The Arctic Council, a once-obscure regional forum that had little to show for itself, has nations queuing to participate, as melting ice makes shipping, tourism and resource extraction a reality in the nebulously delineated region.

Among the 14 countries and organizations seeking so-called observer status at a meeting this week in Kiruna, northern Sweden, will be China, whose increased interest in the Arctic underscores the region’s re-emergence as an area of potential geopolitical intrigue.

The council’s eight permanent members—the U.S., Canada, Russia and five Nordic nations—must agree to admit the new observers. The Nordic nations, which have been courted aggressively by China, say they will. Canada has expressed reservations on expansion. It is unclear whether the U.S., which is sending Secretary of State John Kerry to Sweden, and Russia will agree, as they wake up to the increased economic, and perhaps military, potential of the vast stretches of Arctic territory within and north of their borders. [Source]

At Caixin, Martin Breum explained the murky positions of the various Council member states, and fears that failure to admit China might ultimately render the Council irrelevant:

Over recent years […] persistent reports have clarified that Russia has been actively blocking China’s bid for enhanced status. Russia fears, among other factors, that China will try to influence the drawing of borders in the Arctic Ocean, where it is still not clear which states own what.

But others may also feel reluctant to let China in. High politics in the Arctic is a relatively new game and the AC member states still struggle to balance power between themselves and between themselves and the native peoples of the region. While the Nordic countries – Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland – are all explicitly in favor of China’s wish for a seat at the table, the positions of the United States and Canada are less advertised.

Among the Nordic countries the worry has been for years that China would eventually take the entire discussion of the Arctic’s future to other forums – most likely the United Nations – if it was denied influence in the AC. A UN discussion on everything from polar bears, oil and fisheries to environmental protection and the rights of ethnic minorities could threaten the Arctic countries’ privileged access to the riches in the region and their ability to design for themselves the development of the Arctic societies. [Source]

Bloomberg’s Isabel Reynolds surveyed the economic stakes, and gave more details on the arguments for and against admitting China and the others, including the shadow cast by disputes in the South and East China Seas:

Having cultivated ties with Nordic nations and exploration deals with Russia, China has sparked concern partly because of its “perceived belligerence” in maritime territorial claims, [the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Toronto's James] Manicom said in a report published last month.

[… But] Arctic nations would benefit by admitting East Asian countries as observers, who don’t have voting rights, [the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney's Linda] Jakobson and Manicom said.

“It’s much better to engage with them and know what they’re doing in the Arctic than keep them out,” Jakobson said. “No one’s giving up any power by letting them in.” [Source]

Jakobson elaborated at the Lowy Interpreter, while wondering what exactly all the fuss is about:

The hype about China’s permanent observer bid is far-fetched. It’s not as if the Arctic Council has far-flung powers. Swedish Arctic Ambassador Gustaf Lind’s comment at a gathering of Arctic experts last November is telling: one of the achievements of the Sweden’s two-year Arctic Council chairmanship has been to ensure that document pages are now numbered.

The hype reflects two anxieties. Or, to quote Dr Kristian Kristensen of the University of Copenhagen, twin fears are feeding each other. China evokes anxiety because no one knows what kind of power China will evolve into over the coming decades. And there is uncertainty and anxiety about the consequences of the melting Arctic ice.

Rejecting China’s desire to participate as an observer in discussions pertaining to the Arctic future is not a sensible approach. As I have argued, Arctic Council member states can both protect their own interests and support permanent observer status for China and others. By backing China’s application, Arctic Council members would give up little in the way of direct influence on Arctic matters, while benefiting from substantial discussions with Beijing to better understand its Arctic intentions. Furthermore, engaging China more deeply in Arctic Council activities will encourage Beijing to pay serious attention to legitimate environmental concerns pertaining to shipping and possible resource exploration in the fragile Arctic environment. [Source]

See also ‘Why China oh-so-desperately wants a claim to the Arctic Ocean‘ by Gwynn Guilford at Quartz, and more on China in the Arctic via CDT.

Updated at 8:40 a.m. PST on May 15th: The Arctic Council approved China’s application, as well as those of India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. From Matt McGrath at the BBC:

The meeting in Kiruna, Sweden also agreed on a new manual that will govern the activities and roles of the observers. They will not be able to directly raise issues but will have to bring them forward through one of the eight core members.

But the Council was unable to agree on the application from the European Union. It is believed that Canada, which has now assumed the chairmanship of the Council was strongly opposed to the EU getting a permanent observer seat.

There have been ongoing disputes between the two over an EU ban on seal fur and other products. The EU is also poised to restrict imports of oil produced in the Alberta tar sands.

At CBC, meanwhile, Daniel Schwartz listed issues from ocean acidification to food chain contamination that would be priorities for the Arctic Council over the two years of Canada’s chairmanship and beyond.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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McMaster will pull the plug when the current contract, which is up for renewal, expires July 31.

The decision to abandon the partnership comes in the midst of a human rights complaint against McMaster from a former teacher at the institute.

It was sealed by concerns over hiring practices – reported last year by The Globe and Mail – that appeared to prohibit teachers Hanban hired and sent abroad to staff the schools from having certain beliefs.

[...]Chinese authorities have maintained Confucius Institutes are harmless, designed as a “a bridge reinforcing friendship and co-operation between China and the rest of the world” through teaching the Chinese language and culture.

But Sonia Zhao, who came to Canada to teach at McMaster’s institute in 2011, says she is pleased.

Ms. Zhao quit her post a year later, then complained to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario that McMaster was “giving legitimization to discrimination” because her employment contract forced her to hide her belief in Falun Gong, a spiritual movement the Chinese government deems dangerous.[...]

