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 - 20/01/2010

• In a move which many analysts suggest is linked to the Google affair, Chinese search engine, Baidu, is suing an American company for negligence after its site was hacked. Baidu says that Register.com, Inc. was guilty of gross negligence after Baidu was hacked by a group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army on January 12^th.
  
  Baidu has been largely reported as being the dominant search engine in China. However, this dominance is in crisis as loss of market share and the loss of key managers are revealed. Analysis International has followed recent announcements by Statcounter.com by releasing figures that give Baidu a 58.6% share of China's online search market in the last quarter, a 5.3% drop on the previous three months.
  
  Baidu has also lost both its chief technology operator, Li Yinan, and its chief operations officer, Ye Peng, in the last ten days.
  
  
  
• Google has delayed the launch of two new phones using Google's Android software. The phones, made by Samsung and Motorola, were to have used the China Unicom network. Insiders have suggested that Google did not want to launch a product utilising its Gmail and web search functions if the companies presence in China was uncertain.
  
  
  
• China's banking Regulatory Commission has set China's lending target at 7.5 trillion RMB (US$1.1 trillion). In 2009 Chinese banks lent a total of 9.5 trillion RMB (US$1.4 trillion) and has led to fears over the creation of bubble in China's economy.
  
  Meanwhile, Chinese stocks fell 3% on Wednesday due to fears of further interest rate hikes.
  
  
  
• Zhou Yongjun, a former democracy activist, has been sentenced to nine years in jail on charges of fraud. Zhou came to prominence during the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 during which he knelt on the steps of the Great Hall of the People to plead with Chinese leaders.
  
  He was controversially handed over to China by Hong Kong after he attempted to enter Hong Kong on a fake passport. He was reportedly put on a money laundering watchlist by Hang Seng bank after the signature on a transfer for HK$6 million (US$773,000) did not match the original.
  

Roundup - 19/01/2010

• Reuters and the Wall Street Journal have cited unnamed sources saying that the cyber-attack on Google which has recently made headlines may have had inside help. Analysts have suggested that the reason the attack was so sophisticated was not because of the software used but because they knew exactly who to attack. Google has declined to comment on the reports.
  
  Meanwhile, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China has warned its members that the gmail accounts of at lest two reporters have recently been hacked into and their emails forwarded to an unknown address. Although the two accounts are not named the Associated Press has said that one was an account belonging to one of its journalists.
  
  
  
• The Irish company Statcounter has suggested that Google's market share in China was much greater than previously reported. Reports that suggest Google had barely more than 30% of he market are based on figures from last July. Statcounters new figures show that over the last few months Google has increased its share to 43% while Baidu has fallen to 56%. The figures suggest that Google's low market share in China compared with elsewhere is not a primary motivator for its recent actions.
  
  
  
• Huang Songyou, former vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, has been handed a life sentence for accepting bribes totaling 3.9 million RMB (US$571,000) and embezzling 1.2 million RMB (US$176,000). The sentence comes as part of major crackdown on corruption after Hu Jintao declared it to be a major threat to the legitimacy of the Communist party.
  
  Meanwhile, Chen Shaoyong, former secretary-general of Fijian's provincial party committee, was also given a life sentence for taking properties worth 8.19 million RMB (US$1.2 million) as bribes.
  
  
  
• Two criminal gang leaders, Yang Tianqing and Liu Chenghu, were executed today in Chongqing. Chongqing's campaign against organised crime has resulted in a number of high profile cases involving police and judges as well as gang leaders. The campaign has been a major boost to the career of Bo Xilai who is tipped to be a major player in the next generation of Chinese leaders.
  
  
  
• The China Film Group has decided to stop showing the 2D version of James Cameron's Avatar according to Hong Kong's Apple Daily. This is said to be a reaction to fears that it may encourage unrest. The film depicts a people whose local life is threatened when people arrive to exploit their planets natural resources, a situation which many in China could sympathise with. Due to the rarity of 3D cinemas in China, and their prohibitive ticket prices, the decision will mean that only China's urban middle class will be able to see the film in cinemas.
  

Roundup - 15/01/2010

• China's Ministry of Public Security has announced that its director of equipment and finance and deputy director of the international cooperation department are among eight Chinese missing inside the collapsed UN headquarters on Haiti. A total of four of the missing were officials from the ministry visiting the UN mission according to Xinhua. The other three men and one woman were police officers serving with the UN mission.
  
