The trip, sponsored and organized by Asia Society and the Aspen Institute, will send 14 notable cultural figures from the United States to Beijing for five days of discussions and performances starting Nov. 14. Other participants include the writers Amy Tan and Michael Pollan, the dancer and producer Damian Woetzel, and the opera director Peter Sellars, among others. Chinese taking part include Ge You, one of the country’s biggest movie stars, and Bai Yansong, a prominent TV news anchor.

“Why don’t we get along?” Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross director of Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relationsand the main architect of the project, said of the United States and China. “It’s not just an issue of policy. The Chinese are formal and ritualistic in their encounters. Americans often feel thwarted, that they can’t break through the rigidity of their positions.”

Mr. Schell said he hopes that exchanges like this one will display the openness and spontaneity of American culture. There are also plans for a reciprocal visit.

[...]Shen Xin, an official with the Chinese People’s Association With Foreign Countries, the Chinese organization hosting the visit, said in an e-mail: “There exists differences and distances between the United States and China, but the challenges we face are shared. The more we learn from each other, the more opportunities we have.”

The EU is also hoping to bolster relations with China by building cultural bridges. From Euroalert.net:

The European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou is in Beijing to finalise plans for the launch of a “people-to-people” dialogue covering education, culture, youth and research. Commissioner Vassiliou will meet her counterpart in the Chinese administration, State Councillor Liu Yandong, to pave the way for the new framework for cooperation, which will be officially launched before the end of the year.

[...]Among the cultural programmes financed by the EU, the MEDIA Mundus programme supports international cooperation in the audiovisual sector, offering EU film-makers the chance to create networks with their Chinese counterparts. One of the aims of Commissioner Vassiliou’s visit is to encourage more Chinese films in Europe – and more European films in China.

Meanwhile, China also sees promise that cultural exchange can enhance bilateral relations as it looks to its geopolitical neighbors. Xinhua reports on a call for closer people-to-people exchanges with Japan:

State Councilor Liu Yandong on Thursday voiced a hope for more efforts by the Japan-China Friendship Association to reinforce people-to-people exchanges and bilateral cooperation.

Liu made the remark while meeting with a visiting Japanese delegation headed by Koichi Kato, chairman of the Japan-China Friendship Association and the former secretary-general of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

As next year marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic relations, China and Japan should take the opportunity to enhance cooperation in all areas and bolster bilateral ties, Liu said.

Another report from Xinhua outlines similar efforts between China and South Korea:

Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang and South Korean Parliamentary Speaker Park Hee-tae on Thursday pledged to enhance exchanges between the two countries.

During his meeting with Park, Li said bilateral ties had enjoyed comprehensive and fast development since the two countries established diplomatic relations 19 years ago. This had brought huge benefits to the two peoples and made a great contribution to safeguarding and promoting regional peace, stability and development.

Li said he hoped China and South Korea could expand inter-parliamentary exchanges, promote exchanges between political parties and youth and enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

© josh rudolph for China Digital Times (CDT), 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: China and Japan, cultural exchange, EU, South Korea relations, United States
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China will ban the import of farm produce, including food, edible agricultural products and feedstuff, from 12 areas in Japan, the country’s quarantine authorities said, as concerns about radiation contamination mount.

The areas are Tokyo as well as the Japanese prefectures of Fukujima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, Saitama, Yamagata, Yamanashi, Chiba and Tochigi, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement published on its website, www.aqsiq.gov.cn, late on Friday.

The latest measure was an expansion of a ban China announced on the import of some Japanese food and agricultural products late last month, state media said on Saturday.

Read more about China’s previous ban on Japanese food.

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“We hope the Japanese people will quickly overcome the difficulties and rebuild their homeland,” Hu said.

Tension between the two neighbors had been high in recent months. Relations chilled last September after a Chinese fishing trawler collided with Japanese patrol vessels near a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, close to potentially vast oil and gas reserves.

Chinese leaders, including Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao, were quick to send sympathy and offers of support immediately after the disaster struck, including a 15-member rescue team and 30 million yuan ($4.5 million) in relief supplies.

