Roundup - 27/11/2009

• China's announcement that it will cut its carbon intensity by 40-45% by 2020 is still making news. Opinion is still divided on the announcement. Some disappointed that they did not go further, others impressed that they went so far. While the Chinese media is predictably positive about the cuts, the rest of the worlds media is divided, the International Herald Tribune and the Independent (UK) for example hold a fairly positive view while the Guardian (UK) and Al Jazeera English are more cynical.
  
  China has attempted to bolster its claims by releasing a declaration of commitment by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee which is led by President Hu Jintao.
  
  Meanwhile Isabel Hilton writes an interesting article in the Guardian(UK) about China's attempts to secure patents for green technology. She suggests that while China's commitment to international climate change deals may lack enthusiasm it does understand that newer, greener technologies are necessary for both combating climate change and developing the Chinese economy.
  
  
• An accident at a coal mine in Guizhou has left nine dead and one missing. While most global media is reporting this as an explosion Xinhua and other Chinese media are reporting it as a gas leak. 162 people escaped of whom three are being treated for minor injuries.
  
  The accident follows the catastrophic blast last Saturday at a coal mine in Heilongjiang which killed 108 miners. China's coal industry is the most dangerous in the world. 1,175 lives were lost in the first six months of this year although this does represent a drop of 18.4% on the previous year.
  
  
• Chinese media is carrying reports on China's lunar mission. The Chang'e 2 lunar probe will be sent into orbit around the moon in October 2010 as part of China's plans to send a probe to the moon by 2013.
  
  Chang'e 1 was heralded as a national success story when it was launched in 2007, even being praised in song during the following new year celebrations.
  
  
• Two Child traffickers were executed yesterday morning. Hu Minghua, 55, and Su Binde, 27, were convicted of abducting and trafficking 15 children between them as well as of other charges including theft and posession of heroin.
  
  Child trafficking is a growing problem in China where a preference for boys over girls, restrictions on childbirth, a large number of unmarried men and a rise in organised crime all contribute to make children a lucrative commodity. The government has stepped up efforts to combat the trade in recent years. They claim to have rescued around 2,000 children this year and have set up a website so that parents can identify and claim their missing children. According to Xinhua 1,714 people were punished for abducting and trafficking children in the first ten months of this year.
  
  
• Andrew Jacobs at the International Herald Tribune reports on an article published in the state-run magazine Outlook (瞭望Liaowang) about China's secret prisons. The report details a system of 'black jails' used to deter petitioners from bringing their complaints to Beijing.
  
  The article claims that at peak times as many as 10,000 retrievers roam the capital searching for petitioners to place in one of 73 secret prisons. The article also points out that it is turning into a 'chain of gray industry' as the whole affair can be quite lucrative.
  
  Although the right to petition to central government is enshrined in the constitution, it reflects badly on the local governments that are being reported on. It is these local governments who run many of the prisons.
  
  A Human Rights Watch report recently prompted the Foreign Ministry to deny the existence of black jails in China. Due to the officially backed nature of Outlook, some hope that the publication of this article is a sign of changing opinions within China's leadership as to the validity of these prisons.
  
  
• 6 in 10 Taiwanese oppose the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China according to a poll by National Taiwan University. The trade treaty, supported by President Ma Yingjiu, is designed to improve trade and create jobs. However, popular feeling is running against China and this has been used by the opposition Democratic Progressive Party which claims that the agreement will reduce Taiwan to the status of a local government in future negotiations with China.