More exemplars of China making friends, without any complicated conditions apparently. It's getting more and more apparent South-East Asia's place as an extension of China's strategic southern 'shield'.
Quotable Quotes - "China respects the political decisions of Cambodia...We have a mutual understanding and respect each other." Cambodia Premier Hun Sen.
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Cambodia PM lauds China's aid
Reuters
Source - Straits Times 15 September 2009
PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S premier lauded China on Monday for providing billions of dollars of aid without imposing conditions, a subtle jibe at Western donors who seek curbs on human rights abuses and corruption.
'They are quiet, but at the same time they build bridges and roads, and there are no complicated conditions,' Prime Minister Hun Sen at a ceremony for the construction of a new bridge built with US$128 million (S$182.6 million) of Chinese aid.
Mr Hun Sen recently rejected World Bank aid intended for settling land disputes after the Washington-based institution and rights groups accused Cambodian authorities of forcibly evicting tens of thousands of people from their homes.
Speaking to about 1,000 villagers and China's ambassador in Prek Kdam, about 50 km (30 miles) north of the capital Phnom Phen, Mr Hun Sen said Beijing's aid had helped Cambodia become more independent while fostering social and economic development.
'China respects the political decisions of Cambodia,' he said. 'We have a mutual understanding and respect each other.' Cambodia's government has come under fire recently, accused of corruption and undermining the judiciary, although analysts say the investment environment is stable after decades of poverty, brutalilty and instability.
China is Cambodia's biggest aid donor, providing US$600 million in 2007 and about US$260 million in 2008. It also leads the country's foreign direct investment, with about US$1 billion spent in the war-scarred South-east Asian nation this year.
Mr Hun Sen added he also supported China's multimillion dollar investments in hydroelectric power. Western environmentalists have accused Cambodia of failing to provide adequate environmental safeguards for such projects. -- REUTERS
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
China builds 4th space centre
This begs to ask the politics of space. Whilst China was last in most of the 20th century bastions for potential dominion, when it comes to Space, China's one of the few in the game. Let's see how the lines are drawn on this one.
Quotable quotes - "China's space programme is run by the nation's military."
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China builds 4th space centre
AFP
Source - Straits Times 14 September 2009
BEIJING - CHINA began the construction of its fourth space launch centre on Monday as the nation gears up for future manned space flights aboard a new generation of carrier rockets, state media reported.
Work started on the Wenchang Space Satellite Launch Centre on southern Hainan island, which will become China's first coastal launching pad when completed in 2013, the Hainan Daily reported.
Chang Wanquan, member of the powerful Central Military Commission, and Chen Qiufa, head of the State Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, attended Monday's groundbreaking ceremony, the report said.
China's space programme is run by the nation's military.
The Hainan site is being built to accommodate the Long March CZ-5 carrier rocket, which will be able to carry larger payloads and is slated to become the workhorse of China's manned space and space station programme, it said.
The Long March 5 is expected to take its maiden flight by 2014, previous news reports have said.
China put its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation to do so following the former Soviet Union and the United States.
In September last year, three Chinese astronauts, or 'taikonauts,' carried out the country's first space walk during a 68-hour voyage on board the Shenzhou VII spacecraft.
The Shenzhou programme is expected to form the basis for China's planned space station. -- AFP
Quotable quotes - "China's space programme is run by the nation's military."
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China builds 4th space centre
AFP
Source - Straits Times 14 September 2009
BEIJING - CHINA began the construction of its fourth space launch centre on Monday as the nation gears up for future manned space flights aboard a new generation of carrier rockets, state media reported.
Work started on the Wenchang Space Satellite Launch Centre on southern Hainan island, which will become China's first coastal launching pad when completed in 2013, the Hainan Daily reported.
Chang Wanquan, member of the powerful Central Military Commission, and Chen Qiufa, head of the State Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, attended Monday's groundbreaking ceremony, the report said.
China's space programme is run by the nation's military.
The Hainan site is being built to accommodate the Long March CZ-5 carrier rocket, which will be able to carry larger payloads and is slated to become the workhorse of China's manned space and space station programme, it said.
The Long March 5 is expected to take its maiden flight by 2014, previous news reports have said.
China put its first astronaut into space in 2003, becoming the third nation to do so following the former Soviet Union and the United States.
In September last year, three Chinese astronauts, or 'taikonauts,' carried out the country's first space walk during a 68-hour voyage on board the Shenzhou VII spacecraft.
The Shenzhou programme is expected to form the basis for China's planned space station. -- AFP
China showers gifts on Timor
Spanking new government buildings built for countries friendly to China are becoming more frequent. Some might argue it is a form of 'white-elephant' support, I seriously doubt the receivers of such goodwill have much to complain about. Or, is there anything they can do to stop that generosity, probably with an agenda?
Quotable Quote - 'The growing Chinese presence is part of their natural expansion into Southeast Asia and I think Timor is not really their priority,' said Loro Horta, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. 'But they are definitely keeping an eye on it. The Chinese are very patient people and they think very long term.'
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China showers gifts on Timor
Reuters
Source - Straits Times, 14 September 2009
DILI - DILI'S gleaming new Presidential Palace and Foreign Ministry, gifts from China, stand in stark contrast to nearby burnt-out buildings and are symbols of how the energy-hungry superpower is growing closer to tiny, oil-rich East Timor.
In the 10 years since the independence vote that led to a split from Indonesia, China has spent more than $53 million (S$75.5 million) in aid to East Timor, also known as Timor Leste.
While that is just a fraction of the US$760 million in Australian government aid, China has raised its profile in dusty Dili in several other ways.
It is building big and showing generosity such as its donation of 8,000 tonnes of rice during a recent food crisis. Noticeable projects such as a new Ministry of Defence building, houses for soldiers and schools are underway as are scholarships and training programmes for civil servants.
In all, China is sending a very public message that it is serious about strengthening bilateral ties with East Timor,which many analysts put down to its desire to diversify strategic energy interests.
Loro Horta, who is a China expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and is the son of East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta, said that the aid is linked to China's desire for energy and infrastructure contracts. East Timor is one of Asia's poorest and least developed countries, but it has enormous oil and gas reserves.
The Bayu Undan gas field is expected to reap US$12-15 billion by 2023, the country's Natural Resources Minister, Alfredo Pires said. Bayu Undan is already the subject of a deal between Australia and East Timor but other, untapped reserves still need development partners.
Another oil field, Kitan, has an estimated 40 million barrels of recoverable light oil, Mr Pires said, and the Greater Sunrise field contains around 300 million barrels of condensate and 9.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to the United Nations.
Lucrative opportunities also exist in the minerals sector, including copper, gold, silver and marble, and for big-ticketinfrastructure projects as East Timor tries to reverse years of under-investment.
Mr Pires said Spain, China and Australia are all keen on a piece of the Timor resources pie, while East Timor expert Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University said the United States and the United Kingdom are also interested. -- REUTERS
Trade Routes
China and East Timor's links date back centuries. Hakka Chinese traders sailed there more than 500 years ago looking for sandalwood, rosewood and mahogany. Many stayed on, forming an overseas Chinese community as in many other parts of Asia.
Today, Dili's main street is lined with buildings, some of which display Chinese script, families can be seen praying at a Confucian temple in downtown Dili, while Chinese traders run appliance stores on busy streets.
Chinese labourers are already at work on one of two heavy oil power plants which are under construction after Dili in 2008 awarded the Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company a $360 million contract to build the power plants and a national power grid. East Timor also paid US$28 million for two petroleum vessels from China.
Loro Horta said China is also angling for big ticket infrastructure contracts such as a pipeline that East Timor wants built from its Greater Sunrise oil field to a proposed processing plant on land. He said Chinese oil giant PetroChina has already done studies and is keen to drill.
Yang Donghui, a spokesman for the Chinese ambassador in Dili, said that the first phase of the seismic investigation was completed as an aid project, but that a proposed second phase investigation became the subject of commercial talks between the East Timor government and PetroChina.
China's ambassador to East Timor, Fu Yuancong rejected speculation that China's interest in the fledgling nation isdriven by a desire to gain an advantage when East Timor is handing out contracts to develop its billion-dollar oil and gas fields.
He also said that his government was in energy talks with Dili. And as stability has slowly returned to Dili, Mr Fu said hisgovernment has encouraged a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs to move to East Timor.
'The growing Chinese presence is part of their natural expansion into Southeast Asia and I think Timor is not really their priority,' said Loro Horta, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
'But they are definitely keeping an eye on it. The Chinese are very patient people and they think very long term.'
Quotable Quote - 'The growing Chinese presence is part of their natural expansion into Southeast Asia and I think Timor is not really their priority,' said Loro Horta, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. 'But they are definitely keeping an eye on it. The Chinese are very patient people and they think very long term.'
---
China showers gifts on Timor
Reuters
Source - Straits Times, 14 September 2009
DILI - DILI'S gleaming new Presidential Palace and Foreign Ministry, gifts from China, stand in stark contrast to nearby burnt-out buildings and are symbols of how the energy-hungry superpower is growing closer to tiny, oil-rich East Timor.
In the 10 years since the independence vote that led to a split from Indonesia, China has spent more than $53 million (S$75.5 million) in aid to East Timor, also known as Timor Leste.
While that is just a fraction of the US$760 million in Australian government aid, China has raised its profile in dusty Dili in several other ways.
It is building big and showing generosity such as its donation of 8,000 tonnes of rice during a recent food crisis. Noticeable projects such as a new Ministry of Defence building, houses for soldiers and schools are underway as are scholarships and training programmes for civil servants.
In all, China is sending a very public message that it is serious about strengthening bilateral ties with East Timor,which many analysts put down to its desire to diversify strategic energy interests.
Loro Horta, who is a China expert at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and is the son of East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta, said that the aid is linked to China's desire for energy and infrastructure contracts. East Timor is one of Asia's poorest and least developed countries, but it has enormous oil and gas reserves.
The Bayu Undan gas field is expected to reap US$12-15 billion by 2023, the country's Natural Resources Minister, Alfredo Pires said. Bayu Undan is already the subject of a deal between Australia and East Timor but other, untapped reserves still need development partners.
Another oil field, Kitan, has an estimated 40 million barrels of recoverable light oil, Mr Pires said, and the Greater Sunrise field contains around 300 million barrels of condensate and 9.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to the United Nations.
Lucrative opportunities also exist in the minerals sector, including copper, gold, silver and marble, and for big-ticketinfrastructure projects as East Timor tries to reverse years of under-investment.
Mr Pires said Spain, China and Australia are all keen on a piece of the Timor resources pie, while East Timor expert Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University said the United States and the United Kingdom are also interested. -- REUTERS
Trade Routes
China and East Timor's links date back centuries. Hakka Chinese traders sailed there more than 500 years ago looking for sandalwood, rosewood and mahogany. Many stayed on, forming an overseas Chinese community as in many other parts of Asia.
Today, Dili's main street is lined with buildings, some of which display Chinese script, families can be seen praying at a Confucian temple in downtown Dili, while Chinese traders run appliance stores on busy streets.
Chinese labourers are already at work on one of two heavy oil power plants which are under construction after Dili in 2008 awarded the Chinese Nuclear Industry 22nd Construction Company a $360 million contract to build the power plants and a national power grid. East Timor also paid US$28 million for two petroleum vessels from China.
Loro Horta said China is also angling for big ticket infrastructure contracts such as a pipeline that East Timor wants built from its Greater Sunrise oil field to a proposed processing plant on land. He said Chinese oil giant PetroChina has already done studies and is keen to drill.
Yang Donghui, a spokesman for the Chinese ambassador in Dili, said that the first phase of the seismic investigation was completed as an aid project, but that a proposed second phase investigation became the subject of commercial talks between the East Timor government and PetroChina.
