Dialogues Between China and Taiwan Foreshadow Hope for the Region

He's a panda. She's a panda. On the inside, we're all just pandas. But some of us associate with different factions, and thus has arisen the Taiwan Strait conflict. One group of pandas just doesn't like the other group, and there's not much to be done about it. Or is there? In this article by the Xinhua News Network, Chinese and Taiwanese officials have agreed to come together in Southern China next week to discuss Strait relations. One impressive move that has already been made is the strong consideration of allowing the exchange of Taiwanese and Chinese college students. Hopefully these talks will result in real solutions and more permanent dialogue between the two factions.

This is significant, as, as we all learned in Iran and China in 1989, the college students are always those that affect the most change the most rapidly. Also, the China-Taiwan conflict has been raging on (mostly nonviolently) for many decade, and a solution to the issue would be a huge step indeed. With its western backing, I believe that Taiwan will remain a separate state, and hopefully China will realize this and cease incessantly waiting for Taiwan to come to its senses and join the Panda empire.

China posts 1st trade deficit since 2004

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Summary:

China has posted its first quarterly trade deficit in 7 years. A $1.02 billion deficit was run through the months of January and March. March saw a small surplus of $140 million, but Febuary had a deficit of $7.3 billion. The increased deficit is blamed on high prices of iron and oil, both of which China must import huge amounts of to maintain their growing economy. Lastyear, China averaged a $16 billion surplus each month. Foreign analyst have expressed hope that their increasing deficit will allow other countries to cut down on their own deficits with China. If high commodity price maintain themselves, China could have trouble posting a surplus.

Significance:

China has long been a huge exporter of manufactured goods, but the they have outstripped their own resources. It will be interesting to see if other countries start to leverage their need for raw materials, particularly considering China has practically no world military presence. China economy could suffer if prices stay high, and if their economy goes down, who knows what could happen.

China refutes US human rights report

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Summary: China's foreign ministry spokesman has recently spoken out against the United States using human rights as a pretext for interfering in China's internal affairs. The outcry came after the release of this year's annual report on human rights around the world. Obviously, China's status was depicted as very poor. But according to Hong, the economy is booming, democracy is on the rise, the law system is improving, cultural development is ever increasing, and most importantly, ethnic groups "enjoy extensive freedoms and rights." He went on to say that the United States should take a look in the mirror and focus on itself instead of preaching human rights to the rest of the world.

Significance: The world has long been fed up with the United States policing the world and it seems that now China is also fed up with us hiding our true intentions. The most recent example of this being Libya where the guise of a humanitarian mission was used to try to obtain a desired result. But we would be wise to heed Hong's advice of looking at ourselves as opposed to interfering in countries that simply do not want our help. I personally think that it's about time someone put us in our place because we have long lost our place as the splendor of the world and it seems that China realizes that. This also poses a dangerous situation where China might get hotheaded themselves and try to more actively challenge our authority. That's a rather unlikely scenario but it's a possibility nontheless.

China Moves to Reform Public Institutions to Improve Social Services

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Summary:

On April 10th, the Chinese government got together and collectively decided to make many of its public institutions and services more efficient and serviceable in order to aid the people of China more. The government has supposedly set up a blueprint for the restructuring of many government institutions, depending on their function. According to government releases last week, the reforms require that institutions, "stop performing government and business functions, that supervision be separated from day-to-day functions, and for non-profit institutions to be separated from profit-oriented ones." These reforms are aimed at taking care of the out-dated institutions that are taking up too many of the resources of the Chinese people. Experts have noted that public institutions with inadequate or ambiguous functions will either be put away with or merged with other institutions. Meanwhile, those public institutions dealing with social benefits are being encouraged to stay afloat, and likely, more government money and oversight will be afforded to them. These institutions will likely become the major forces behind the social welfare in China.

Significance: This article is very interesting in that seems to deviate from the normal structure of welfare in China. Instead of having everything come directly from the state, government institutions that may not seem as connected to the Chinese government are taking credit for peoples' welfare. However, this still shows the tremendous amount of social welfare that the Chinese people receive annually. Being a Communist state, there is a heavy reliance on social welfare, and many people see this as their inalienable right. This can be strictly contrasted to the American welfare situation, where the people have historically seen themselves as the main source of income and prosperity. The inadequacy of government institutions should not come as a surprise, however, due to a marked lack of competition and thus, a lack of initiative to get better. Communist states promote a lagging behind in terms of efficiency and technology because of this lack of competition among institutions and companies.

Chinese Censorship Knows No Bounds

In this article by the New York Times, China's first astronaut's landing was not quite as glamorous as the Xinhua News Network made it out to be. Yang Liwei was the first Chinese astronaut to orbit the Earth which he did 14 times in the capsule Shenzhou in the year 2003.He famously landed and emerged from the capsule smiling and unblemished, cheerily greeting the cameras and reporters. However, it turns out that the truth is a much different story. Upon reentry, a design flaw had exposed Mr. Yang to excessive G-force pressure, splitting his lip and drenching his face in blood. When he landed, workers cleaned up his face, then put him back in the capsule, sealed it, and then finally reopened it for the cameras. Xinhua finally gave a speech that offered an explanation: “Understanding Journalistic Protocols for Covering Breaking News,” was intended to help budding journalists understand Xinhua’s dual mission: to give Chinese leaders a fast and accurate picture of current events and to deftly manipulate that picture for the public to ensure social harmony, and by extension, the Communist Party’s hold on power.