  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that a total of 22 peace keepers had been confirm dead but that figure is likely to rise as around 150 are still missing including around 100 in the collapsed headquarters.
  
  A Chinese rescue team is said to be working 24 hrs a day in an attempt to save as many lives as possible within the crucial first 72 hours.
  
  
  
• The US has responded to the response to the attack on Google has been hindered by a lack of concrete evidence according to a report in the International Herald Tribune. The reports shows that while most hold the opinion that the attacks came from the Chinese state, concrete evidence of this is not available. The White House did not ask for the Chinese government to investigate the attacks and President Obama has declined to personally take on the issue in public. However, the report quotes a senior official as saying that there would be greater diplomatic action in the coming days.
  
  The attacks have now been shown to have affected at least 33 different institutions including a research institute closely link to Washington and the US defence contractor Northrop Grumman.
  
  Meanwhile, Microsoft has admitted that it was a weakness in its Internet Explorer that allowed the attack to happen.
  
  
  
• The China Internet Network Information Centre reports that China's online population has grown to 384 million. The figure increased almost 29% since the end of 2008 when China already had the worlds largest online population.
  
  
  
• China has chosen a new governor for Tibet after the resignation of Qiangba Puncog. Padma Choling is an ethnic Tibetan who has served 17 years in the People's Liberation Army before becoming a government official. Although the Tibetan governor is often an ethnic Tibetan. The most powerful official, Secretary of the CPC Tibet Committee Zhang Qingli, is Han Chinese.
  
  No reason has been given for the sudden resignation of Qiangba Puncog. He was 62, three years shy of the mandatory retirement age of 65.
  
  
  
• A court in Beijing has begun the trial of the most senior judicial official ever arrested. Huang Songyu was vice-president of the Supreme People's Court when he was dismissed after accusations of accepting bribes and embezzlement. Mr. Huang is now on trial for accepting more than 8 million RMB in bribes and embezzling 1 million RMB from a court in Guangdong. A Xinhua report also suggested that he was known for being 'sexually corrupt' with an interest in 'underage girls.'
  
  
  
• Kang Rixin, formerly head of the China National Nuclear Corporation, has been removed from the Central Committee and stripped of his Communist Party membership. Mr Kang was dismissed from his post at CNNC after suspicions of corruption. Although no charges have yet been brought he has been linked to bribes paid in return for construction contracts on China's nuclear infrastructure and also to an alleged multi-million dollar bribe from a leading French nuclear company.
  
  
  
• In economic news, China's FDI rose 103% year on year in December to reach US$12.1 billion. This brings FDI for 2009 to US$90.03 billion. A slight decrease of 2.6% compared with 2008.
  
  Meanwhile China's foreign exchange reserves grew 23.28% to nearly US$2.4 trillion.
  

Roundup - 14/01/2010

• China has issued its first official response to Google's warning that it may leave China if it is not allowed to publish uncensored search results. A statement on Thursday by Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Jiang Yu said that China was opposed to any form of internet attack and wanted further details so that it could investigate the matter. Ms Jiang also said that she would 'like to stress that China welcomes international Internet enterprises to conduct business in China according to the law.'
  
  Meanwhile Google chief legal officer and vice-president of corporate development David Drummond said that Google was 'not saying one way or the other whether the attacks are state-sponsored or done with the approval of the state.'
  
  Google users have by and large welcomed Google's decision. Flowers were left at the entrance to Google's offices in Beijing yesterday. One user on said on Twitter that 'it's not Google that's withdrawing from China, it's China that's withdrawing from the world.'
  
  
  
• Chinese police have shot and wounded at least five demonstrators at a land protest in Guangxi. The clashes, which also left 11 policemen injured, occurred in Longyatun village in Guangxi after police tried to arrest 12 villagers for obstructing public works. This charge is often brought against citizens who try to stop construction on government requisitioned land. China News Service reported that police fired in self defence after being attacked by villagers wielding rocks, knives and clubs.
  
  
  
• Hong Kong police have arrested two people on suspicion of carrying out an acid attack on a crowded market. The two men, aged 18 and 23, were arrested in connection with an attack on December 12^th on the Causeway Bay shopping district which injured six people. No comment was made as to whether the pair were suspected of carrying out other similar attacks.
  