A week earlier, President Hu had extended a message of condolence to Japanese Emperor Akihito as well. From Xinhua News:

In a message, Hu mourned the dead and extended condolences to the Japanese emperor.

Hu said the Chinese government and people stand ready to offer necessary help.

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The Japanese ship was on patrol on Monday near a disputed gas field that both countries want to exploit.

Relations between the two nations have been strained since a row last year over the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain near islands both claim.

Japan’s Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa called the aerial manoeuvre by the Chinese helicopter “extremely dangerous”.

Officials say it flew within 70m (230ft) of the Japanese destroyer, Samidare, at an altitude of less than 40m.

The Financial Times challenges the BBC’s account of the incident’s location, however:

A Japanese defence ministry official declined to give details of where the latest incident occurred, but denied media reports it was near the controversial Chunxiao gas field, where Tokyo says Chinese drilling operations could be drawing gas from across the “median line” that it claims as the border of its EEZ.

Japan did issue a separate complaint this week regarding alleged Chinese drilling in the Chunxiao field, however.

As the articles note, last week saw Japan scramble fighters to head off Chinese aircraft approaching the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and the Philippines complain about the menacing of one of its survey vessels by Chinese patrol boats in the South China Sea. In addition, Vietnam protested that a pair of Chinese missile destroyers had conducted exercises in its waters.

New fears for Japan’s security were sparked on Sunday by the resignation of foreign minister Maehara Seiji. During his six months in office, Maehara had sought to repair the somewhat dented alliance with the US, a strategy designed to complement the reorientation of the country’s defences away from the former Soviet Union and toward China. His departure threatens to undermine this renewed relationship with Washington, according to The Japan Times:

Takashi Kawakami, a professor of securities issues at Takushoku University, said the resignation of Maehara, known for his pro-Washington stance, will damage ties with the United States and expose Japan more to hardline China and Russia.

“If Japan can’t deepen ties with the U.S., that means Japan’s deterrence will go down,” Kawakami said, predicting China will get more aggressive around the Senkaku Islands and Russia will strengthen its grip over the four islands it holds off Hokkaido ….

Kawakami, an expert on Japan-U.S. relations, said the shock of the resignation has spread throughout Washington, where officials considered Maehara the most likely candidate to succeed Kan. But with Maehara out of the picture, the future of relations has, once again, become unclear.

Prime Minister Kan Naoto has since named Matsumoto Takeaki, a Senior Vice Foreign Minister under Maehara, as the new Foreign Secretary, suggesting a degree of continuity which may help lay these fears to rest.

China Daily reported this week that the International Institute of Strategic Studies has formally classified Japan as an “aircraft-carrier power”, leaving China encircled by four such countries: Russia, Japan, India and Thailand. Japan’s carrier has actually been afloat since 2007, but was previously categorised as a “helicopter destroyer”, a term thought to dance more nimbly than “aircraft carrier” around the constitutional prohibition on offensive weaponry. Nevertheless, the Hyuga-class vessel could potentially serve as a launch platform for planes as well as helicopters:

“The Hyuga is not yet as powerful as the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) would like it to be, mainly because there are no F-35s (fighter jets) as yet,” Li said.

“Once Japan acquires F-35s or another suitable short take-off aircraft for the Hyuga class, it will have a greatly increased expeditionary capability, and can operate in conjunction with the US more and more in regional security operations.”

Li said the JMSDF is “very powerful” in terms of capabilities. “Its assets are arguably the second best after the US. The ships are modern, powerful, and with a wide range of services. However they suffer from the same problems as the Chinese navy in that it lacks expeditionary capabilities and also the crew lack real battle experience.”

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Post tags: aircraft carriers, China and Japan, diaoyu islands, japan military, philippines, Russia, United States, Vietnam
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The blocked shipments of minerals known as rare earths, despite previous signals that China was lifting the ban, could increase tensions at the meeting of the Group of 20 leading economic powers, now underway in Seoul. And it could place China at odds with Germany, which has been an outspoken critic of the rare earths policy but has recently been an ally of China’s on a separate matter that is a hot topic for the G-20 — the weak United States dollar.

