Roundup - 25/01/2010

• China has said accusations that it was behind the recent attack on Google were 'groundless.' An official spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the accusations were designed to denigrate China and that the government had no explicit or implicit role in the attacks. He also pointed out that China is the largest victim of internet attacks with 42,000 website hacks last year and over a million IP addresses taken over by overseas attackers.
  
  Meanwhile the People's Daily has hit out at the US in an editorial accusing it of using the internet to stir up unrest in Iran. The editorial claims that unrest which followed elections last year in Iran only begun because of 'online warfare' via You Tube and Twitter.
  
  
  
• Three batches of products from three companies have been withdrawn from sale after it was found that they were tainted with Melamine. The companies, all of which sell their products in Guizhou, said that the contamination was due to a batch of powdered milk which they bought as an ingredient for their products in early 2009. A government official has suggested that this batch of powdered milk may have been left over from the 2008 Sanlu scandal. Sanlu's products caused illness in thousands of babies and six deaths.
  
  
  
• Four senior Communist party officials have signed an open letter criticising the trial of Liu Xiaobo. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in jail in December. He Fang, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Dai Huang, a former Xinhua senior reporter, and Li Pu, former deputy chief Xinhua were co-signatories on a letter written by Hu Jiwei, former editor of the People's Daily. The officials are all in their 80s and 90s, a fact which may allow them to get away with more than their younger counterparts.
  
  
  
• Xie Zhenhua, WenJiabao's special representative on climate change, has caused consternation by saying that more scientific research needs to be done to prove the global warming is man made. Speaking at a meeting of the Basic group (China, India, South Africa and Brazil) he said that while the mainstream view was that global warming was caused by unrestrained emissions of greenhouse gases, there were alternative theories and that governments should remain open to these theories. Xie later assured reporters that this would not cause any delay in responding to the threat of man-made global warming.
  
  The meeting of the Basic countries is meant to coordinate negotiating positions before the climate summit in Mexico City later this year. The delegates pointed to the delivery of US$10 billion of aid to the least developed countries in the world by the end of the year as a key indicator of developed countries commitment to combating climate change.
  

Roundup - 09/01/2010

• 12 miners have been killed in a fire at a coal mine in Jianxi. The fire broke out at the Miaoshang mine in Xinyu city on Friday afternoon. According to a district government statement has suggested that the fire was caused by the short circuiting of underground cables. The Miaoshang mine was in the process of doubling its production capacity to 60,000 tonnes to meet China's rocketing demand. China's vast energy needs have led to rapid development of coal production at the expense of safety. At least 671 people died in accidents at coal mines in 2009.
  
  
  
• Fears of unrest in Xinjiang have risen after the stabbing of a Uighur man in Shenzhen. The unnamed man was stabbed to death at a Xinjiang restaurant by a Han Chinese man. Seven Han men were later arrested in connection with the murder. A row in a factory between Han and Uighur workers in nearby Shaoguan last June led to rioting in Xinjiang which left at least 197 people dead.
  
  
  
• Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, has said that China had achieved its goals at the Copenhagen summit by ensuring that the aid of rich countries is not tied to external reviews of China's progress. He welcomed to US$100 billion in aid promised by 2020 as a stepping stone for negotiations, adding, 'next time, we can talk about when will they pay the money and how much each country will pay.'
  
  According to Mr. Xie, China is already well on its way to cutting its carbon intensity by 20% over the five years to 2010. He claims that at the end of 2009 carbon intensity had already been cut by 16%. China has pledged to cut carbon intensity by 40-45% on 2005 levels by 2020. The guidelines outlined in the next five year plan, covering 2011-2015, will be key to the achievement of this goal.
  
  
  
• Li Zhuang, previously a lawyer defending an organised crime boss, has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail. Gong Gangmo turned in his lawyer in the hope that he would receive leniency in his own case. He claimed that Li Zhuang told him to lie about being tortured in police custody.
  
  The case is causing a stir among China's legal community. The sentence, which comes amid a massive crackdown on organised crime, is aimed at discouraging lawyers from breaking the law in defence of their clients. However, there are concerns that, in the rush to secure prosecutions, the rights of China's defence lawyers are being eroded. Some are even concerned that defending a client is tantamount to collaboration in the crime.
  
  Li Zhuang is appealing his sentence.
  
  
  
• China has overtaken the US as the worlds largest market for cars. According to the China Passenger Car Association sales soared from 6.4 million units in 2008 to 10.26 units in 2009. This has been partly due to China's stimulus package, a car trading scheme provides between 3,000 and 6,000 RMB when replacing an old car. The government plans to enlarge this scheme in the coming year by providing between 5,000 and 18,000 RMB per vehicle.
  
  The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers has said that over 100 new models will be released over the coming year while Sinotrust, an automobile industry consultancy firm, has predicted further rapid growth with total vehicle sales reaching 15.13 million units in 2010.
  
  
  
• Taibei-based Next Magazine has claimed that a Taiwanese company sold sensitive nuclear material to Iran after a request from China. According to the report, a Taiwanese company bought 108 pressure transducers from Switzerland and then exported them to Iran after an online order from China on behalf of an Iranian oil company. The report quotes an unnamed source who says that China has 'secretly shipped critical components' to Iran in spite of its public claims to be unwilling to provide Iran with sensitive technology.
  