  The latest in a series of such attacks came on Saturday when two bottles of acid were dropped on the Temple Street night market injuring at least 30 people.
  
  
  
• A poll by Taiwan's Common Wealth magazine suggests that nine out of ten Taiwanese corporate executives want a trade pact with the mainland. President Ma Yingjiu has placed the pact at the centre of his policy agenda but has received criticism from the opposition who fear that Ma will bring Taiwan too close to China. A previous poll suggested that the majority of Taiwanese voters opposed the pact and local elections, in which the pact was the central issue, delivered a defeat for Ma's Nationalist Party.
  
  Negotiations on the pact will begin next week and President Ma hopes to sign a deal in May.
  
  
  
• China's General Administration of Customs statistics show that China's oil imports continued to rise rapidly, reaching 204 million tons in 2009. China's oil imports now account for 52% of total consumption. Analysts believe that by 2020 nearly 65% of China's oil consumption will be supplied by imports.
  
  China is looking at ways to limit oil consumption by producing more fuel efficient cars and electric cars. However, with the number of vehicles on China's roads increasing so rapidly China's oil consumption is likely to continue to rise.
  

Roundup - 13/01/2010

• Google has said it is no longer willing to collaborate in Chinese censorship and will shut down google.cn if it is not allowed to publish uncensored results. The announcement comes after Google claimed that an attack on its servers, and those of up to twenty other companies, were primarily designed to hack into the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists. According to Google only the inbox and subject line of emails was taken, no actual emails were compromised.
  
  Although Google made no specific allegations as to who is responsible for the attack, it has reacted strongly against the Chinese state. It says that it is willing to negotiate the presence of an uncensored version of google.cn but that if negotiations do not succeed it will simply pull out of China altogether. In an apparent attempt to put pressure on China censored images were recently found to be available on google.cn. For example, an iconic photo of a man standing in front of a column of tanks, taken in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, could be easily found on the search engine.
  
  Human rights activists have universally praised Google's decision. Arvind Ganesan of Human Right Watch said that Google's actions set 'a great example.' foreign internet companies in China have often been criticised for bowing to the Chinese state's wishes. Yahoo, for example, was willing to give private details of bloggers to China in exchange for access to the Chinese market.
  
  While Google's actions have been widely praised outside of China, its motives have been questioned. Google seemed to have no problem with censoring its results until now and has not linked the attacks specifically to the Chinese government. Some have suggested that this move is actually an attempt to head off future criticism. After all, Google's operations in China have managed to make little headway against China's Baidu search engine and China accounts for only US$300 million of Googles US$22 billion of annual revenue. Evgeny Morozov from Georgetown University said that it seemed as if Google was playing the 'innocence card.'
  
  
  
• 8 Chinese peacekeepers have been buried and are feared dead and another 10 are unaccounted for after Tuesday afternoons devastating earthquake in Haiti. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 16:53 local time and was Haiti's worst earthquake in two centuries. It is believed that the casualties may number in their thousands.
  
  On Wednesday China sent a rescue team of 50 earthquake experts, 3 dogs and machinery to aid in the crisis. China has 125 peacekeepers in Haiti as part of a several thousand strong UN presence. The UN headquarters is believed to be one of the buildings that was destroyed in the quake.
  
  
  
• China has raised the bank reserve ration by 0.5%. The ratio, the amount of money banks must keep in reserve compared to how much they lend out, has been increased in an effort to curb excess lending which could overheat the economy and lead to asset bubbles. China has already seen inflation begin to growth in recent months. China's stimulus package and lax lending policies led to a doubling in the the amount lent by banks in 2009 compared with 2008. Almost 600 billion RMB (US$87.7 billion) was lent in the first week of January. Many analysts had not expected such a move to come before the second quarter, however, it was expected to come eventually as China tries to rein in growth to sustainable levels. China has also raised the interest on one-year bills to 1.84% after raising that on three-month bills last week.
  
  
  
• China's restive province of Xinjiang is to up its security budget by almost 90% Xinhua reports. The budget proposal, to be decided on this week, suggests that spending on public security should be increased to 2.89 billion RMB (US$423 million) to combat the 'three forces' of terrorism, separatism, and extremism which the government says were behind the riots which left almost 200 dead last July.
  
