The Truth About China’s Growth (1): report

Derek Scissors, Ph.D. The Heritage Foundation, January 22, 2009 -

China just announced its economic results for 2008. The headline real GDP growth figure was 9.0 percent, featuring a drop to 6.8 percent, year-on-year, in the fourth quarter.The only thing certain about these figures is that they are wrong.

Almost every year, all Chinese provinces report larger GDP gains than the already-published national “average.” This trend held true for the first three quarters of 2008.[1] Over the past decade, all counties within a province have frequently reported larger gains than the provincial “average.” Similarly, basic macroeconomic accounting, such as that used to calculate the components of GDP, does not work with China’s numbers. For political reasons, the PRC knowingly measures a crucial figure for unemployment incorrectly, understating the amount by a factor of two or three.

Beijing purports to be able to complete its annual economic surveys in less than half the time required by the U.S., despite having one billion more people to account for and much less in the way of resources with which to do so. Not surprisingly, then, China now calculates 2007 real GDP growth at 13.0 percent, having first estimated 11.4 percent. These revisions have important implications for assessing the 2008 data.

Official data on the economy are whatever the Communist Party wants–close to the mark, too low, or too high.[2] While surety is impossible, the available evidence indicates true growth for 2008 is far lower than officially announced. Reasons for general cynicism stem from deliberate obfuscation and internal inconsistency in official statistics. Reason to believe official GDP growth is greatly overstated come from old official statistics on GDP and power consumption.

More Reasons for Cynicism

Official GDP is 30.07 trillion yuan (about $4.4 trillion). The revised figure for 2007 was 25.73 trillion yuan.[3] This is a nominal growth rate of 16.9 percent and, thus, an implicit GDP deflator of 7.9 percent. The latter is considerably larger than the 5.9 percent increase in the official consumer price index but not wildly larger. So far, so good.

For the fourth quarter, official data imply GDP was 9.90 trillion yuan. However, this cannot be directly compared to GDP for the fourth quarter of 2007 because there is no revision available for the individual quarters of 2007 but only for the full year. This has been true since China began revising data in 2005–basic quarterly GDP cannot be verified.

Worse, the same is true for all major parts of the economy. Investment and consumption were presumably revised for 2007 because GDP was revised. But changes in these components were not announced, so their fourth-quarter growth cannot be determined either. For that matter, it is not known if official growth for the first three quarters is still correct, for GDP or anything else. Nor will these figures be released in systematic fashion later. Some follow-on revisions spill out unannounced at random times; some are never made public. Chinese economic data is permanently unverifiable……. (to be cont’d)

- The Heritage Foundation

MEPs call for uncensored Chinese TV to be put back on air

Martin Banks, The Parliament,  Belgium, 29th Jan 2009 -

A cross-party group of MEPs have called for the uncensored Chinese language broadcaster NTDTV to be put back on air.

The demand follows a move by the Chinese authorities last June to shut down NTDTV’s broadcast via the Paris-based satellite carrier Eutelsat.

Critics of the Chinese regime say Beijing did so by applying “political pressure and business interest lures” to Eutelsat.

The MEPs’ demand comes a day before Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is due to visit Brussels for meetings with, among others, commission president José Manuel Barroso and EU foreign affairs supreme Javier Solana.

Several deputies held a news conference in parliament on Wednesday to call for the ‘ban’ on NTDTV to be lifted.

UK Tory Edward McMillan-Scott, a vice president of the assembly, said he wants the French government to press the Eutelsat to restore the station’s broadcasts to China.

He pointed out that recently some 476 MEPs signed a written declaration urging Eutelsat to resume the service.

“The other EU institutions, including the commission and council, should take note of the fact that so many MEPs signed what amounts to a resolution,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that Paris succumbed to pressure from the Chinese so the French government and its president Nicolas Sarkozy should also take note of the strength of feeling on this issue.

“The EU has a specific role to play here in putting pressure on the French to restore this vitally important service to the Chinese people.”

Italian ALDE deputy Marco Cappato, who also spoke at the news conference, said, “As the west celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, in 2009 China will observe the 50th anniversary of the Chinese communist government’s rule in Tibet, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the 10th anniversary of the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

“This strong contrast highlights the need for information freedom in China.

“Without NTDTV’s pioneering work to bring uncensored information to China, the vast majority of the Chinese population will have no access to information commemorating these solemn occasions.

“Since it seized power, the Chinese regime has continuously suppressed media voices that do not toe its political line and last June the regime succeeded in shutting down NTDTV’s broadcast by applying political pressure and business interest lures to Eutelsat.

“With the passage of the written declaration on media freedom by a large majority of MEPs, parliament is signalling its will to defend media freedom in China.”

- The Parliament: MEPs call for Chinese TV station to be put back on air

Tibet: China raids thousands of homes, detains at least 81

By Maureen Fan, The Washington Post, USA, January 29, 2009 -

BEIJING, Jan. 28 — Chinese authorities carrying out a “strike hard” campaign in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa have raided thousands of homes and businesses, run checks on 5,766 suspects, and detained at least 81 people, including two for having reactionary songs and music on their cellphones, according to official reports and news accounts.

According to reports Sunday in the state-controlled Tibetan Daily and last week in the Lhasa Evening News, the campaign targets criminal activity such as burglary, prostitution and theft and is needed to uphold the city’s social order. But experts and activists who support greater autonomy for Tibet said the motive behind the campaign, which began Jan. 18, was to detain those involved in last spring’s riots and warn off others who support Tibetan independence.