Falun Gong-founded Epoch Times quotes a Falun Gong spokesperson on the announcement:

Lucy Zhou, a spokesperson with the Falun Dafa Association of Canada, says she is happy with the university’s decision to close the CI.

“We are very encouraged to see that McMaster University is attempting to correct a mistake they made when they invited the Confucius Institute to their university without realizing their discriminatory practices against Falun Gong in their hiring practices,” Zhou says.

“The illegal persecution of Falun Gong is ruthless and permeates all facets of the society in China, including the education system. This kind of discrimination imported into Canada is a serious violation of human rights.”

Also see prior CDT coverage of the Confucius Institute, soft power and Falun Gong.

© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Officials at Canada’s two busiest airports—Toronto and Vancouver—seized around 12.9 million Canadian dollars ($13 million) in undeclared cash from Chinese nationals from April 2011 through early June 2012, according to documents provided to The Wall Street Journal by the Canada Border Services Agency.

The money, most of it returned to the owners, represented 59% of all cash seized at the airports in the period, according to the data. In the U.S., Chinese citizens are the top source of airport cash seizures after Americans.

In June, a Chinese man touched down at Vancouver airport with around $177,500 in cash—mostly in U.S. and Canadian hundred-dollar bills, stuffed in his wallet, pockets and hidden under the lining of his suit case. Clarence Lo, the Canadian Border Service officer who found the cash, said the man told him he was bringing the money in to buy a house or a car. He left the airport with his cash, minus a fine for concealing and not declaring the money.

“He wasn’t very happy,” said Mr. Lo.

See also previous CDT coverage of capital flight and its threat to Chinese economic growth.

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The implications of this shift away from the West in favor of China will be far-reaching for both Iraq and the Middle East. About two thirds of Iraq’s estimated oil reserves of 143.1 billion barrels and natural gas holdings of 126 trillion cubic feet are located in southern Iraq, the same parts of the country that Western companies are pulling out of. Industry sources maintain that by 2020 Chinese companies could be involved in projects within Iraq that account for at least 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of the estimated 6 million bpd Iraq will produce by then (from 3.1 million bpd at present), and may be aiming for 3.5 million bpd by 2035. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Iraq’s output could reach 8.3 million bpd by 2035.

To put Iraq’s potential in context, by comparison, China imported about 970,000 bpd from Saudi Arabia in 2011 and currently purchases about 520,000 bpd from Iran, or about half of Iran’s total exports of 1 million bpd, which is down from 2.3 million bpd in 2011 before Western sanctions over its suspected nuclear weapons program kicked in (prior to the sanctions, China accounted for roughly 20 percent of Iran’s exports). However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that falling production resulting from lack of investment, a high rate of natural decline in maturing oil fields, and the impact of the sanctions regime, will reduce the quantity of oil that is available for export and thus reduce Iran’s importance as an oil exporting country. Venezuela, another important source of crude for China, exports about 1.7 million bpd, of which China accounts for 10 percent. There as well, natural decline, lack of investment, and rising domestic consumption have led to an about one-quarter decline in exports since 2001. For its part, Russia produced 9.8 million bpd of crude in 2011, of which 7 million bpd were exported with China buying about 375,000 bpd. Unresolved territorial tensions, Moscow’s tendency to use oil exports as an economic weapon when relations sour, and Russia’s growing mistrust of China’s “rise” may have convinced the Beijing leadership that Russia cannot be counted on to serve as a reliable source of energy, its vast resources notwithstanding. And while Canada, a beacon of stability, shows great potential for China, Beijing is aware that major investments by China will remain a controversial issue in Canada, which could cause severe delays to the process of transforming the North American giant into a major source of energy for China.

From the above figures, it is therefore easy to see why Beijing would increasingly turn to Iraq, possibly the next “energy superpower,” as a source of crude to ensure it can continue to feed China’s economic expansion well into the future.

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The translations are by Rogier Creemers of China Copyright and Media.

17 April 2006, 9:36, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

The result of the Harbin Tianjia Medical Expense: Party Committee Secretary and others dismissed from position – if the first source of this article is Caijing, please completely delete it.

18 April 2006 (Tuesday), 9:05

The new Canadian Foreign Minister says there are 1,000 Chinese spies in his country – this article comes from the Straits Metropolitan Daily, and is not within the scope of reprinting, please speedily delete it.

18 April 2006, 9:00 Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

(1) Today, the visit of Hu Jintao to the United States has begun, all websites are requested to strictly use standard copy, at present, there still are articles from Dongfang Net, please immediately delete them.

(2) All websites are requested to speedily reprint the following articles in the special section on beginning the trend of network civilization: Youth Who Lost Their Way Accuse Network Poison – 300 Website Editors Are Deeply Shocked (http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9050.htm, http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9037.htm)

High-school students strive to abide by honesty and become “Network Civilization Disseminators” and “Examination Supervision Exempt Class,” Huiwen High School Students Fix Eyes upon Practicing the View of Honour and Dishonour,” (http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9041.htm, http: //epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9052.htm)

(3) “Run the Web in a Civilized Manner, Use the Web in a Civilized Manner” Arouses Huge Social Reverberations, The New Wind of Network Civilization Is Rising Up and Flourishing”

Beijing: Give Networks a Clear Space (http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/?pageStart=0&pageEnd=10&currentpage=0) – This is a special contribution to a special section, please reprint the entire article.

Please indicate the source, Beijing Daily Net – Beijing Daily when reprinting the above articles.

18 April 2006, 9:55, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

The article “China Maritime Bureau: Sailing Prohibition During Period of East Sea Oilfield Expansion Works” from today’s Jinghua Times is an untrue report, please speedily delete it.