  Xinjiang's regional government chairman, Nur Bekri, said that security forces should improve their response mechanisms to react quickly to 'mass incidents' and should find ways to prevent the use of new media, such as the internet and mobile phones, to coordinate these events.
  
  China denies that it is subjecting Xinjiang's 8 million Uighurs to religious and cultural oppression.
  
  
  
• In another sign of openness to homosexuality, China Daily's front page today bore a photo of China's first 'married' gay couple. Zeng Anquan and Pan Wenjie held a public ceremony at a gay bar in Chengdu. Although the marriage is not officially recognised by the state and there had been no official government response, Zeng and Pan hope that this is a first step in making same-sex partnerships a possibility. The couple have suffered a significant amount of predjudice since they announced their marriage. No family members attended the ceremony and Zeng's brother froze all the capital in Zeng's company when he heard the news.
  
  Discrimination against homosexuals is still extremely widespread in China. A survey by Zhang Beichuan of Qingdao University suggests that 8.7% of homosexuals are fired after revealing their sexuality, 4.7% feel their salary and chances of promotion are affected and 62% choose to keep their sexuality secret in the work place.
  

Roundup - 11/01/2010

• China has overtaken Germany as the worlds largest export economy. A 13 month decrease in Chinese exports was ended in December when a sudden jump of 17.7% year on year sent Chinese exports over US$1.2 trillion.
  
  China's imports also soared in December, showing a 50% year on year increase. This was largely due to an increase in minerals such as iron ore for steel production and crude oil to meet China's energy needs. In December China imported an average of over 5 million barrels of oil a day for the first time.
  
  In spite of China's rapid recovery from the global economic crisis the government plans to keep its stimulus package in place throughout 2010. Finance Minister Xie Xuren said that ending the stimulus too early could damage the economy and could undo many of the gains China has made over the last year.
  
  However, Mr. Xie did say that the stimulus package would now 'give greater emphasis to expanding domestic demand.' Many analysts predict that China will overtake Japan as the worlds second largest economy by the end of 2010.
  
  
  
• Hong Kong police have announced that a man arrested on a rooftop after an acid attack that injured about 30 people had nothing to do with the crime. The attack, the latest in a series of attacks over the last year, occurred on Saturday night at the popular Temple Street night market. Large bottles of acid were hurled from a rooftop onto the crowd below.
  
  The 39-year-old man was initially reported to have been arrested in connection with the attack. However, police now say that he was simply arrested for missing a court date. Some have suggested that he was simply on the roof to hide from the police.
  
  Over the last 15 months there have been at least six attacks leaving more than 100 injured. So far nobody has been charged in connection with the attacks.
  
  
  
• A Chinese investigation into Australian Rio Tinto Ltd has been sent to prosecutors in Shanghai according to a statement by Australia's Department of Foreign affairs and Trade. Three Rio Tinto employees, including Stern Hu, an Australian citizen, have been detained since July on suspicion of illegally obtaining commercial secrets. It is now up to the Shanghai People's Procuratorate to decide whether or not to bring the case to trial.
  
  The case has caused tensions amid negotiations between China and a number of iron ore producers in Australia. China produced more than half of the world's steel last year and demand for Australian iron ore pushed bilateral trade to US%56 billion last year. A boom in Australian mining has helped Australia to recover from the economic crisis much faster than most Western countries.
  
  
  
• According to state media as many as 4,000 officials have fled China with more than US$50 billion in government funds over the last 30 years. In 2009 103 cases were investigated including that of Yang Xianghong, an official from Wenzhou, who fled to France and attempted to launder US$2.9 million. Officials are believed to use local criminal gangs in their destination country, usually Australia or the US, to arrange travel and to launder public funds.
  
  
  
• Local press in Taiwan reports that Taiwan is planning on buying 8 second-hand frigates from the US. The Perry-class frigates were designed in the 1970s but plans to equip them with the Aegis Combat System would turn them into a powerful force against China's air and missile forces. The report comes only a week after the US confirmed that it would go ahead with a controversial deal to sell Patriot missile equipment to Taiwan.
  
