CHINA – POLITICS
Tibetans protest in Sichuan has claimed 5 live since Jan 23
The Chinese military reportedly opened fire on unarmed Tibetan protesters in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, with 5 shot dead and about 100 arrested. The official Xinhua news agency confirmed death of two in its reports on January 24th and January 25th. But it’s said Xinhua soon deleted related reports in Chinese and English after they were widely quoted by overseas media.
The Tibetan New Year is on February 22nd. Tibetan groups refused to celebrate the Chinese New Year on January 23rd as a form of protest. According to the Guardian, protests have erupted in several areas in Ganzi, including Luhuo township and Seda township and more protests are expected in the coming days. Very few details were revealed as the area is said to be under a curfew.
Tensions have been high in the area after a series of self immolations, a harsh crackdown last summer and the recent release of a monk – Losang Khedrup – who was reportedly paralysed from the waist down as a result of beatings in prison, according to the Guardian.
The US special co-ordinator for Tibetan Issues, Maria Otero, expressed “grave concern” at the violence. Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch in Hong Kong said the situation is getting worse. “Beijing appears to have made the calculation that they have no need for Tibetan loyalty anymore.”
Lobsang Sangay, the Tibetan Prime Minister in exile, has called the international community to intervene after the crackdown happened. Sangay said it was “high time for it to intervene to prevent further bloodshed…Silence from the world community sends a clear message to China that its repressive and violent measures to handle tensions in Tibetan areas are acceptable.”
Celebration of the 20th anniversary of Deng’s southern tour remains low-key
January 18th was the 20th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour to Wuhan, Shenzhen and Shanghai, during which he restated his support for the policy of reform and opening up. The tour put an end on the debate of whether China should continue its market reform after the June 4th crackdown.
With the biggest top leadership transition in a decade coming in the second half of this year, Beijing chose to stay low-key for the celebration. According to the South China Morning Post, there’s no large-scale official activities in Beijing or other cities, the only official commemorative activity was in Shenzhen, the municipal government organised a tour for people to revisit the route of Deng’s five-day visit there 20 years ago.
Media’s coverage on the anniversary focused on the economic development after the tour, some articles also threw out the question of what we should learn from Deng’s tour.
The Southern Metropolis Daily said to push the reforms forward, at the moment we still need to adopt Deng’s reform model: meet the needs of the world, trust the people (面向世界，相信民众). Under the current situation, the breakthrough point is social reforms. Those in power today shouldn’t disappoint Xiaoping.
The Nanfang Daily did an interview with Chen Xitian (陈锡添), former Shenzhen Special Zone Daily journalist who reported on Deng’s speeches in 1992. Chen said he regretted that two remarks by Deng were censored at the time. “Deng had said ‘Don’t stage political movements or formalism. Officials need to stay cool-headed.’ and ‘People like me, old with a poor memory, should step down to wholeheartedly support younger leaders.’”3
In another interview on the Nanfang Daily, Li Junru (李君如), former Vice President of the Central Party School, said at the moment some social problems have been highlighted, which require serious concerns. But to solve these problems, we have to rely on the material conditions provided by the economic development. “We have to remember firmly ‘Development is of overriding importance’.”
Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post published a series of articles for the special occasion, including interviews with Li Junru, Long Yongtu, Chen Xitian and Wu Songying (吴松营), the soundman charged with recording Deng’s talks during the tour, as well as articles focusing on the changes of the three cities he visited.
Caijing magazine chose the anniversary as its cover story of issue No.311. Zhou Ruijin, former People’s Dailyeditor-in-chief, wrote a long article talking about the lessons we can learn from Deng’s tour and called for further reforms in areas of economic system, political system, social system and cultural system.
Hu Deping (胡德平), son of former reformist leader Hu Yaobang, held a forum on January 18th in which he and many attendees called for bolder political reforms. More than 200 scholars, retired officials and descendents of former top officials attended the forum.
CHINA – DIPLOMACY
Wen pays visit to Nepal and three gulf countries
January 14th – 19th, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Nepal and three gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.
Wen’s visit to Nepal was the first by a Chinese premier in a decade. The two countries later issued a joint statement, saying “Further enhancement of the ties is in accord with the fundamental interests of the two countries and is conducive to peace, stability and development in the region and the world at large.” It also said that “Nepal does not allow any forces to use its territory for any anti-China or separatist activities.”
When visiting the gulf countries, Wen said Beijing will play a bigger role in the Arab region. Wen was the first Chinese premier who visited Saudi Arabia in 20 years, also the first ever in the UAE and Qatar. With Saudi Arabia, China’s top oil provider, Wen signed several economic and cultural agreements. An agreement on peaceful use of nuclear energy was also signed. According to the AFP, bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $58.5 billion in the first 11 months of 2011.