Chinese leaders are worried about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising. On March 10, 1959, Tibetans rose up against Chinese rule, but the rebellion ended after 20 days with the flight of the Dalai Lama into exile in India. Beijing-backed Tibetan lawmakers have proposed a new holiday this year, on March 28, the day China announced the dissolution of the Tibetan government, to mark the “liberation” of Tibetan serfs.

Lhasa’s entire investigative police force mobilized more than 600 people and 160 vehicles to check 2,922 rented apartments or houses, 14 hotels and guesthouses, 18 bars, and three Internet cafes, the Lhasa Evening News said, according to a translation e-mailed by the International Campaign for Tibet, which advocates more autonomy for the Himalayan region. The police push follows 10 months of tight security after rioting broke out March 14, leading to the deaths of at least 18 civilians and one police officer and sparking anti-government protests and a massive government crackdown.

“Strike hard” campaigns have historically been launched in China to fight crime and corruption. But in this case, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement, “the motive is to intimidate and eliminate those supporting Tibetan independence and human rights activists in Tibet.”

The public security bureau in Lhasa said Wednesday that it had no information and suggested other officials, whose telephones rang unanswered. China is celebrating a week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

Thousands of armed police continued to patrol Lhasa on Wednesday, according to residents who were contacted by telephone. Some speculated that the raids were deliberately timed just ahead of the Lunar New Year. Some Tibetans have said they won’t celebrate until the return of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing regards as a dangerous separatist, while others said they prefer the Tibetan New Year, which occurs next month, over the Chinese one.

“There are a lot of policemen patrolling with guns right now,” said Zhuoga, 24, a housekeeper at the Zhengchang Dongcuo International Youth Hostel in Lhasa, who like most Tibetans uses only one name. “In each alley and each intersection there are armed patrols. Before, even in the winter, we were full, but right now our guests are far fewer.”

Arwang, a monk living in Qinghai province who declined to name his monastery for fear of reprisals, said, “This year, few Tibetans — especially monks — will celebrate the New Year.” Asked why, he said: “Can we not talk about this? Traditionally, some of us celebrate both the Tibetan and Chinese New Years, but this year we neither ate good food nor lit firecrackers.”

Zheng, a freshman at Chengdu University who was home for the winter holiday working at her family’s cigarette and wine shop, did not expect any trouble this year. “Some people say the riots might happen again this year,” she said. “But since security is so strict now, it’s impossible that anything horrible will happen.”

- The Washington Post: Chinese Launch Raids, Detentions in Tibet

MALAYSIA Bans China chicken imports

News Straits Times, 2009/01/28 -

MALAYSIA has banned the import of chicken from China due to the bird flu virus which has killed five people in the republic.

Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Dr Abd Aziz Jamaluddin said the ban, effective Jan 16, would only be lifted when the situation in China returned to normal.

“We don’t have to worry about a shortage of supply as all private sector companies in the country which import chicken from China have enough stock for three months,” he said here yesterday.

He added that the department had permanently frozen the import of chicken from Thailand since last year due to the virus.

“We cannot take chances as the breakout hit the country two years ago,” he said, referring to the outbreak, and spread, of the Avian flu virus in Paya Jaras Hilir, Sg Buloh.

China had reported a total of six cases of H5N1 virus this year, with the latest being the death of an 18-year-old youth in the South China province on Jan 26.

Other deaths included a 19-year-old teenager in Beijing on Jan 5, a 27-year-old woman in Shandong on Jan 17, a 16-year-old boy in Hunan on Jan 20 and a 31-year-old woman in Xinjiang on Jan 23……. (more details from News Straits Times)

Food products from China destroyed in Ireland

PAUL GALLAGHER, The Irish Times, January 27, 2009 -

FOOD PRODUCTS entering Ireland from China that contain the chemical melamine are now being destroyed at Dublin Port following recent powers given to health officials and customs officers.

The new European-wide emergency control legislation was introduced following the melamine-tainted infant formula food scandal uncovered in China last September.

Milk used to manufacture a wide range of products within China had been diluted fraudulently and melamine was added to restore the apparent protein content of the milk.

Melamine was subsequently found in many food products, forcing a wave of recalls in many countries around the world. It was part of a long list of food scandals to hit China and prompted the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) to recall Chinese-made sweet products from a number of stores within Ireland, fearing they may contain melamine.

The legislation, which came into effect last October, now requires all food imports from China that contains milk/soya at any level (which can also include chocolate and biscuits) to be detained at Dublin Port and tested. Any product found to contain melamine at a concentration greater than 2.5mg/kg is then destroyed.

Raymond Ellard, a director with the FSAI, said: “The vast majority of products have been allowed to pass through, but a small number of melamine-contaminated products have been destroyed. The testing is an on-going safety measure and as many as 160 products have been tested so far.”

Melamine can cause kidney stones, leading to kidney failure, and infants are particularly vulnerable.

“At least six babies died and more than 290,000 were made ill in China after taking milk contaminated with melamine. Composite feed products are also covered under the new rules to ensure that non-compliant food products are not diverted for animal use. The import and sale of all infant formula food from China is also prohibited.

Last Thursday, a Chinese court condemned two men to death and handed a life term to another former dairy boss for their part in the contaminated milk scandal.

It was also reported on Sunday that Chinese quarantine authorities seized more than 23 tonnes of frozen Irish pork that was found to be contaminated with dioxin and ordered it be returned.

The pork was imported by a company in the city of Suzhou in October. Inspectors sealed the pork and ordered the company to send it back. China had banned the importation of Irish pork last month following the contamination scare.