  
  
• A report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has suggested that as many as 24 million men of marrying age will be unable to find a spouse by 2020. The report blames gender specific abortions, the traditional Chinese preference for boys and young people's unwillingness to have children for the problem. Across China 119 boys are born for every 100 girls, in some provinces the figures rise to as much as 130 boys for every 100 girls. The gender imbalance has been blamed for many social ills including forced prostitution and human trafficking which researcher say has become 'rampant' in some parts of the country.
  
  
  
• The contestants of the first Mr. Gay China Pageant have been unveiled. One of the eight contestants will go on to compete in the Worldwide Mr Gay Pageant in Oslo, Norway late this year. Mainstream Chinese language media have not bee invited to the event, due to take place this Friday, amid fears of police interference.
  
  Harassment of China's gay community is still widespread. Homosexuality was illegal until 1997 and considered a mental illness until 2001. However, there are some signs of change. A government funded gay bar opened in Yunnan in December for example.
  

Roundup - 08/01/2010

• China Mobile's Vice-Chairman, Zhang Chunjiang, has been removed from his post. China Mobile said that the decision was made due to 'alleged serious financial irregularities.' According to Caijing magazine Zhang is suspected of hiding losses when he worked at another state-owned telecommunications company, China Netcom. This led to a merger with China Unicom which left Unicom to deal with the unexpected losses at Zhang's company.
  
  
  
• The family of Yuan Kuansheng have alleged that he was murdered by corrupt colleagues. Yuan Kuansheng, formerly deputy mayor of Wugang, Hunan, was officially said to have committed suicide. However, in Yuan's final phone call to his wife, Liu Yuehong, he warned that their apartment had been bugged and that they may be in danger. Liu, a doctor, found several inconsistencies in her husbands autopsy. She claims that it is simply not feasable that her husband suddenly decided to slash his wrists, electrocute himself and then jump of a balcony. The Guardian(UK) reports that Zhuo Xueqing from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine cited unusual facial injuries, typical of trying to cover somebodies mouth, an unusual distribution of blood stains and a strange pattern of bone fractures. He said that 'we cannot rule out the possibility of murder.'
  
  
  
• Beijing's GDP has now exceeded US$10,000 per capita according to state media. Director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Committee, Zhang Gong, said that incomes for residents of urban areas of the municipality has risen 12% while those of the outskirts has risen by 9%.
  
  While this news is an achievement for Beijing it also highlights the growing divide between rich and poor. National GDP was expected to rise to only US$3,600 last year.
  
  
  
• China has said that it will offer free vaccinations for the (A)H1N1 virus to children aged between six months and three years. The announcement comes as China ramps up its vaccination programme before the Chinese new year. China has so far vaccinated almost 51.4 million people, 659 deaths from the disease had been reported by the end of 2009.
  
  
  
• Three factory officials have been arrested for covering up the true cost of an accident at a steel plant on Monday. The officials, from the Puyang Iron and Steel co., initially reported only seven deaths from a suspected gas leek at the plant. The death toll has now risen to 21.
  
  
  
• Analysts say the a key interest rate rise is a sign of things to come. Interest from the People's Bank of China's weekly sale of three-month central bank bills has risen by less than 0.05% to 1.3684%. However, analysts predict that this is only the first of many interest rate hikes designed to halt speculative investments and restrain the excess of credit for China's businesses. RBS's Ben Simpfendorfer called it a 'turning point.'
  

Roundup - 14/12/2009

• Negotiations are continuing at the climate change summit in Copenhagen. Delegates are trying to finalize a draft document to show visiting leaders during the intensive two-day negotiations at the end of the week.
  
  However, some countries fear that developed countries are delaying the draft document so that they can introduce new elements once the intensive negotiations, which tend to favour powerful countries, begin. Chinese negotiator, Su Wei, said that he hopes the only thing left to discuss by the time Premier Wen Jiabao arrives will be 'how to pronounce Copenhagen.' A number of African countries have suggested that their heads of state would refuse to take part in negotiations unless significant progress was made by Wednesday evening.
  
  In the mean time Wen has been busy phoning other heads of state in an attempt to coordinate a position when leaders arrive on Wednesday and Thursday. China is still pushing for further concessions from western states, including a major increase in European emission cuts.
  