Roundup - 05/01/2010

• Three counties in Shaanxi have warned their 850,000 residents to avoid drinking tainted water after a major oil spill. Up to 150,000 litres of oil leaked from an oil pipeline between Gansu and Henan. According to CNPC the accident was caused during construction work by a 'third party.' The oil spilled into two tributaries of the Yellow River, into which it is now believed to be seeping. However, authorities claim to have controlled much of the spill and hope to prevent it from reaching the major cities further downstream.
  
  
  
• The dissident, Liu Xiaobo, is appealing his conviction on charges of incitement to subversion of state power. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Dec.25^th after a year in detention for his role in drafting the Charter 08 petition. Charter 08 called for far reaching democratic reforms and received more than 10,000 signatures before it was removed from the internet. Shang Baojun, a lawyer handling Mr Liu's case said that the appeal was submitted on Dec 29^th to the Beijing Supreme People's Court. The court must now consider the appeal within 45 days.
  
  
  
• China has reiterated its preference for negotiation over sanctions in deal with Iran's nuclear issue. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Jiang Yu, said that 'dialogue and negotiations are the right ways of properly solving the Iran nuclear issue, and here is still room for diplomatic efforts.'
  
  The statement comes as the US considers organising sanctions on Iran. The US imposed an end of year deadline for Iran to agree to a US scheme for exchanging nuclear fuel which demanded simultaneous exchange within Iran. Iran has now set and end of month deadline for an agreement on its own terms. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that after a month Iran would continue to enrich uranium itself if the deal was not agreed and declared this to be 'an ultimatum.'
  
  
  
• Eight steelworkers have died in an accident in Dalian, Liaoning. According to Xinhua, the eight men fainted suddenly while repairing an electrical device in an underground pumping station. Traces of carbon monoxide were found in their blood but doctors have suggested that they could have died for oxygen deficiency as the pumping station had been sealed for some time.
  
  
  
• Police in Shenzhen have launched an investigation into a wedding which has caused public outrage because of its size. Liu Shenqiang, deputy director of the Shenzhen airport police, said that he was forced to throw such a lavish banquet for his daughter's wedding because they had so many friends. However, media reports and public opinion have questioned whether it was really necessary to spend US$88,000 on over 1000 guests. Wedding guests are traditionally expected to give gifts of cash to cover the costs of weddings. However, as nobody knows the amounts given, this is often a convenient way to give cash to officials.
  
  
  
• Harsh weather conditions have continued to cause problems in Northern China. A train heading from Harbin to Baotou was trapped on Sunday evening after running into snow more than 2m deep. Other long distance trains and internal flights were also disrupted.
  
  Beijing however has managed to clear the roads and keep traffic running after the worst snowfall in 60 years. More than 20,000 workers were dispatched with snow-dissolving agents between Saturday night and Monday morning to ensure that people could get to work at the start of the week.
  

Roundup - 12/12/2009

• 22,884 cases of officials holding public money for personal use have been uncovered since June. He Guoqiang, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, said that the sums of money involved totaled 10.16 billion RMB, or about $1.49 billion. He said that 270 officials had received administrative punishments and 81 had been prosecuted.
  
  Nationwide sweeps between 1998 and 2006 found 140.6 billion RMB however, this is thought to be a very small percentage of the total amount of public money lost to corruption.
  
  
  
• The Chinese stance at the Copenhagen summit is continuing its previous course. Liu Zhenmin, deputy permanent representative to the UN, emphasised the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, differentiated responsibility, and financial support and technology transfer from developed countries.
  
  Meanwhile, in Beijing, an influential think-tank, Chinese Economists 50 Forum, has published suggestions for an Inter-Country Joint Mitigation Plan to facilitate technology transfer from the developed to the developing world.
  
  
  
• Xinhua has announced that more than 3,470 people have been arrested this year in a crackdown on internet pornography. According to the Ministry for Public Security 1.25 million items of 'lewd content' and nearly 7,000 websites were shut down.
  
  Earlier this month authorities launched a crackdown on WAP sites with pornographic content. China maintains very strict control over the internet arguing that it must 'purify social environment and protect minors' mental health.'
  
  
  
• President Hu Jintao is currently in Kazakhstan. President Hu and President Nazarbayev will hold talks on strengthening their bilateral ties. Kazakhstan is also a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and a key ally and source of natural resources in the region. The 'Friendship Pipeline' is the longest oil pipeline in the world and is expected to begin operating fully next year.
  
  
  
• Chinese police arrested three people on Tuesday for selling milk contaminated with melamine. The three men worked for Shaanxi based Jinqiao Dairy Company. Only a few weeks ago two men were executed for their role in selling melamine-contaminated milk in a scandal which caused the deaths of six children and illness to some 300,000.
  
  
  
• Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade is looking into allegations that Taiwanese companies sold specialised equipment which could be used to make weapons grade uranium to Iran. A report in the Daily Telegraph suggested that Iranian defense officials acquired pressure transducers from Taiwanese companies after being denied by American and European companies.