This shows that China is most concerned with political stability, to help support its current level of growth. After Tienanmen square, Chinese leaders kept on repeating the mantra of keeping the public climate stable, and thus helping cement the Communist Party's power. Obviously, China does not have freedom of the press, as it is government owned as is made clearer than ever by this article, but what this means is that Chinese citizens lack opposing viewpoints to that of the Party. However, Chinese citizens are aware of this, and thus have learned to not fully trust Xinhua.What this means overall though is that any sort of revolution or uprising in China will be incredibly difficult, meaning that change will have to come through the process, or else some incredibly dramatic change. But to end on a happy note, at least we got a panda in space.

Chinese government warns officials to stop evicting farmers

Click here for main article Summary: The Chinese State Council issued warning to local officials to stop evicting farmer from there land and demolishing their homes. The evicting is being done as part of a rural reform program intended to move farmers into new residential buildings, while their old homes were demolished so the farmland can be expanded. However, the program also allows a portion of the farmer's land to be taken for urban construction. Local officials have taken advantage of this, evicting farmers and converting much of their land for construction. Farmer in 20 provinces have been forcibly removed from their land and some have even beaten up after they refused to leave their land. Local officials then take much of the land and sell to land developers inorder to increase revenue and raise local GDP. Although selling any land is supposed to require government approval, this has not happened in practice. Authorities are moving to convict corrupt officials and correct any misgivings against farmers. Significance: These incidents demonstrates both the struggle China has been going through to keep rural provinces happy while still expanding business and prosperity and the struggle to control the country's vast bureaucracy. China's work to end corruption is important to this increasingly prosperous country. Rural farmers, who are undoubtly the countries main underclass being victimized by corrupt officials is the worst case scenario for a country with deep division between rural and urban. It remains to be seen whether or not China will be able to tame its bureaucracy and please rural populace.

Chinese leaders join in tree planting campaign

Chinese President Hu Jintao and a girl water a tree during a tree planting event in Beijing April 2, 2011.

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Summary: Saturday was the 30th anniversary of China's volunteer tree planting campaign. Many top leaders took part in the event, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. This is part of a long running campaign to increase afforestation efforts. Hu also took this opportunity to encourage a conservative culture in China where sustainable economic and social development is achieved through public aid, technological breakthroughs, and government reform. 1.9 million people in Beijing alone took part in the tree planting campaign, a staggering number. Since 1981 the government has encouraged citizens from ages 11-55 to plant three to five trees a year. Since its inception, 58.9 billion (yes that's a b) trees have been planted throughout the country.

Significance: China may be one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gasses but as a result they also launch some of the biggest environmental projects in the world. Not only that, but as you can see from the picture, they're actually happy to do it. Such a campaign would most likely come to a shock in American's minds because we see only the worst in China but here they are again one upping us. If this trend of setting an exmaple for the world continues, China could easily knock America off its throne without having to fire a single shot. But that may not be a bad thing because if the rest of the world undertakes in projects like the one mentioned in this article, then global warming could be a thing of the past.

Strict Purchasing Limits Curb Home Sales in Beijing

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Summary: On February 16, the Chinese government enacted a series of purchase limit policies driven at capping the formerly soaring home prices. However, it seems that this policy has turned out to be more harmful than beneficial for the Chinese real estate sector, as home sales in almost all areas are being drastically reduced. In the first quarter of this year, more than 20,700 homes have changed hands, which represents a decrease of nearly 40% from this time last year. According to Beijing Home-Like House, only 5,500 new homes, or 25% of the new home purchases in the first quarter, were traded from mid-February to the end of March. Lin Lei, who is in charge of marketing with 21 Century Real Estate, said that home prices in China have not really changed since the government enacted purchase limit policies. However, he says, if the government were to really crack down on the housing market, prices could plummet. These new purchase limits prohibit new home purchases by Beijing families who own two or more apartments and non-Beijing families who own at least one apartment. The previously soaring home prices had the people of major cities in uprage. This is considered to be the most ambitious housing price control in any of the 40 major cities in China. Industry leaders say that Beijing is the first city that has actually caused a strict price decline.

Significance:

The way the government manipulates the housing market in China is very reminiscent of the manner in which the government takes on all facets of politics, economics, and business. The idea of a very "strong government" is very pronounced here because of China's ability to do whatever it wants with the housing prices. No real outside force or economic mogul can have much say in what the government does. The article also mentions the idea of how people have been speaking out against the soaring home prices. I thought this was an interesting display of political culture because it is odd that in a country of such totalitarianism like China, most forms of protest are outlawed. However, as we mentioned in class, protest that does not directly hurt the government is pretty much dealt with. Also, the mediums through which protests take place are important because the government will only allow protests through safe and secure methods.