China's ambassador to East Timor, Fu Yuancong rejected speculation that China's interest in the fledgling nation isdriven by a desire to gain an advantage when East Timor is handing out contracts to develop its billion-dollar oil and gas fields.
He also said that his government was in energy talks with Dili. And as stability has slowly returned to Dili, Mr Fu said hisgovernment has encouraged a new generation of Chinese entrepreneurs to move to East Timor.
'The growing Chinese presence is part of their natural expansion into Southeast Asia and I think Timor is not really their priority,' said Loro Horta, at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.
'But they are definitely keeping an eye on it. The Chinese are very patient people and they think very long term.'
Friday, September 11, 2009
Domestic markets can't sustain China's growth
Now this is new to me. Had always figured, thanks to popular opinion, that China would be able to ride any wave of global economic calamity thanks to its hugely undeveloped domestic markets.
Assistant Professor Yu Maojie at the China Center for Economic Research at the highly esteemed Peking University has different ideas...
Quotable quote - "The export-oriented growth model is an unavoidable choice for China based on two key features of the economy: its low age dependency ratio and low level of urbanization."
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Domestic markets can't sustain China's growth
By Yu Miaojie
Source - Global Times, 25 August 2009
With the global financial crisis and the precipitous drop in external demand, there are many voices urging China to upgrade its industrial structure and put domestic consumption as the new engine of China's economy.
However, China's current economy means that it cannot give up the export-oriented growth model.
One of my recent studies along with Yang Yao, Professor of Economics at Peking University, found that the export-oriented growth model is an unavoidable choice for China based on two key features of the economy: its low age dependency ratio and low level of urbanization.
China's age dependency ratio, the ratio of population below age 16 and above 64 relative to those with ages in between, was only 40 percent in 2007, which is one of the lowest levels in the world. In addition, only 45.68 percent of China's population is urbanized, which also lags behind its income level when compared with other countries.
Both low age dependency ratio and low urbanization rate jointly determine a large supply of labor and a slow growth of labor income, which in turn leads to fast accumulation of capital and the manufacturing sector.
The two factors also determine a relatively small domestic market, and the only way to clear the market is to export. Our estimation suggests that China's export-oriented model will continue till 2025.
However, today exports are much more difficult for China given growing global protectionism. To some extent, export-oriented growth model seems like an audacious hope. The key point is: How to guarantee huge exports for China?
In my opinion, Chinese manufacturing firms should try to upgrade the quality of exporting goods, which is more important than the quantity. The idea is intuitive. Goods with higher quality have higher market prices and generate higher revenue with fixed or even slightly declined quantity of goods sold. From a macro perspective, a country with high-quality exports would become a favorable exporter. Goods labelled “Made in China” should not be treated as cheap-labor and low-quality.
In addition to the quality, credit constraints are another important factor that affect company's export. To export, firms need to set up their distribution network abroad. However, with severe liquidity constraints, firms are unable to cover their export entry fixed cost.
According to the 2007 Investment Climate Assessment, China is among the group of countries that have the worst financing obstacles. Research found that, all else equal, firms find it easier to export if they have easier access to external finance from financial intermediates.
How then to produce high-quality goods and alleviate the credit constraints for firms? The answer is simple. Firms should improve their productivity. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, once said that productivity is not everything, but in the long run it is almost everything. Many other economists also find evidence that good firms lead to more exports. Recently Marc Melitz, a Princeton professor in Economics, has theoretically shown that firms with high productivity have the intrinsic capability to export and even invest abroad.
Indeed, the most efficient firms export and earn extra profits abroad. The less efficient firms can only serve the domestic market since the entry to the foreign market would generate profits loss due to fixed entry cost. In contrast, the least efficient firms die and exit from the market.
The last question remained is how to improve firms' productivity.
The first way is to reduce firms' various variable costs.
Another strategy is to have the Chinese government impose more favorable production policies or trade policies to support exporting firms within WTO rules.
But the crucial thing is better enforcement of the laws and stronger protection of property rights, which help create, both domestically and internationally, a fair and competitive market for firms.
There are many useful ways to foster China's exports if Chinese firms and the Chinese government can take appropriate actions or adopt the right policies.
The author is an assistant professor in the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University
Assistant Professor Yu Maojie at the China Center for Economic Research at the highly esteemed Peking University has different ideas...
Quotable quote - "The export-oriented growth model is an unavoidable choice for China based on two key features of the economy: its low age dependency ratio and low level of urbanization."
---
Domestic markets can't sustain China's growth
By Yu Miaojie
Source - Global Times, 25 August 2009
With the global financial crisis and the precipitous drop in external demand, there are many voices urging China to upgrade its industrial structure and put domestic consumption as the new engine of China's economy.
However, China's current economy means that it cannot give up the export-oriented growth model.
One of my recent studies along with Yang Yao, Professor of Economics at Peking University, found that the export-oriented growth model is an unavoidable choice for China based on two key features of the economy: its low age dependency ratio and low level of urbanization.
China's age dependency ratio, the ratio of population below age 16 and above 64 relative to those with ages in between, was only 40 percent in 2007, which is one of the lowest levels in the world. In addition, only 45.68 percent of China's population is urbanized, which also lags behind its income level when compared with other countries.
Both low age dependency ratio and low urbanization rate jointly determine a large supply of labor and a slow growth of labor income, which in turn leads to fast accumulation of capital and the manufacturing sector.
The two factors also determine a relatively small domestic market, and the only way to clear the market is to export. Our estimation suggests that China's export-oriented model will continue till 2025.
However, today exports are much more difficult for China given growing global protectionism. To some extent, export-oriented growth model seems like an audacious hope. The key point is: How to guarantee huge exports for China?
In my opinion, Chinese manufacturing firms should try to upgrade the quality of exporting goods, which is more important than the quantity. The idea is intuitive. Goods with higher quality have higher market prices and generate higher revenue with fixed or even slightly declined quantity of goods sold. From a macro perspective, a country with high-quality exports would become a favorable exporter. Goods labelled “Made in China” should not be treated as cheap-labor and low-quality.
In addition to the quality, credit constraints are another important factor that affect company's export. To export, firms need to set up their distribution network abroad. However, with severe liquidity constraints, firms are unable to cover their export entry fixed cost.
According to the 2007 Investment Climate Assessment, China is among the group of countries that have the worst financing obstacles. Research found that, all else equal, firms find it easier to export if they have easier access to external finance from financial intermediates.
How then to produce high-quality goods and alleviate the credit constraints for firms? The answer is simple. Firms should improve their productivity. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, once said that productivity is not everything, but in the long run it is almost everything. Many other economists also find evidence that good firms lead to more exports. Recently Marc Melitz, a Princeton professor in Economics, has theoretically shown that firms with high productivity have the intrinsic capability to export and even invest abroad.
Indeed, the most efficient firms export and earn extra profits abroad. The less efficient firms can only serve the domestic market since the entry to the foreign market would generate profits loss due to fixed entry cost. In contrast, the least efficient firms die and exit from the market.
The last question remained is how to improve firms' productivity.
The first way is to reduce firms' various variable costs.
Another strategy is to have the Chinese government impose more favorable production policies or trade policies to support exporting firms within WTO rules.
But the crucial thing is better enforcement of the laws and stronger protection of property rights, which help create, both domestically and internationally, a fair and competitive market for firms.
There are many useful ways to foster China's exports if Chinese firms and the Chinese government can take appropriate actions or adopt the right policies.
The author is an assistant professor in the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Is Hokkien My ‘Mother Tongue’?
Poignant, brilliant and perceptive writing by Singapore playwright Alfian Sa'at as he points out the simple truths about the melting pot of Singapore's intercultural growth, leading to an inextricable confluence of language. This broth consequently led to the emergence of Chinese more aptly described as 'Nanyang Chinese' (like the old Straits Chinese) who really, at least right now, feel more at home with his Malay and Indian neighbours than their bloodline of ancestors and brothers/sisters from mainland China.
Quotable Quote - "There are even some Cantonese words that are now part of Malay parlance, such as pokai (broke or penniless), as well as samseng (gangster). Interestingly, it has been postulated that the word sam seng (three star) was derived from the fact that recruits from the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) used to wear caps emblazoned with three stars, each one representing one of the main races in Malaya: the Malays, Chinese and Indians." Alfian Sa'at
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Is Hokkien My ‘Mother Tongue’?
Alfian Sa’at
8 September 2009
Soruce - The Online Citizen
A long time ago, a Chinese man saw some Malays eating a fruit. It had a spiky shell, but its insides were filled with large seeds covered by yellow, buttery flesh. He had never seen (nor smelt!) a fruit like it before, in his native village in Fujian. He asked them what the fruit was called.
‘Durian’, they replied. This was from the Malay word for duri, which means ‘thorn’. And so the Chinese man went back and told his friends about this new fruit. As the word spread, it became incorporated into the Hokkien vocabulary as loo lian.
Then one day, a new fruit made its appearance, native to South America, possibly brought in by colonial travelers. It was also green, with a spiky exterior. In English, it was known as ‘soursop’.
The Malays had a tendency to append the word belanda (meaning ‘Dutch’) to anything foreign that they had never seen before. Examples include the Dutch goat (kambing belanda, or sheep), the Dutch chicken (ayam belanda, or turkey) and the Dutch cat (kucing belanda, or rabbit). So they called the fruit durian belanda.
The Hokkiens, on the other hand, called it ang mo loo lian. Ang mo (roughly meaning ‘Western’) was also used for other edibles, like ang mo kio (tomato) and ang mo chai thou (carrot). Thus the word ang mo loo lian now carries traces of Hokkien contact with both Malays and Westerners.
The study of loan words has always fascinated me, because they give clues to the kinds of social interactions that occurred in the past. At the beginning of this article, I sketched a scenario of how a single word from one language entered another. But the process is definitely much more complex, and would involve long-term, sustained contact. The chain of transmission might even involve an intermediary, such as the Straits Chinese (or Peranakans), whose Baba patois contains both Malay and Hokkien words.
I have often felt a sense of loss at the fact that the lingua franca among Singaporean Chinese is no longer the Southern Chinese languages (such as Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese), but Mandarin. A little bit of research revealed to me the words that were borrowed from Hokkien into Malay. These include: (note that ‘c’ in Malay has the ‘ch’ sound): beca (trishaw), bihun (vermicelli), cat (paint), cincai (anyhow), gua (I/me), guli (marbles), kentang (potato), kamceng (close), kuih(cake), kongsi (share), kuaci (melon seeds), teko (teapot), taugeh (bean sprout), tahu (beancurd) and tauke (boss).
This process of linguistic exchange was two-way, as demonstrated by these Malay words that have penetrated Hokkien: agak (guess or moderate), botak (bald), champur (mix), gadoh (fight), gaji (wages), jamban (toilet), kachiau (disturb), longkau (drain), loti (bread), otang (owe/debt), pumchet (puncture), pantang (superstitious/taboo), pakat (conspire), pasar (market), pitchia (break), salah (wrong), sapbun (soap), sinang (easy), senget (crooked), sukak (like), timun (cucumber),tiam (quiet) and torlong (help).
There are even some Cantonese words that are now part of Malay parlance, such as pokai (broke or penniless), as well as samseng (gangster). Interestingly, it has been postulated that the word sam seng (three star) was derived from the fact that recruits from the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) used to wear caps emblazoned with three stars, each one representing one of the main races in Malaya: the Malays, Chinese and Indians.
In the army, one of the things that we were told by a sergeant was that ‘over here, Hokkien is your mother tongue’. But this was based on stereotypes: that Hokkien was a gendered, macho language (with the most pungent swear words) and the primal expression of working-class angst (as exemplified by the tattooed Hokkien-peng squatting and glowering in the yellow smoking box).
