China Readings for September 15th

"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

  • AFRICOM Chief Has No Problem with ChiCom Weapons | Defense Tech
  • China wants to break the ultimate taboo and buy into Western companies such as Apple, Boeing and Intel – Telegraph – evans-pritchard hyperventilating
  • The Useless Tree: Mencius: Now more than ever – how current socio-economic inequalities in China violate Confucian justice norms as expressed by Mencius.
  • China’s Space Dreams Ride on Robotic Docking Test – Yahoo! News – China, a burgeoning power in the world space community, is poised to launch a test module for its first space station. The question is, when?

    The liftoff was initially expected to take place in the fall. However, the Aug. 19 failure of an unmanned Chinese satellite to enter orbit has delayed the rollout of the module, named Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace" in Chinese).

    The space station precursor module is slated to launch on a Chinese Long March 2F rocket, similar to the Long March 2C booster that doomed the experimental SJ-11-04 satellite in August. Chinese space officials have put a hold on the Tiangong launch until the issue with the rocket is resolved.

  • Taiwan Ramps Up Indigenous Weapon Production – Defense News – Taiwan's indigenous weapons development efforts are improving as fears arise that the U.S. will scale back arms sales to the self-governed island.

    Taiwan has been expanding research-and-development efforts for a variety of exotic weapons the U.S. is reluctant to sell to Taiwan.

  • 落选者饶毅_财新网 – 9岁的海归教授饶毅,近年不断发表对中国科研体制的批评。此次“不再候选院士”的宣告,是他与中国科研体制之间的又一次撞击
    财新《新世纪》 记者 蒋昕捷
     
      一份与中国院士体系诀别的声明,引发学界和舆论热议。8月17日,首次参选院士即落选的北京大学生命科学学院院长饶毅教授通过博客宣布,今后不再候选中国科学院院士
  • White Liquor for the Karakoram Highway_English_Caixin
  • Bold Scientist Finds Dark Matter in Academia_English_Caixin – Rejected by the China Academy of Sciences, a Peking University dean has paid a heavy price for outspokenness

    All the cards were lined up for Professor Rao Yi's scheduled induction into the Chinese Academy of Sciences, based on his sterling reputation as a professor of neuroscience at Northwestern University and current position as dean of life sciences at China's most prestigious university.

    But the cards fell out of reach when Rao's nomination was rejected during the first round of voting by CAS fellows, a decision that's rocked China's academic circles and the scientific community.

  • Information Dissemination: A House Panel Talks Strategy – Max Boot, who I readily admit I don't always read even though I am aware he writes a lot, pretty much made a fool of himself towards the end of this video.

    During a late exchange with Representative Jim Cooper (D-TENN), the Congressman asks Max Boot a number of times if there is anything in the entire Defense Budget he would cut. Given numerous opportunities to answer the question, Max Boot gave several strange and ultimately ridiculous reasons why he wouldn't cut anything in the defense budget.

    Not One Program, Nothing.

    The inability to make a strategic argument in the context of the budget constraints facing the nation made Max Boot look like a clown.

  • Huang Yasheng: Does democracy stifle economic growth? – Shanghaiist – The suggestion has often been made that China is growing a lot faster than India because the Chinese government can often bulldoze its policies through while India, the world's largest democracy, is bogged down by its political system. This view is too simplistic, says Huang Yasheng, professor in international management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In this TED talk, Huang argues that there is an economic case to be made for democracy, and that if China doesn't hasten its pace of political reform, it is going to face some substantial challenges.
  • Caixin Media valued at 285m RMB ish? 财新传媒挂牌转让19.77%股权 报价5647.6万_互联网_科技时代_新浪网 – losing a lot of money still

    根据浙江产权交易所网站上所披露的财新传媒截至2011年7月最近一个年度审计报告显示,流动资产3711.14万元,货币资金1226.06万元,应收账款2485.08万元。其中,公司主营业务收入为3147.36万元,营业利润为 -3315.09万元,净利润为-1426.79万元。

  • Rui Chenggang to Gary Locke: I hear you flew here coach. Is that a reminder that US owes China money? – Shanghaiist – Earlier today, at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, the ever so smug and smart-alecky CCTV host Rui Chenggang (芮成钢), successfully put himself in the limelight once more by asking US Ambassador to China Gary Locke, "I hear you flew here coach. Is that a reminder that US owes China money?"

