Today’s China Readings June 16, 2012

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

Thanks everyone for the responses to yesterday’s note. I am overwhelmed by the number of replies and apologize if I do not respond individually to each one. The commentary will stay. I appreciate the feedback and will incorporate some of the suggestions over the coming weeks.

China is at the dawn of its space age, and today the first Chinese woman will go into orbit. The Shenzhou 9 launch is dominating the news, and while there is a strong propaganda element to it there is also a real sense of pride and excitement about China’s march into space. Perhaps the US was this way in the late 1960s and 70s.

Reuters reports that Liu Yang draws cheers as first Chinese woman set for space voyage; All Things Nuclear examines Why China is Building a Space Station and explains China’s Shenzhou 9 Mission; Xinhua provides pictures of the astronauts’ pre-launch press conference in 首次载人交会对接任务航天员与记者见面_图片频道 and the women who have preceded Liu Yang into space in “巾帼飞天路”:那些挑战太空的女宇航员们, and China Daily claims that the Spacecraft launch to set new records and extols China’s scientific successes exploring the oceans and heavans in Neither sky nor sea the limit.

The Shenzhou 9 launch is set for 18:37 Beijing time Saturday. Tencent has built a terrific interactive site to follow the launch and the mission at 神舟九号载人飞船. Let’s hope that this America Space report–Pentagon Warns of China Failure Risks, As Chinese Woman Astro Set for Launch–does not apply to this mission. My twin 6 year old girls are excited about the launch.

Reuters claims another exclusive in the China spy story, writing that Arrested spy compromised China’s U.S. espionage network. In 明鏡獨家:邱進當選十八大代表,間諜案與他無關 Mirror News also claimed an exclusive with some, but not all, of the same information, a week earlier on June 8. It sounds like a very damaging case, though it seems a bit strange that official Chinese sources would be discussing this with foreign reporters.

Paul Gillis responds to a China Daily OpEd–Resolving SEC-China impasse is negotiators’ job–calling for diplomacy to resolve the US-China accounting impasse. In If diplomacy fails, what’s next? Gillis discusses the worst case outcome, which is the delisting of all the US-listed China firms. Until this is resolved, how can the SEC approve any new China IPOs?

The best way to read this blog is to subscribe by email, especially if you are in China, as Sinocism is still blocked here. The email signup page is here, outside the GFW. You can also follow me on @niubi or Sina Weibo @billbishop. Comments/tips/suggestions/donations are welcome, and feel free to forward to recommend to friends. Thanks for reading.

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The best way to read this blog is to subscribe by email, especially if you are in China, as Sinocism is still blocked here. The email signup page is here, outside the GFW. You can also follow me on @niubi or Sina Weibo @billbishop. Comments/tips/suggestions/donations are welcome, and feel free to forward to recommend to friends. Thanks for reading.

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