But considering how Hokkien words have entered the Malay language, I have realized that there is a larger truth to that statement. It’s like tracing a family tree and then discovering that I had a Hokkien great-great-great-great grandmother. As a matter of fact, since almost two-thirds of the Malay lexicon consists of borrowings, I definitely had Arabic and Indian (linguistic) ancestors too.
Malays have a saying, bahasa jiwa bangsa, which means, ‘language is the soul of a race’. But I’ve always noted a tension in the phrase. We tend to think of ‘race’ as something that is often bounded and rigid, defining it in terms of bloodline descents. But ‘language’ does not have such impermeable borders. Words of various origins pass through open checkpoints, undergo shifts in meaning, and become naturalized over time.
Thus, as much as we’d like to be essentialist about our ‘race’, we cannot escape from the hybridities already extant in our language. There is humility in the idea that no language is perfect on its own, and will borrow words to make up for its lack. If I’m feeling schmaltzy I’d even imagine this as a scene from the movie Jerry Maguire, where Tom Cruise utters to Renée Zellwegger the words, ‘You complete me.’ I also imagine her replying, ‘Shut up…just shut up. You had me at hoh boh.’
In Royston Tan’s getai musical, ‘881’, the main song started with ‘jit lang jit pua, kamcheng buay sua’ (one half for each [friend], relationships will not dissipate). The following line was ‘jit lang jit su ku, kamcheng jia eh ku’ (a quarter for each, relationships will endure). I had always wondered why Hokkien often resonated with me much more than Mandarin. And my guess is that this has to do with my recognition of some words, like kamcheng and su ku (which means ‘quarter’ in Malay).
Similarly, the well-loved comedians Wang Sa and Ye Fong not only switched among the different languages with ease, they expected audiences to do so as well. Malay idioms and phrases were common. Their trademark remark, whenever a situation was deemed to have gone out of hand, was: ‘Ah di ah, aga aga jiu hor ar’: ‘Hey [brother], you would do well to act in moderation (aga aga)’.
My Hokkien friends who travel overseas would often relate to me the sense of dislocation they feel when speaking to other Hokkien-speakers. A friend who went to Taiwan, for example, was surprised to note that they did not understand what loti meant. Another friend shared a story about the nuances of the word pokai in Hong Kong. At the end of the month, he moaned out loud at the office kam chi pokai le (‘I’m broke this time’) and all eyes turned on him. Pokai meant ‘broke’ in Singapore, but the reason why his colleagues reacted was because pokai (literally, ‘cast out on the streets’) in Hong Kong meant something worse, like being destitute on the streets, or being beaten up.
Because we are inundated by messages that often emphasise cultural purism, it is easy to interpret these instances as cases where the Chinese from this part of the world have been ‘contaminated’ by other cultures. I happen to take the opposite view: the Nanyang Chinese has evolved an identity of their own, incorporating elements of the other cultures that surround them. That this has been possible is a testament to their openness, curiosity and lack of insularity—a far cry from the global stereotype of cliquish and ethnocentric Chinese immigrants.
Much ink (and tears) has been spilled on how the Speak Mandarin Campaign has resulted in what some have called the ‘cultural lobotomy’ of the Chinese community. In many ways, I find great sympathy with the late Kuo Pao Kun’s observation that Chinese Singaporeans are ‘cultural orphans’. After all, they were forcibly snatched from their biological Southern Chinese bosoms and placed in the laps of Mandarin-speaking foster mothers.
A familiar lament is that the declining use of the Southern Chinese languages has resulted in the estrangement between generations of Chinese Singaporeans. But I’d also argue that it has also led to some kind of estrangement among the various races. I don’t know if I should worry about the fact that these days, the traffic of loan words has almost ceased between Malay and Mandarin. It is perhaps premature to theorise that this is a symptom of lesser interaction between these races, as compared to the past—after all, there is English to mediate our communication with one another.
But the fact remains that I don’t know of a single Malay word that has Mandarin origins. Which is why I feel it’s all the more urgent to preserve the variety of Southern Chinese languages spoken here (I refuse to call them ‘dialects’). They are reminders of the mingling and blending that has occurred here in Singapore; the very metabolism of what we understand not simply as ‘multiracialism’ but a deeper, more engaged ‘interculturalism’.
Somehow, our forefathers, of various races, knew how to pakat against common enemies, were able to kongsi their resources, and in the process of all that champur became kamcheng with one another. The product of their alliances, friendships and inter-marriages is reflected in the language they have passed on to us. To lose this legacy is to sever a vital connection not only to the historical origins of the Nanyang Chinese, but also to Singapore’s dynamic multicultural past.
(My profuse thanks to Lai Chee Kien for input into this article)
Quotable Quote - "There are even some Cantonese words that are now part of Malay parlance, such as pokai (broke or penniless), as well as samseng (gangster). Interestingly, it has been postulated that the word sam seng (three star) was derived from the fact that recruits from the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) used to wear caps emblazoned with three stars, each one representing one of the main races in Malaya: the Malays, Chinese and Indians." Alfian Sa'at
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Is Hokkien My ‘Mother Tongue’?
Alfian Sa’at
8 September 2009
Soruce - The Online Citizen
A long time ago, a Chinese man saw some Malays eating a fruit. It had a spiky shell, but its insides were filled with large seeds covered by yellow, buttery flesh. He had never seen (nor smelt!) a fruit like it before, in his native village in Fujian. He asked them what the fruit was called.
‘Durian’, they replied. This was from the Malay word for duri, which means ‘thorn’. And so the Chinese man went back and told his friends about this new fruit. As the word spread, it became incorporated into the Hokkien vocabulary as loo lian.
Then one day, a new fruit made its appearance, native to South America, possibly brought in by colonial travelers. It was also green, with a spiky exterior. In English, it was known as ‘soursop’.
The Malays had a tendency to append the word belanda (meaning ‘Dutch’) to anything foreign that they had never seen before. Examples include the Dutch goat (kambing belanda, or sheep), the Dutch chicken (ayam belanda, or turkey) and the Dutch cat (kucing belanda, or rabbit). So they called the fruit durian belanda.
The Hokkiens, on the other hand, called it ang mo loo lian. Ang mo (roughly meaning ‘Western’) was also used for other edibles, like ang mo kio (tomato) and ang mo chai thou (carrot). Thus the word ang mo loo lian now carries traces of Hokkien contact with both Malays and Westerners.
The study of loan words has always fascinated me, because they give clues to the kinds of social interactions that occurred in the past. At the beginning of this article, I sketched a scenario of how a single word from one language entered another. But the process is definitely much more complex, and would involve long-term, sustained contact. The chain of transmission might even involve an intermediary, such as the Straits Chinese (or Peranakans), whose Baba patois contains both Malay and Hokkien words.
I have often felt a sense of loss at the fact that the lingua franca among Singaporean Chinese is no longer the Southern Chinese languages (such as Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese), but Mandarin. A little bit of research revealed to me the words that were borrowed from Hokkien into Malay. These include: (note that ‘c’ in Malay has the ‘ch’ sound): beca (trishaw), bihun (vermicelli), cat (paint), cincai (anyhow), gua (I/me), guli (marbles), kentang (potato), kamceng (close), kuih(cake), kongsi (share), kuaci (melon seeds), teko (teapot), taugeh (bean sprout), tahu (beancurd) and tauke (boss).
This process of linguistic exchange was two-way, as demonstrated by these Malay words that have penetrated Hokkien: agak (guess or moderate), botak (bald), champur (mix), gadoh (fight), gaji (wages), jamban (toilet), kachiau (disturb), longkau (drain), loti (bread), otang (owe/debt), pumchet (puncture), pantang (superstitious/taboo), pakat (conspire), pasar (market), pitchia (break), salah (wrong), sapbun (soap), sinang (easy), senget (crooked), sukak (like), timun (cucumber),tiam (quiet) and torlong (help).
There are even some Cantonese words that are now part of Malay parlance, such as pokai (broke or penniless), as well as samseng (gangster). Interestingly, it has been postulated that the word sam seng (three star) was derived from the fact that recruits from the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) used to wear caps emblazoned with three stars, each one representing one of the main races in Malaya: the Malays, Chinese and Indians.
In the army, one of the things that we were told by a sergeant was that ‘over here, Hokkien is your mother tongue’. But this was based on stereotypes: that Hokkien was a gendered, macho language (with the most pungent swear words) and the primal expression of working-class angst (as exemplified by the tattooed Hokkien-peng squatting and glowering in the yellow smoking box).
But considering how Hokkien words have entered the Malay language, I have realized that there is a larger truth to that statement. It’s like tracing a family tree and then discovering that I had a Hokkien great-great-great-great grandmother. As a matter of fact, since almost two-thirds of the Malay lexicon consists of borrowings, I definitely had Arabic and Indian (linguistic) ancestors too.
Malays have a saying, bahasa jiwa bangsa, which means, ‘language is the soul of a race’. But I’ve always noted a tension in the phrase. We tend to think of ‘race’ as something that is often bounded and rigid, defining it in terms of bloodline descents. But ‘language’ does not have such impermeable borders. Words of various origins pass through open checkpoints, undergo shifts in meaning, and become naturalized over time.
Thus, as much as we’d like to be essentialist about our ‘race’, we cannot escape from the hybridities already extant in our language. There is humility in the idea that no language is perfect on its own, and will borrow words to make up for its lack. If I’m feeling schmaltzy I’d even imagine this as a scene from the movie Jerry Maguire, where Tom Cruise utters to Renée Zellwegger the words, ‘You complete me.’ I also imagine her replying, ‘Shut up…just shut up. You had me at hoh boh.’
In Royston Tan’s getai musical, ‘881’, the main song started with ‘jit lang jit pua, kamcheng buay sua’ (one half for each [friend], relationships will not dissipate). The following line was ‘jit lang jit su ku, kamcheng jia eh ku’ (a quarter for each, relationships will endure). I had always wondered why Hokkien often resonated with me much more than Mandarin. And my guess is that this has to do with my recognition of some words, like kamcheng and su ku (which means ‘quarter’ in Malay).
Similarly, the well-loved comedians Wang Sa and Ye Fong not only switched among the different languages with ease, they expected audiences to do so as well. Malay idioms and phrases were common. Their trademark remark, whenever a situation was deemed to have gone out of hand, was: ‘Ah di ah, aga aga jiu hor ar’: ‘Hey [brother], you would do well to act in moderation (aga aga)’.
My Hokkien friends who travel overseas would often relate to me the sense of dislocation they feel when speaking to other Hokkien-speakers. A friend who went to Taiwan, for example, was surprised to note that they did not understand what loti meant. Another friend shared a story about the nuances of the word pokai in Hong Kong. At the end of the month, he moaned out loud at the office kam chi pokai le (‘I’m broke this time’) and all eyes turned on him. Pokai meant ‘broke’ in Singapore, but the reason why his colleagues reacted was because pokai (literally, ‘cast out on the streets’) in Hong Kong meant something worse, like being destitute on the streets, or being beaten up.
Because we are inundated by messages that often emphasise cultural purism, it is easy to interpret these instances as cases where the Chinese from this part of the world have been ‘contaminated’ by other cultures. I happen to take the opposite view: the Nanyang Chinese has evolved an identity of their own, incorporating elements of the other cultures that surround them. That this has been possible is a testament to their openness, curiosity and lack of insularity—a far cry from the global stereotype of cliquish and ethnocentric Chinese immigrants.
Much ink (and tears) has been spilled on how the Speak Mandarin Campaign has resulted in what some have called the ‘cultural lobotomy’ of the Chinese community. In many ways, I find great sympathy with the late Kuo Pao Kun’s observation that Chinese Singaporeans are ‘cultural orphans’. After all, they were forcibly snatched from their biological Southern Chinese bosoms and placed in the laps of Mandarin-speaking foster mothers.