- The Irish Times

‘No show like this anywhere’, Executive Producer comments on Chinese New Year Splendor

The Epochtimes, Jan. 26, 2009-

Mr. Miller, Empire Entertainment executive producer said, “I enjoy it a lot” after attending the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) Chinese New Year Splendor at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, Jan. 25.

Mr. Miller is the co-founder of Empire Entertainment, an Emmy Award-winning producer with over two decades experience as a producer and representative of the interests of major corporations in all areas of the entertainment industries. Since co-founding Empire Entertainment in 1993, Miller has served as co-President of the firm.

When talking about the DPA he said, “I’ve actually come almost every year since it started.”

“It just keeps growing, and becomes a bigger and bigger spectacle every year.” he added.

“I think it’s colorful, I love the way they’ve learned to use technology more with the LCD screens here, it really adds a lot to the performance.”

State-of-the-art animated and static backdrops enrich a repertoire of ancient and modern themes played out in each performance; majestic palaces, sprawling Mongolian plains, rustic temples, cascading clouds, and more.

“I also think this Radio City Music Hall is just the most extraordinary theatre in the world. You can’t do this (DPA) with any stage … stages like this doesn’t exist anywhere else.” said Mr. Miller.

“This is a challenging year to be working on productions like this, and it’s a tribute to everybody that they continue to grow this production year on year.”

Mr. Miller commented that the Chinese New Year Splendor is a spectacle saying,

“I don’t know how many hundreds of performers are involved in this. But between the musicians, the performers, the number of costume changes, the extent of the lighting, the writing, the effects, there’s almost no show like this anywhere.”

Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Television & Film from New York University’s Tisch School For The Arts (also earning the distinction of University Honors Scholar) and a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) in International Marketing & Negotiation from the New York University Stern School of Business.

The response to DPA’s productions has been phenomenal. Laughter, tears, and standing ovations are a common sight. In its inaugural 2006-2007 season the company performed for some 200,000 people. In 2007-2008, the number swelled to 600,000.

- The Epochtimes: Executive Producer Says ‘No show like this anywhere’‘

China reports fifth bird flu death this month

Reuters, Jan 26, 2009 -

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Ministry of Health said a young man had died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu Monday, the fifth reported death this month.

The 18-year-old was admitted to hospital on Jan 24 in Yulin, in the southwestern Guangxi, bordering Vietnam, after falling ill and entering a local clinic in the town of Beiliu three days earlier.

He had contact with dead poultry before falling ill, the Ministry said, adding that people who have been in contact with him have not shown any signs of the illness.

In December, the Ministry of Agriculture reported positive results during routine tests for bird flu among poultry in Jiangsu province, but has not reported an outbreak among poultry for months.

The H5N1 flu remains largely a virus among birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted by humans and spark a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

Since the H5N1 virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003 it has infected 399 people worldwide and killed 252 of them, according to World Health Organization data Saturday.

The bird flu deaths in China in January have been scattered across the country in areas where there has been no known outbreak of bird flu among poultry, raising concerns among scientists that the virus may be present but masked by widespread vaccination.

Another victim, a 29-year old man in Guizhou province, is in stable condition, the Xinhua news agency said Monday, while a two-year old girl in a Shanxi hospital is now recovering.

- Reuters

India bans toy imports from China, gives no reason

Reuters, Jan 23, 2009 -

NEW DELHI, Jan 23 (Reuters) – India on Friday banned imports of several types of toys from China for six months without saying why, a move that pleased local manufacturers but shocked importers.

A government statement issued late on Friday did not give details but industry officials said the order would ban imports of almost all toys from China.

The government said in a statement it had banned imports for six months with immediate effect in the public interest.

The Toy Association of India’s president, Raj Kumar, said the ban would severely hit imports of Chinese toys, but Indian authorities had likely taken the step in the interest of the economy.

“You see Chinese toys everywhere. The good, upper-end toys are made in India, but the cheap toys in the street and small shops were being dominated by them. They are bringing in toys without safety norms,” he said……. (more details from Reuters)

In China, out-of-work migrants destabilizing

Anna Mehler Paperny, Chronicle Foreign Service, the San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, January 23, 2009-

On a recent Sunday morning, the scene on the K290 train heading west from Shanghai to China’s rural heartland was one of chaos.

The hard-seat cars teemed with passengers, many of them migrant workers fighting to place their baggage in overhead compartments or find space to sit in the aisles.

Chun yun, or spring festival transport, is the world’s largest human migration, involving hundreds of millions of people annually traveling home before the Lunar New Year. But this year, migrants returning home before the Year of the Ox begins Monday got an early start after hundreds of thousands of workers lost their city jobs.

Work drying up

“There is no work,” said Yang Nan, who returned to Sichuan province last month with her husband, Gou Zong Hai, and their 10-month-old daughter, Zhao Yin, after working in the eastern city of Wuxi. The occasional construction work that Gou relied on to feed the family dried up during an economic crisis that is closing factories throughout China’s industrial heartland.

As global recession slows demand for cheap consumer goods – whose export has fueled China’s breakneck economic growth for nearly three decades – the government is facing waves of factory closures and layoffs. In 2008, 670,000 small and medium-size businesses closed, laying off an estimated 10 million people, mostly migrant workers, according to the ministry of human resources and social security.

The government of agricultural Henan province announced that 3.7 million jobless migrants recently returned. In industrial Guangdong province, by contrast, more than 600,000 migrants have left for home, and the provincial governor says another 1 million could leave in coming months as more businesses close or lay off employees.