The continuation of China’s unannounced embargo against Japan highlights the delicate balance that Beijing officials are trying to strike as world leaders converge on Seoul. Chinese customs and port officials have been blocking exports of raw rare earths to Japan for seven weeks, despite suggesting in late October that they were about to allow a resumption of shipments.

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The government of the People’s Republic of China has often been criticized for its policies regarding freedom of expression. Cinema in China has been central to this criticism, particularly with respect to the distribution of foreign films. This article uses a case study of the Japanese film Death Note (Kaneko Shūsuke, 2006) to advance current understanding of Chinese cinema found in important studies such as Chu (2002), Zhang (2004) and Berry and Farquhar (2006). To better understand the controversy surrounding Death Note in the Chinese context, this article explores the historical precursors to the Chinese Communist Party’s ban on horror films, and examines the attitudes of Chinese students at an Australian university. The article also proposes a new viewpoint about how trade and popular presses in the West are attempting to understand China’s changing role in the global cultural industries.

The government of the People’s Republic of China has often been criticized for its policies regarding freedom of expression. Cinema in China has been central to this criticism, particularly with respect to the distribution of foreign films. This article uses a case study of the Japanese film Death Note (Kaneko Shūsuke, 2006) to advance current understanding of Chinese cinema found in important studies such as Chu (2002), Zhang (2004) and Berry and Farquhar (2006), and to show how new aspects of film-viewing are emerging among mainland Chinese audiences.

Though it was not licensed by any Chinese distributor and was eventually banned by the government, the Death Note franchise has gained popularity and notoriety within China. To better understand the controversy surrounding Death Note (see Figure 1) in the Chinese context, this article explores the historical precursors to the Chinese Communist Party’s ban on horror films, and examines the attitudes of Chinese students studying at an Australian university, some of whom had acquired the film illegally through internet piracy while they were still in China.

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With the world economy’s center of gravity shifting from the West to the East, led by China’s rising economic and corresponding political power, the year 2010 may witness a series of epoch-making events in Asia.

A grand rapprochement between Japan and China could be one such happening. The idea has recently been floated through the media by anonymous diplomatic sources in Tokyo and Beijing, attracting attention among experts worldwide.

The French newspaper Le Figaro reported from Tokyo on January 6 that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had delivered to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) the script of a spectacular reconciliation this year between the two countries. The report said that China had proposed that Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio begin the process by going to Nanjing, where a mass killing of Chinese civilians by the Japanese Imperial Army took place in December 1937 and subsequently.

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China’s decision not to allow Coca Cola to buy local soft drinks champion Huiyuan Juice, announced on March 18, and the latest World Bank report predicting growth will slow to 6.5% from the previously forecast 7.5%, has caused some commentators to wonder whether China could turn inwards. The fear is that China could turn away from its relatively open economic model and copy Japan’s ‘mercantilist’ model, defined as manipulating the terms of trade in one’s favour through currency depreciation and non-tariff barriers to imports and investments, and thus ‘stealing’ growth from one’s neighbours.

Japan has a total trade-to-GDP ratio of just 18%, and the stock of foreign direct investment represents a truly lamentable 1%. With only 2 million registered foreigners, Japan is the least welcoming country in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with a ratio of 1.5% foreigners to the total population. Compare that to 10% in Spain, or even Germany, which has 16 million foreign residents in a population of 85 million.

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It is impossible to visit Chongqing, a 10-million-person city in western China, without being overwhelmed by the mile upon mile of new sky-high apartments and office buildings, bridges and roads rising in ever-widening circles. But the sight is less impressive when one learns that it is accompanied by rampant real estate speculation, years of double-digit price hikes in real estate all over China, and a countrywide syndrome of excess investment and a dearth of consumer spending. Instead, parts of the picture look alarmingly like Japan’s late-1980s bubble and subsequent “lost decade.”