    Locke replied by saying that economic class was standard practise for all diplomatic staff of US embassies and consulates, as well as for members of the President's cabinet.

  • China states price for Italian rescue – Telegraph – China has called for major strategic concessions from Europe before agreeing to rescue the eurozone, chilling hopes for immediate purchases of Italian bonds.
  • THE CASE FOR MORE SUBMARINES
  • China’s Bohai Sea Drowns in Discharged Waste_English_Caixin – Oil from a recent spill blended with 30 years of waste dumped by cities and factories ringing the once-beautiful sea
    A recent offshore oil spill has given China reason to pause for a close look at the filth floating in the Bohai Sea which, after eons of pristine beauty followed by three decades of intense pollution, is today seriously ill.
  • China dissident writer free after 5 years in jail – Yahoo! News – A Chinese dissident writer who was freed this week after five years in jail for alleged illegal business activities said Wednesday that he had been wrongly imprisoned and subjected to treatment "beyond people's imagination" while in custody.
    Yang Maodong told The Associated Press that the charges against him were trumped up and that during his time in custody his interrogators only questioned him about his pro-democracy activities, not business matters.
  • China: WikiLeaks Misreading Leads to Online ‘Spy’ Hunt · Global Voices – The release of unredacted United States (US) diplomatic cables since late August 2011 by WikiLeaks, has resulted in an online witch hunt in China.

    The word “informant” in the documents was misinterpreted as “Xianren” which usually refers to a “rat” or “spy” who makes a living by selling information. As a result, those civilians who appeared in the cables have been accused by nationalists as being traitors of the country, even though quite a large number of the informants are Chinese government officials or work for government think tanks.

  • New York Times Runs PR for Bank of America’s Headcount-Cutting Profiteers « naked capitalism – It might behoove a publication that styles itself as the newspaper of record to do some basic fact checking rather than take dictation from parties with an obvious axe to grind and publish it as news.

    I’m going to give the disgraceful New York Times story, “Outsiders’ Ideas Help Bank of America Cut Jobs and Costs” a long form treatment, not only because it may help readers recognize PR masquerading as news, but also because the bits of this story that the Times didn’t bother to probe help illuminate how the retail banking industry became predatory and how some of the mechanisms to transfer wealth to people at the very top are well hidden from the great unwashed public. Thus, this post is a companion piece to our piece today on the rise in poverty and continuing destruction of the middle class in the US.

  • Man with ax kills 4 in central China attacks – Yahoo! News – imagine the carnage if China had an NRA. no need for 1 child policy
  • China’s Influence In Africa Includes Church Construction – i have heard a rumor that Mammon was Chinese//

    At All Saints Roman Catholic Church Cathedral in Nairobi, African workers were recently singing lively Christian worship songs as they broke ground for the construction of a new office block for the Nairobi Archdiocese.

    However, they were not working for an African or British construction company. China Zhongxing Construction is building Maurice Cardinal Otunga Plaza, one of many church contracts Chinese construction companies have won in recent years as China has expanded its influence in Africa. Now, Chinese firms build many bridges, roads and stadiums across the continent.

  • Analysis: U.S. court fight may not solve Chinese accounting mess | Reuters – Deloiite won't turn over its work papers. hearing derek palaschuk and tom gurnee have testified to SEC with full immunity. NO one will go to jail for longtop//

    U.S. regulators appear to be on strong footing in a legal battle over a Chinese auditor's work papers, though their ability to act may have limits and a victory in court may not resolve a widening international accounting mess.

    At issue are attempts by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate possible fraud at Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd, one of dozens of U.S.-listed companies based in China that have been caught up in accounting scandals.

  • A Chinese student on 9-11 | Danwei
  • Banned From The App Store: An Anti-iPhone Game Complete With Foxconn Suicide Mini-Game | TechCrunch