China Digital Times

CHINA NEWS SECTION: World

• China Calls on US, Russia to Cut Their Nuclear Arsenals

  

  China called on the United States and Russia to take the lead in reducing their nuclear stockpiles in an international non-proliferation and disarmament meeting on Sunday in Beijing.  From Reuters via the Taipei Times:

  “China’s basic position is that it’s up to others to make the first move in this respect, in particular the United States and Russia,” said Gareth Evans, a former Australian foreign minister, after a meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament in Beijing.

  [...]China holds about 240 nuclear warheads, compared to the 9,400 held by the US and 13,000 held by Russia, the Federation of American Scientists recently estimated.

  But the Pentagon has said China is the only major nuclear power still expanding its arsenal. The People’s Liberation Army has been deploying new ballistic missiles and developing a generation of atomic submarines capable of launching missiles with nuclear warheads, observers have said.

  » Read more
  • May 23, 2009 1:56 PM

• How Beijing is Battling the Global Crisis

  

  Der Spiegel writes about Western hopes that China will revive the global economic slump:

  Last week, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said cautiously that the global economy is “near a turning point.” In a cover story, the German business daily Handelsblatt wrote that the “nosedive of the German economy appears to have been stopped.” Germany’s export business could be digging itself out of the red, thanks in part to Asia.

  But even members of the government in Berlin are unwilling to hazard a prediction as to whether this is truly a trend reversal or merely a flash in the pan. China appears to be primarily responsible for this bit of optimism. The West, for its part, is hoping for an increase in China’s interest in its machinery, goods and know-how.

  The West hopes that millions of Chinese consumers like farmer Wang will, at least in part, replace consumers in Europe and the United States, who have been buying fewer and fewer goods that are “made in China” since the crisis began. Chinese exports plunged by about 22 percent in April alone.

  » Read more
  • May 22, 2009 2:36 PM

• Editorial Comment: Ambush At ADB

  

  From the India Times:

  China has sought to scuttle the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) disbursal of development funds to India amounting to $2.9 billion. India requires $60 million specifically for a watershed development project in Arunachal Pradesh. But China doesn’t want Arunachal which it considers “disputed territory” to be part of any plans financed by the bank. As the largest donor to ADB after the US and Japan, China appears to think it can steamroll the bank into toeing its line. Its conduct is in keeping with its recent objections to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s and President Pratibha Patil’s visits to Arunachal.

  Indian leaders, surely, don’t need Beijing’s okay to tour parts of their own country. It’s, therefore, disappointing that ADB should seem to endorse China’s untenable position by asking India to break the deadlock ‘bilaterally’. Why China has muscle-flexed at the ADB lends itself to speculation. By internationalising a bilateral issue, some may say it is trying to trip India, which the world recognises as a vibrant democracy and an impressive growth story. Others may argue that China is messaging Asia at large about its clout. Or that it may be firing over India’s shoulder at Japan, which calls the shots at ADB.

  » Read more
  • May 22, 2009 2:07 PM

• Pelosi, Long a Critic of Beijing, Plans China Visit

  

  From Wall Street Journal:

  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is due to visit China next week, in what observers here hope will be an improbable continuation of the Obama administration’s charm offensive in China.

  Widely regarded as one of China’s sharpest and most public critics, Ms. Pelosi will arrive Sunday and stay a week, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency. A Pelosi spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment, but an official from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing confirmed that Ms. Pelosi will visit China next week.

  According to Western diplomats here, she will head a delegation of members of Congress and is expected to travel to Beijing and Shanghai.

  » Read more
  • May 22, 2009 5:24 AM

• Mao Portrait Protesters Get Asylum

  

  The human fallout continues 20 years after the 1989 Tiananmen protests.  Yu Dongyue and Yu Zhijian, jailed for vandalizing Mao Zedong’s portrait during the Tiananment protests, have been granted political asylum in the U.S.  From Radio Free Asia:

  Two protesters who helped splatter Mao Zedong’s portrait with red paint during the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement 20 years ago have been granted political asylum in the United States, informed sources said.