18 April 2006, 9:58, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

Beijing Taxi drivers: our greatest ideal is driving black cars – please speedily push this to the back stage.

18 April 2006, 21:44, Chen Hua

Everyone, information concerning this edition of the American Pulitzer News Prize and “Female German Chancellor Changes Clothing in Public” is not to be reprinted or reported without exception by all website, where it has been reprinted, delete it.

19 April 2006, 9:00, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

If “Japan Brings Up the Incident of a Diplomat Committing Suicide for Illicit Love Again – States Our Diplomats to Be Summoned to Court” appears, please delete it with the highest speed.

19 April 2006, 11:31, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

Please note: please change all articles concerning the Beijing taxi price increase without exception into copy from the Beijing Daily: http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060419/200604/t14298.htm, http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060419/200604/t14303.htm. Please indicate that the source is Beijing Daily, please acknowledge receipt, thank you. Please speedily change them.

19 April 2006, 12:00, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

Reports concerning the matter of Beijing taxi price adjustment, news trackers may now be opened, apart from discussions attacking the government not being permitted to be published, positive and negative opinions may both be posted.

19 April 2006, 21:49, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

Please reprint the Qianlong Net information “Taxi Price Adjustment Hearing Representative Discussion- Attacking Black Cars Becomes Focus Point,” (http://beijing.qianlong.com/3825/2006/04/19/134@3128582.htm).

19 April 2006, 12:00, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

All websites are requested to reprint this article in the network civilization special subject section: http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2006-04/19/content_4449507.htm.

20 April 2006, 11:27, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao

Please timely reprint the People’s Daily People’s Commentary in the special subject section: “What Is It that Shocked 300 Network Editors?”（http://opinion.people.com.cn/GB/40604/4314195.html). Please acknowledge receipt.

2006年4月北京网管办发出的禁令（二）

2006年4月17日9时36分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

哈尔滨天价医费案结果公布：党委书记等被撤职——此稿如果稿源是第一财经的，请全部删除。
2006-4-18 (星期二) 9:05

加拿大新外长称本国有千名中国间谍——

此稿为海峡都市报的，不在转载范围，请迅速删除。
2006年4月18日9时 分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

1、今天胡锦涛访美开始，请各网严格使用规范稿源，目前还有用东方网的稿件，请立即删除。

2、请各网在大兴网络文明之风专题内迅速转载以下文章：失足少年控诉网络毒害三百网站编辑深受震撼 （http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9050.htm、http: //epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9037.htm）

高中生争作“网络文明传播者”“考试免监班”信守诚信
汇文中学学生小处着眼践行荣辱观（http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9041.htm、http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/200604/t9052.htm）

3、“文明办网、文明上网”激起巨大社会反响，网络文明新风正在蔚然兴起
北京：还网络一个洁净空间 （http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060418/?pageStart=0&pageEnd=10&currentpage=0）——这是一个特稿专版，请转载全部文章。

以上稿件在转载时，请注明出处京报网——北京日报
2006年4月18日9时55分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

今天京华时报的稿件《中国海事局：东海油田扩建作业期间禁航》为不实报道，请迅速删除。
2006年4月18日9时58分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

北京出租车司机：我最大的理想是开上黑车——请迅速压到后台。
2006年4月18日21时44分 陈华

各位，关于本届美国普利策新闻奖和“德国女总理当众换衣”的消息，各网站一律不转载报道，已转的删除
2006年4月19日9 时 分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

如有“日本重提外交官桃色自杀事件 称将传唤我外交官”请以最快速度删除。
2006年 4月19日11时 31分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

请注意：关于北京出租车涨价的稿件，请一律换为北京日报的稿件：http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060419 /200604/t14298.htm http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060419/200604/t14303.htm请注明来源为北京日报，收到请回复，谢 谢。请迅速更换。
2006年4月19日12时 分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

关于北京出租车调价一事的报道，现在可以打开跟贴，除攻击政府的言论不准放行外，正反意见均允许上贴。
2006年4月19日21 时 49 分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

请在新闻中心首页要闻区中下位置转载千龙网消息《出租车价调整听证代表质询 打击黑车成焦点 》（http://beijing.qianlong.com/3825/2006/04/19/134@3128582.htm）
2006年4月19日12时 分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

请各网站在文明办网专题转载：http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2006-04/19/content_4449507.htm 此文章
2006年4月20日11时27 分 北京市新闻办公室 范涛

请及时在专题内转载人民日报人民时评：《让三百名网络编辑震撼的，是什么 》（http://opinion.people.com.cn/GB/40604/4314195.html）收到请回复，谢谢。

These translated directives were first posted by Rogier Creemers on China Copyright and Media on November 21, 2012 (here).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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As China’s Communist Party prepares a momentous leadership change in early November, it is losing skilled professionals like Ms. Chen in record numbers. In 2010, the last year for which complete statistics are available, 508,000 Chinese left for the 34 developed countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That is a 45 percent increase over 2000.

Individual countries report the trend continuing. In 2011, the United States received 87,000 permanent residents from China, up from 70,000 the year before. Chinese immigrants are driving real estate booms in places as varied as Midtown Manhattan, where some enterprising agents are learning Mandarin, to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, which offers a route to a European Union passport.

Few emigrants from China cite politics, but it underlies many of their concerns. They talk about a development-at-all-costs strategy that has ruined the environment, as well as a deteriorating social and moral fabric that makes China feel like a chillier place than when they were growing up. Over all, there is a sense that despite all the gains in recent decades, China’s political and social trajectory is still highly uncertain.