Some observers are worried that an army of unemployed workers could spark widespread social unrest.

Destabilizing force

“If these people organize, it could be quite different than what happened in ’89,” said Melissa Thomas, a partner in the Shanghai office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, an international law firm that advises foreign companies doing business in China, referring to the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that left as many as 3,000 dead or injured. “These are people who feel they have nothing to lose, because there’s nothing for them. The government is really aware of that.” …… (more details from the San Francisco Chronicle)

China’s censors snipped ‘communism’ from Obama’s inaugural speech

Jane Macartney, Times Online, UK, January 21, 2009, Beijing -

Across China, people excited to see the historic inauguration of an African-American as US President stayed up into the early hours to watch the news. But many were disappointed, if not downright annoyed, when censors snipped at Barack Obama’s inaugural address.

The speech seemed to catch by surprise the mandarins whose task is to protect television viewers from offensive remarks. There was a clear moment of confusion when the new President mentioned communism.

State-run China Central Television was broadcasting the speech live – already an extraordinary event in a country that usually adds a delay of several seconds to every broadcast just in case of mishap – when President Obama said: “Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism….”

The simultaneous interpreter proceeded smoothly with her translation but her voice faded out with the rest of the President’s sentence. The picture cut from the Capitol to an awkwardly smiling news anchor unprepared for the camera to return to her and apparently awaiting instructions in her earpiece. She turned to a reporter in the studio for comment on Mr Obama’s economic challenges. Yet more confusion as the flustered young woman sought refuge in the notes on her desk.

The cutaway seemed to misfire. While many Chinese may not have noticed, the more alert were soon commenting on internet chatrooms. One said: “Why did CCTV do this. Too timid.” But replays of the moment were available on Youtube.com.

CCTV was not alone in deciding which bits of the speech the Chinese people should or should not see.

The People’s Daily, mouthpiece of the Communist Party, published a translated text of the speech on its website, omitting the word communism and cutting entirely Mr t Obama’s line that: “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

China’s two biggest web portals, Sina and Sohu, followed suit. However, most English versions of the text posted online survived intact.

China is finding it increasingly difficult to police the internet given its enormous population and a mounting demand for freedom of expression. On one major Chinese language portal, NetEase, a used posted their own translation of the cut sections in English and Chinese. Online comments were often angry. One writer in the eastern city of Qingdao said: “Why did domestic media produce a castrated version to fool people! Why can’t we see a real world now!”

But Chinese viewers had almost complete access to the inauguration that contrasted with audiences in the isolated neighbouring state of North Korea. There, the only mention of an event that attracted a global audience came in a one paragraph news report that the 44th President of the United States had taken office.

- Times Online: Chinese censors snipped ‘communism’ from Obama address

3rd bird flu death in China this month

BBC News, 20 January 2009 -

A Chinese health expert has said that the country is likely to experience an upsurge in the number of human bird flu cases in the next month or two.

Shu Yuelong, from the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said China needed to work harder at preventing bird flu outbreaks.

The warning came after the health ministry said a 16-year-old boy had died in central Hunan province.

The human form of bird flu has now claimed three lives this year.

An earlier BBC report said Mr Shu had suggested that China risked an epidemic in the next few months, but it later became clear that he was referring to an increased risk of an epidemic occurring.

New Year exodus

The BBC’s Beijing correspondent Quentin Sommerville reports that winter and spring are prime bird flu seasons, when more than 70% of cases occur.

Millions of Chinese people are heading home for Chinese New Year, increasing the chances of infection, he says, and in spring, migratory birds carry the virus over great distances.

On Monday, the authorities announced that a woman in eastern Shandong province had died from bird flu.

And two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks.

Meanwhile, a two-year-old toddler reported to have been in critical condition with the H5N1 virus has now recovered and is described as “stable”.

Chinese and Hong Kong media have been reporting that the toddler’s mother had died this month after exhibiting symptoms similar to bird flu, but her death has not been officially blamed on bird flu. …… (more details from BBC News)

New death from bird flu in China

BBC News, Jan 19, 2008-

A Chinese woman has died from bird flu in the eastern Shandong province, state media has said.

It says Ms Zhang, aged 27, died at the weekend after becoming infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

It is the second reported death from bird flu in China this year. Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks.

The latest death was announced the day after the infection of a two-year old with bird flu in Hunan was reported.

The three new cases are the first to be reported in China in almost a year.

The toddler is now in hospital in her home province of Shanxi and all those who had been in contact with her are being watched.

The toll from bird flu in China is now reported by state media as 22 since 2003.

China’s ministry of agriculture said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Henan provinces after the two-year-old’s infection was confirmed.

Grim threat

The ministry said China now faces “a grim situation” in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighbouring countries, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

Other threats came from brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking prevention measures at loosely managed household farms, it said.

Bird flu often resurges in the winter months in China, but not every case is fatal.

China has the world’s biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain H5N1, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people.

H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic.

- BBC News

Taiwan govt official, MP’s aide arrested for spying for China

AFP, Jan 15, 2009-

TAIPEI (AFP) — A Taiwanese government official and a legislator’s aide were arrested Thursday for allegedly leaking state secrets to China, officials and reports said.

Wang Ren-bing, a specialist in the presidential office, and Chen Ping-ren, aide to a ruling Kuomintang lawmaker, were taken into custody early Thursday on suspicion of violating national security laws, said a spokesman at Taipei district court.

The spokesman declined to comment on reports that Chen allegedly passed information on the May 20, 2008 inauguration of President Ma Ying-jeou he obtained from Wang to Chinese intelligence.

