Roundup - 17/12/2009

• Chinese negotiators and officials are signaling that they no longer believe that a binding deal is possible at the Copenhagen summit. Reports suggest that China now favours a simple political statement at the end of the summit. It is not known whether this is only a bargaining position or if it is genuinely felt. Some leaders had hoped to agree to an interim arrangement which would have some immediate effect but it seems that China is not cooperating on this. They want a final treaty or none at all.
  
  Negotiations have stalled over who will bear the burden of combating climate change. While most developing countries favour a continuation of the Kyoto treaty, which would place the responsibility for funding on the developed world, richer countries want a new deal which would spread the burden far more widely.
  
  China has vowed that it will make its previously announced cuts of 40-45% in carbon intensity whether or not a deal was signed at the summit. Chinese media has said that 3 trillion RMB will be invested in the environment over 5 years from 2011.
  
  
  
• There are growing signs that rules on demolition may be changed. Call for reform of he rules has grown after details of a number of deaths of people defending their homes from demolition. Yue Xiyou, who died trying to defend his fiance's apartment from being wrecked and Tang Fuzhen, who died of her injuries after setting fire to herself have rallied public opinion and intellectuals to put pressure on the National Peoples Congress and the State Council to reform the rules. Xi Xinzhu is currently in hospital after setting himself on fire in Beijing on Monday in a similar incident.
  
  However, while China's legislature appears to be backing reform of the law, other elements are opposed to it. The NPC recently declared that the regulations should have already been withdrawn due to the 2007 Property Law, however, the State Council Legislative Affairs Office said that the regulations were still valid. Although in theory laws made by the NPC carry more weight than the regulations set by the SCLAO, in the absence of a developed legal system where the issue can be settled in court, the ambiguity is enough for the regulations to remain in place.
  
  
  
• China's crackdown on internet porn is continuing to expand. Thanks to a new hotline for reporting sites 775 sites were closed down in just five days. A total of 15,775 sites had been shut down as of 8pm on December 15^th.
  
  The government has also begun to insist on a business license for any one wishing to register an internet domain name. The move is aimed at reducing the amount of user generated content on the net. The government says this is aimed at tackling pornography and breach of copyright, however, it is also a way of limiting political ad social comment.
  
  
  
• Five miners have been trapped since Wednesday after a mudslide at Manaoshan Mine in Chenzhou, Hunan which produces iron ore. Rescuers have said that they have heard cries for help and believe that the miners are still alive. More than 100 people are working to free the miners.