China Readings for September 10th

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

These are my links for September 10th

  • China’s evolving foreign policy: The Libyan dilemma | The Economist – A rising power starts to knock against the limits of its hallowed “non-interference”
  • The Hindu : News / International : ‘CPC sought Jamaat support’– Fears over the resurgence of religious extremist groups in Xinjiang and increasing lack of confidence in the Pakistani government’s ability to crack down on terror were the likely factors behind the Communist Party of China’s unexpected move to sign its first ever cooperation agreement with an Islamist political party in 2009, leaked United States Embassy cables suggest.The CPC sought the support of Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islaami (JI) to tackle “radicalised” groups who were backing separatists in Xinjiang, scholars in official Chinese think-tanks and Afghan diplomats told U.S. officials, according to a cable from March 2009 that was among the last tranche of cables released by Wikileaks.
  • 9/11 attacks opened up common ground-global times
  • Struggling Jon Huntsman reorganizing – Jonathan Martin – POLITICO.com – Jon Huntsman, lagging in the polls and apparently low on money, is again shuffling his organization and moving resources from Florida to New Hampshire
  • China’s chance: How 9/11 played into Beijing’s plans in Asia – The Globe and Mail – It took only a little longer for Beijing to realize that America’s fury – and Mr. Bush’s decision to devote much of his country’s military and economic might to his project of reshaping the Middle East – presented an enormous opportunity for a budding superpower looking to take its place on the world stage.
  • China’s “symphony” of privilege – China Media Project– Following initial reports on social media, Chinese media reported widely yesterday that a couple in Beijing were attacked on September 6 by the 15-year-old son of famous Chinese singer Li Shuangjiang (李双江) after a simple traffic accident. According to eyewitnesses, Li’s son, who was driving a BMW without a driver’s license, attacked the couple with another man within minutes allegedly rear-ending their car, beating them and shouting, “Who dares dial 110!”For many Chinese, this incident bore eerie echoes of the “Li Gang case” of October 2010,
  • On Aiweiwei’s Beijing « lijia zhang’s blog – “eccentric”//
    I just read Ai Weiwei’s column in Newsweek in which he describes Beijing as a “nightmare” and a “constant nightmare”. I am delighted that his detention ordeal hasn’t dampened his spirits but I have to say that I don’t agree with him at all, though I understand his frustration and bitterness. I have immense respect for Ai who is an extremely talented artist as well as an extremely courageous man who dares to criticize the authorities. I wish our government were confident enough to tolerate a few eccentrics like Ai, whom I had the pleasure to meet on several occasions. I am sure that Ai, as someone who appreciates the democratic value, wouldn’t mind that others present different views.
  • China Primary | Primary Research—Accurate, Relevant & Unbiased – great research on Macao gaming//
    China Primary provides access to previously unavailable high-quality primary data to institutional investors on companies’ operating performance in Asia.
  • 新华视点:揭开“中非希望工程事件”三大疑点_时政频道_新华网
  • State media turn to Lu Junqing scandal – China Media Project – Over the past few weeks, as commercial newspapers in China — most notably, Guangzhou’s hard-punching Southern Metropolis Daily — have been relentless in their pressure on billionaire Lu Junqing (卢俊卿) and his World Eminent Chinese Business Association, alleging improprieties with its charity activities, state media have remained quiet. All that changed late last night as China’s official Xinhua News Agency ran a lengthy “investigative” report called, “Raising the Curtain on Three Major Questions About ‘China-Africa Project Hope’.”
  • China paper tells U.S. “madmen” not to play with fire over – Yahoo! News – China’s top official newspaper warned on Friday that “madmen” on Capitol Hill who want the United States to sell advanced weapons to Taiwan were playing with fire and could pay a “disastrous price,” as the Obama administration nears a decision on a sale.
    The People’s Daily, the main paper of China’s ruling Communist Party, said the United States should excise the “cancer” of the law which authorizes Washington’s sale of weapons to the self-ruled island of Taiwan that China considers its own territory.
  • The US military embraces Australia– The domestic explanation for such a shift is to protect the energy infrastructure involved in vast oil and gas projects that are driving Australia’s economic health. The regional purpose is to respond to the changing strategic dynamics in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia and to compliment what Canberra hopes will be an increased US presence. The Hawke-Smith Review was told to consider:The rise of the Asia Pacific as a region of global strategic significance.
    The rise of the Indian Ocean rim as a region of global strategic significance.
    The growth of military power projection capabilities of countries in the Asia Pacific.
    The growing need for the provision of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief following extreme events in the Asia Pacific region.
    Energy security and security issues associated with expanding offshore resource exploitation in Australia’s north-west and northern approaches.
  • LinkedIn的中国钱景-华尔街日报 – 常驻北京的投资者和博客作者利明璋(Bill Bishop)说,事实证明,这个面向职业人士的社交网站受到了中国一群白领和国际化人士的欢迎,其中很多人是在国外出生或上学的。这个群体人数虽然不多,但影响力很大。
  • 北京规定写字楼内员工信息与警方管理系统联网-《财经网》 – panopticon getting closer
    警方将对这些信息进行甄别,发现使用假冒身份证等违法犯罪信息的,坚决查处
    【《财经》综合报道】据北京日报报道,本月起,《北京市写字楼内部治安保卫工作规定》开始实施。北京警方已建立了写字楼管理系统,承租单位的员工信息、车辆信息等都将纳入系统。
    根据《规定》的要求,产权单位出租写字楼时,应当登记承租单位的营业执照、法定代表人及员工、车辆等信息。对于无工商登记、身份证或相应许可证照的单位、个人,不得进行出租,发现其有违法犯罪活动嫌疑的,要立即向公安机关报告。
    报道引述北京市公安局人士说法,北京建立了写字楼管理系统,《规定》要求登记的信息统一联网,警方将对这些信息进行甄别,发现使用假冒身份证等违法犯罪信息的,坚决查处。
  • HRIC Blocked from EU-China Human Rights Dialogue Seminar | Human Rights in China 中国人权 – not constructive
  • Beijing First Choice Car Rental Service Co.,LTD. –  Beijing First Choice Car Rental Service Co., Ltd. sets up specifically to cater for the needs of the expatriate community. We gathered experienced native drivers who are familiar with the road and able to speak English.
  • SEC Files Action Against Deloitte Shanghai Unit Over Longtop Records- Bloomberg – Today’s action “essentially is a battle between the SEC and Chinese regulators forcing D&T Shanghai to assert Chinese law as an explanation for why it cannot produce records,” Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC lawyer now with Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker PA in Potomac, Maryland, said in an interview. “Auditing firms know that the SEC has the right to subpoena and review and consider audit work papers. This is about bringing to a head the dispute over access to information relating to audits of Chinese companies.”
  • Inside the Ring – Washington Times– A Chinese warship fired a high-powered beam of light that disrupted the vision of crew members aboard a U.S. Navy surveillance ship operating in international waters in 2008.According to a newly released State Department cable, the apparent blinding attack on the USNS Victorious, an ocean survey ship, occurred in the East China Sea.

