Roundup - 07/01/2010

• Cold weather is continuing to cause problems across much of China. Food prices are rising due to transportation issues and fears that the cold will damage crops, the price of vegetables has risen 10% in just a few days in some areas according to AFP.
  
  Industrial power usage has been rationed across much of central China. Disrupted delivery of coal to power stations and high energy demand due to the weather has meant that coal reserves are tight. Only ten days supply of coal is in storage rather than the fifteen days that government guidelines have set as a safe level. However, local governments have stated that residential power needs are primary and will be protected at all costs. So far fears of a repeat of early 2008 have been averted. In 2008 a similar cold spell combined with clumsy attempts to manipulate energy prices led to widespread power cuts across the country.
  
  
  
• Former Czech President and founding member of Charter 77, Vaclav Havel, has entered the Chinese embassy in Prague to protest the sentence of Chinese dissident and co-author of Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo.
  
  Charter 77 was launched 33 years ago yesterday and Mr. Havel and two other former dissident chose to mark the anniversary by handing a letter to the Chinese ambassador. However, the embassy did not open its doors to them and they were forced to use the letterbox.
  
  Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years on Christmas Day for inciting subversion of state power. He has appealed his sentence but campaigners say there is little hope of it being overturned.
  
  
  
• A Tibetan film maker has been sentenced to six years in jail. In a statement made in Washington his family said that Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced on Dec 28^th after a trial in which he was denied access to a lawyer.
  
  Dongdup Wangchen taught himself how to make films and set off on a journey across his native Tibet conducting a series of interviews and filming daily life. While there he was caught up in the violent protests in March 2008 during which he was arrested and charged with subversion of state power.
  
  According to Gyaljong Tsetrin, his exiled cousin, Dhondup has contracted Hepatitis B while in detention.
  
  
  
• China has offered a US$7.16 million grant to Kenya to assist with infrastructure development. China said in November that it would give US$10 billion in concessional loans over the next three years.
  
  The BBC has reported that China is offering to help develop a second port at Lamu. This port would provide a new route for the export of oil from Southern Sudan to China. Sudan will soon undergo a referendum as to the future of the country. It is possible that Southern Sudan may break away making a southern trade route to Sudan a key strategic goal for China.
  
  
  
• The US has confirmed that it will allow a controversial arms deal with Taiwan to proceed. Lockheed Martin will sell an unspecified number of Patriot air defense missiles to Taiwan in spite of strong protests from the mainland. The deal is part of a US$6.5 billion arms deal negotiated by the Bush administration. Patriot missiles are capable of shooting down most Chinese ground-to-ground missiles.
  

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 - 04/01/2010

• A major oil spill in Shaanxi province is threatening to contaminate the Yellow River. 150,000 litres of diesel oil leaked from a pipeline belonging to the China National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday. Reports of the spill only came out on Sunday when water quality monitors at the Sanmenxia resevoir began detecting small quantities of diesel. It is not known whether local authorities were informed before this.
  
  More than 700 workers are trying to contain the spill and have been told by Vice-Premier Li Keqiang that they must contain the spill before it contaminates the Yellow River. The Yellow river is a source of drinking water for approximately 140 million people along its 5,500 km stretch.
  
  
  
• Cold whether and snow have caused chaos across northern China. 90 per cent of flights to and from Beijing's Capital International Airport were canceled on Sunday as Beijing received its heaviest snowfall since 1951. Temperatures in the capital are expected to drop to -16C, further disrupting air and ground traffic.
  
  China's Central Meteorological Station issued a third orange alert on Sunday evening predicting that some areas could see a temperature drop of up to 18C. Agricultural experts have been sent out to major wheat producing regions to help protect crops.
  
  
  
• China's Central Military Commission has released guidelines on strengthening party building in the People's Liberation Army. The guidelines, approved by CMC Chairman and President Hu Jintao, focus on developing grass-roots party organisations, strengthening measures against corruption and helping the party with ideological work. A CMC statement stressed the importance of “the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of China over the armed forces.”
  
  
  
• New officials have been appointed by the State Council, including three new vice-foreign ministers. Cui Tiankai, Fu Ying, and Zhai Jun each have their own specialities. Cui Tiankai has spent many years with the Chinese delegation to the UN before heading the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Fu Ying has served as Ambassador to the UK since 2007. Before that she was Ambassador to Australia, she has also led negotiating teams in nuclear talks with North Korea. Zhai Jun's focus is the Middle East and North Africa. He was Director General of the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs 2003-2006 and Ambassador to Libya 1997-2000.
  
  
  
• The family of executed Briton, Akmal Shaikh, has written to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband asking for an inquiry into the death. Akmal's brother, Akbar said that the lack of information given them was the cause of “incredible grief and torment.” According to Clive Stafford Smith, the lawyer and head of Reprieve, “nobody told the family how or where he would be killed. No family member or independent observer was allowed to witness his death, view his body or verify his burial. We have only the word of a press release that he was even killed.”