The United Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reported Thursday that Wang photocopied documents pertaining to the handover of power to Ma from his predecessor Chen Shui-bian as well as the presidential office organisational charts and division phone numbers.

The arrests came after prosecutors searched Wang’s office and residence on Wednesday and confiscated a box of documents, prosecutors said.

The paper said Wang joined the presidential staff in 2001 while Chen was in office under the recommendation of his then right-hand man Chen Che-nan.

Chen Shui-bian, who frequently irked China with his pro-independence rhetoric, left office in May after serving the maximum two four-year terms.

Tensions have eased since the Beijing-friendly Ma swept to power last year on a platform to boost trade and tourism links with China.

- AFP

European Parliament Supports NTD’s Free flow of information to China

NTDTV ,  15 Jan 2009 -

CHAN:
Some good news… By last night (January 14), more than half of the members of the EU parliament have signed a declaration supporting the restoration of NTD’s broadcast, via satellite, into mainland China.

In July of last year, NTD’s broadcast into China was cut off by French satellite provider Eutelsat.

STORY:
At the parliamentary meeting in Strasbourg, France 441 members of the European Parliament signed the declaration.

[Charles Tannock, UK Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman]:
“I’m very happy, because this is a remarkable achievement. It is extremely difficult to get more than half the members of the Parliament to sign these declarations. There are only about two or three of these a year that pass through these mechanisms, so it’s a great achievement because it is a very worthwhile cause.”

This is the first time a declaration has been passed regarding a Chinese issue.

[Charles Tannock, UK Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman]:
“It is totally unacceptable in my view that the People’s Republic of China uses its huge commercial muscle to threaten to withdraw other contracts to put pressure on western satellite providers, telling them to take NTD television channel off air.”

This written declaration will be announced as a resolution on the 15th of January.

[Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President, European Parliament]:
“The status is the highest status on any resolution in the European Parliament but of course it asks for certain actions. It asks the commission to take action. It asks the French authorities to take action. It points the way forward for the restoration of the services of NTDTV, broadcast via satellite.”

Outside parliament, many NTD supporters were showing their support for a restoration of NTD’s broadcast into China.

Shujia Liu took part in NTD’s International Chinese Vocal Competition, held in New York City. She tried to encourage some of her friends to participate, but the Chinese Communist Party would not allow them out of China. She said her friends were harassed and had their homes searched.

[Shujia Liu, Supporter]:
“I think this event is very important. Many audience members from mainland China can not receive news from NTDTV. Because NTDTV reports the truth, it is the most righteous media and is very popular. It speaks out for those who are weak and supports the rights of citizens. In mainland China we can just hear lies. The CCP only reports its glories. It never reports on how it persecutes people.”

Many supporters of NTD feel the EU’s declaration is a strong message to Eutelsat and a victory for those who have been raising awareness about China’s human rights situation.

- NTDTV

As China’s Jobless Numbers Mount, Protests Grow Bolder

By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post Foreign Service, Tuesday, January 13, 2009 -

BEIJING — For months, the Communist Party had been able to deflect anger about factory closings toward the companies themselves. The party managed to come off as the benevolent savior by handing out cash to make up for unpaid salaries. The strategy stopped working at the Jianrong Suitcase Factory in late December.

When offered 60 percent of their wages to disband their protest and go home, the workers pushed back at riot police sent to keep them locked in their factory compound in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan. According to several witnesses, more than 100 irate workers broke through the cordon, some shouting, “There are no human rights here!”

As a global recession takes hold and China’s economy continues to slow, growing legions of unemployed workers are becoming increasingly bold in expressing their unhappiness — expanding a debate over how to protect the Chinese economy into long-fought disputes over other issues such as freedom of expression and equality before the law.

During most of the past two decades, concerns about China’s human rights record have been overshadowed by the speed of its economic development and growing political influence in the world.

But as the economic crisis has grown, so, too, have challenges — both small and large — to the state’s power.

In late November, two men whose village was involved in a dispute over a land deal took ink-filled eggs and desecrated Communist Party and national flags in Chongqing, the largest of China’s four provincial-level municipalities, in a protest that copied the infamous defacing of Mao Zedong’s portrait in the capital in 1989.

In December, 300 academics and other intellectuals signed a declaration of human rights known as Charter ’08 that circulated on the Internet, sending Chinese authorities on a nationwide manhunt for its author.

Labor rights activist Li Qiang said China’s economic problems have put the spotlight on social issues that have long existed — such as the growing gap between the urban rich and the rural poor and the fight for worker rights — but were played down by the government during the recent boom.

“The crisis in the West is purely economic. But in China it’s a huge political problem,” said Li, director of the New York-based China Labor Watch.

The ripple effects of the sharp economic downturn are growing: Crime is rising, as are labor strikes by taxi drivers, teachers, factory workers and even investors unhappy that their stock market holdings are now 70 percent off their peak.

Although Chinese authorities have been able to quickly disband the recent protests, there is concern that a single national-level event, if mishandled by authorities, could lead to a serious political crisis.

“Without doubt, we are entering a peak period for mass incidents. In 2009, Chinese society may face even more conflicts and clashes that will test even more the governing abilities of all levels of the party and government,” Huang Huo, a reporter for the state-run New China News Agency, warned this month in a magazine published by the news service……. (more details from Washington Post)

China approves controversial chemical plant in nearby city

Reuters, Tue Jan 13, 2009 -

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s environment ministry has approved a petrochemical plant that drew fierce opposition over feared pollution in one eastern city, approving its construction several miles to the west.