Even Chinese who have achieved their own wealth at home find are drawn by the clean air, good schools and other social services in places like the United States, Australia and Canada. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that foreign property developers have flocked to China to catch the eyes of prospective buyers and sell them on the lure of foreign residency. And The Los Angeles Times’ Barbara Demick writes that those with enough cash can enlist the services of relocation consultants to advise them on an emigration strategy:

A recent poll of Chinese with a net worth of more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) found that 16% had obtained foreign residency and that an additional 44% were planning to emigrate. Many cite a polluted atmosphere, and not just in the air they breathe: endemic corruption, a shaky political system, tainted products and poor medical care, among other problems.

The exodus of the middle and upper classes is an embarrassment to the government, with possibly serious economic implications because the emigres are taking with them money and skills. In an attempt to prevent capital flight, Chinese laws limit people from taking more than $50,000 a year out of the country, but it is easy enough to get around the restrictions.

In effect, the wealthy emigres are buying their new residencies, in what they hope is the first step toward new passports. Many of the foreign programs involve a substantial investment by the prospective expatriates, either in real estate or businesses. The recently renewed U.S. EB-5 visa, for instance, requires $1 million ($500,000 for poor or rural areas) in businesses that create at least 10 jobs.

Dozens of consulting firms with names such as Royal Way Ahead Exit and Entry Service Co. have sprung up in recent years, their websites beckoning with photographs of swimming pools and world landmarks, with the Statue of Liberty and Sydney Opera House being among the most popular. Prospective immigrants troll the Internet, browsing real estate listings and schools, examining rankings of the “World’s Most Livable Places.”

Not everyone is leaving, however, as The Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Ford pointed out last week that the number of Chinese who returned home from abroad last year actually rose 40% from 2010. He also tweeted yesterday that the number of Chinese leaving the country fell from 2000 to 2010 if one removes students from the calculation.

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2. It won’t help CNOOC in the South China Sea.

After CNOOC announced its plans to buy Nexen, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters published articles asserting that Nexen’s operations in the Gulf of Mexico would provide CNOOC with deepwater drilling expertise applicable to disputed areas of the South China Sea. This vast body of water, potentially rich in oil and natural gas, is the subject of overlapping claims to territory and maritime rights by six governments, including China’s.

The argument is that CNOOC’s deployment of its newly acquired deepwater expertise to these areas could increase instability in the region and might prompt other claimants to further entangle the United States in a territorial dispute; therefore, CNOOC’s takeover of Nexen is inimical to American interests. CNOOC itself hasn’t helped matters. In May, the company’s chairman, Wang Yilin, said large deepwater drilling rigs are “mobile national territory” and a “strategic weapon” for developing China’s offshore oil industry.

Nexen, however, does not possess the technical capabilities that CNOOC needs to operate in the deep waters of the South China Sea. The Canadian firm is a newcomer to deepwater exploration and production. It does not own any drilling rigs and relies on outside contractors to perform most of the technical work involved in exploring and developing its acreage in the Gulf of Mexico — contractors that CNOOC could legally hire anytime it wants. In any case, the geological differences between the Gulf of Mexico and the South China Sea limit the portability of U.S.-gained expertise.

Downs also explains why CNOOC’s investment would give the U.S. leverage over Iran, not threaten the continued flow of Nexen’s oil to the U.S. and, perhaps most importantly, would signal that the U.S. is open to accepting capital from Chinese companies eager to provide it in America.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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With U.S. real estate prices depressed and many firms in the West starved for cash, the Chinese see a prime opportunity to rummage through the bargain bins of rich countries to gain technological know-how and international reach.

They’re also hedging against rising costs and uncertainties inside China. The world’s second-largest economy is struggling with its slowest growth rate since the financial crisis in 2008.

“The Chinese growth model is changing fundamentally,” said Thilo Hanemann, research director for the New York-based Rhodium Group, which tracks Chinese direct investment.

“Chinese companies need to escape the profit squeeze in low-end manufacturing and move up and down the value chain. Expanding investment in developed economies is an essential part of that,” Hanemann said.

Examples abound – Real estate magnate Wang Jianlin’s Wanda Group agreed to acquire cinema chain AMC Entertainment in late May, and last week Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC made an investment in a U.S. natural gas export plant. The trend is worrying some American officials, Pierson and Lee add, even if the China issue has taken a backseat during the U.S. presidential campaign. China’s investment push west has also raised official eyebrows north of the border, where state-owned CNOOC has faced obstacles in its proposed $15.1 billion acquisition of Canada’s Nexen. CNOOC’s offer for Nexen would be the richest foreign takeover ever for a Chinese company, according to Reuters, which reported last week that shareholders will vote next month on whether to approve the transaction:

The move is the most ambitious foray by resource-hungry China into North American energy since a 2005 attempt to buy U.S.-based Unocal for $18.5 billion was thwarted by a political backlash in the United States.

Chinese companies have been among the most aggressive in targeting assets around the globe to help feed demand in the world’s second-biggest economy.

According to details included in a proxy circular filed with regulators, CNOOC’s July 23 offer of $27.50 per Nexen share came after the Canadian firm rejected two earlier bids.

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Post tags: AMC Entertainment, Canada, Nexen, overseas investment, U.S. relations, Wanda
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“They tried to get me … to write a report for the Chinese government on the Dalai Lama using my press credentials as a way of getting access I wouldn’t otherwise have,” Mr. Bourrie, a long-time freelancer who has written for several major Canadian newspapers, said in an interview with the National Post. He alleges there are individuals within Xinhua who are acting as spies, seeking to “monitor [practitioners of the spiritual movement] Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama and any other critics of the Chinese government in Canada. That, I know for sure.”