  Former journalist and art critic Yu Dongyue was the last of three protesters jailed by Chinese authorities for defacing Mao’s portrait to be freed. He was released in February 2006 after serving 17 years behind bars.

  His family says he still suffers from severe mental impairment following repeated beatings in Chishan Prison, Yuanjiang city, in the central province of Hunan.

  See also from CDT: China Releases Last Tiananmen ‘Hooligan’

  » Read more
  • May 21, 2009 1:00 PM

• Brazil Leader Leaves China with Deals under Belt

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva concluded his visit to China after arranging billions of dollars of deals between the two countries. From AFP:

  Before leaving Brazil, Lula had described the trip as “one of the most important” of his mandate amid a rise in the role of emerging nations at a time of global financial crisis.

  Lula and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed to strengthen ties and to deepen financial cooperation on economic and trade activities, according to a joint statement posted on the website of the foreign ministry here.

  “The two leaders said that ensuring a closer strategic partnership between China and Brazil had even greater significance in the current complicated international situation,” the statement said.

  » Read more
  • May 20, 2009 10:34 PM

• Wary of U.S. Debt, China Shifts Gears on Investment

  

  Reuters reports on the shifting economic relationship between China and the U.S.:

  Beijing has been far and away the single biggest foreign buyer of Treasuries over the past year, but this apparent vote of confidence belies how it has turned its back on long-term U.S. debt in favor of shorter maturities.

  China’s move to the shorter end of the U.S. debt spectrum is a defensive tactic adopted by the wider market as well on the view that the United States will have to raise interest rates down the road to control inflationary pressures when the economy recovers from the financial crisis.

  But the shift also comes after pointed comments from Beijing expressing worries over the security of its U.S. investments and calls from Chinese government economists for a tough line with Washington in return for continued access to loans.

  » Read more
  • May 19, 2009 9:51 PM

• New China News Agency: Guardian of Media Ethics

  

  From the Wall Street Journal’s China Journal blog:

  China’s Xinhua News Agency is lecturing Western media outlets for ignoring risks, covering up lies, protecting the powerful and clouding the truth.

  The context: China’s state news agency says its newsgathering efforts will be an essential pillar in a reordered global financial landscape, since a “monopoly” of Western media shirked their duty to protect the system.

  “I will underscore today that the information asymmetry and the non-objective, unfair and one-sided information order as another reason for the financial crisis,” Xinhua Vice President Lu Wei told bankers and policymakers gathered in Shanghai on Saturday (report in Chinese here).

  In his spirited presentation, Mr. Lu echoed other conference delegates that the global recession resulted from lax regulators and greedy financiers, and he also laid fresh charges: “Under a situation where news gathering was monopolized, communication power was controlled, risks were hidden, the truth covered-up, market information was disseminated to represent selected groups, falsities clouded investor judgment and brought finance to the abyss,” Mr. Lu said.

  » Read more
  • May 19, 2009 11:33 AM

• Reactions to Huntsman’s Nomination for China Envoy

  

  More media coverage of Jon Huntsman’s ambassadorship to China, including this report from AP about his own feelings about the job:

  President Barack Obama tapped the Republican governor for the post on Saturday. Huntsman said Monday that the decision to accept the appointment was not an easy one. He and his wife, Mary Kaye, have seven children, including adopted daughters from China and India.

  One of the most popular governors in state history, Huntsman won re-election in November with 78 percent of the vote. During the campaign, he said he intended to serve out his second term. He did not address his campaign pledge on Monday.

  “The last week has been surreal. It has been an emotional roller coaster and it has been complete with a lot of sleepless nights,” Huntsman said. However, he said, it would have been very difficult to say no to the president.

