year-old Du has been a feisty stalwart of the Communist Party since 1937 and his publication enjoys protection through progressive senior party officials.

  Mr. Du refused the official’s suggestion that he retire, and “said the matter had become a major issue and may trigger intervention from senior party officials,” according to The Age. Read more about Du Daozheng and Yanhuang Chunqiu in a post last year from CDT’s Biganzi.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 11:09 AM

• Once Denounced by Mao, Now at Rest in China

  

  John Leighton Stuart was an American born in China to missionary parents, and was the last U.S. ambassador to the country before ties were cut off in 1949. Forty-six years after his death, his wish to be buried in China has finally been fulfilled. From the New York Times:

  Mr. Stuart died in Washington in 1962. He had written in his will that he hoped his remains would some day be buried in China, where he had been born the son of Christian missionaries in 1876 and had helped found a prominent university, but where he was no longer welcome.

  For decades, the answer from Beijing seemed to be no.

  But on Monday, 46 years after his death and after years of sensitive negotiations about the political implications of such a burial, Mr. Stuart’s ashes were laid to rest at a cemetery near the eastern city of Hangzhou, about two hours south of Shanghai.

  A small ceremony honoring Mr. Stuart on Monday was attended by Chinese and American officials, including the mayor of Hangzhou and the United States ambassador, Clark Randt Jr., as well as several alumni of Yenching University in Beijing, the institution Mr. Stuart helped found.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 10:58 AM

• China To Impose Fuel Tax “Very Soon”: Paper

  

  From Reuters:

  China will impose a long-awaited fuel tax “very soon,” the head of National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) Energy Research Institute said in comments reported on Tuesday by the China Daily.

  “The announcement will come very soon, and actually specific plans have already been suggested to the government long ago,” Han Wenke, director general of the research body, was quoted as saying.

  More than a decade in the works, the fuel tax — experts expect 25 percent or more will be heaped upon retail pump prices — is meant to replace road tolls as a means to fund highway construction.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 4:17 AM

• In Beijing, Author Treads Fine Line As She Tells Tibet’s Story

  

  From Christian Science Monitor:

  Woeser’s fans have plenty of reasons to worry that she’ll be thrown in jail soon.

  The famed Tibetan writer has sued the Chinese government. She’s investigating the March uprising in Tibet. She articulates the repression that many Tibetans feel, flouting the official line that they like Chinese rule – all from a modest, high-rise apartment in Beijing.

  The government here bans her work. But from Tennessee to Tibet, her fans hang on every unauthorized poem, essay, and blog. To them, she risks her life to tell the “real” Tibetan story – a narrative that unites the Tibetan community even as it diverges over politics, a hot topic this week at a rare summit in Dharamsala, India, called by the Dalai Lama.

  “She brings a unique combination of experience and ability at the moment, [and] she’s willing to stand up,” says Elliot Sperling, a Tibet expert at Indiana University in Bloomington. Her writings “contribute significantly to the general perception of what’s going on in Tibet.”

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 4:08 AM

• China’s Environmental Retreat

  

  From Washington Post:

  In February, the Fuan textile factory became one of the first major casualties of China’s anti-pollution campaign when the multimillion-dollar company was shut down for dumping waste from dyes into a neighboring river and turning it red.

  But as the country’s economy began to cool this fall and job losses mounted, the company was resurrected. Encouraged by the government, Fuan changed its name, moved to a new location and quietly reopened.

  With the global economy at the edge of recession, China appears to be turning away from previous pledges to improve its record on environmental protection. In this, China is hardly alone: A climate-change proposal in Europe that a few months ago seemed like a sure thing has now divided the continent because of its anticipated expense, and worldwide, money for the development of renewable energy sources has been drying up.

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  • November 19, 2008 4:01 AM

• China Arrests Police Over Deadly Nightclub Fight

  

  From AP:

  Two police officers have been arrested over the beating death of a college student in a nightclub in northeastern China — a move apparently aimed at quelling increasing public anger at a force often accused of corruption and abuse of power.

  Recent weeks have seen a series of riots and attacks against government offices and police, sparked by alleged assaults on citizens and more general complaints over corruption and opaque decision-making. The arrests in the industrial center of Harbin come as the government has expressed concern that a souring economy could further stoke the unrest.

  Harbin police on Tuesday called a news conference to announce the arrests of Liu Linan and Qixin over the beating death of Lin Songling, a 22-year-old student at the provincial university of physical education. Both were identified as officers with the city police’s railway division.

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  • November 19, 2008 3:45 AM

• Tibetan Exiles Review Tactics Against Chinese Rule

  

  From AFP:

  Tibetan exiles worked Tuesday to hammer out a new strategy for their fight against Chinese rule, as Beijing warned that embracing a pro-independence policy was “doomed” to failure.

  More than 500 prominent Tibetans have gathered at the government in exile’s base in northern India to debate whether to ditch the Dalai Lama’s push for “meaningful autonomy” in favour of a demand for full independence.

  B. Tsering, a delegate and president of the Tibetan Women’s Association, said the week of discussions could re-define the movement.

  “Everyone feels the big responsibility entrusted to us,” she said after the first sessions of debate. “And there is concern that we are trying to come up with a solid strategic plan in just a few days.

  Read also China stance on Tibet clouds exile talks in India from AP.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 3:34 AM

• Fears for China’s Web Freedom

  

  From RFA:

  Writers in China said they feared a long hard road before real freedom of expression emerges in China, as authorities in the eastern province of Jiangsu formally arrested a prominent blogger who called for democratic change.

  Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the arrest of blogger Guo Quan at his home in the eastern city of Nanjing.

  Guo, who is currently being held in a Nanjing police station on a charge of “subversion of state power,” also had his home searched and his computer confiscated.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 3:21 AM

• A Big Shift for China’s AIDS Fight: Condoms for Those Who Need Them

  

  From Wall Street Journal:

  AIDS, which has long thrived quietly on the fringes of Chinese society among drug addicts and recipients of tainted blood donations, is on the verge of going mainstream here.

  One major cause is prostitution, a booming industry in China that has helped make sex the most common form of AIDS transmission in China.

  China’s hopes of stopping the disease from turning into the country’s next health crisis may rest with the efforts of people like Guan Baoying, a 56-year-old activist who has defied standard government attitudes about high-risk groups such as prostitutes.

  As a Beijing health bureaucrat until last year, Ms. Guan managed to convince the government to support regulations that require hotels to supply condoms to their guests — with the result that even in five-star hotels, condoms are a standard part of the minibar. Today, she leads the charge as the head of a nongovernment organization that helps fund outreach work with backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

  » Read more
  • November 19, 2008 3:14 AM