The two countries have experienced similar cycles. A decade ago, a mainland investment boom led to a Chinese nonperforming loan crisis even bigger than Japan’s 1990s bust. A massive, painful restructuring of China’s debt-laden state-owned enterprises ensued. Now, China risks a repeat of that painful adjustment. The good news is that, in stark contrast to Tokyo’s decade of denial, Premier Wen Jiabao and other leaders have publicly recognized that today’s imbalances must be addressed.

As in Japan, consumer spending is too low to keep the economy motoring ahead. In China, consumption was only 50% of GDP in the 1980s and today an astonishingly low 37%. Typically, poor countries devote about 60% of GDP to personal consumption. The problem is not lack of desire to spend, but lack of money: Household disposable income has been shrinking as a share of GDP. The annual flow of 10 million workers from countryside to city has suppressed wage growth while regulated rates give consumers negligible returns on their savings deposits.

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A Tokyo movie theater on Saturday became the first in the nation to screen the controversial documentary “Yasukuni,” drawing hundreds of viewers throughout the day despite drizzling rain.

People started arriving at Cine Amuse in Shibuya hours before the first screening, but despite expectations, no rightwing protests or speaker trucks were seen in the area.

The theater will show “Yasukuni” eight times a day on two screens, one with English subtitles, until Friday, and more than 20 other theaters nationwide will follow suit, distributor Argo Pictures said.

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China has passed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, while India is in fourth place, the World Bank confirmed on Friday, as it unveiled a report examining the relative purchasing power of global economies. The report found that developing economies’ share of total global output had risen significantly in the past decade, as nations such as India and China had grown far faster than their richer counterparts.

As a result, developing nations accounted for 41 per cent of $58,600bn (€37,000bn, £29,600bn) in total global economic output in 2006 – up from 36 per cent in 2000. “When we measure economies on a comparable global scale, the growing clout of developing countries comes into sharp relief,” said Alan Gelb, the World Bank’s acting chief economist.

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It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing tainted-food saga between Japan and China. The case has touched off tensions between the two countries with each going back and forth on who could be at fault. Officials from both sides have taken the incident seriously and made it a point of discussion during high-level talks between the two countries.

Adding to the tensions are further reports that pesticides have been found in other food items sent to Japan, namely steamed meat buns, fried pork rolls and frozen mackerel. Chinese officials are also denying any wrongdoing for the those tainted food items.

The Associated Press reports:

Traces of methamidophos, an insecticide banned in Japan, were found in the dumplings, on the packaging and in the vomit of the people who were sickened in December and January after eating two separate brands of dumplings made at the Tianyang Food Processing Ltd. factory.

The incidents have aggravated often-tempestuous relations between the neighbors, who have clashed over wartime history and mineral-rich territories.

“We believe that there is little chance of putting methamidophos into dumplings in China,” Yu told reporters at a briefing. He noted that police believed the case was “caused by manmade factors” and did not stem from tainted raw materials.

Japan’s Health Ministry had no immediate comment.

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Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan on Saturday expressed strong concern over Japan’s recent actions and comments over Taiwan, and warned Tokyo not to use the island as a “political card” against Beijing, a Japanese lawmaker said.

Taku Yamasaki, a legislator and special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, told a press conference Tang made the comments in a meeting with him in the Chinese capital. Tang in particular expressed displeasure over Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura’s remarks last week in New York describing Taiwan as being within the scope of the Japan-U.S. joint security treaty, Yamasaki said.

See also “China blasts Japan over Taiwan comments” from Washington times.

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Japan and China agreed Saturday to launch a joint study on their history, Japanese government officials said. The agreement was concluded in a meeting between Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing on the sidelines of Asia-Europe foreign ministerial talks in Kyoto.

While Machimura proposed that they decide concretely how to promote the project by the end of this year, Li said he will accept the framework of the study group either as Japan-China or Japan-China-South Korea, according to the officials.

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In a five-point proposal on the development of Sino-Japanese relations, Chinese President Hu Jintao said the two countries should further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields so as to increase mutual understanding, promote mutual interests and keep bilateral relations on a healthy track.

After China and Japan normalized relations in 1972, the two countries made strides in cooperation in politics, economics and trade, science and technology, education, tourism, sports and environment.

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