Roundup - 21/01/2010

• China's National Bureau of Statistics has released above-target figures for GDP growth in 2009. They say that GDP rose 8.7% over the year with a 10.7% rise in Q4 compared with 2008. This means China is likely to replace Japan as the world's second largest economy by the end of the year. China has now declared itself the first major economy to recover from the economic crisis and PriceWaterhouseCoopers has released a report suggesting China could overtake the US as the world's largest economy as early as 2020. China has said that it will maintain its stimulus policies until demand or its exports recovers fully.
  
  However, statistics also showed a spike in inflation. While in November inflation was at 0.6% year on year, in December this rose to 1.9%. Attempts to reign in lending by the People's Bank of China are therefore likely to accelerate over the coming months.
  
  
  
• Compensation is still being sought for people infected with HIV after blood transfusions in the 1990s, it has emerged. More than 80 people in Daye, Hunan, were infected with HIV after being operated on at the Daye No.2 Hospital. In the 1990s it was common for rural Chinese to sell their blood to hospitals to supplement their income. Some victims are angry at the disparity in compensation offered. One victim who claimed compensation early on is said to have received 190,000RMB, a 500RMB monthly stipend and a promise to allow his child to work at the hospital. Now compensation usually amounts to 90,000-100,000RMB and life-long free healthcare. The hospital says the initially high compensation was offered before it was realised how many people had been infected.
  
  
  
• An additional 300,000 people will have to be moved from their homes due to the Three-Gorges Dam project. The government said that the moves were necessary to stop pollution from building up in the dam's reservoir and to protect the people from earthquakes. According to state media, 1.27 million people have already been moved to make way for the worlds largest dam. When the dam reaches full capacity, it is expected to produce 100 billion kilowatt hours a year of electricity.
  
  
  
• China has placed its J-10 fighter jet on the international arms market. The fighter, China's counterpart to the US's F-16, is likely to prove a popular choice among countries who cannot buy US fighters or who are looking for a cheap alternative. Pakistan has already put in an order for 36 fighters for US$1.4 billion. This puts the individual price at US$40 million per plane, half the price of an F-16, however, it is not clear whether this includes spare parts, maintenance, training, etc.. State media has named Iran and the Phillipines as likely future buyers.
  

Roundup - 15/12/2009

• The split between China and the US at the Copenhagen summit is continuing to deepen. After reports yesterday that China may be willing to renounce its claim to financial support to implement carbon cuts, Foreign Ministry officials have anonymously commented that this was a misinterpretation of comments made by Vice-Foreign Minister He Yafei. However, Chinese academics and western analysts have suggested that China may agree to a transfer of funding from China to poorer countries as part of a deal.
  
  The US meanwhile is concentrating on finding a way to monitor China's progress on carbon intensity cuts. China is insisting that it can monitor itself, saying that Chinese law provides a guarantee that its promises will be kept. The US and other western powers want independent monitoring.
  
  The conference was further hampered by a five-hour walkout led by several African delegations. They refused to come back to the negotiating table until it was agreed that the continuation of the Kyoto treaty would be discussed. The G77+China favours Kyoto because it contains the principle of differentiated responsibility, thereby placing most of the burden of combating climate change on the developed world.
  
  There is now only two days of negotiations before world leaders arrive in Copenhagen for an intense final round of negotiations.
  
  
  
• Vice-President Xi Jinping has begun a tour of four Asian countries by visiting Japan. In a meeting with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama Xi said that he supported Hatoyama's concept of an East Asian Community and welcomed Hatoyama's comments that Japan should face up to its past.
  
  The visit was marred slightly by irregularities surrounding a meeting between Xi Jinping and Emperor Akihito. Meetings are traditionally scheduled at least a month in advance but the Chinese request for a meeting arrived only on Nov. 26^th. Much of the Japanese media has condemned this irregularity saying that the Prime Minister is using the Emperor for political purposes. However, many analysts point out that Xi Jinping's visit is important given Japan's strengthening economic ties with China and Xi Jinping's possible future succession to the role of President.
  
  
  
• Calls to release the dissident Liu Xiaobo have sent to China from the US and the EU. Liu was a founding signatory of Charter '08, a document which called for political reform. He has been detained for a year and last week was charged with inciting the subversion of state power, he now faces up to 15 years in prison. As well as international support liu has been supported by his fellow signatories. In an article on news.boxun.com, many signatories wrote that they were as guilty as he was and that they would be willing to accept punishment by his side.
  
  Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has emphasised 'principled pragmatism' in a speech to students in Georgetown University. She pointed out that coercion and isolation are not the only tools for promoting democratic reform.
  
  
  
• Railway police in Shanghai have arrested 47 child traffickers and rescued 21 children in a month-long crackdown. Most of the babies were kidnapped from poor families in Yunnan to be sold to wealthy but childless families in Jiangsu and Shandong. It is unknown whether any of the babies were to sold in Shanghai. The Ministry of Public Security has said that it is setting up a DNA database in an attempt to reunite kidnapped children with their families.
  
  
  
• The trial of a Chongqing mafia boss has been delayed after he implicated his own defence lawyer. Gong Gangmo, billionaire and suspected gang leader, is believed to have handed over his defense lawyer, Li Zhuang, in an attempt to earn lenient treatment. Gong says his lawyer advised him to lie to the courts about allegedly being tortured while in police custody. Several suspected gangsters have made similar claims. An arrest warrant has been issued for Li Zhuang.
  
  Meanwhile Yue Cun, a Chongqing local police chief, is on trial for leading another gang. 15 guns, 16 cars, 13 properties and 52 million RMB have been seized. Yue Cun began gathering decommissioned soldiers to work as security guards for his cinema in the late 1990s. The gang then moved into loan-sharking and blackmail, even using high-tech equipment to spy on government officials. The gang is thought to be responsible for at least three murders.
  
  
  
• Construction has begun on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge. The bridge will be 50 km long, 36km of which will be over water. The six-lane motorway is designed to increase the flow of traffic between mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao.
  
  
  
• A survey of China's historical sites has revealed enormous losses in China's cultural heritage. A nationwide survey of China's cultural sites has never been completed but the latest attempt has already revealed that a 1982 attempt contained over 30,000 sites which no longer exist. This is partly due to new methods of counting but mostly due to China's rampant development over the last twenty years. The sites lost include entire town centres such as Dinghai in Zhejiang and parts of the Great Wall in Mongolia.