[…] Mr. Bourrie said “90%” of his assignments were “normal” and that all of his own work was “legit,” but he also said there were warning bells along the way. The first sounded in June 2010, when he was asked to determine not only the identities of those who protested Chinese president Hu Jintao’s arrival at the G20 Summit in Toronto, but also where those protesters were staying.

[… L]ater he said he started receiving “weird” requests, including an assignment to determine how Canada deals with what Mr. Zhang [Dacheng, Xinhua's Ottawa bureau chief] apparently called “evil cults” — more specifically, Mr. Bourrie said, he was interested in Falun Gong.

Bourrie left Xinhua in late April. But Zhang has denied any suggestion of espionage, according to Mike Blanchfield at The Canadian Press:

Zhang told The Canadian Press that Xinhua’s policy is to “cover public events by public means” and his bureau’s job is to cover news events and file the stories to Xinhua’s editing rooms. It is up to them to decide how and what to publish, Zhang said, calling those decisions internal matters.

[…] “Nobody told him to pretend to be a journalist and act for a foreign power,” Zhang said. “That is his Cold War ideology.”

Bourrie himself was dismissive of such accusations in the midst of last year’s Dechert scandal, writing at Ottawa Magazine that:

It makes for wonderful copy when a middle-aged backbencher sends lusty e-mails to a Xinhua reporter, but if Xinhua is typical of a Chinese spy agency, we have nothing to worry about.

[…] It does follow the comings and goings of Falan Gong and the Dalai Lama. If anyone is being spied on by Xinhua, it’s them. Still, the Dalai Lama’s handlers accredited Xinhua for a speech last week in Montreal by the exiled Tibetan leader.

There’s a strong anti-China lobby whose front men are ex-CSIS agents who are being quoted in this country’s best papers saying Xinhua is an arm of Chinese intelligence. They’re right that anything you tell Xinhua is being told to someone who might tell someone in Beijing. Giving anything sensitive or secret to any reporter is a dumb thing to do.

When dealing with any journalist, Xinhua or New York Times, don’t tell them anything you don’t want on a billboard. Simple as that.

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Post tags: Canada, Dalai Lama, espionage, Falun Gong, Hu Jintao, spy, Xinhua
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The United States has accused China of raising tensions through a new military garrison in the South China Sea, calling on all sides to lower tensions in the hotly contested waters.

“We are concerned by the increase in tensions in the South China Sea and are monitoring the situation closely,” US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement on Friday.

“In particular, China's upgrading of the administrative level of Sansha city and establishment of a new military garrison there covering disputed areas of the South China Sea run counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region,” he said.

Ventrell also pointed to “confrontational rhetoric” and incidents at sea, saying: “The United States urges all parties to take steps to lower tensions.”

Washington has voiced it’s support for the Philippines in the past, and analysts, such as Stanford University’s Don Emmerson, are speculating on the US’s role in the dispute, the Voice of America reports:

“One would even suggest that those within the People’s Liberation Army who are among the most vehement nationalists on this issue would like to see the South China Sea actually become a Chinese lake,” Emmerson says.

Cato’s Justin Logan believes Washington is going “a little bit too far into making this a U.S. vs. China competition in the South China Sea.”

“If the United States had a somewhat more distant posture and wasn’t always rushing to assure its friends and allies in the region that we would be on the hook to ensure freedom of navigation,” Logan says, “other countries in the region would be, in fact, more alarmed about China’s behavior.”

“But the idea that they see the United States at the forefront of this effort to constrain China’s ambition in the South China Sea allows them to stand back a little bit and play one side off the other.”

Tensions in the region were heightened due to the lack of a resolution from the ASEAN summit. In response to Washington, Xinhua reports China strongly opposes the US’s statement on the dispute. :

China expressed its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition on the press statement released Friday by the U.S.Department of State on the South China Sea, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said here Saturday.

The statement “completely ignored the facts, deliberately confounded right and wrong, and sent a seriously wrong signal, which is not conducive to the efforts safeguarding the peace and stability of the South China Sea and the Asia Pacific region,” Qin said in a statement.

Why does the U.S. turn a blind eye to the facts that certain countries opened a number of oil and gas blocks, and issued domestic laws illegally appropriating Chinese islands and waters? Why does the U.S. avoid talking about the threats of military vessels to Chinese fishermen by certain countries and their unjustified claims of sovereignty rights over Chinese islands? And why do they choose to abruptly express concerns on and fiddle with the issue at a moment when regional countries are enhancing communication and dialogue and trying to solve the disputes and calm the situation? Qin asked.

China attached great importance to the friendly cooperation with ASEAN, support the process of ASEAN integration and ASEAN' s major role in the East Asia cooperation, said Qin.

Reuters reports that China protested the U.S. accusations by calling in the U.S. Diplomat, Robert Wang:

In a statement released late on Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry said Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng summoned the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to make “serious representations” about the issue.

Zhang said the U.S. statement “disregarded the facts, confused right with wrong, sent a seriously wrong signal and did not help with efforts by relevant parties to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea or the Asia Pacific.”

In the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, police on Sunday arrested at least 40 people preparing to stage another anti-China protest, said blogger Phuong Bich.

Authorities in Vietnam rarely allow demonstrations, but there have been periodic protests against China in Hanoi over the past few months as a result of what many Vietnamese see as Beijing's aggressive moves in the South China Sea

According to Bloomberg, China’s assertiveness in the region coincides with the upcoming change in leadership:

“What we’re seeing is a significant ratcheting up of Chinese pressure on the region to basically acquiesce that the South China Sea is Chinese territory,” Dean Cheng, a researcher on Chinese political and security issues at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said in a telephone interview.