  In an interview with the Financial Times, Chinese negotiators suggested that China would no longer be asking for funding from the developed world and that funding should be directed towards poorer nations. This comes after a major row last week between the Chines negotiator Su Wei and US negotiator Todd Stern over whether money would be provided by the US and particularly if any would go to China. There is some speculation that China is worried that it will be blamed if negotiations do not lead to a deal.
  
  
  
• President Hu Jintao has opened a section of a new gas pipeline in Turkmenistan. The pipeline is to carry gas from Uzbekistan through Kazakhstan into China. It is an important sign of China's growing influence in the area, previously Turkmenistan was entirely reliant on Russia to sell its gas. A failure to renegotiate a deal with Russia since April is costing Turkmenistan around $1 billion a month.
  
  Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's President Nazarbayev has said that Khazakstan has benefited from China's handling of security issues in Xinjiang. He also said he wanted to see further cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
  
  
  
• As the first Sino-American Dialogue on Rule of Law and Human Rights ended on Sunday a number of related stories were in the press.
  
  Zhang Xi, previously the chief editor of the influential liberal paper Southern Weekend has been demoted. It is believed that the demotion came after pressure from the propaganda authorities because of the papers interview with Barack Obama. The interview was authorised by the Foreign Ministry but it is known that propaganda officials were not pleased and tried to control its publishing.
  
  Liu Xiaobo is awaiting trial after being indited for inciting subversion of state power at the end of last week. He was detained a year ago after taking part in the writing and publishing of Charter '08, a document which called for wide-ranging political reform which atttracted thousands of signatures before it was censored. He faces a possible jail term of 15 years.
  
  Meanwhile, China Daily, reports on a suspicious death in custody in Kunming, Yunnan. According to the report, Xing Kun, 29, was arrested for theft. Police say they then found him hanging in an interrogation room. However, the death occurred in a cctv black-spot and no noose was produced in evidence.
  
  The article also lists three other cases of suspicious deaths in detention which occurred earlier in the year.
  
  
  
• A woman in Guizhou has been executed for her role in a child-prostitution ring. Zhao Qingmei was convicted of forcing 22 schoolchildren and one older girl into prostitution and of aiding her husband in the rape of a child. Her husband received a death sentence with 2 years reprieve. This sentence is normally commuted to life imprisonment.
  
  
  
• A report by law firm Eversheds has suggested that London could lose out to Shanghai as the world second largest financial centre within a decade. New York will remain the most important centre but the impact of the credit crunch and China's economic development mean that Europe is facing accelerated competition from Chinese markets. The report points out that 90% of bosses in Shanghai are confident in their economic outlook compared to only 22% in London.
  
  
  
• Cai Zhiqiang, who resigned from the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress earlier this month, is being investigated for corruption. It is alleged that he took bribes when working as the head of human resources department under the Personnel Bureau of Shanghai.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Roundup - 11/12/2009

• New economic data suggests China is recovering well from the economic crisis. Figures for November show that year-on-year growth in industrial output is at 19.2% while retail sales grew 15.8% compared with last year. The growth comes after the governments massive stimulus package help to increase investment in factories and construction by 32.1% in the first eleven months of the year.
  
  The vast amount of credit, combined with rising food prices as China settles in for a harsh winter, also led to the first growth in the Consumer Price Index this year. CPI rose 0.6% in November year-on-year. Some experts suggest that inflation could reach 3% in 2010, mostly driven by rising food prices. The government is attempting to increase food prices to stimulate production. The Producer Price Index continued to show decrease, prices for manufactured products are not expected to increase until demand for exports pick up as the global economic recovery catches up with China.
  
  
  
• China has continued to place responsibility on developed nations to combat climate change. Using the phrase 'promises must be kept; actions must be resolute' (言必信,行必果) three times Yu Xintai called on rich countries to honour their commitment, pointing out that few countries met their commitments made in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He also said that rich countries owed reparations to the developing world because of their past greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  The comment came after US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said that, though the US would pay into a climate fund, it was wrong to talk about blame.
  
  China's case was also supported by a letter from a 'Chinese citizen' published in the People's Daily. This said that, while it was terrible that so many foreign friends would suffer from climate change, some even losing their homelands, the citizen could not in good conscience ask families in his home village to remain poor for the sake of others. The letter compares the contrast between the developed and the developing world to hereditary rule.
  