A familiar lament is that the declining use of the Southern Chinese languages has resulted in the estrangement between generations of Chinese Singaporeans. But I’d also argue that it has also led to some kind of estrangement among the various races. I don’t know if I should worry about the fact that these days, the traffic of loan words has almost ceased between Malay and Mandarin. It is perhaps premature to theorise that this is a symptom of lesser interaction between these races, as compared to the past—after all, there is English to mediate our communication with one another.
But the fact remains that I don’t know of a single Malay word that has Mandarin origins. Which is why I feel it’s all the more urgent to preserve the variety of Southern Chinese languages spoken here (I refuse to call them ‘dialects’). They are reminders of the mingling and blending that has occurred here in Singapore; the very metabolism of what we understand not simply as ‘multiracialism’ but a deeper, more engaged ‘interculturalism’.
Somehow, our forefathers, of various races, knew how to pakat against common enemies, were able to kongsi their resources, and in the process of all that champur became kamcheng with one another. The product of their alliances, friendships and inter-marriages is reflected in the language they have passed on to us. To lose this legacy is to sever a vital connection not only to the historical origins of the Nanyang Chinese, but also to Singapore’s dynamic multicultural past.
(My profuse thanks to Lai Chee Kien for input into this article)
Monday, September 7, 2009
Singapore can learn much from China
A very timely piece that'll be useful for me. It's crunch time as it has become time to submit the research proposal. Wish me luck people.
Quotable Quote - "...while there are still some lessons China could learn from Singapore, it is no longer a one-way flow." Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
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Singapore can learn much from China
Source - AsiaOne 4 September 2009
THERE is much for Singapore to learn from China.
This was Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's response when asked about the achievements and transformations of China over the past 30 years.
In an interview conducted in August by the Director of the Thailand branch of China News Service, Mr Gu Shihong, SM Goh replied in writing stating that while there are still some lessons China could learn from Singapore, it is no longer a one-way flow.
He brought up Deng Xiaoping's visit to Singapore in 1978, in which he saw a first-hand account of how Southern Chinese had settled and progressed in Singapore, and felt that China could achieve the same results with its much bigger population.
Now, SM Goh said that each time he visited China, he was left impressed by its new urban landscape, skyscrapers, wide motorways and obvious signs of a higher standard of living, as opposed to how the country was pre-1978.
The greater change, he replied, is the mindset of the Chinese towards modernisation based on market principles.
Besides praising China for its reformation over the past decades, the Senior Minister also wrote about the many aspects in which both countries have cooperated.
He mentioned that the key pillar in bilateral cooperation with China is human resource development, in which there are tailored programmes for Chinese officials in Singapore to fit the needs and national conditions of China.
On the education level, there are extensive collaborations between the two and when it came to doing business, China continues to be an exciting investment destination for Singapore companies, while Singapore continues to be an attractive base for China companies to expand their international reach.
This year, relationship with China had also reached a new milestone with the signing of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA).
One of the many struggles both countries face is the ever-expanding income divide. SM Goh stressed that China and Singapore no exceptions as it is a challenge all market economies face.
He also said that Singapore is ready to share its sustainable development for a cleaner and greener environment.
Environment protection is a contradictory problem that China is facing due to its economic expansion.
Quotable Quote - "...while there are still some lessons China could learn from Singapore, it is no longer a one-way flow." Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
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Singapore can learn much from China
Source - AsiaOne 4 September 2009
THERE is much for Singapore to learn from China.
This was Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's response when asked about the achievements and transformations of China over the past 30 years.
In an interview conducted in August by the Director of the Thailand branch of China News Service, Mr Gu Shihong, SM Goh replied in writing stating that while there are still some lessons China could learn from Singapore, it is no longer a one-way flow.
He brought up Deng Xiaoping's visit to Singapore in 1978, in which he saw a first-hand account of how Southern Chinese had settled and progressed in Singapore, and felt that China could achieve the same results with its much bigger population.
Now, SM Goh said that each time he visited China, he was left impressed by its new urban landscape, skyscrapers, wide motorways and obvious signs of a higher standard of living, as opposed to how the country was pre-1978.
The greater change, he replied, is the mindset of the Chinese towards modernisation based on market principles.
Besides praising China for its reformation over the past decades, the Senior Minister also wrote about the many aspects in which both countries have cooperated.
He mentioned that the key pillar in bilateral cooperation with China is human resource development, in which there are tailored programmes for Chinese officials in Singapore to fit the needs and national conditions of China.
On the education level, there are extensive collaborations between the two and when it came to doing business, China continues to be an exciting investment destination for Singapore companies, while Singapore continues to be an attractive base for China companies to expand their international reach.
This year, relationship with China had also reached a new milestone with the signing of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA).
One of the many struggles both countries face is the ever-expanding income divide. SM Goh stressed that China and Singapore no exceptions as it is a challenge all market economies face.
He also said that Singapore is ready to share its sustainable development for a cleaner and greener environment.
Environment protection is a contradictory problem that China is facing due to its economic expansion.
Chinese diplomacy can't rest on its laurels
A highly useful perspective that cuts through the fog about Chinese diplomacy.
Quoteable Quote - "Sometimes China is shouldering responsibilities that surpasses its strength. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. In a way, it gives you soft power. Of course you have to pay for that. Soft power often needs a solid economic base." Gao Zhikai
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Chinese diplomacy can't rest on its laurels
Source - Global Times, 4 September 2009
Editor's Note:
China's diplomacy has chartered a twisting road in the past 60 years. As the country is poised to be a major power in the world, what lessons it has learned from the past six decades, and what's the future direction of its diplomacy? The following is an interview conducted by the Global Times (GT) with Hao Yufan (Hao), Professor of Political Science at the University of Macau, and Gao Zhikai (Gao), current affairs commentator.
GT: How do you see the gains and losses of Chinese diplomacy over the past 60 years in retrospect, especially the long-time issues that haven't been solved?
Hao: As for the shortcomings, in the first 30 years, that is from 1949 to 1979, China was relatively independent from the international system.
We emphasized being independent, partly due to the political environment back then, and sometimes we stood against two superpowers simultaneously. But that was dangerous in a way and we were isolated.
The 30 years of reform and opening-up has been a learning process for China. And we learned well during our interaction with the rest of the world. The downside is that we are still passive in our involvement in international affairs and international discourse. We are still learning.
For China and the rest of the world, China has transformed from a revolutionary, "outlaw" type of country into a responsible one, willing to maintain the status quo. That's the biggest achievement of the past 60 years.
But even today we don't have an overall strategy for our diplomacy. In the past we were on the defensive, busy handling situations, and didn't have a long term, systematic strategy that ensures the consistency of our foreign policies.
A country's diplomatic strategy should serve its ultimate goals. On certain level, we should consider: What are China's ultimate goals in the next 20 years?
Gao: China today is a major force for peace and stability in the world, and its diplomatic independence has positioned the country well to play a crucially important role in many regional and international issues in the world.
Furthermore, as its economy is already the third largest in the world, and its growth rate is much higher than the rest of the world, China is destined to have more important roles to play in the years to come.
On the other hand, China is also confronted with many daunting challenges in its diplomacy.
For example,how to make the rest of the world, especially the Western countries, understand China's growth better? How to prevent major divides between China and the West? How to make sure that China's relations with its neighboring countries are peaceful and mutually beneficial? How to make sure that many territorial disputes and controversies are well dealt with without flaring up into any armed conflicts? How to identify and play an increasingly more important role in the world that is commensurate to China's growing economic might? How to maintain China's domestic stability and development on the one hand and promote international harmony and peace on the other hand?
All these are major tasks that China needs to grapple with in its diplomatic theory and practice.
GT: How do you see the current diplomatic challenges China faces now?
Gao: There are many people and forces in the West who, for one reason or another, want to put China as an enemy or potential enemy of the world.
This is not only a major diplomatic challenge China needs to address, but is also intricately related to many important issues at home, including Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
China needs to be more effective and eloquent in communicating with the Western countries that we stand for peace, stability, harmony and development.
China needs to constantly improve its diplomatic theory and practice in line with the rapid development of its economy and the growing weight it carries in global trade and international finance.
If one is lagging behind the other, then China's diplomacy may either become less effective, or its potentials for world peace and stability and development may not be fully utilized.
We need wisdom and a sense of urgency in dealing with many tough issues we are confronted with.
Another weakness in China's diplomacy is that we stay on the defensive too much and for too long.
Any expectation that we may be able to sit through an issue, and many problems may solve by their own momentum may be false.
On major issues like Tibet, China needs to come up with greater initiative and greater wisdom in achieving a lasting solution for issues.
Throughout Chinese history, as soon as a dynasty prospered it started to lose the sense of urgency, and many people simply began to indulge in the good life.
Therefore, we need to make sure that the great economic miracles and the peace and prosperity we enjoy now at home do not blind us to the harsh realities at home and abroad, and do not deplete our dynamism, innovation and momentum for even greater achievements.
Hao: Europe, the US and Japan are taken aback by China's rapid development. Though they are adjusting their attitude toward China, in fact they don't want to see China grow too fast, but couldn't find a reason to persuade China to slow down.
What can they do? As far as they know, the only thing they can do is finding faults with China's political system.
Take the July 5 riots in Xinjiang for example. Some overseas scholars told me that such things happen in some so-called democratic countries in Asia quite often. But the Western elites will not point fingers at them because they find it inevitable that economic inequality causes racial or ethnic conflicts in many developing countries. But when it comes to China, they criticize China's political system or communism.
Meanwhile there's a certain degree of jealousy and prejudice, as they overemphasize the difference in political systems. I don't think they actually see China as an opponent, but are adjusting to China's rising status. Therefore it is not a fundamental conflict, and we need to think of a solution.
Gao: One thing we need to think about carefully is whether the US would ever allow China to peacefully rise to such an extent that its economy eventually surpasses the US economy? Is this something inevitable or irreversible? Or will some forces be deployed to make sure that it will not happen, at least not in a peaceful way?
How to make sure that the US and China will never have a major conflict with each other? How can we make sure that the US will not feel (or think it feels) threatened by the rapid peaceful rise of China? Can both China and the US come up with enough wisdom and vision so that we will not fall into the historical curse of conflict and come up instead with a new model of long-term cooperation rather than eventual conflict?
GT: For a long time we have abided by the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Today China is asked to take more international responsibilities. Is it a contradiction?
Hao: China's rapid development has led to higher demands from the international community, and in turn, China needs to respond to the expectations and requirements of being one of the world's greatest countries.
China is the world's biggest developing country. That statement stayed unchallenged until recent years. The West doesn't want to give China a free ride.
What we have here is a gap between conception and reality. Perhaps China is not as powerful as the great powers in the world, but when the people, leaders and media worldwide see you as a superpower, they will hold you to that standard.
Sometimes China is shouldering responsibilities that surpasses its strength. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. In a way, it gives you soft power. Of course you have to pay for that. Soft power often needs a solid economic base.
Gao: I think we need to look at it from two sides. There's nothing wrong with peaceful coexistence or harmony. But it takes two to tango.
What if you want to seek harmony and peaceful coexistence, but your opponent wants to seek your destruction and derailment?
We also need to decide on which matters we need to be tough and principled, but on which other matters can we soften up as much as we can, and demonstrate all the flexibility that we can?
We also need to move from a moralistic foundation of diplomacy to a legalistic foundation of diplomacy. What does that mean?
For example, rather than jumping out of our seat in condemnation each time a senior Japanese government official visits the Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes some war criminals, we could promulgate a law or regulation denying such officials visas to visit China.
In a sense, harmony should be based on the rule of law, both at home and in the international arena.