China’s assertiveness in the region coincides with preparations for a political and military transition. Communist party leaders are believed to be meeting to select new members for the country’s Politburo and Standing Committee, the nation’s civilian leaders, and its Central Military Commission, which controls the military, Cheng said. In October or November, the full party Congress will convene to select a new president to replace Hu Jintao in a once-a-decade leadership handover.

Cheng said the U.S. interest is primarily in free navigation through the region. The South China Sea sea lanes are particularly important to the economies of U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, he said.

Any military conflict in the South China Sea might draw in the U.S. The Philippines is a U.S. ally, and the two countries have a mutual protection pact. While the treaty doesn’t cover disputed territories in the South China Sea, an attack on Filipino ships or other assets could trigger a U.S. response, Cheng said .

China is becoming more aggressive in the region by setting up the city of Sansha and a military garrison. Another Reuters article reports they are also increasing their presence through China National Offshore Oil Corp’s (CNOOC) acquisition of Canada’s tenth largest oil company, Nexen:

The acquisition of Nexen — which faces reviews by both the Canadian and U.S. governments — will not be an instant game changer, however, because deepwater technology will take years for China to master, say experts on China's energy sector.

CNOOC, parent of Hong Kong-listed CNOOC Ltd, has emerged as a key component of China's strategy to bolster its claims to nearly the entire South China Sea. The vast body of water, believed to hold rich oil and gas reserves, is also claimed in part by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.

CNOOC become more deeply involved in China's South China Sea strategy in late June when it invited foreign firms to bid on oil blocks that overlap territory being explored by Vietnam. Earlier CNOOC unveiled the Haiyang Shiyou (Offshore Oil) 981 rig, China's first domestically made ultra-deepwater rig.

With the Nexen acquisition comes deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico that would bring with it expertise in managing complex operations and technology that, once assimilated, would extend CNO OC's rea ch in the South China Sea.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canada, diplomacy, oil, philippines, South China Sea, United States, Vietnam
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The Canadian oil industry seems to be generally onside with the acquisition although there are those who caution against allowing SOEs to expand their role. The provincial government in Alberta has likewise shown no sign of opposition, leaving it to the federal government in Ottawa to make the call as to whether or not this investment will bring “net benefit” to Canada. Since the rules for “net benefit” have not been clearly defined, the government has ample scope to either approve or reject CNOOC’s bid, depending on its political calculations. Given Mr. Harper’s overtures to the Chinese, as well as the possibility of the two countries launching free trade negotiations at some point in the future, the chances are good that the takeover will be approved, probably subject to some undertakings regarding maintenance of substantial operations at Nexen’s operations in Calgary. Some commentators have called for Canada to use China’s interest in acquiring more oil, gas and mineral assets in Canada as a negotiating chip in the forthcoming FTA talks, should they be launched.

The bid could face obstacles in the U.S., however, given that Nexen has holdings in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, a longtime China skeptic, has signaled that he has concerns over Chinese acquisition of U.S. resources and wants the deal reviewed by the same process that persuaded the Chinese to withdraw their Unocal offer. A decision by the U.S. to disallow CNOOC’s acquisition of the Gulf of Mexico assets would force Nexen to divest them.

Meanwhile, all is not smooth sailing for a proposed Northern Gateway pipeline that will have to be built from the oil sands in Alberta through the neighboring province of British Columbia (BC), to a planned terminal on the north Pacific coast, if Canadian oil is to be moved to China or elsewhere throughout Asia. Not only are most aboriginal groups, across whose traditional territories that pipeline will have to cross, opposed, but the BC government has laid out five conditions that it says will have to be met if it is to give its approvals for the pipeline and tanker terminal. One of these is that BC receive a greater share of the benefits of the project, a demand that Alberta premier Alison Redford has flatly rejected. While this inter-provincial standoff continues, there are many other hurdles that must be overcome before Alberta oil finds its way to the west coast, and from there onto China-bound tankers.

In the U.S., meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that regulators have obtained a court order to freeze the assets of traders for allegedly profiting ahead of the announcement of the proposed Nexen acquisition:

Hong Kong-based Well Advantage Limited, controlled by Zhang Zhirong, and other unidentified traders stockpiled shares of Nexen based on confidential information about the deal, the SEC said in a July 27 statement announcing a complaint filed at federal court in Manhattan. The court order froze about $38 million in assets, the SEC said.

Nexen’s stock rose more than 50 percent on July 23 after Cnooc, China’s largest offshore oil and gas explorer, said it would pay $15.1 billion in cash to acquire the Calgary-based company. Well Advantage’s owner Zhang, a billionaire, is the controlling shareholder of China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd. (1101), a Hong Kong-based company that engages in significant business activities with Cnooc, the SEC said.

See also previous coverage of the growing economic relationship between China and Canada, and the eyebrows the relationship has raised within the Canadian intelligence community.

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Post tags: Canada, CNOOC, energy, foreign investment, insider trading, natural resources, Nexen, state-owned enterprises
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In China, the case seems set to deepen perceptions of foreign study as a risky prospect, following another murder in Canada last year and two widely publicised incidents in April: the shootings of two Chinese students in Los Angeles, and an overtly racist attack on two others on a Sydney train. It remains unclear whether Lin’s killing was racially motivated or simply part of a sustained campaign of increasingly extreme attention seeking. Montreal police would not speculate on the matter, but suspicions have taken root among the local Chinese community. From The Globe and Mail:

The murder of Mr. Lin has provoked widespread shock and anger in China, where many believe the crime was racially motivated. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa has warned citizens living or travelling in Canada to “strengthen their personal security” in the wake of the deadly attack.