Plans to build the paraxylene plant in Xiamen, Fujian province, faltered in 2007 after residents there mobilized a rare mass campaign over fears of toxins from the petrochemicals, used to make polyester and fabrics.

But now the Ministry of Environmental Protection had passed an environmental impact study to build the petrochemical complex in Zhangzhou, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Xiamen, the official China News Service reported on Tuesday.

The approval means the project, costing about 14 billion yuan ($2 billion), “may move to Zhangzhou,” the report said.

Officials in Zhangzhou would not comment about the report when contacted by Reuters. Calls to the Tenglong Aromatic Hydrocarbon Company, which the report said would build the plant, were not answered.

There were no reports of organized opposition in Zhangzhou.

Chinese citizens have grown increasingly vocal over the pollution and environmental blight that has accompanied the country’s frantic industrialization.

But officials and citizens are also eager to create jobs, especially with growth slowing sharply in recent months.

In June 2007, protests against the project spread in Xiamen by mobile phone text message, prompting environmental officials in Beijing to chide the local government for disregarding environmental impact assessment steps.

Residents said they feared the plant on the city edge would release toxins that would do lasting damage to health. Officials said the project was entirely safe.

- Reuters

China new online censorship campaign argeting political and human rights

Reporters Without Borders, 13 January 2009 -

Reporters Without Borders regards the campaign against Internet porn that China launched on 5 January as just a pretext for reinforcing online censorship. More than 90 websites have so far been blocked, but some of them have no pornographic content. Foreign ministry spokesperson Jian Yu nonetheless insisted today that “China takes a positive and open minded attitude toward the management of the Internet.”

“The online Great Wall no longer suffices for the government, which is using porn as a pretext to block websites where people express themselves freely,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Internet users have shown they know how to breach the Great Wall and the government’s persistence proves that it fears the Internet’s appropriation by Chinese citizens.”

The press freedom organisation added: “The Olympic torch is now definitely extinguished and the government’s much-vaunted liberalisation is no more. The campaign against political dissidents is now out in the open.”

The government began its campaign on 5 January by ordering Google and Baidu, China’s two most popular search engines, to “take more effective measures” to combat online porn.

But in practice the campaign is much broader and is also targeting political and human rights content. Amnesty International reported yesterday that its website, which was rendered accessible in China on 1 August, a week before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games, has again been blocked.

Brushing aside the allegation, Jian Yu of the foreign ministry said this kind of accusation was made by people who “are ignorant of China’s situation.”

Bullog (http://www.bullog.cn), a political blog portal, has been inaccessible since 9 January. The portal’s editor, Luo Yonghao (罗永浩), has posted a note that includes the text of the directive issued by the Beijing Bureau of Information calling for its closure.

The directive says: “The www.bullog.cn website is publishing a lot of negative information in the public domain. We already asked it to correct this, but the site has still not taken any effective measures. It is now necessary that the hosting organisation block the domain name – HOLD domain name bullog.cn.”

The portal groups some well-known political websites and blogs, some belonging to people such as Ran Yunfei 冉云飞, Baozuitun 饱醉豚, Liao Wendao 梁文道 , Ai Weiwei艾未未, Wang Xiaoshan 王小山, Mo Zhixu 莫之许, Wu Yue San Ren 五岳散人, Shi Nian Kan Chai 十年砍柴 and A Ding 阿丁. all signatories of Charter 8, a manifesto calling for democratic reform inspired by Charter 77, the manifesto issued by Czechoslovak dissidents in 1977.

Bullog was already suspended in October 2007, but Luo Yonghao managed to get it reopened by promising the authorities to be “vigilant about site content.”

The government meanwhile announced today that it wants to reinforce the state media such as CCTV and the news agency Xinhua. Writing in the Communist Party’s ideological newspaper, which sets the political priorities each year, Propaganda Bureau chief Liu Yunshan said: “It has become urgent for China to ensure that our communication capacity matches our international prestige.”

As a result, China is planning to spend 17 billion yuan (2 billion euros) on boosting the influence of these two news media.

- Reporters Without Borders

Nortel’s China Syndrome

Andy Greenberg, The  Forbes, 01.12.09 -

Concerns over Chinese cyber-spying may have stalled a deal with Huawei that Nortel needs.

Since the beginning of this decade, worries about Chinese cyber-spying have reverberated through the media, rocked the security industry and added billions to the U.S. government’s cybersecurity budget. Now, for Nortel Networks, those concerns may also have frozen a deal the struggling networking vendor badly needs.

Toronto-based Nortel, whose stock has lost 96% of its value last year, announced in September that it would sell its metro Ethernet business, an Internet-focused piece of the company that generates about $1.5 billion a year in revenue.

The most interested potential acquirer of that division of Nortel may be Huawei, which bid $400 million for Nortel’s offering in September, according to Avian Securities–a generous offer considering that the company’s current market capitalization, hammered by debt and missed earnings projections, languishes at less than half that value. More recent rumors suggest Israeli networking company Radware may be bidding as little as $50 million for the same division, according to the Israel news site Globes.

Huawei’s higher bid, however, came with a caveat: The Shenzhen, China-based networking giant has a murky history of cooperation with its homeland’s authoritarian regime. And concerns over Huawei’s government ties, according to some industry-watchers and security analysts, may have spooked Nortel’s customers that carry sensitive U.S. government data and scuttled the Chinese company’s offer.