Quoteable Quote - "Sometimes China is shouldering responsibilities that surpasses its strength. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. In a way, it gives you soft power. Of course you have to pay for that. Soft power often needs a solid economic base." Gao Zhikai
---
Chinese diplomacy can't rest on its laurels
Source - Global Times, 4 September 2009
Editor's Note:
China's diplomacy has chartered a twisting road in the past 60 years. As the country is poised to be a major power in the world, what lessons it has learned from the past six decades, and what's the future direction of its diplomacy? The following is an interview conducted by the Global Times (GT) with Hao Yufan (Hao), Professor of Political Science at the University of Macau, and Gao Zhikai (Gao), current affairs commentator.
GT: How do you see the gains and losses of Chinese diplomacy over the past 60 years in retrospect, especially the long-time issues that haven't been solved?
Hao: As for the shortcomings, in the first 30 years, that is from 1949 to 1979, China was relatively independent from the international system.
We emphasized being independent, partly due to the political environment back then, and sometimes we stood against two superpowers simultaneously. But that was dangerous in a way and we were isolated.
The 30 years of reform and opening-up has been a learning process for China. And we learned well during our interaction with the rest of the world. The downside is that we are still passive in our involvement in international affairs and international discourse. We are still learning.
For China and the rest of the world, China has transformed from a revolutionary, "outlaw" type of country into a responsible one, willing to maintain the status quo. That's the biggest achievement of the past 60 years.
But even today we don't have an overall strategy for our diplomacy. In the past we were on the defensive, busy handling situations, and didn't have a long term, systematic strategy that ensures the consistency of our foreign policies.
A country's diplomatic strategy should serve its ultimate goals. On certain level, we should consider: What are China's ultimate goals in the next 20 years?
Gao: China today is a major force for peace and stability in the world, and its diplomatic independence has positioned the country well to play a crucially important role in many regional and international issues in the world.
Furthermore, as its economy is already the third largest in the world, and its growth rate is much higher than the rest of the world, China is destined to have more important roles to play in the years to come.
On the other hand, China is also confronted with many daunting challenges in its diplomacy.
For example,how to make the rest of the world, especially the Western countries, understand China's growth better? How to prevent major divides between China and the West? How to make sure that China's relations with its neighboring countries are peaceful and mutually beneficial? How to make sure that many territorial disputes and controversies are well dealt with without flaring up into any armed conflicts? How to identify and play an increasingly more important role in the world that is commensurate to China's growing economic might? How to maintain China's domestic stability and development on the one hand and promote international harmony and peace on the other hand?
All these are major tasks that China needs to grapple with in its diplomatic theory and practice.
GT: How do you see the current diplomatic challenges China faces now?
Gao: There are many people and forces in the West who, for one reason or another, want to put China as an enemy or potential enemy of the world.
This is not only a major diplomatic challenge China needs to address, but is also intricately related to many important issues at home, including Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang.
China needs to be more effective and eloquent in communicating with the Western countries that we stand for peace, stability, harmony and development.
China needs to constantly improve its diplomatic theory and practice in line with the rapid development of its economy and the growing weight it carries in global trade and international finance.
If one is lagging behind the other, then China's diplomacy may either become less effective, or its potentials for world peace and stability and development may not be fully utilized.
We need wisdom and a sense of urgency in dealing with many tough issues we are confronted with.
Another weakness in China's diplomacy is that we stay on the defensive too much and for too long.
Any expectation that we may be able to sit through an issue, and many problems may solve by their own momentum may be false.
On major issues like Tibet, China needs to come up with greater initiative and greater wisdom in achieving a lasting solution for issues.
Throughout Chinese history, as soon as a dynasty prospered it started to lose the sense of urgency, and many people simply began to indulge in the good life.
Therefore, we need to make sure that the great economic miracles and the peace and prosperity we enjoy now at home do not blind us to the harsh realities at home and abroad, and do not deplete our dynamism, innovation and momentum for even greater achievements.
Hao: Europe, the US and Japan are taken aback by China's rapid development. Though they are adjusting their attitude toward China, in fact they don't want to see China grow too fast, but couldn't find a reason to persuade China to slow down.
What can they do? As far as they know, the only thing they can do is finding faults with China's political system.
Take the July 5 riots in Xinjiang for example. Some overseas scholars told me that such things happen in some so-called democratic countries in Asia quite often. But the Western elites will not point fingers at them because they find it inevitable that economic inequality causes racial or ethnic conflicts in many developing countries. But when it comes to China, they criticize China's political system or communism.
Meanwhile there's a certain degree of jealousy and prejudice, as they overemphasize the difference in political systems. I don't think they actually see China as an opponent, but are adjusting to China's rising status. Therefore it is not a fundamental conflict, and we need to think of a solution.
Gao: One thing we need to think about carefully is whether the US would ever allow China to peacefully rise to such an extent that its economy eventually surpasses the US economy? Is this something inevitable or irreversible? Or will some forces be deployed to make sure that it will not happen, at least not in a peaceful way?
How to make sure that the US and China will never have a major conflict with each other? How can we make sure that the US will not feel (or think it feels) threatened by the rapid peaceful rise of China? Can both China and the US come up with enough wisdom and vision so that we will not fall into the historical curse of conflict and come up instead with a new model of long-term cooperation rather than eventual conflict?
GT: For a long time we have abided by the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Today China is asked to take more international responsibilities. Is it a contradiction?
Hao: China's rapid development has led to higher demands from the international community, and in turn, China needs to respond to the expectations and requirements of being one of the world's greatest countries.
China is the world's biggest developing country. That statement stayed unchallenged until recent years. The West doesn't want to give China a free ride.
What we have here is a gap between conception and reality. Perhaps China is not as powerful as the great powers in the world, but when the people, leaders and media worldwide see you as a superpower, they will hold you to that standard.
Sometimes China is shouldering responsibilities that surpasses its strength. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. In a way, it gives you soft power. Of course you have to pay for that. Soft power often needs a solid economic base.
Gao: I think we need to look at it from two sides. There's nothing wrong with peaceful coexistence or harmony. But it takes two to tango.
What if you want to seek harmony and peaceful coexistence, but your opponent wants to seek your destruction and derailment?
We also need to decide on which matters we need to be tough and principled, but on which other matters can we soften up as much as we can, and demonstrate all the flexibility that we can?
We also need to move from a moralistic foundation of diplomacy to a legalistic foundation of diplomacy. What does that mean?
For example, rather than jumping out of our seat in condemnation each time a senior Japanese government official visits the Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes some war criminals, we could promulgate a law or regulation denying such officials visas to visit China.
In a sense, harmony should be based on the rule of law, both at home and in the international arena.
Chinese are world champions at sleeping
In a sense, so are Singaporean males who've made it through compulsory military service. Much of our time in military training was spent in transit, either sleeping in moving trucks, in trenches dug into the ground, or just standing still during a parade. I guess for the Chinese it applies to both males and females, and for drastically different motivations.
Quotable Quote - "If sleeping were to become an Olympic sport, China would win gold, silver, and bronze. In fact all other nations probably wouldn't bother turning up, defeated from the start by the unequivocal Champions of Sleep."
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Chinese are world champions at sleeping
By Marcus McAdam
Foreign View
Source - Global Times, 3 September 2009
I am fortunate to have a job that has led me all over the world, witnessing the diversity of countless cultures, and being fascinated by their contrasts.
The most obvious differences are the way we eat or spend leisure time, but we are taught to do these, so such differences are hardly surprising. But some more instinctual or natural activities vary little throughout the world.
For example, a person laughing in Russia looks the same as a person laughing in Argentina, Greece, or Uganda. Sleep is another natural activity that we all do on a daily basis, yet somehow no one can do this more effortlessly than the Chinese.
The infinite number of environments in which a Chinese person can sleep is nothing short of incredible. They can do it lying, sitting, or sometimes standing. They can do it in a quiet, noisy, or even hectic place. They can do it at any time of day, and seemingly without any hint of self-consciousness.
I was once on the furniture floor of a large department store in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, where all the beds, chairs, and sofas had people sleeping in them. Confused as to what was going on, I asked a local friend to find out what all these people were doing.
A quick look at my watch confirmed it was 3:15 pm, and while my friend went off to enquire, I counted 43 people asleep on the furniture. I thought maybe they were customers trying out the items before they committed to a purchase, but this seemed rather extreme. I then thought that maybe they were real life mannequins – cheaper to employ actual people than buy plastic ones?
I particularly admired the woman who had chosen a massage chair to fall asleep in. With her mouth wide open, and head rolling franticly from side to side, she seemed totally oblivious to the violent shaking she was receiving from the electric chair.
My friend returned with the news that all these people were actually the store's cleaning staff who worked overnight. Most of them lived too far away from downtown Nanjing to go home during the day, so instead they just got into the beds on the furniture floor.
I thought this was genius, but saw a flaw in the plan. I asked what would happen if I wanted to buy an item of furniture in which someone was sleeping. Would it be delivered discreetly to my home, so as not to wake the occupant? And what would I tell them when they eventually woke up in my bedroom?
Another environment where Chinese people can sleep without any effort is on a train. I remember being on an overnight service from Shanghai to Changsha, Hunan Province, and found myself sharing a soft-bed cabin with three other Chinese men.
Within seconds of turning off the light, all of them were snoring so loudly that I thought they must be joking with me. However, 20 minutes later, I started to realize the depressing truth that this was in fact real. One guy sounded like a hippopotamus with a breathing disorder. He was sleeping directly below me, and every time he exhaled, the vibration reverberated through my bed.
Along with the other two accomplices, the volume of this snoring trio was such that it actually drowned out the noise from a goods train passing by on the adjacent track at 200 kilometers per hour.
Needless to say, I got no sleep before arriving in Changsha, yet these three awoke with the freshness of spring rabbits, and had obviously slept like babies.
I have also experienced the Chinese office sleep, which to any foreigner is nothing but a mystery. All of a sudden, every person in the office will simultaneously stop working, lay down on a hard floor or on their desk, before being completely unconscious in less than 20 seconds. No amount of phones ringing or doors banging seems to be able to disrupt the office workers from their deep sleep, yet after sufficient rest time has passed, everyone suddenly wakes up and continues the day as though it never paused.
The same thing happens on buses, in city parks, and in Internet cafes. Seldom can you visit any of these places without finding someone asleep, unaware of the world around them. I once saw a man asleep while having his hair cut.
It seems there is no limit to the possibilities of places and environments in which Chinese can sleep.
If sleeping were to become an Olympic sport, China would win gold, silver, and bronze. In fact all other nations probably wouldn't bother turning up, defeated from the start by the unequivocal Champions of Sleep.
The author is a UK-based freelance writer and photographer
Illustration by Liu Rui - Global Times
http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/foreign-view/2009-09/463162.html
Date of Access - 7 September 2009
Quotable Quote - "If sleeping were to become an Olympic sport, China would win gold, silver, and bronze. In fact all other nations probably wouldn't bother turning up, defeated from the start by the unequivocal Champions of Sleep."
---
Chinese are world champions at sleeping
By Marcus McAdam
Foreign View
Source - Global Times, 3 September 2009
I am fortunate to have a job that has led me all over the world, witnessing the diversity of countless cultures, and being fascinated by their contrasts.
For example, a person laughing in Russia looks the same as a person laughing in Argentina, Greece, or Uganda. Sleep is another natural activity that we all do on a daily basis, yet somehow no one can do this more effortlessly than the Chinese.
The infinite number of environments in which a Chinese person can sleep is nothing short of incredible. They can do it lying, sitting, or sometimes standing. They can do it in a quiet, noisy, or even hectic place. They can do it at any time of day, and seemingly without any hint of self-consciousness.
I was once on the furniture floor of a large department store in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, where all the beds, chairs, and sofas had people sleeping in them. Confused as to what was going on, I asked a local friend to find out what all these people were doing.