Mr. Lin’s death is the second killing of a Chinese student in Canada in just over a year, following last April’s murder of York University student Liu Qian, part of which was watched on Skype by her boyfriend back in China.

[…] A makeshift memorial to Mr. Lin sprang up in downtown Montreal in front of the statue of Norman Bethune, the Canadian surgeon regarded as a hero in China. The foot of the statue was covered with bouquets along with a note in English, French and Chinese that summed up the sense of relief over Mr. Magnotta’s arrest: “We got that beast.”

An earlier Globe and Mail report quoted the embassy’s warning, and outlined the case’s possible impact on Canadian universities’ ability to attract Chinese students.

“The Chinese Embassy in Canada reminds Chinese citizens traveling in Canada, as well as students and the staff of Chinese organizations in Canada, to improve their self-protection [and] awareness, and to strengthen their personal security,” reads the final paragraph of the Embassy’s Chinese-language statement on Mr. Lin’s murder, which called condemned the “heinous criminal act.” A similar warning was posted on the webpage of the Chinese consulate in Montreal.

[…] “The impact of the case will be very bad on Canada,” Meng Xiaochao, the boyfriend who witnessed the attack on Ms. Liu, said in an interview. “Last year when Liu Qian’s case happened, many parents said they were no longer willing to send their children to Canada. Now here comes this other case.”

More than 50,000 Chinese students currently live and study in Canada. Like all foreign students, they pay higher tuition than their Canadian-born classmates, making them highly sought-after by cash-strapped universities. Another 242,000 Chinese came to Canada as tourists last year, a number the travel industry had been hoping would increase by as much as one-fifth this year.

An infographic at GOOD shows the most favoured destinations for Chinese students abroad, with Canada ranking third behind the US and UK. 85% of Chinese with net worths of more than one million US dollars reportedly plan to send their offspring to study overseas: those who have already done so include Bo Xilai, at least five of the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee, if one includes grandchildren, and noted crusader against foreign trash Yang Rui. The strong association of study abroad with wealth triggered a storm of resentment around the USC case in April. Some online reactions to Lin Jun’s murder displayed similar sentiments, though many others attacked such unsympathetic responses. Many expressed concern at the apparent dangers of journeys to the West, linking the Magnotta case to other bizarre and gruesome stories of recent weeks. From chinaSMACK:

kansen2009:

I wonder which rich family or official’s family this unlucky child belongs to.

byrainby00:

Isn’t Canada and the United States supposed to be heaven on Earth?

研小叽:

Yep yep, either way, just be careful when abroad. Just a few days ago I saw the incident of someone’s [face] being bitten and torn off, and today I see this kind of cannibalism in Canada too, sigh, the world truly isn’t safe.

gaoqiaoxueer:

I urge everyone to stop going to Europe and America to study abroad. Not only is the cultural difference big and Chinese people are discriminated against, the main thing is that it isn’t safe. Perverse people.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: berlin, Bo Xilai, Canada, Chinese students, Germany, murder, Politburo Standing Committee, study abroad, wealth gap, wuhan
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“The Chinese government’s determination to attack crime and root out corruption is unwavering, the report said.

Lai can still appeal against the conviction and sentence.

The court concluded that, from 1991, Lai “established companies, strongholds and networks in Hong Kong and Xiamen to form a smuggling clique” that cheated customs inspectors to import cigarettes, cars, oil products, industrial materials and textiles worth a total of some 27.4 billion yuan ($4.3 billion).

Lai bribed 64 officials through gifts of cash, real estate and vehicles worth some 39.1 million yuan, and he evaded taxes totaling 14.0 billion yuan.

Lai’s crimes occurred in the special economic zone of Xiamen in Fujian province in the mid-1990s when Jia, now the Communist Party’s fourth most senior leader, was the province’s party boss.

In The Globe and Mail, Mark MacKinnon traces Lai’s opportunistic rise to the top of China’s black market and writes that today’s ruling marks the end of China’s Great Gatsby:

In a country where few profess to know the details of the Tiananmen Square massacre, nearly everyone knows Mr. Lai’s name. He’s the ultimate antihero, the poor kid from Fujian province who came to symbolize the excesses and corruption that have spoiled China’s economic rise. Tell someone here that you’re Canadian, and you open yourself to questions about why Canada would shelter a man like Mr. Lai for the dozen years he was in Vancouver fighting extradition before he was finally sent back to China 10 months ago.

The story of Lai Changxing resonates here because it is interwoven with that of modern China. He made it rich through his own enterprise, only to become mired in the payoffs and profiteering that so many Chinese detest. He was a rogue and a bootlegger, a Chinese Jay Gatsby, who is believed to have rubbed shoulders with some of the rising stars of Communist Party, which many believe helps explain the passion with which Beijing fought to have him extradited and jailed back on Chinese soil. (The party boss in Fujian at the height of Mr. Lai’s influence was Jia Qinglin, now a member of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo. The provincial governor was Xi Jinping, the man tipped to be China’s next president.)

See also recent CDT coverage of Lai’s trial and legacy as “China’s Most Wanted Fugitive.”

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canada, deportation, Lai Changxin, legal system, prison, smuggling, xiamen
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… The collective global attention paid to the world’s number-two economy has increased drastically in the media and within policy circles. Call it the “post-Olympics effect.” The triumphalism of the 2008 Beijing Games and the ensuing collapse of the global economy dramatically altered the extent and scope to which the world focused on China. Just a little over three years later, a “China story” is bound to splash across the front page of major U.S. papers week after week. The breadth and detail of coverage have increased significantly too. Many more Americans now likely know that there’s a gargantuan Chinese city called Chongqing and that its leader is in serious trouble. And many more will have heard of Vice President Xi Jinping. In 2002, how many people knew who Hu Jintao was or what a politburo standing committee was?