Wen then attended World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Later China signed a RMB35 billion currency swap deal with the UAE, which will allow the central banks to draw on the local currency facility to ease bilateral trading. Theodore Karasik, director of research and development at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said to the FT that, “China is making huge inroads into the region and partnering with the UAE across a number of fields, not only in economics but in energy, and this is part of the process.”
At the end of the trip, Wen expressed China’s tough stance against Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, which was considered China’s clearest ever objection. “We believe under all circumstances the security of the [strait] must be protected and that normal passage must be guaranteed … On this issue, any extreme action is against the wishes of all people and countries of the world,” Wen said at a press conference on January 18th in Doha, Qatar.
The US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, visited Beijing earlier this month to get support for the new US sanctions on Iran. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against new US sanctions and warned other gulf countries not to make up for any shortfall in its oil exports under the sanctions.
Mainland experts said Wen’s response was firmer than before, but China hadn’t changed its fundamental stance, according to the South China Morning Post. CASS Professor Yin Gang said, “Closing the Strait of Hormuz, an international passage, amounts to declaring war [on countries that use the waterway, including China] …As a big nation, we would like to take up our responsibility and stand with the people in Arab countries and those in the Gulf … to resolve these issues so that this region can experience peace.”
Yang Jiechi, China’s foreign minister, said Wen’s trip to the gulf countries clarified China’s firm stance in keeping peace and stability in West Asia and North Africa.
At the January 18th press conference, Wen was noted calling for domestic reforms again. When asked what lessons governments should take from the recent development in the Middle East, he said people’s demands for reform and the protection of their interests should be respected. “I always emphasise that reform, not only economic reform but also political reform, should be carried out.” “All turmoil has both an internal and external cause, but I believe the internal cause is most important.”
CHINA – ECONOMY
“It’s not Apple, but the ‘China Model’ should be blamed.”
On January 25th, the New York Times published “In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad”, a story about the working conditions workers face in the factories of Apple’s Chinese suppliers. The details of explosions, deaths, injuries and inhumane working conditions all pointed out Apple’s lack of social responsibility as one of the world’s most profitable companies. The article was translated into Chinese by the New York Times’s staff in China and was authorised to publish on Caixin and its Weibo page.
The Chinese version of the story attracted nearly 700 comments on Caixin’s web site and Weibo page. Though many criticised Apple, some pointed out that China and the “China model” should take more responsibility in the series of deaths and injuries in the Apple factories, behind which is “China’s cheap labor and demographic dividends”, a Weibo user said. Another user said companies wouldn’t be so irresponsible if the government had issued relative regulations and supervised the companies efficiently. “It’s not Apple, but the ‘China Model’ that should be blamed,” a reader commented on Caixin’s web site.
2011 GDP growth slows to 9.2%
China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on January 17th that China’s economy expanded by 9.2% in 2011 from a year earlier. In the fourth quarter the growth was 8.9%, which is the slowest in 10 quarters. Lu Zhongyuan (卢中原), deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council predicted country’s GDP growth as 8.5% in 2012. “We should no longer be obsessed with the speed of growth,” said Lu. NBS chief Ma Jiantang (马建堂) also mentioned that China still faces medium- and long-term price pressures, including rising wages and land costs.
For the year of 2011, China’s inflation rate was 5.4%. Though inflation peaked in July at 6.5%, it has been decline since then.
CHINA – CULTURE
Han Han challenged by Fang Zhouzi
During the Chinese New Year, the hottest topic on Weibo was not the CCTV gala, but the online anti-fraud campaign launched by Fang Zhouzi, and this time, the target is celebrity writer Han Han.
The Weibo topic has drawn 11.7 million comments so far and even celebrity opinion leaders couldn’t help to have a say, including actress Yao Chen, writer Ning Cai Shen, Murong Xuecun, Shi Kang and Chun Shu, Han’s publisher Lu Jinbo, Han’s father and even Han Han himself, who just told the media a month ago that he disliked microblog.
The drama started from Mai Tian, an IT expert claimed in early January that Han’s recent three blog articles were not his own. As a response, Han offered 20 million yuan cash reward to anyone who could prove that he had received help writing articles. Mai soon apologized but then Fang Zhouzi came to the stage. He questioned a couple of Han’s works, including his first novel “Triple Door”.