Huawei, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, has good reason to want a chunk of Nortel’s business. It’s likely most interested in Nortel’s market share in fiberoptic equipment–8.5% of the world market according to Synergy Research, behind only Alcatel-Lucent (nyse: ALU – news – people ) and Huawei itself. Nortel’s 100-gigabyte-per-second fiberoptic switches are also significantly faster than the 40-GB-per-second switches that Huawei currently offers.

The Chinese company has long been searching for an opportunity to expand to North America. It tried a joint venture with Nortel in 2005. And though that deal was scrapped in 2006, it means the two companies may have closer ties than other potential bidders.

In an informal poll of 44 fiberoptics and Ethernet industry executives at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress last September, the telecom trade blog Light Reading found that 18 respondents named Huawei as the most likely buyer for Nortel’s metro Ethernet business, far more than other candidates like Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO – news – people ) or Ericsson (nasdaq: ERIC – news – people ). The second most popular response in the poll was “no one.”

But a deal between Huawei and Nortel would have raised security hackles: The company sells telecom equipment to major Internet carriers like Verizon  (nyse: VZ -  news  -  people ), AT&T  (nyse: T -  news  -  people ), Sprint  (nyse: S -  news  -  people ) and Qwest, which in turn carry data for practically every government agency from the National Security Agency to the Pentagon. And given Huawei’s history, a tieup with the company would raise the specter of a hidden back door in a router or switch, siphoning that data to foreign spies.

A January 2007 report for the U.S. Air Force written by the RAND research group highlighted the military background of Huawei chief executive Ren Zhengfei: Before he founded Huawei in 1988, Ren was an engineering director for the Chinese military’s telecom research department. Today, “Huawei maintains deep ties with the Chinese military, which serves a multifaceted role as an important customer, as well as Huawei’s political patron and research and development partner,” according to the report.

A month later, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation issued its own report, citing Huawei as a security threat and arguing that “if a PLA protégé firm acquired an American firm that provided computer network equipment, software and services to the U.S. government, the possibilities for cyber-espionage would be virtually unlimited.”…… (more details from The Forbes)

(video) China Mental Hospital Horror: elderly patient beaten to death

By Jin Xin, Epoch Times Staff, Jan 12, 2009 -

Video footage revealing shocking abuse in a Chinese mental hospital has been circulating among Chinese bloggers recently.

The video footage shows three hospital staff workers in white lab coats kicking and beating an elderly patient with a mop and tying her to a bed. Staff are also shown making her sit naked from the waist down on top of a plastic cloth during winter.

The footage was posted by Zhu Chuanming, who claimed that nurses in Shandong Province’s Laiwu Mental Hospital abused his mother, Wang Xiuying. She died eight days after she was admitted to the hospital. The source of the footage is from a news report from Shandong Province’s Qilu TV station on Dec. 30, 2008.

Sparking great anger among Chinese bloggers, the footage also drew attention from overseas Falun Gong practitioners. Zhang Zhaojing, a representative of the Toronto Falun Dafa Association in Canada said that they were very concerned about this incident. The video is evidence of what Falun Gong practitioners have stated for the past nine-plus years—that the Chinese Communist regime has widely put Falun Gong practitioners in mental hospitals and used torture to force them to denounce their belief.

Mr. Zhang said that on the Minghui Web site there were 5,259 cases of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners that were linked to mental hospitals. Among the 3,231 death cases, 68 deaths were linked to detention in mental hospitals. In addition, several hundred Falun Gong practitioners also reported that they were subjected to the same kind of beating Wang Xiuying suffered in the mental hospital.

Mr. Zhang believes this video footage has revealed to the world the big dark secret of the Chinese Communist regime using mental hospitals to commit human rights violations against Chinese people on a large scale……. (more details from The Epochtimes)

Taiwan legislator warns of China spyware in military hardware

Taiwan News, Staff Writer, 2009-01-13 -

The military could be leaking secrets if using computers made in China, an opposition lawmaker said yesterday.

The Ministry of National Defense recently bought notebook computers from China which could compromise state secrets if they had been infected by viruses and spy software programs, said Lawrence Kao, a legislator for the Democratic Progressive Party.

The army headquarters had recently awarded bids for 51 computers to a supplier who did not buy the notebooks from Taiwanese manufacturers, but from suppliers in China, Kao said. At a news conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, he also accused the supplier of contracting out repair work to China.

Chinese intelligence services could plant software programs inside the computers which could then be used to collect military secrets from their Taiwanese users, Kao said.

The DPP lawmaker accused the military of being too lax about supervising its key suppliers and the sources of its equipment. It was high time for the ministry to review its procurement procedures and the origin of the products it was using, Kao said.

There has been concern for some time that in the event of a cross-straits conflict, China would not try for the long-feared tactic of a costly all-out invasion of the island, but would instead wage electronic warfare to try and paralyze the Taiwanese military’s communications and information systems.

- eTaiwan News

China says 296,000 children fell ill from tainted milk

AFP, Jan 11, 2008-

BEIJING (AFP) — China said Monday that a total of 296,000 children had fallen ill from consuming dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, up 2,000 from the previous official count.

The health ministry also told reporters at a briefing that a total of 52,898 babies had been treated in hospital for kidney problems caused by the toxic ingredient. Of these, 52,582 had been discharged.

The health ministry announced in early December a figure of 294,000 babies sickened by melamine, a chemical normally used to make plastic.

Earlier ministry data also showed six deaths had been linked to melamine.

The figure was released as the nation awaited the verdicts in the first cases against officials from Sanlu Group, the company at the heart of the baby formula scandal.

The discovery that melamine was mixed into baby milk, in a bid to make it look richer in protein, shocked consumers both in China and abroad, dealing another blow to the reputation of the nation’s products.