It is a given that this level of attention will persist. What is not clear is how China will ultimately adapt. While it’s theoretically positive for American public knowledge about China to grow, for Beijing, such endless attention is highly uncomfortable and unwelcome. What’s more, some of that attention carries the expectation that China should behave more like a top-two power. Even before the recent slew of political and human rights troubles, Beijing spurned the idea that it must play a more expansive global role, especially if that meant big distractions from the home front. In light of recent events, China may have had a point: The image it has projected lately is not of a country that is strutting onto the world stage confidently and unencumbered.

Two important components of China’s soft power plan are its network of Confucius Institutes—see The China Beat for two posts on the University of Kentucky’s—and its overseas expansion of state media organisations. The Guardian reported on Monday that China Daily is soon to launch an African edition:

The African operation of the state-run China Daily will generate a range of Africa-specific content. It is to be based in Johannesburg, South Africa, with another office pencilled in for Nairobi, Kenya, reports said.

The aim is to promote China’s interests in Africa, particularly mineral exploitation and easy immigration policies, and to counter what is seen in some countries as a negative reputation, a source said. “This is a massive thing,” the source said. “China sees Africa as the ultimate source of the minerals it needs for economic growth ….”

It is not clear how widely China Daily’s African edition will be published or who its target readership is. “I don’t think that is the priority now,” the source added. “This is a symbolic move. They are working it out as they go along ….”

Although the paper is state-owned, Gao said the paper had an independent editorial policy and its editorial board members were not government officials. “We do run reports criticising government and suggesting measures on how it should improve.”

While commentary on China’s soft power drive and global image tends to be unfavourable, a BBC World Service survey [PDF] suggested that Beijing’s efforts may in fact be bearing fruit. Responses from 22 countries suggested that positive views of China have jumped over the past twelve months, continuing the trend of the two previous years. Favourable impressions of China are spreading faster than those of any other country, and at the current rate will overtake those of the UK, Canada and Germany to take second place behind Japan next year. The survey finds China, like the US, to be relatively polarising, but shows negative impressions dropping as sharply as positive views are rising.

The poll … finds that views of China have improved significantly over the last year, in both the developing and industrialised world, and that the country has now overtaken both the EU and the US ….

Germany, the most positively regarded nation last year, has seen its positive ratings drop from 60 to 56 per cent. This puts Germany in second place behind Japan, which is now rated most positively—by 58 per cent on average, up two points from last year. Canada (rated positively by 53%) and the UK (by 51%) are the third and fourth most positively viewed countries.

Positive views of China rose from 46 to 50 per cent on average. They jumped particularly sharply in the UK (up 19 points), as well as in Australia, Canada, and Germany (all up 18 points). These gains follow modest rises between 2010 and 2011.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008 Beijing Olympics, Africa, BBC, Bo Xilai, Canada, Chen Guangcheng, China Daily, confucius institute, EU, Germany, Hu Jintao, Japan, kenya, soft power, South Africa, U.K., United States, Xi Jinping
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Mr Lai built his empire in the exuberant early days of China’s economic miracle. After quitting his first job, as a well digger, he started an automotive parts factory in 1979.

In a few short years, his business quickly spread, into shipping, cigarettes, paper, textiles, umbrellas, finance, and consumer electronics. He then started up an import-export company which the Chinese authorities claim was merely a front for a spectacular smuggling ring that shipped in everything from Mercedes-Benz saloons to pornography.

In one case, uncovered by investigators, Mr Lai’s ships allegedly brought in more than ten million packets of cigarettes in 1999, dodging £11 million of duty by disguising them as wood shavings.

Altogether, he is accused of earning £4 billion from smuggling in just the three years from 1996 to 1999, a sum almost equivalent to Xiamen’s annual GDP.

The Guardian has more to say on the sordid past of Lai Changxing, the criminal ring he founded, and relays an alternative public appraisal of the man:

State news agency Xinhua said the court in Xiamen, a southern coastal city, was trying Lai for “masterminding a criminal ring engaged in smuggling and bribery”, which reportedly cost the country $3.6bn in unpaid tax. Six hundred people were investigated in connection with the case and 300 punished, according to Xinhua. At least two of those – the former chief of the Xiamen branch of the Commercial and Industrial Bank and former section chief of the city’s customs bureau – were executed, while 11 were given suspended death sentences or jailed for life. Many believed Lai’s connections went far higher.

But some in Xiamen compared Lai, 53, to Robin Hood for his generosity to many in his home town. He was said to have been a lavish tipper who even bought equipment for local police.

China, infamous for it’s widespread practice of capital punishment, promised the Canadian court that Lai would not be executed if returned home for a “fair trial.” BBC reports:

China has reassured Canada he will not face the death penalty if convicted.

Canada, which does not practise capital punishment, forbids the extradition of prisoners to countries where they may be executed.

Correspondents say the case had soured diplomatic relations between the two countries.

[...][Lai's] lawyers had argued that at least seven of his associates have died or disappeared in China’s justice system. They said he would face torture and execution in China as a scapegoat for high-level officials who were involved in corrupt practices.

China is believed to carry out more executions a year than any other country, but, in this case, has promised Canada that Mr Lai will receive a fair trial and will not face the death penalty.

© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canada, lai changxing, organised crime, organized crime, trials
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