    “On March 8, 2008, [Chinese] Luhu-class DD112 shined a high-intensity, narrow-beam white light at USNS Victorious for approximately 30 minutes,” the cable, labeled “secret,” said.

  • Babies born abroad may trigger fines  |Society|chinadaily.com.cn – Mainland couples who give birth to babies abroad to circumvent the family planning policy will be required to pay social maintenance fees if they bring the children back to the mainland.
    “As long as they are Chinese mainland citizens and will raise the children back on the mainland, and their children are born in contravention of the policy, they have to pay the fees,” said the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
  • China’s One-Child Policy Is Crippling Industry – BusinessWeek
  • Foreign brands accused of cheating |Economy|chinadaily.com.cn – The global retail giant Wal-Mart said on Wednesday that consumers who bought ordinary pork sold as higher-quality pork will get double their money back.
    “Wal-Mart’s unalterable responsibility is to safeguard consumers’ interests. The relevant people in this case will be seriously dealt with, and we will further enhance our staff training and food management processes,” the company said in a statement sent to the media.
    Since the beginning of this year, more than 1,000 kilograms of ordinary pork were sold as green pork, which is manufactured in line with rigorous production standards and sold at a higher price, at three of Wal-Mart’s outlets in Chongqing, according to the municipal market watchdog.
  • Singer apologizes for son’s attack |Society|chinadaily.com.cn – Li Shuangjiang (right), a high-ranking military singer, apologizes on Thursday at the 309th Hospital of Chinese PLA in Haidian district to a driver surnamed Peng, who had been attacked by Li’s son.  [Photo/China Daily]
    “I am a teacher and it’s my fault for failing to educate my son to behave well,” said Li Shuangjiang, 72, dean of the music department of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Arts, when he visited the seriously injured couple in the emergency ward at the 309th Hospital of Chinese PLA in Haidian district.
  • China, Vietnam reach consensus to properly handle South China Sea dispute – HANOI, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — China and Vietnam have agreed to properly handle their dispute over the South China Sea in accordance with the agreement reached by the leaders of the two countries, the international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
  • 中越双边合作指导委员会第五次会议联合新闻稿
  • Two Questions at the Heart of Bin Laden’s Jihad: Lawrence Wright – Bloomberg – Al-Qaeda will fade away eventually. Perhaps with bin Laden’s death in May, we have seen the dawning of that day. But the security state that we have created to fight it will remain. It is part of our economy, our laws, our culture and our image now of who we are.
    We have significantly enlarged the authority of our police agencies at the expense of privacy and due process. We have turned our back on our criminal justice system, which had done an unparalleled job of prosecuting and convicting terrorists, and forced those duties on the military, in secret courts. We have expanded our intelligence agencies to the point that we now patrol the entire world.
    In waging this campaign against terrorism, Americans need to realize that we have pushed aside some of the most valuable weapons we have: our concern for human rights, for open government and for fundamental standards of justice. Such rights are rare in history and difficult to restore once they’ve been lost. The actions we have taken in the “War on Terror” may have made us safer. They have certainly made us a different country.
    But is it the country we want to be?
  • Insight: China’s war on terror widens Xinjiang’s ethnic divide – Yahoo! News – China has used a carrot and stick approach, going after Uighurs it suspects of harboring separatist views, but also pumping in billions of dollars to boost development and lessen the appeal of the militants.
    But a decade later, residents of Xinjiang’s bustling regional capital Urumqi and rights groups say the effect has only been to widen the divide between Uighurs and the Han Chinese majority, and fan the deeper causes of unrest.
    China’s often ruthless methods of control in Xinjiang, and in neighboring Tibet, underscore its strategic location for the ruling Communist Party, on the borders of Central Asia, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
  • Insight: Cisco suits on China rights abuses to test legal reach – Yahoo! News
  • For U.S. Muslims, 9/11 Began a Whole New Ballgame: Aasif Mandvi – Bloomberg – Now, 10 years later, it appears that the band of TV pundits and politicians who set out to exploit the tragedy has won. Fear and mistrust have trumped courage and unity. That moment when the world came together and shared a grief that transcended faith, nationality and politics is undone.
    I’ve never forgotten my conversation with my mother. For me, it represents the very essence of fear, the aftershock of a senseless act of mass murder that still reverberates. What I hope for in the next 10 years is a War against Fear. Then I can go back to being a so-so Muslim, and a typical American, though I really ought to learn to play baseball.
    (Aasif Mandvi is a comedian, actor and correspondent for The Daily Show on Comedy Central. The opinions expressed are his own.)
  • Yahoo’s Revolving Door Spins Again – BusinessWeek – The company has appointed Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse as interim CEO and is planning to hire strategic advisers to study its next move. That is likely to involve selling its valuable stakes in two highflying Asian Internet companies, Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan, instead of putting the company up for sale, according to a person directly familiar with the thinking of the Yahoo board who is not authorized to speak on the record.
  • Beijing set to become world’s busiest aviation hub with new mega-airport | Environment | The Guardian– Beijing is moving to overtake London as the world’s busiest aviation hub with the construction of a third airport that could have as many as nine runways.The new mega-project – part of a huge expansion of China’s airline industry – has alarmed environmental groups, who warn aircraft will increasingly contribute to the country’s already dire pollution problems and high greenhouse gas emissions.