A quick look at my watch confirmed it was 3:15 pm, and while my friend went off to enquire, I counted 43 people asleep on the furniture. I thought maybe they were customers trying out the items before they committed to a purchase, but this seemed rather extreme. I then thought that maybe they were real life mannequins – cheaper to employ actual people than buy plastic ones?
I particularly admired the woman who had chosen a massage chair to fall asleep in. With her mouth wide open, and head rolling franticly from side to side, she seemed totally oblivious to the violent shaking she was receiving from the electric chair.
My friend returned with the news that all these people were actually the store's cleaning staff who worked overnight. Most of them lived too far away from downtown Nanjing to go home during the day, so instead they just got into the beds on the furniture floor.
I thought this was genius, but saw a flaw in the plan. I asked what would happen if I wanted to buy an item of furniture in which someone was sleeping. Would it be delivered discreetly to my home, so as not to wake the occupant? And what would I tell them when they eventually woke up in my bedroom?
Another environment where Chinese people can sleep without any effort is on a train. I remember being on an overnight service from Shanghai to Changsha, Hunan Province, and found myself sharing a soft-bed cabin with three other Chinese men.
Within seconds of turning off the light, all of them were snoring so loudly that I thought they must be joking with me. However, 20 minutes later, I started to realize the depressing truth that this was in fact real. One guy sounded like a hippopotamus with a breathing disorder. He was sleeping directly below me, and every time he exhaled, the vibration reverberated through my bed.
Along with the other two accomplices, the volume of this snoring trio was such that it actually drowned out the noise from a goods train passing by on the adjacent track at 200 kilometers per hour.
Needless to say, I got no sleep before arriving in Changsha, yet these three awoke with the freshness of spring rabbits, and had obviously slept like babies.
I have also experienced the Chinese office sleep, which to any foreigner is nothing but a mystery. All of a sudden, every person in the office will simultaneously stop working, lay down on a hard floor or on their desk, before being completely unconscious in less than 20 seconds. No amount of phones ringing or doors banging seems to be able to disrupt the office workers from their deep sleep, yet after sufficient rest time has passed, everyone suddenly wakes up and continues the day as though it never paused.
The same thing happens on buses, in city parks, and in Internet cafes. Seldom can you visit any of these places without finding someone asleep, unaware of the world around them. I once saw a man asleep while having his hair cut.
It seems there is no limit to the possibilities of places and environments in which Chinese can sleep.
If sleeping were to become an Olympic sport, China would win gold, silver, and bronze. In fact all other nations probably wouldn't bother turning up, defeated from the start by the unequivocal Champions of Sleep.
The author is a UK-based freelance writer and photographer
Illustration by Liu Rui - Global Times
http://opinion.globaltimes.cn/foreign-view/2009-09/463162.html
Date of Access - 7 September 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Growing interest in Confucius Institute in Singapore
With 40 million people learning Mandarin today (according to the Office of Chinese Language Council International), the Confucius Institutes are a key stratagem in Chinese public diplomacy efforts, exerting cultural capital to facilitate people seeing things their way. It even clearly echoes some pretty obvious political alignment. Check out the blurp from their website, and how it sings of the harmonious world -
"Confucius Institute, as a non-profit education organization, devoted to satisfying the demands of people from different countries and regions in the world who learn Chinese language, to enhancing their understanding of the Chinese language and culture, to strengthening educational and cultural exchange and cooperation between China and other countries, to deepening friendly relationships with other nations, to promoting the development of multi-culturalism, and to the building of a harmonious world.
The Confucius Institute Headquarters is a non-profit organization that has the independent status of a corporate body. It owns the proprietorship of the name, logo and brand of the Confucius Institutes. The Headquarters is the regulatory body that provides guidelines to the Confucius Institute worldwide. The Headquarters is located in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China.
The Confucius Institutes shall provide the following services:
a. Develop Chinese language courses for various social sectors;
b. Train Chinese language instructors for local institutions and providing them with Chinese language teaching resources;
c. Establish local facilities for the holding of the HSK Examination (Chinese Proficiency Test) and for the administration of procedures for the Certification of the Chinese Language Teachers;
d. Provide information and consultative services concerning Chinese education, culture, economy and society;
e. Promote research about Contemporary China."
Source - Confucius Institute Online
http://www.confuciusinstitute.net/ky_en/about.html
Date of Access 05 September 2009
And now for the article...
---
Growing interest in Institute
By Cai Haoxiang
Source - Straits Times 5 September 2009
THERE is growing interest in Chinese-language promotion centre Confucius Institute, which has attracted more than double the number of students in the last two years.
Every week, more than 500 students attend over 20 courses now - up from 200 students who turned up for eight courses two years ago.
The increase is due to keener interest in Chinese language and culture by working professionals, who form three quarters of the students.
Centre director Koh Hock Kiat said people initially mistook the Institute as a place to promote Confucian philosophy.
But that perception has changed in the four years since the Institute was set up in 2005. It moved to Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) one-north campus in Buona Vista two years later.
'We started using a lot of contemporary icons to change people's impressions, like comics and popular living writers,' said Associate Professor Koh.
'Now, they know us as a place for kids, literature and basic Chinese, similar to what the British Council or the Japanese Association offers.'
Still, he said what motivates most people to sign up for its courses is their desire to learn more about the Chinese language for business purposes.
Among the students are Mr Steve Wong, 52, director of management consultancy Synthesis Consulting Group. He is doing a three-month business Chinese programme at the Institute.
'Most Chinese business people in Asia, like Thailand and Indonesia, don't speak much English,' he said. 'To communicate effectively, you really have to know the (Chinese) language.'
"Confucius Institute, as a non-profit education organization, devoted to satisfying the demands of people from different countries and regions in the world who learn Chinese language, to enhancing their understanding of the Chinese language and culture, to strengthening educational and cultural exchange and cooperation between China and other countries, to deepening friendly relationships with other nations, to promoting the development of multi-culturalism, and to the building of a harmonious world.
The Confucius Institute Headquarters is a non-profit organization that has the independent status of a corporate body. It owns the proprietorship of the name, logo and brand of the Confucius Institutes. The Headquarters is the regulatory body that provides guidelines to the Confucius Institute worldwide. The Headquarters is located in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China.
The Confucius Institutes shall provide the following services:
a. Develop Chinese language courses for various social sectors;
b. Train Chinese language instructors for local institutions and providing them with Chinese language teaching resources;
c. Establish local facilities for the holding of the HSK Examination (Chinese Proficiency Test) and for the administration of procedures for the Certification of the Chinese Language Teachers;
d. Provide information and consultative services concerning Chinese education, culture, economy and society;
e. Promote research about Contemporary China."
Source - Confucius Institute Online
http://www.confuciusinstitute.net/ky_en/about.html
Date of Access 05 September 2009
And now for the article...
---
Growing interest in Institute
By Cai Haoxiang
Source - Straits Times 5 September 2009
THERE is growing interest in Chinese-language promotion centre Confucius Institute, which has attracted more than double the number of students in the last two years.
Every week, more than 500 students attend over 20 courses now - up from 200 students who turned up for eight courses two years ago.
The increase is due to keener interest in Chinese language and culture by working professionals, who form three quarters of the students.
Centre director Koh Hock Kiat said people initially mistook the Institute as a place to promote Confucian philosophy.
But that perception has changed in the four years since the Institute was set up in 2005. It moved to Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) one-north campus in Buona Vista two years later.
'We started using a lot of contemporary icons to change people's impressions, like comics and popular living writers,' said Associate Professor Koh.
'Now, they know us as a place for kids, literature and basic Chinese, similar to what the British Council or the Japanese Association offers.'
Still, he said what motivates most people to sign up for its courses is their desire to learn more about the Chinese language for business purposes.
Among the students are Mr Steve Wong, 52, director of management consultancy Synthesis Consulting Group. He is doing a three-month business Chinese programme at the Institute.
'Most Chinese business people in Asia, like Thailand and Indonesia, don't speak much English,' he said. 'To communicate effectively, you really have to know the (Chinese) language.'
Former Australia PM claims Chinese diplomacy 'clumsy' Part Two
And so, China responds to John Howards' criticisms that Chinese diplomacy was clumsy. Go here for the original article that started this.
And the quotable quote from the article reads - "It's a common fault of some Australian officials that they don't think of the mutual beneficial perspective" of bilateral ties, Zhao said. "For instance, on the visit by Kadeer, Howard's remark reveals a unilateral attitude, which obstructs the development of bilateral ties." Zhao Guojun, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
---
China rejects former Aussie PM's criticism
People's Daily
Source - Global Times 4 September 2009
China said on Thursday that former Australian prime minister John Howard's criticism of Chinese diplomatic policies is "unacceptable."
Howard criticized Chinese diplomatic efforts to gag exiled dissidents as "clumsy," and linked strained relations between Beijing and Canberra to a failed mining deal.
"They've got this silly habit, if they don't want you to see someone, they say so – which means that you must see them," Howard said.
He told a business function in Sydney on Wednesday that China's attempts to prevent Rebiya Kadeer from visiting Australia last month were "ridiculous."
"They've done that with the Dalai Lama (and) the way they carried on about that lady with the visa (Kadeer), " he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu yesterday hit back by saying, "It is dishonorable to indulge and even support separatists."
"Such action will only damage his own image," Jiang said, urging foreign diplomats to see through Kadeer's separatist nature, and to protect overall interests by not doing separatists any favor.
Regarding Kadeer's intention to talk with the Chinese government, Jiang said Kadeer is a criminal under Chinese law. "Her accusations against China are not worth refuting," Jiang added.
China canceled a senior minister's visit over Canberra's receiving of Kadeer, whom Beijing accuses of being a separatist and inciting deadly unrest in Urumqi in July.
"As former Australian prime minister, Howard still wields a lot of influence in his country," Zhao Guojun of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told the Global Times.
He added that Howard's criticism indicates the diversified and sometimes controversial attitudes inside Australian political parties.
"It's a common fault of some Australian officials that they don't think of the mutual beneficial perspective" of bilateral ties, Zhao said. "For instance, on the visit by Kadeer, Howard's remark reveals a unilateral attitude, which obstructs the development of bilateral ties."
The conservative leader of Australia for 11 years, Howard also said recent tension between China and Australia could be traced back to mining giant Rio Tinto's rejection of a $19.5 billion cash injection from China's state-owned aluminum giant, Chinalco.
China says the detention of Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu is linked to allegations of industrial espionage and bribery during fraught iron ore negotiations.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia-China ties would experience difficulties, but the "long-term beneficial nature" of the relationship would overcome controversies such as those surrounding Hu and Kadeer.
"We have a very good economic relationship with China, and that will continue," AFP quoted Smith as saying. "We need to take a long-term view of our relationship, and we need to be patient."
Agencies contributed to this story
Source:Global Times
And the quotable quote from the article reads - "It's a common fault of some Australian officials that they don't think of the mutual beneficial perspective" of bilateral ties, Zhao said. "For instance, on the visit by Kadeer, Howard's remark reveals a unilateral attitude, which obstructs the development of bilateral ties." Zhao Guojun, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
---
China rejects former Aussie PM's criticism
People's Daily
Source - Global Times 4 September 2009
China said on Thursday that former Australian prime minister John Howard's criticism of Chinese diplomatic policies is "unacceptable."
Howard criticized Chinese diplomatic efforts to gag exiled dissidents as "clumsy," and linked strained relations between Beijing and Canberra to a failed mining deal.
"They've got this silly habit, if they don't want you to see someone, they say so – which means that you must see them," Howard said.
He told a business function in Sydney on Wednesday that China's attempts to prevent Rebiya Kadeer from visiting Australia last month were "ridiculous."