  Huntsman and Obama “talked a lot about service and in some cases the importance of putting self-interest and politics aside in pursuit of those things that are more important for our nation, and I think we understand that,” Huntsman said.

  Watch this KLS TV report about the U.S.-China relationship he will be entering into:

  Video Courtesy of KSL.com

  And from Asia Times, “Beijing tickled by Obama’s China envoy.”

  » Read more
  • May 19, 2009 9:57 AM

• New Strategies for China’s Energy Quest

  

  From Caijing Magazine:

  This has been the busiest spring ever for the international affairs department at China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), where a sense of achievement brightens the daily bustle at the company’s new headquarters in Beijing.

  In recent months, the department has sponsored a conference every day and a new round of negotiations every few days. For example, it helped arrange an agreement February 17 in which China will lend Russia US$ 25 billion in exchange for 300 million tons of oil over 20 years.

  The Sino-Russian deal drew attention from Brazil, Venezuela and other countries eager to secure similar agreements. Brazil hopes to get US$ 10 billion to search for oil in its deep seas, while Venezuela and Angola would like US$ 4 billion and US$ 1 billion, respectively, in contracts with China. Kazakhstan wants US$ 10 billion to buy oil fields from foreign stakeholders and expand domestic infrastructure projects.

  » Read more
  • May 19, 2009 2:06 AM

• Brazil Turns to China to Help Finance Oil Projects

  

  The Wall Street Journal reports on Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s visit to Beijing and prospects for China-Brazilian relations:

  Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was set to arrive in Beijing Monday to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is expected to unleash billions of dollars of credit to help Brazil exploit its massive oil reserves. Brazil will return the favor by guaranteeing oil shipments to Chinese companies.

  The nations are being thrust together by the global financial crisis. Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, wants to spend $174 billion over the next five years to elevate Brazil into the major leagues of oil-producing nations. With international capital markets on life support, China is among the few remaining sources of cash.

  Petrobras, as the company is known, is turning to China at a time when China’s appetite for raw materials has lifted economies across commodity-rich Latin America, blunting the impact of the global downturn. In March, China passed the U.S. as Brazil’s biggest trade partner.

  » Read more
  • May 18, 2009 10:42 PM

• Xinhua: China Expects Huntsman to Play ‘Positive’ Role

  

  From Xinhua, via China.org.cn:

  Huntsman, 49, son of a Utah multimillionaire and philanthropist, served as a White House staff assistant to President Reagan, ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and deputy trade representative under President George W. Bush.

  The governor has strong ties to Asia: He lived as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan. He and his wife, Mary Kaye, adopted two daughters, one from China and one from India. He also supports Utah’s legislative push to offer Chinese language courses in school, which would be the first of its kind in the US.

  But that does not mean thorny issues would be ignored.

  Tao Wenzhao, an expert on Sino-US relations at the American Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that China must be vigilant, as the US is a collection of various interest groups, which means the arms sellers will continue to sell weapons to Taiwan and its defense department won’t stop spreading the “China Threat Theory”.

  “That’s why we can’t be optimistic, though there will be a new ambassador with closer connections to China,” he said.

  » Read more
  • May 18, 2009 9:31 AM

• PNG Plagued by Anti-China Crimewave

  

  Chinese-owned businesses in Papua New Guinea are being looted and attacked in a spate of anti-Chinese violence. News.com.au reports:

  Looting and anti-Chinese violence started in the capital Port Moresby on Wednesday and continued over the weekend in PNG’s Highlands region and Madang Province, on the north-west coast.

  [...] Last week, PNG workers had violent clashes with management at the Chinese-run Ramu nickel mine in Madang Province after a tractor injured a worker.

  On Friday, police in Port Moresby had to use tear gas to quell a riot near a popular market.

  Allegations of a rise in Chinese organised crime and corruption involving PNG officials has also added to community anger.

  Read more about the dispute at the Ramu nickel mine via Reuters. See also “Looting, attacks target Chinese in PNG” from The Age.