“I’m sure the early works of Han Han such as Triple Door and Seeing a Doctor were written by a ghostwriter, judging by the style and depth of the content. Whoever wrote for Han Han is another matter. I can only say there is more suspicion that his father is the ghostwriter,” Fang told the Global Times.
To respond to the questions, Han’s father Han Renjun posted an article to introduce himself, his life. Han Han announced that the manuscript of Triple Door will be published and pricing 10 kuai.
Murong Xuecun said there’s something you can’t prove: “How do you prove your article is written by you? I have witnesses. That’s not helpful, they might be collusion between you. I have manuscript. That’s not helpful as they might be copy of something else. I have…Nothing is helpful, I’m just suspicious of you.”
Yuan Yue, writer of Life Weekly, blogger, said he wanted to get involved in the debate because the negative influence Han Han has on the Chinese youth, because Han is promoting the trend of anti-intellectualism, people like him won’t make China better.
HONG KONG – POLITICS
Tension rises after video of mainlanders eating on MTR spreads
A video of a confrontation between a small group of mainland tourists and local Hong Kongers went viral on the internet since January 16th and has caused serious debate in the city.
1) Stage one.
On January 15th, a mainland girl who travelled to Hong Kong with her mother and a few others was shot by a mobile phone camera eating dry instant noodles on the MTR, which is prohibited according to the Hong Kong law. After she spilled a few on the floor, a local passenger Mr. Wai told the girl in mandarin that she’s not supposed to do so. The girl stopped eating immediately but the mother said “It’s just for the kids, it’s none of your business”. But then her friends laughed at Wai’s mandarin. As a response, Mr.Wai and his girlfriend started fighting back in Cantonese by saying things like “My mandarin is no good, but this is Hong Kong, why don’t you speak to me in Cantonese?”, “No need to talk to them, those mainlanders are like this!” and “You (the mainlanders) can’t even do small things well.”
The quarrel ended when a Hong Kong passenger pressed the emergency button and called the MTR staff. After the local passengers explained the situation, the MTR employee asked Wai and the group of mainlanders to get off the train without issuing court ticket. What’s interesting is at the end of the argument, the little girl said “Mama was wrong. It’s my fault.” But the mainland woman who stood next to her indicated to her to be quiet.
Someone posted two videos of the quarrel on social media the next day and they have so far attracted more than 1 million hits. A lot of Hong Kongers say Mr. Wai is a hero of Hong Kong and he fought against uncivilized behaviour with civilized behaviour. A response liked by 89 people on Facebook says “The mainlanders like to say ‘they are only kids’, plus, as visitors in Hong Kong, they laugh at us when we try to talk to them in their language. It’s lucky that they were not attacked by a whole lot more passengers.” But there are a few voices arguing that it’s not very fair because Hong Kongers are often seen eating on the MTR as well. Mr. Wai on January 17th posted an open letter on his Facebook to explain the issue, with what had happened before the camera started recording. He especially apologized for saying “Those mainlanders are like this”, adding that it’s an isolated issue and he doesn’t intend to cause any anti-mainland sentiment.
In the mainland, some bloggers also re-posted them and the story also became one of the most popular on Weibo.Caijing posted the video on its Weibo page, the overwhelming majority of the respondents say that the Hong Kongers were trying to make a fuss about a trifle, which showed their sense of superiority and ignorance of how important the mainland is to their economy: “Hong Kongers are scolding their mother!” “The two Hong Kongers know nothing about respecting people. They have no culture as they showed discrimination to other people. It’s true they broke your rules, but they didn’t know, you could tell them and there’s no need to yell.” “Hong Kong is nothing without the backing of the mainland, they won’t be able to even solve the problem of food and clothing and will soon become a dead city.”
2) Stage two.
On January 19th, Professor Kong Qingdong (孔庆东) of Peking University commented the issue on news website V1.cn, saying many of the Hong Kong people are still dogs of the British imperialists, and in the territory of China, only “bastards” don’t speak Putonghua to those who only manage to speak the official language. People in Hong Kong have a duty to speak Putonghua, according to Kong.
Though Kong doesn’t enjoy a good reputation in the mainland because of his frequent ultra-nationalistic words on public affairs, ordinary Hong Kong people know very little about him and took his stance as representing that of mainlanders. The debate has since escalated, with an increasing number of Hong Kongers requesting an apology from Kong and pushing the government to amend the law to ban mainland pregnant women.
Some netizens created a Facebook page, calling Hong Kongers to put on a protest in front of the China Liaison Office to ask for an apology from Kong. The page has been liked by 25,087 people so far.