"They've done that with the Dalai Lama (and) the way they carried on about that lady with the visa (Kadeer), " he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu yesterday hit back by saying, "It is dishonorable to indulge and even support separatists."
"Such action will only damage his own image," Jiang said, urging foreign diplomats to see through Kadeer's separatist nature, and to protect overall interests by not doing separatists any favor.
Regarding Kadeer's intention to talk with the Chinese government, Jiang said Kadeer is a criminal under Chinese law. "Her accusations against China are not worth refuting," Jiang added.
China canceled a senior minister's visit over Canberra's receiving of Kadeer, whom Beijing accuses of being a separatist and inciting deadly unrest in Urumqi in July.
"As former Australian prime minister, Howard still wields a lot of influence in his country," Zhao Guojun of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told the Global Times.
He added that Howard's criticism indicates the diversified and sometimes controversial attitudes inside Australian political parties.
"It's a common fault of some Australian officials that they don't think of the mutual beneficial perspective" of bilateral ties, Zhao said. "For instance, on the visit by Kadeer, Howard's remark reveals a unilateral attitude, which obstructs the development of bilateral ties."
The conservative leader of Australia for 11 years, Howard also said recent tension between China and Australia could be traced back to mining giant Rio Tinto's rejection of a $19.5 billion cash injection from China's state-owned aluminum giant, Chinalco.
China says the detention of Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu is linked to allegations of industrial espionage and bribery during fraught iron ore negotiations.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia-China ties would experience difficulties, but the "long-term beneficial nature" of the relationship would overcome controversies such as those surrounding Hu and Kadeer.
"We have a very good economic relationship with China, and that will continue," AFP quoted Smith as saying. "We need to take a long-term view of our relationship, and we need to be patient."
Agencies contributed to this story
Source:Global Times
Australia is a partner we can't live without
A good, middle-pathed commentary found in the Global Times by a People's Daily senior reporter.
---
Australia is a partner we can't live without
by Ding Gang
Source - Global Times 3 September 2009
On Tuesday, the Global Times ran a story "China is a partner Australia can't live without." I think this is only one side of the story.We should also recognize that Australia is a partner China can't live without. Both are equally important, especially in terms of economy and trade.
Recently there's been a comeback of the so-called China threat in Australia. For issues concerning China's fundamental interest, we shouldn't flinch, but handle them in accordance with the law and refute opposing arguments with reason. Yet it should be noted that the frictions are the results of closer economic and trade ties between China and Australia.
Some Chinese netizens think lightly of Australia. They believe that Australia relies so heavily on China for its economy and trade that China could easily "crush" Australia.
This isn't completely groundless. Australia's official statistics last year show that China was its second largest trade partner. Exports to China accounted for 14.6 percent of Australia's total, and imports from China, at 15.6 percent, were the largest of any nation. Moreover, a large number of Chinese students went to study in Australia, pouring money into the economy. On the other hand, Australia doesn't rank that high on China's foreign trade list.
For historic reasons, we like the economic approach when judging a country's influence. Therefore, some people emphasize the economic and trade ties with Australia, as if others will change their opinion about us when we become heavily relied upon. This perception shows an
excessive worship of power.
In fact, economic and trade relations are about mixed interests. Australia provides China with some indispensible goods. Recently CNPC signed a contract with Australia to buy $41 billion natural gas. China goes global, and increases economic connections with other countries. Meanwhile, China builds codependent relationships and her interests are interwoven with the rest of the world. China's position has changed, so has its relations with the world.
The relationship of interest is about mutual development and benefit, not about fearing and being feared.
Take Chinese overseas students, for example. They benefit Australia's economy and receive better education. Some of them will come back and contribute to China's development.
Our relations have changed from no connections to codependency. It's no longer a one way street. And as China gets stronger, it's unlikely that we'd build unbalanced foreign relations. Nor should we make the assumption that they can't live without us.
Even if someday China becomes so powerful that it could lead the world single-handedly, other countries will not necessarily be crushed without China. Besides, the confrontations of ideologies and system, or people's prejudices, cannot be resolved through economic and trade measures or raw power.
Usually there're boundaries in the game of interest between two codependent countries. Within the boundaries, the two parties can negotiate; going past them, both could get hurt. That's why when we say "China is a partner Australia can't live without," we should
ask ourselves, "Can China live without Australia?"
After all, our economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial. It's a win-win situation. China has gained a lot from its relations with Australia, and Australia hasn't gone so far as to treat China as an enemy.
If we can view China's relations with Australia and other Western countries from this perspective, we'll understand our own power much more clearly.
And when the people can look at our own country more objectively, we will have more flexibility in foreign affairs.
The author is a senior reporter with People's Daily
---
Australia is a partner we can't live without
by Ding Gang
Source - Global Times 3 September 2009
On Tuesday, the Global Times ran a story "China is a partner Australia can't live without." I think this is only one side of the story.We should also recognize that Australia is a partner China can't live without. Both are equally important, especially in terms of economy and trade.
Recently there's been a comeback of the so-called China threat in Australia. For issues concerning China's fundamental interest, we shouldn't flinch, but handle them in accordance with the law and refute opposing arguments with reason. Yet it should be noted that the frictions are the results of closer economic and trade ties between China and Australia.
Some Chinese netizens think lightly of Australia. They believe that Australia relies so heavily on China for its economy and trade that China could easily "crush" Australia.
This isn't completely groundless. Australia's official statistics last year show that China was its second largest trade partner. Exports to China accounted for 14.6 percent of Australia's total, and imports from China, at 15.6 percent, were the largest of any nation. Moreover, a large number of Chinese students went to study in Australia, pouring money into the economy. On the other hand, Australia doesn't rank that high on China's foreign trade list.
For historic reasons, we like the economic approach when judging a country's influence. Therefore, some people emphasize the economic and trade ties with Australia, as if others will change their opinion about us when we become heavily relied upon. This perception shows an
excessive worship of power.
In fact, economic and trade relations are about mixed interests. Australia provides China with some indispensible goods. Recently CNPC signed a contract with Australia to buy $41 billion natural gas. China goes global, and increases economic connections with other countries. Meanwhile, China builds codependent relationships and her interests are interwoven with the rest of the world. China's position has changed, so has its relations with the world.
The relationship of interest is about mutual development and benefit, not about fearing and being feared.
Take Chinese overseas students, for example. They benefit Australia's economy and receive better education. Some of them will come back and contribute to China's development.
Our relations have changed from no connections to codependency. It's no longer a one way street. And as China gets stronger, it's unlikely that we'd build unbalanced foreign relations. Nor should we make the assumption that they can't live without us.
Even if someday China becomes so powerful that it could lead the world single-handedly, other countries will not necessarily be crushed without China. Besides, the confrontations of ideologies and system, or people's prejudices, cannot be resolved through economic and trade measures or raw power.
Usually there're boundaries in the game of interest between two codependent countries. Within the boundaries, the two parties can negotiate; going past them, both could get hurt. That's why when we say "China is a partner Australia can't live without," we should
ask ourselves, "Can China live without Australia?"
After all, our economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial. It's a win-win situation. China has gained a lot from its relations with Australia, and Australia hasn't gone so far as to treat China as an enemy.
If we can view China's relations with Australia and other Western countries from this perspective, we'll understand our own power much more clearly.
And when the people can look at our own country more objectively, we will have more flexibility in foreign affairs.
The author is a senior reporter with People's Daily
Saturday, September 5, 2009
U.S., Australia want joint exercises with China
Hard power to the fore with this bit of reality. It seems some countries seem really keen to check out China's military hardware with some up close and personal 'daylight' spying and intel gathering. Let's wait and see what China has to say in response.
---
U.S., Australia want joint exercises with China
The Associated Press
Source - The Army Times
Posted : Thursday Sep 3, 2009 5:45:52 EDT
SYDNEY — Australia and the United States will invite China to take part in joint military exercises to help ease fears about China’s growing military power and improve ties, the top U.S. military officer in the Pacific was quoted as saying in a report Thursday.
Adm. Timothy Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, and Australian Defense Force Commander Angus Houston met in Sydney this week and agreed to approach China’s Ministry of National Defense about holding joint naval and land exercises “at the earliest opportunity,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Keating as saying.
Concerns about China’s military expansion and strained relations between Beijing and Canberra highlight the need for improved military and diplomatic ties, Keating said.
“We are anxious to engage with them,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “We want to understand much better than we do now China’s intentions.”
On Wednesday, Keating told The Associated Press in New Zealand that the U.S. had resumed talks with China’s military for the first time in 10 months, amid concerns in Washington over some of the weapons systems Beijing is developing.
Keating said the talks, which started over the weekend, were a “positive signal that China is willing to engage” and would be instrumental in understanding “where they intend to go with their weapons systems and how we can avoid them becoming a threat.”
He said some of the weapons and military capabilities “don’t appear to us to support their notion of peaceful rise and harmonious integration, so we will watch carefully with many others to see how that development unfolds.”
Keating told The Sydney Morning Herald the joint exercises could include small-scale naval and land activities and personnel exchanges.
The Chinese Embassy in Canberra said it was not authorized to comment on the proposed exercises.
Tensions have grown recently between Australia and China over Australia’s decision to grant a visa to an exiled ethnic Uighur activist, and China’s arrest of an Australian mining executive on charges of infringing trade secrets and bribery.
---
U.S., Australia want joint exercises with China
The Associated Press
Source - The Army Times
Posted : Thursday Sep 3, 2009 5:45:52 EDT
SYDNEY — Australia and the United States will invite China to take part in joint military exercises to help ease fears about China’s growing military power and improve ties, the top U.S. military officer in the Pacific was quoted as saying in a report Thursday.
Adm. Timothy Keating, head of U.S. Pacific Command, and Australian Defense Force Commander Angus Houston met in Sydney this week and agreed to approach China’s Ministry of National Defense about holding joint naval and land exercises “at the earliest opportunity,” The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Keating as saying.
Concerns about China’s military expansion and strained relations between Beijing and Canberra highlight the need for improved military and diplomatic ties, Keating said.
“We are anxious to engage with them,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “We want to understand much better than we do now China’s intentions.”
On Wednesday, Keating told The Associated Press in New Zealand that the U.S. had resumed talks with China’s military for the first time in 10 months, amid concerns in Washington over some of the weapons systems Beijing is developing.
Keating said the talks, which started over the weekend, were a “positive signal that China is willing to engage” and would be instrumental in understanding “where they intend to go with their weapons systems and how we can avoid them becoming a threat.”
He said some of the weapons and military capabilities “don’t appear to us to support their notion of peaceful rise and harmonious integration, so we will watch carefully with many others to see how that development unfolds.”
Keating told The Sydney Morning Herald the joint exercises could include small-scale naval and land activities and personnel exchanges.
The Chinese Embassy in Canberra said it was not authorized to comment on the proposed exercises.
Tensions have grown recently between Australia and China over Australia’s decision to grant a visa to an exiled ethnic Uighur activist, and China’s arrest of an Australian mining executive on charges of infringing trade secrets and bribery.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Former Australia PM claims Chinese diplomacy 'clumsy'
This is an interesting read. Even more interesting would be the Chinese response to this. This will be well-worth a series!
---
Chinese diplomacy 'clumsy'
AFP
Source - Straits Times 3 September 2009
SYDNEY - FORMER Australian prime minister John Howard has criticised 'clumsy' Chinese diplomatic efforts to gag exiled dissidents and linked recent strains between Canberra and Beijing to a failed mining deal.
Mr Howard said China's attempts to prevent exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer visiting Australia last month were 'ridiculous' and left Canberra with no choice but to grant her a visa.