  » Read more
  • May 17, 2009 8:34 PM

• Why Americans Are Adopting Fewer Kids from China

  

  A look at the changing figures in the adoption of Chinese children, from Kayla Webley for TIME Asia:

  The stricter guidelines, intended to limit the overwhelming number of applicants to China’s well-regarded adoption program, have been effective — adoptions of Chinese children by U.S. citizens have dropped 50%, according to the U.S. State Department. The new regulations require, among other things, that adoptive parents be married, under 50, not classified as clinically obese, not have taken antidepressant medications in the past two years, not have facial deformities and meet certain educational and economic requirements. In 2005, U.S. citizens adopted 7,906 children through the state-run China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA). In 2008, that number fell to 3,909 kids.

  But the new laws are only part of the reason that fewer Chinese children are being adopted by families in the U.S. While the Chinese government does not release domestic adoption figures, U.S.-based adoption agencies say more Chinese children are being adopted in China. “You have this cultural shift along with the economic shift, where more and more people cannot only afford to adopt a child, but culturally it’s more accepted,” says Cory Barron, foundation director at Children’s Hope International. [...]

  With fewer children being put up for adoption and foreign demand remaining strong, China can afford to be more selective. “I think they are saying, You know what? We have fewer children now and so we are looking for better parents,” Zhong says. His organization has experienced a drop from 1,152 China adoptions in 2005 to 422 in 2008. And while Beijing’s new standards may sound harsh to Americans with their hearts set on a baby, they have little influence in the matter. “These are China’s children, and they can set the requirement to what they deem is best,” says Barron.

  » Read more
  • May 16, 2009 6:51 PM

• Will China Still Bankroll Us?

  

  David Leonhardt writes on Timothy Geithner and U.S.-China economic relations for the New York Times:

  In the five months since Barack Obama introduced him as the next Treasury secretary, Geithner has already run through what seems to be a career’s worth of images: the brilliant technocrat whose appointment caused stocks to soar; the neophyte public figure who flopped in his debut; the regulator who has grown too close to Wall Street; the Obama adviser with the same unflappable nature as his boss. One image that hasn’t yet attached itself to him, however, is his original professional image. By training, Tim Geithner is a China hand. And though the immediate financial crisis is likely to dominate his tenure at Treasury, the economic relationship between the United States and China may ultimately prove just as important. It could be crucial to preventing the next crisis.

  Geithner [...] mentioned reading an old newspaper interview with Michel Camdessus, the head of the International Monetary Fund in the 1990s. Camdessus’s tenure included the Asian financial crisis and Mexican peso crisis, and some European leaders were unhappy about the extent to which the I.M.F. followed the advice of American policy makers, Geithner among them, in managing these crises. Geithner recalled that when the interviewer asked about this, Camdessus replied that America had influence disproportionate to its weight in the institution only when it had an idea others were willing to follow. The Camdessus strategy — make sure you have an idea worth following — will be the Treasury Department’s approach to China.

  The strategy actually dates to the Bush administration and a series of meetings with Chinese leaders that Henry Paulson, Geithner’s predecessor, helped set up. If Obama’s advisers admire one aspect of President Bush’s economic policy — and coming up with another isn’t easy — it’s the effort to nurture a relationship with China. The meetings, which began in 2006, were called the Strategic Economic Dialogue. For the first sessions, Bernanke accompanied Paulson as a demonstration of respect to the Chinese and a sign of how seriously United States viewed the agenda. American and Chinese officials are now negotiating the logistical details of the next round of the dialogue, which will be jointly led by Geithner and Clinton. Internally, officials from State, Treasury and elsewhere in the administration have been jockeying for influence over China policy. But they all seem to agree that one of the main goals of the dialogue is to bring a wide variety of important Chinese officials — including those who represent industries and regions that have benefited from the imbalances — into the same room for the talks.

  » Read more
  • May 16, 2009 1:38 PM

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