On January 24th, about 150 demonstrators – some with their dogs – gathered outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong to express their anger. Some chanted that “it was better to be a dog in Hong Kong than a human on the mainland”, “Hong Kongers are dogs, mainlanders please don’t come here to take our milk powder, social benefits or hospital beds”. Slogans like “Anti-locusts” were not supported by some of the attendees. Mr. Chen told Ming Pao that the protest was just against Kong’s words and they shouldn’t create more gaps between the Hong Kongers and the mainlanders. Public affairs commentator Johnny Y.S. Lau warned the protesters to be “clear-minded”, “don’t fight irrational behaviour with irrational behaviour, the issue has nothing to do with the liaison office.” Kong called the protest “ridiculous” and asked “if the protesters are trying to use the official force to suppress freedom of speech… which shamed Hong Kong.”
But on the same day, Kong wrote a 4000-charactered blog article, in which he denied he called Hong Kongers dogs and bastards, saying the appellation “dogs” referred to “imperialist dogs”, but not to all residents of Hong Kong. Such people, Kong quoted Lu Xun as saying, were “dogs to the imperialists, but wolves to their fellow Chinese.” Kong also criticized media for quoting his words out of context.
3) Stage three.
Local media reported that some Hong Kongers are calling people to donate for an “anti-locusts” front page advertisement in Apple Daily, which will cost HKD70,000-110,000. The group started a thread on Hong Kong’s most popular online forum Golden, calling people to donate money and ideas, which has attracted more than 800 replies. A related Facebook page also has about 1000 users. Page creator Yung Jhon wrote: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have received HK$70,000 so far. The more trouble these mainlanders stir up, the more money Hong Kongers will donate.”
Users of the forum also criticised mainland women coming to give birth at hospitals in the city and accused mainland tourists of forcing up the price of baby formula. A decision by fashion house D&G to ban locals from taking photographs outside its store at Harbour City, while allowing foreigners and visitors from the mainland to do so, also inflamed tensions and caused about 1000 Hong Kongers to protest outside of the shop continuously for two weekends.
Earlier this month, 650 Hong Kong mothers took to the street to protest the flooding of local hospitals by an increasing number of pregnant mainland women, to ensure an Hong Kong ID for their children. A seven-month pregnant protester told Ming Pao that “This group of protesters don’t have any political background…we only ask for a stable life, but now even people like us stood out, it should be a loud alarm for the government!”
Lecturer Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung with Polytechnic University told The Standard that the tension between Hong Kongers and mainlanders is getting more serious. “Recent issues definitely intensified tension between the two groups, such as pregnant mainlanders gate-crashing Hong Kong’s public hospitals,” Cheung said. Chan Yee-fei, head of service of the concern group New Home Association, warned that things will get worse if Hong Kongers continue to stereotype mainlanders. He said their high purchasing power has boosted the city’s overall sales revenue, especially in retail and property sectors. Chan said Hong Kong policy makers should be blamed, rather than the mainlanders.34
Hong Kong director Ho-Cheung Pang (彭浩翔) said on his Weibo that he’s strongly against the idea of posting and spreading “anti-locusts” posters, because such behaviour will not help to solve problems, instead it will widen the gap. “Do not forget the Hong Kong spirit”, Pang warned.
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao published an editorial on the incident. It says after SARS, the central government has been promoting the mainland individuals’ trips to Hong Kong, encouraging the state-owned enterprises to list in Hong Kong, which helped Hong Kong to quickly recover from the economic recessions and achieved fast growth; rich mainlanders are spending tons of money here. But as a small city, Hong Kong suddenly became the market for 1 billion people, a lot of problems therefore appeared. …Kong’s words are not worth arguing, but his attitude may reflect that some mainlanders have started to look down on Hong Kong, which is worth keeping an eye on as a trend. The newspaper suggests that mainland visitors should be aware of Hong Kong’s core values and help to maintain them. “It’s a tragedy for both Hong Kong and the mainland if some of Hong Kong’s core values are ‘assimilated’ by the mainland.” It also calls for the opinion leaders to comment on public affairs rationally and says the government should issue relative population policies and housing policies to take the burden off the ordinary Hong Kong people.
China Daily called the incident “a symbol of the ‘cultural clash’ between Hong Kong and the mainland” in a commentary. Huang Xiangyang, a senior writer with the newspaper who used to live in Hong Kong for 5 years, said, “… poor manners are considered only a nuisance. Their (Hong Kongers’) real gripe comes from the fact that greater spending power enjoyed by many from the mainland has in some way hurt the Hong Kong people’s self-esteem and quality of life.” “While the mainland’s growing wealth has been a boon to the Hong Kong economy, Hong Kong people are feeling an increasing sense of loss as the city loses its edge as the only gateway of the mainland to the outside world. …There has been heated debate about how Hong Kong should reposition itself now that the mainland has opened up on an unprecedented scale to the world. The verbal sparring on the subway was sparked not by Hong Kong residents’ sense of superiority, but rather by their growing sense of inferiority.”