  
  
• Execution by gunshot will no longer take place in Liaoning province. All cities in the province have now agreed to use lethal injections as the sole form of execution. The use of lethal injections has grown throughout China since they were first used in 1997. Beijing and Chongqing are expected to announce an end to execution by gunshot some time next year. The Higher People's Court of Liaoning released a statement saying that the exclusive use of lethal injections was a 'symbol of the progress of civilisation' while Wang Dawei, a professor from the Chinese People's Public Security University, said that it was 'a symbol of democracy and civilisation as it is the last form of respect for human life.' The numbers of people China executes is a state secret, according to an Amnesty International report this year at least 1,718 executions took place in 2008.
  
  
  
• A regulation allowing local governments to evict people from their homes and demolish them if the land is needed for other uses has been said to 'contradict the law' by the Law Committee of the 11^th National People's Congress. The National People's Congress is the country's top legislature. The committee announced that the regulation, which flamed public anger after the suicide by fire of Tang Fuzhen in Chengdu as authorities tried to demolish her home, should have been dropped following the 2007 Property Law.
  
  However, the State Council Legislative Affairs Office, in charge of administrative regulations, insisted that the rule was still in effect. Which group has greater authority is an unresolved issue in China's governmental structure but as long as there is a rift it is likely that the regulation will still be cited.
  
  
  
• Taiwan's parliament has passed a bill banning explicit images from print, TV and online media. The new bill comes after fines totaling T$1 million were imposed on the owners of the Apple Daily, a paper which has made a name for itself by animating crimes on its website. Taiwan's media is barely regulated and is one of the freest and most competitive media markets in Asia.
  

Roundup - 07/12/2009

• Delegations from around the world are meeting in Copenhagen for the climate summit this week. The Chinese media largely avoids discussing the treats that China faces from climate change. Reports are also consistent with their negotiating position that it is largely up to the West to deal with the problems they have caused. In cloned articles in the People's Daily and China Daily the US is criticised for announcing its emissions cuts too late, Japan for not stating how its cuts would be achieved, Russia for announcing cuts that were not actually cuts at all, and Canada for announcing what amounted to only a 2% cut on 1990 levels. Meanwhile Brazil, India, and, of course, China are praised for their independent actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
  
  The Chinese press is also boosting China's green image by announcing China's first electric-only powered vehicle and publishing articles on a 'Green Bank' project in Guizhou which aims to turn environmental assets into a source of profit for the local community.
  
  Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, Minister for Science and Technology Wan Gang has stated in an interview that China's carbon emissions will peak at some time between 2030 and 2040.
  
  
  
• The opposition Democratic Progressive Party has gained ground in local elections in Taiwan. There are now fears in the Nationalist Party that current President Ma Yingjiu, if current voting trends continue, will have difficulty winning reelection in 2012. While a slow reaction to Typhoon Morakot and the economic slump were major issues, President Ma's relationship with the mainland is believed to have been the biggest factor. The president has tried to forge closer economic ties with the People's Republic and to reduced military tensions. However, with fewer and fewer Taiwanese having any direct link to the mainland, the pro-independence DPP is winning popular support.
  
  
  
• Key Chinese leaders have stated at the Central Economic Work Conference that China will continue its current economic policies until the end of the current 11^th five-year plan in 2010. The policies, designed to counteract the global recession, will remain in place while experts monitor China's recovering exports, industrial output, and domestic consumer demand. Leaders expressed hope that these policies would allow for a solid economic basis to begin the 12^th five-year plan.
  
  
  
• Zheng Dajing, a Chinese activist who has spoken out against China's black jails, was detained on Friday. He and several other activists were held after planning protests to mark China's 'Legal Publicity Day.' Zheng, speaking to The Associated Press on Saturday through locked metal door in an alleyway in Beijing said he did not know when he would be able to leave. China has often denied the existence of a system of illegal jails meant to discourage petitioners from coming to Beijing. However, last month, the state-run Outlook magazine run a feature on the prison system detailing 73 prisons.
  
  
  
• Chinese regulators have announced that they have shut down hundreds of video-sharing sights in a new drive to control online content. 414 sites including the popular BTChina and Uubird sites have been ordered to close or to stop showing audio and video content.
  
  Meanwhile, a new reward scheme for reporting pornography has led to a surge in calls to the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre. The rewards range from 1000 to 10,000 RMB and will be decided by a special committee.