Conservative leader of Australia for 11 years, Mr Howard said Beijing had adopted similar tactics when Tibet's spiritual leader visited the country, failing to appreciate that efforts to dictate diplomatic policy were destined to backfire.
'They can be very clumsy diplomatically,' Mr Howard told a business function in Sydney on Wednesday. 'They've got this silly habit, if they don't want you to see someone, they say so - which means that you must see them.'
'It's just ridiculous, they've done that with the Dalai Lama (and) the way they carried on about that lady with the visa (Kadeer). '
'Of course we had to give that lady a visa. Heavens above, you don't allow the Chinese, or any government - whether it's China or Britain or America - to tell us who we should give visas to.'
Australia revealed last month that China had cancelled a senior minister's visit over Canberra's decision to grant a visa to Kadeer, whom Beijing accuses of being a separatist and inciting deadly unrest in northwest China's Xinjiang region in July.
Mr Howard said recent tensions between China and Australia could be traced back to mining giant Rio Tinto's rejection of a US$19.5 US billion (S$28 billion) cash injection from China's state-owned aluminium giant Chinalco.
'I think they got their noses out of joint over the Chinalco thing and some of the things they have done in response have been conditioned by that reaction,' he said.
China arrested Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu in the weeks after the Chinalco deal collapsed, but says his detention is linked to allegations of industrial espionage and bribery during fraught iron ore negotiations. -- AFP
---
Chinese diplomacy 'clumsy'
AFP
Source - Straits Times 3 September 2009
SYDNEY - FORMER Australian prime minister John Howard has criticised 'clumsy' Chinese diplomatic efforts to gag exiled dissidents and linked recent strains between Canberra and Beijing to a failed mining deal.
Mr Howard said China's attempts to prevent exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer visiting Australia last month were 'ridiculous' and left Canberra with no choice but to grant her a visa.
Conservative leader of Australia for 11 years, Mr Howard said Beijing had adopted similar tactics when Tibet's spiritual leader visited the country, failing to appreciate that efforts to dictate diplomatic policy were destined to backfire.
'They can be very clumsy diplomatically,' Mr Howard told a business function in Sydney on Wednesday. 'They've got this silly habit, if they don't want you to see someone, they say so - which means that you must see them.'
'It's just ridiculous, they've done that with the Dalai Lama (and) the way they carried on about that lady with the visa (Kadeer). '
'Of course we had to give that lady a visa. Heavens above, you don't allow the Chinese, or any government - whether it's China or Britain or America - to tell us who we should give visas to.'
Australia revealed last month that China had cancelled a senior minister's visit over Canberra's decision to grant a visa to Kadeer, whom Beijing accuses of being a separatist and inciting deadly unrest in northwest China's Xinjiang region in July.
Mr Howard said recent tensions between China and Australia could be traced back to mining giant Rio Tinto's rejection of a US$19.5 US billion (S$28 billion) cash injection from China's state-owned aluminium giant Chinalco.
'I think they got their noses out of joint over the Chinalco thing and some of the things they have done in response have been conditioned by that reaction,' he said.
China arrested Australian Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu in the weeks after the Chinalco deal collapsed, but says his detention is linked to allegations of industrial espionage and bribery during fraught iron ore negotiations. -- AFP
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
China scraps events over Dalai Lama visit to Taiwan
The aftermath has arrived, China was bound to be heavy-handed, albeit its earlier composed mannner (see previous post) - and went ahead to cancel and postpone important markers of 'improving' cooperation. Cross-strait relations have been getting better for a while now, and has been the centerpiece/hallmark of the current Taiwanese leadership. What happens when this emblem of their work fails?
The NY Times in fact, argue that the visit by the Dalai Lama was always only going to compound the Taiwanese leadership problems, and discusses the Taiwanese leadership's headaches; it was not a clear-cut call to make. Go here for article.
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China scraps events
Tension over Dalai Lama
Source - Straits Times, 01 September 2009
TAIPEI - CHINA has canceled or postponed several events meant to underscore improving relations with Taiwan, apparently to show anger over the Dalai Lama's visit to the island, Taiwan's governing party said on Tuesday.
The visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader - aimed at offering comfort to the victims of Typhoon Morakot - has created the most serious challenge for relations between the democratic island and the communist mainland since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office 15 months ago on a platform of ending 60 years of hostility.
China has canceled or postponed the planned Taiwan visits of at least two important delegations, and nixed ceremonies meant to mark the expansion of direct air service between the sides, said Nationalist Party spokesman Chen Shu-rong said on Tuesday.
Beijing already had announced that its delegation will not take part in Saturday's opening of the Deaf Olympics in Taipei.
The Chinese moves follow Sunday's statement from the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office that the Dalai Lama's visit 'is bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan.'
Speaking to The Associated Press, Ms Chen said the cancellations appeared linked to the Taiwan visit of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing reviles as a 'splittist' because he allegedly seeks independence for his native Tibet.
Ms Chen declined on Tuesday to comment on news reports that the party sent an emissary to China last week to seek its understanding on the visit, but acknowledged that it is using its normal channels of communications with the Communists to try to mitigate Beijing's anger.
'We have continued to keep up our contact,' she said.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing regards the island as part of its territory and routinely condemns any interference in its affairs from outside parties. -- AP
The NY Times in fact, argue that the visit by the Dalai Lama was always only going to compound the Taiwanese leadership problems, and discusses the Taiwanese leadership's headaches; it was not a clear-cut call to make. Go here for article.
---
China scraps events
Tension over Dalai Lama
Source - Straits Times, 01 September 2009
TAIPEI - CHINA has canceled or postponed several events meant to underscore improving relations with Taiwan, apparently to show anger over the Dalai Lama's visit to the island, Taiwan's governing party said on Tuesday.
The visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader - aimed at offering comfort to the victims of Typhoon Morakot - has created the most serious challenge for relations between the democratic island and the communist mainland since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou took office 15 months ago on a platform of ending 60 years of hostility.
China has canceled or postponed the planned Taiwan visits of at least two important delegations, and nixed ceremonies meant to mark the expansion of direct air service between the sides, said Nationalist Party spokesman Chen Shu-rong said on Tuesday.
Beijing already had announced that its delegation will not take part in Saturday's opening of the Deaf Olympics in Taipei.
The Chinese moves follow Sunday's statement from the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office that the Dalai Lama's visit 'is bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan.'
Speaking to The Associated Press, Ms Chen said the cancellations appeared linked to the Taiwan visit of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing reviles as a 'splittist' because he allegedly seeks independence for his native Tibet.
Ms Chen declined on Tuesday to comment on news reports that the party sent an emissary to China last week to seek its understanding on the visit, but acknowledged that it is using its normal channels of communications with the Communists to try to mitigate Beijing's anger.
'We have continued to keep up our contact,' she said.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing regards the island as part of its territory and routinely condemns any interference in its affairs from outside parties. -- AP
Deaths, lung damage linked to nanoparticles in China
Truly scary stuff, and perhaps it is time to be a bit more aware of the things developing around us beyond our control, sight, or reason to fathom. Nanoparticles! Science fiction not too long ago, then high technology, now pervasive everywhere.
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Deaths, lung damage linked to nanoparticles in China
By Tan Ee Lyn
Source - Reuters 17 August 2009
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Seven young Chinese women suffered permanent lung damage and two of them died after working for months without proper protection in a paint factory using nanoparticles, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday.
They said the study is the first to document health effects of nanotechnology in humans, although animal studies in the past have shown nanoparticles could damage the lungs of rats.
"These cases arouse concern that long term exposure to nanoparticles without protective measures may be related to serious damage to human lungs," Yuguo Song from the occupational disease and clinical toxicology department at Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing wrote in the European Respiratory Journal.
But a U.S. government expert said the study was more a demonstration of industrial hazards than any evidence that nanoparticles pose more of a risk than other chemicals.
Nanotechnology is an important industry. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter (yard) and nanoparticles measure between 1 to 100 nanometers.
It is used in products like sporting goods, tires, electronics, cosmetics and surface coatings and has a projected annual market of around $1 trillion by 2015.
"Their tiny diameter means that they can penetrate the body's natural barriers, particularly through contact with damaged skin or by inhalation or ingestion," Song and colleagues wrote.
They said the seven women had worked for between five to 13 months in a factory spraying paint on polystyrene boards before they developed breathing difficulties and rashes on their faces and arms.
The women breathed in fumes and smoke that contained nanoparticles while working in the factory, Song said.
PARTICLES AND FLUID
According to the paper, doctors found the women had excess fluids in the cavities surrounding their lungs and hearts, conditions that impair breathing and heart function.
Their lung tissues and fluids contained nanoparticles about 30 nanometers in diameter -- matching particles that health protection officials later found in materials used in the factory where the women worked.
Two of the women died within two years of working in the factory. The condition of the other five women has not improved even though they are no longer handling such materials.
It is impossible to remove nanoparticles once they penetrate lung cells, wrote Song.
Allen Chan, a chemical pathologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong not connected to the study, said the findings were significant.
"These findings are important because they provide concrete evidence that these materials are harmful and protection must be given to workers," he said.
But Clayton Teague, who heads the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, noted that the women who were sickened on the job were spraying a paste containing nanoparticles in a very small, unventilated room, and wore gauze masks only occasionally.
He said in the United States the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has developed extensive safety training for nanotechnology workers and a proactive risk management system to help companies maximize worker safety.
"From what we know, this tragedy could have been avoided by proper industrial hygiene techniques," Teague said.
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Deaths, lung damage linked to nanoparticles in China
By Tan Ee Lyn
Source - Reuters 17 August 2009
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Seven young Chinese women suffered permanent lung damage and two of them died after working for months without proper protection in a paint factory using nanoparticles, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday.
They said the study is the first to document health effects of nanotechnology in humans, although animal studies in the past have shown nanoparticles could damage the lungs of rats.
"These cases arouse concern that long term exposure to nanoparticles without protective measures may be related to serious damage to human lungs," Yuguo Song from the occupational disease and clinical toxicology department at Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing wrote in the European Respiratory Journal.
But a U.S. government expert said the study was more a demonstration of industrial hazards than any evidence that nanoparticles pose more of a risk than other chemicals.
Nanotechnology is an important industry. One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter (yard) and nanoparticles measure between 1 to 100 nanometers.
It is used in products like sporting goods, tires, electronics, cosmetics and surface coatings and has a projected annual market of around $1 trillion by 2015.
"Their tiny diameter means that they can penetrate the body's natural barriers, particularly through contact with damaged skin or by inhalation or ingestion," Song and colleagues wrote.
They said the seven women had worked for between five to 13 months in a factory spraying paint on polystyrene boards before they developed breathing difficulties and rashes on their faces and arms.
The women breathed in fumes and smoke that contained nanoparticles while working in the factory, Song said.
PARTICLES AND FLUID
According to the paper, doctors found the women had excess fluids in the cavities surrounding their lungs and hearts, conditions that impair breathing and heart function.
Their lung tissues and fluids contained nanoparticles about 30 nanometers in diameter -- matching particles that health protection officials later found in materials used in the factory where the women worked.
Two of the women died within two years of working in the factory. The condition of the other five women has not improved even though they are no longer handling such materials.
It is impossible to remove nanoparticles once they penetrate lung cells, wrote Song.
Allen Chan, a chemical pathologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong not connected to the study, said the findings were significant.
"These findings are important because they provide concrete evidence that these materials are harmful and protection must be given to workers," he said.
But Clayton Teague, who heads the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, noted that the women who were sickened on the job were spraying a paste containing nanoparticles in a very small, unventilated room, and wore gauze masks only occasionally.
He said in the United States the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has developed extensive safety training for nanotechnology workers and a proactive risk management system to help companies maximize worker safety.
"From what we know, this tragedy could have been avoided by proper industrial hygiene techniques," Teague said.
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