As the debate heats up, the Chief Executive’s Office also joined in. On January 27th, it announced the office will invite scholars, government employees and people from the mainland to share their opinions on the two places’ cultural differences and immersion. The first article was by Simon Shen Xu Hui (沈旭暉). Shen said Hong Kong people are proud for the city’s core values and hope visitors to Hong Kong respect these values. The second article on the office’s Facebook page is by Leung Kai Chi (梁啟智), lecturer of the Chinese University, Leung shared some unhappy experiences of his mainland students in Hong Kong and said the city has two choices: to remove the signs in simplified Chinese, or to increase signs in other languages like Filipino and Indonesian.
Henry Tang responded to Kong’s comment by saying “Hong Kongers are not dogs… He should be responsible for his words.” Another candidate for the chief executive of the city C.Y. Leung, said Kong can’t represent all the mainlanders, his words shouldn’t be over-interpreted.
TAIWAN – POLITICS
Ma wins election, DPP to reflect its cross-strait policy
On January 14th, Taiwan held its fifth direct election for president. The current president Ma Ying-jeou won the election by winning 51.6% (6,891,139) of the total votes, while his main competitor Tsai Ing-wen won 45.6%. The third candidate James Soong had 2.8%.
The victory of Ma guarantees another four years of the China-friendly policies which have delighted Beijing and Washington. According to the FT, Ma’s victory was helped by two key factors: the support of big business in Taiwan and the return home for election of more than 200,000 Taiwanese workers working in the mainland. The spokesman of Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said the result of the elections shows that the peaceful development cross-strait policy is favoured by the people in Taiwan. The White House said it hoped the “impressive” efforts that both China and Taiwan had undertaken in recent years to build cross-strait ties continued. “Such ties and stability in cross-strait relations have also benefited US-Taiwan relations,” according to the FT.42
Tsai conceded defeat and announced resignation as chairwoman of the DPP on the next day. No tears or emotional appeals, Tsai encouraged her supporters not to give up, Taiwan needs a strong opposition party. She also urged Ma to address issues as the growing gap between rich and poor in Taiwan, working for the prosperity of ordinary Taiwanese. Tsai also said the DPP should reflect its cross-strait policy.
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao said in an editorial that the direct election in Taiwan has set up a good example for Hong Kong, it shows democracy does not only belong to the west, it also applies to the Chinese society. Hong Kong’s Pan-democracy camp just had its primary election on January 8th, which is a step forward by the democratic camp. In the electronic poll, the 74 polling facilities outside of the MTR stations received 33,932 votes from the city’s permanent residents and 65% of them were for the Democratic Party chief Albert Ho Chun-yan (何俊仁). As a contrast, the Pro-establishment camp has done nothing on the path to democracy, which is a shame.
Hong Konger Derrick Tao made video “Unhappy Hong Kong” after Taiwan’s elections finished. He questioned in the video, “’Do not become the second Hong Kong,’says Taiwan. Hong Kong, would you rather join Taiwan as freedom and democracy pioneers of the Chinese society, or would you accept the current situation and let go of your ideals and beliefs?”
Ying Chan, a veteran journalist of Hong Kong, said “This time, the election process itself was followed closely by mainland Chinese. And in that sense, the election was an important milestone for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.” Many of China’s 500 million internet users followed and commented the election on news portal sites and Chinese microblogs. Writer Murong Xuecun said “the victor is ultimately Taiwan. This is a victory of [Taiwan’s political] system.”
Another microblog posts shared by Ying Chan reads: “The Kuomintang was once a dictatorial political party, but it turned over a new leaf, changing with the time. It decisively ended restrictions on the press and on other political parties [in the 1980s], ending the kickback politics and corruption of the era of tyranny. Eight years after being thrown from power, the Kuomintang regained the trust of the people and returned to power [with Ma Ying-jeou’s election as president]. The Kuomintang shows us that a political party can reform itself, and that even if it steps down there is opportunity. But once a party has been overthrown by the people, it is completely finished.”
By the end of the article, she questioned, “if Taiwan can achieve democracy, why can’t mainland China?” Why can’t Hong Kong? “The process of selecting Hong Kong’s next chief executive will be under way soon. But now, as Taiwan has set the bar, how can we not feel a touch of shame?”
