Today’s China Readings May 31, 2012

The rumored stimulus now appears to consist mainly of an accelerated investment program into strategic emerging industries including “energy-saving and environmental protection, information technology, biology, advanced equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials and new-energy vehicles.” The official Xinhua Chinese report is here–温家宝主持召开国务院常务会议.

Chen Guangcheng wrote an OpEd for the New York Times about How China Flouts Its Laws. The Washington Post reports that Chen Guangcheng, now in U.S., is poised to play role in yet another abortion debate and become a political football. The Post writes that:

“Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is citing Chen’s work in its critique of President Obama’s record on human rights. Particularly, Romney campaign officials argue that Obama has been weak on the one-child rule, the much-publicized population-control measure that has been criticized as an under-recognized human rights abuse.”

I still hope Ray-Ban will sponsor Chen. Suggested tagline?  “Cool is good. Cool and Free is better.”

The South China Morning Post, citing the Caixin report 农行副行长杨琨被曝“协助调查”, tells us that Yang Kun, a vice-president of Agricultural Bank of China, has been detained over allegations he used clients’ money to gamble in Macao. Today’s 21st Century Business Herald has more details on this developing case, reporting in 农行副行长“出事” 牵出神秘商人王耀辉 that Yang’s detention stems from an investigation of Wang Yaohui, a prominent Beijing real estate developer and art collector. Beijing readers are no doubt familiar with Solana, one of Wang’s biggest projects. It sounds like there are a fair amount of unpaid Macao gambling debts right now, but the last thing the casinos need is the detention of their debtors, as then they will never get paid.

Following on yesterday’s discussion of Internet censorship, the Nieman Journalism Lab tells us more about Weibo information management in Reverse engineering Chinese censorship: When and why are controversial tweets deleted? China’s Internet management bureaucracy seems big and strong enough to survive the apparent downfall of the “Father of the Great Firewall.

China has just established the China Overseas Fisheries Association “in response to increasing competition worldwide and declining domestic fishing resources.” Expect more disputes over fishing grounds. Are there enough fish in the oceans to feed the world, especially given the huge rise in Chinese consumption of aquatic products? Every time I see the seafood buffet bar at Golden Jaguar in Beijing I can not help but think we may all be screwed…

Thanks for reading, and remember the best way to see this daily post is to subscribe by email, especially if you are in China, as Sinocism is still blocked here. You can also follow me on @niubi or Sina Weibo @billbishop. Feel free to recommend to friends or donate.

Digest powered by RSS Digest