[Editor’s Note: On Thursday May 20, the South Korean government announced that a torpedo attack by North Korea had sunk the warship Cheonan that it had lost in March. While South Korea, Japan, and the United States discuss punitive action, North Korea has threatened "all-out war" if new sanctions are imposed.
As of
May 29, “although the Chinese government’s response to the incident has been ambiguous, and it has not yet taken a clear stand on the incident,” Chinese netizens have vociferously expressed their attitudes on Internet forums. The following are excerpts from the Chinese netizens comments on the website of Huanqiu, a government newspaper.] [1]
China’s Rise with a More Hardline Diplomacy?
[Editor’s Note: On December 30, 2009, the International Herald Leader, a Xinhua newspaper, published an article titled, “Diplomatic Strategy: China Can Assume More International Responsibility.” The article advocates, “China should not only seek a greater and independent international voice for its own interests, but undertake more international obligations so that the international community can share the fruits of its ‘rise.'”
After 1989, Deng Xiaoping gave 24 characters as a guideline for the CCP’s handling of international relations: 冷静观察, 站稳脚跟, 沉着应付, 韬光养晦, 善于守拙, 绝不当头, which translate as, “Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership.” When Jiang Zemin took power after Deng died, he attached four more characters 有所作为, translated as “do something.”
In China, there are very few independent academic institutions or think tanks. The regime usually approves scholars’ views that are published in high profile official publications such as the International Herald Leader, so they should not be taken as mere individual insights.
The following are excerpts from the article.]
Zhou Xiaoyun: Frequent Suicides at Foxconn û the Bankruptcy of the Chinese Model
On May 26, 2010, 21ccom.net reprinted Zhou Xiaoyun’s blog article on the suicides at Foxconn:
“Why do Foxconn employees keep jumping off of buildings? The reason is the business form at Foxconn, i.e., an original equipment manufacturer that manufactures products or components that are purchased by another company. Foxconn only gets profits of 3%. In order to maintain the profit of 3%, the company shifts the pressure onto every employee, whose private life is completely taken away.”
“In fact, China’s rapid development, the “China Model,” is an economic model with limited human rights, low wages, low land prices, exploitation of the peasants and migrant workers, high pollution, high carbon emissions and high energy consumption. Foxconn is a typical example of the “China Model,” the development of which cannot be sustained and will eventually lead to bankruptcy.”
Source: www.21ccom.net, May 26, 2010
http://new.21ccom.net/articles/sxpl/pl/article_2010052610190.html
World Journal: Strikes Spread in Mainland China
On June 9, 2010, www.wenxuecity.com/ reprinted an article from the World Journal (http://www.worldjournal.com/) pointing out that the current trend of strikes in China from the Pearl River Delta to the Yangtze River Delta makes the government worried about the safety of the World Expo in Shanghai.
On June 8, 2010, workers from “Foshan Fengfu Autoparts Co.,Ltd” in Guangdong Province refused to work and requested higher wages. The strike participants revealed that a regular auto parts worker only makes around 1300 yuan per month (around 190 U.S. dollars).
On June 7, 2010, workers of KOK Shu-Yuan Machinery Enterprise (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. in Jiangsu Province had a conflict with the police due to a strike for higher wages. On the same day, another factory’s workers in Jiangxi smashed the factory equipment and blocked the roads protesting the company guard’s violence.
Source: World Journal, June 9, 2010
http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/201006/news-gb2312-1101775.html
Ministry of Civil Affairs: Over 113 Million Chinese Exceed 65 Years Old
According to People’s Daily, on June 10, 2010, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs issued a report with statistics showing that, by the end of 2009, there were 113.09 million Chinese who were 65 years old or older in China. This represented an increase of 3.22% over the previous year. Those 65 and older accounted for 8.5% of the total population, and this represented an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the previous year. The population of 60 years old and over accounted for 12.5% of the total population with a total of 167.14 million aged people in China.
Source: People’s Daily, June 11, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/11845158.html
China’s 2009 Natural Catastrophes
A Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs report shows that, during 2009 in China, in as many as 479 million times, people were victimized by all sorts of natural catastrophes; 1,528 people died or disappeared; 47.2 million hectares (116.7 million acres) of crops were damaged; and 0.84 million buildings collapsed. The direct economic loss amounted to 252.3 billion yuan (US$36.9 billion).
Source: People’s Daily, June 10, 2010
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/11841364.html
Party Buildup in Private Organizations, Nanchong City
Expanding the Communist Party branches or subsidiaries to the non-state sector of Chinese society has become one of the focal efforts of the Party ever since the fourth session of 17th National Congress in 2009. One example is the mid-sized Nanchong City in central China’s Sichuan Province.
According to the province’s official paper, Sichuan Daily, a separate Party branch has been established in each of 180 large scale private enterprises and 403 mid-to-small size enterprises and social organizations. In 100 other mid-to-small size enterprises and social organizations, industrial or business ties enabled 11 joint Party branches to be set up. The city’s Party committee dispatched 731 cadres into the non-state companies and organizations to provide guidance and to work as liaisons with the high-up Party superiors.
Source: Sichuan Daily, June 10, 2010
http://www.sichuandaily.com.cn/2010/06/10/20100610657394028338.htm
Ties Deepen between China and Uzbekistan
In a joint statement on Wednesday, after a two-day visit that Chinese president Hu Jintao made to the member of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), China and Uzbekistan agreed to boost their bilateral relationship in security, natural gas, science & technology, agriculture, trade and investment.
Uzbekistan reaffirmed its support of the One-China policy by opposing “Taiwan Independence” and Taiwan’s participation of any international or regional organization of sovereign states. China reciprocated with long-term preferential loan projects. The two countries vowed to strike against "East Turkistan terrorist forces" and “extremist religious forces.”
On Thursday, China’s state company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), signed a deal with Uzbekneftegaz, the Uzbekistan state gas and oil company, to buy 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas every year. Both sides will connect Uzbekistan’s natural gas transmission system with the China-Uzbekistan pipeline, which is part of the larger 1,833 km (1,136 mile) long China-Central Asia gas pipeline that opened in December 2009, linking fields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to northwest China’s Xinjiang.
Source: Xinhua, June 10, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-06/10/c_12206538.htm