- AFP

The End of China’s Miracle?

John Pomfret, Washington Post, USA, on January 8, 2009 -

Times are tough in the United States. It seems that they’re even tougher in China.

An official Chinese magazine this week predicted a massive increase in protests because of the global economic downturn. It reported that 10 million people, originally from the countryside, have been fired from their jobs in factories mostly on China’s eastern coast. Another 8 million people are officially registered as unemployed. Meantime, a record number of people will enter the workforce this year, including more than 6 million who have graduated from high school or college. 2009, the magazine said, will be the toughest year in China in recent memory.

The piece, published by Liaowang, a magazine owned by the state-run New China News Agency, detailed a “perfect storm” of economic problems in China’s cities — factory closures and the non-payment of salaries to millions of employees — cascading into China’s rural areas, sparking land disputes as millions of recently-fired factory workers flood home.This perfect storm, the piece said, would “inflict a new pressure on our country’s social stability and harmony.”

What’s that mean in English? Well, the article provided a few statistics. Labor protests jumped 93.52 percent in the first 10 months of 2008 over same period in 2007. In one city alone, the capital Beijing no less, protests to demand the back payment of salaries (Chinese employers routinely rip off their workers to the tune of an estimated $4 billion a year nationwide) increased 300 percent and the people participating went up 900 percent in November when compared to the same month a year earlier.

The prevailing narrative about China in the United States is that the Communist Party is secure in power and that while the economic downturn will cause trouble, the party will probably muddle through. The party is launching its own version of an economic stimulus package, with big infrastructure spending planned and loads of job creation schemes.

However, a lot of us — even China wonks — forget that China is not the United States and that its political system is inherently unstable. Yes, the party has amassed more than $1 trillion in foreign exchange, giving it serious wiggle room to spend its way out of the current crisis. Yes, it’s also garnered some goodwill for putting on the Olympic Games, its space shots and its seemingly rapid response to last year’s earthquake. And, yes, China’s younger generation seems a lot less interested in questioning the party’s legitimacy thanks to years of mind-numbing “Patriotic Education” and ever-increasing opportunity.

But because so much happening in China occurs within the “black box” of state-censored information and the seemingly leak-free walls of party central at Zhongnanhai, we are no doubt missing a big part of the story. And, if you believe (as I do) that China’s state-run press never reports things are as bad as they really are, the Liaowang article is grim news indeed and should be a wake-up call for all of those prognosticators and pundits who think somehow that the laws of gravity don’t apply to the People’s Republic of China.

- Washington Post

Billions pulled out of China banking system in a few days

Duncan Mavin, Financial Post, Thursday, January 08, 2009 -

HONG KONG — Royal Bank of Scotland has warned it may become the fourth big investor in just a few days to pull billions of dollars out of the Chinese banking system, fuelling fears that China’s faltering economy could be hit by massive capital outflows in coming months.

Reports indicate the British bank, now controlled by the U.K. government, has been in talks with Chinese regulators for the past few days to sell down its 4.3% stake in Bank of China worth $3.7-billion.

If RBS does pull out, it will follow sharply in the footsteps of Switzerland’s UBS, which last week sold its 1.3% stake in Bank of China for US$800-million, and Bank of America, which cut its holdings in China Construction Bank to 16.6% from more than 19% on Wednesday in a placement that raised US$2.8-billion.

Also, a foundation established by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing, is widely reported to be selling two billlion shares in Bank of China in a transaction that will raise up to US$524-million.

The sudden foreign divestments have come at the most difficult time for the Chinese economy. Exports, which grew by more than 20% a year over the past few years, have collapsed in recent months as Western demand for cheap Chinese goods dries up. Millions of factory workers have lost their jobs and gross domestic product growth has fallen to its lowest level in years.

The head of China’s foreign exchange regulator also warned this week the country is facing a threat of “abnormal” cross-border capital flows. Hu Xiaolian said the risk of capital exiting China amid global financial tumult presents dangers including “the risk of liquidity strain,” according to a report from Chinese state media.

If the Chinese currency is allowed to fall to prop up exports, it will add to the risk that capital will flee China, said RBS China analyst Ben Simpfendorfer. That could “threaten financial stability,” he said.

The banking withdrawals have little to do with the state of the Chinese banking sector. RBS, Bank of America and UBS have all been hit hard by the financial crisis and selling down their investments in Chinese banks is a way to boost their own lean balance sheets.

The moves by RBS and others to pull money out of the Chinese banking system reverse a globalization of the financial sector that had seen as much as US$25-billion in foreign funds poured into China’s banks in the past three years alone. Even if other foreign banks exit China, as some speculate will happen, the trend is not a reflection of the health of the Chinese banking industry, said Standard & Poor’s analyst Qiang Liao. “Chinese banks are not immune from the global financial crisis that continues to scorch their Western peers,” Mr. Liao said in a report. But the major Chinese banks are “financially positioned to absorb the shocks that are likely to mark 2009,” he said.

At the same time that foreign investors repatriate their Chinese investments, authorities in Beijing are tightening the flow of Chinese money elsewhere. China’s Ministry of Commerce said this week it may soon force Chinese companies to get its approval before investing US$100-million or more overseas.

The move comes after several Chinese firms have taken big writedowns on their own overseas investments in recent months. Among the big losers was China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp., which incurred billions of dollars in losses last year on investments in Morgan Stanley and private-equity firm Blackstone Group. CIC’s chairman, Luo Jiwei, conceded last month the group has no appetite for investing in foreign financial institutions at present.

- Financial Post