    The government has yet to announce details of the project, but the Guardian has spoken to sources familiar with the initial designs and seen signs of construction in the rural district of Daxing, about 31 miles (50km) south-west of the city centre.

  • 人民日报-“物联网”里养螃蟹(走基层转作风改文风·一线见闻 – “Internet of Things” get top front page billing in People’s Daily. “RFID and River Crab” tweets @isaac
  • 人民日报:华盛顿政治的悲哀–国际–人民网 People’s Daily on US Arms Sales to Taiwan– 中美关系走到今天这一步,可谓来之不易,需要双方倍加珍惜,全力维护。一些美国议员不顾大局、鼠目寸光的做法,最终伤害的将是美国自身的利益。试想,如果这些议员的狂想得逞,中美关系将陷入何种境地?世界将受到何种冲击?  有如此狂妄的议员是美国政治的悲哀。华盛顿可以给这些人跳出来折腾提供一个舞台,但今天中美关系的大舞台上没有这些人的位置,“冷战思维”、“霸权梦”只要一露头,就必须予以痛击。有人想开历史的倒车可以,只是要想清楚将为此付出何等惨重的代价。

    任何国家都不会容许别国肆意损害自己的核心利益,中国对自己的核心利益同样有明确的界定。奉劝那些昏了头的美国议员一句话:不要走得太远,别玩过火了。

  • 抱团藏宝:当基金遇上艺术品 – 金融 – 21世纪网 – when funds meet artworks. chinese have to be able 2 speculate in something
  • In China, Don’t Dare Help the Elderly: Adam Minter – Bloomberg – On the morning of Sept. 4, in the riverside boomtown of Wuhan, Mr. Li, an 88-year-old man, fell in the street and injured his nose. People passed him by, but no one raised a hand to help as he lay on the ground, suffocating on his own blood.
    This week, China’s netizens have expressed an outpouring of sympathy — for the bystanders.
  • Lashou Said to Plan U.S. IPO as Daily-Deal Site Seeks to Replace Advisers – Bloomberg – grouponzi with chinese characteristics?
  • Scientist Stewart Nozette Pleads Guilty to Attempted Espionage | Secrecy News – Stewart Nozette, a space scientist who was deeply involved in many of the nation’s most highly classified technology programs, pleaded guilty to attempted espionage for providing classified information to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.
  • HEARD ON THE STREET: LinkedIn’s Chinese Connection – WSJ.com – The social network for professionals is proving popular with a crowd of white collar, cosmopolitan Chinese, says Bill Bishop, a Beijing-based investor and blogger, many of whom were born overseas or educated abroad. It’s an influential group, but small. LinkedIn claims just north of a million Chinese users out of its 116 million total users world-wide.
  • Handle disputes properly–china daily – China has always made itself loud and clear that it has indisputable sovereignty over the sea’s islands and surrounding waters, which is part of China’s core interests. That is based on unambiguous and undeniable historical facts.