The Agonist - China

Thousands riot in northwest China over a city center's demolition

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:57:53 -0800

John M. Glionna | Beijing | Nov 18

LA Times - An angry crowd of 2,000 people rioted in northwest China's Gansu province over a government plan to demolish a downtown area, torching cars and attacking a local Communist Party office, injuring 60 officials, state-run media reported Tuesday.

At one point, rioters met a surging wall of armed police officers with a hail of rocks, bricks, bottles and flower pots. The crowd later confronted police with iron bars, axes and hoes as they tried to hijack a fire truck and smashed windows and office equipment in two government buildings.

The violence, one of the most marked instances of social unrest to grip China in recent months, was sparked by government plans to relocate the city of Longnan's administrative center after May's devastating earthquake, according to the Xinhua news agency.

China's coal fires belch fumes, worsening global warming

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:25:27 -0800

Tim Johnson | Rujigou, China | Nov 16

McClatchy -

_{The glow of an underground coal fire is visible through surface rocks at Ruqigou, China.}

China has the worst underground coal fires of any country on Earth. The fires destroy as much as 20 million tons of coal annually, nearly the equivalent of Germany's entire annual production. The costs go beyond the waste of a valuable fuel, however. Scientists blame uncontrolled coal fires as a significant source of greenhouse gases, which lead to global warming.

China welcomes UK Tibet decision

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:53:31 -0800

Nov 15

BBC - A senior Chinese official has welcomed the UK's decision to recognise Beijing's direct rule over Tibet.

Zhu Weiqun, who is leading talks with Tibetan exiles, told the BBC the move had brought the UK "in line with the universal position in today's world".

But Mr Zhu would not say whether it might be linked with Prime Minister Gordon Brown's efforts to bring China into a new world economic order.

Beijing says Tibet has been part of the Chinese nation since the 13th Century.

Many Tibetans disagree, pointing out that the Himalayan region was an independent kingdom for many centuries, and that Chinese rule over Tibet has not been constant.

All Chinese Food Imports Containing Dairy Held Up at U.S. Border

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:24:24 -0800

Annys Shin | Nov 14

WaPo - The Food and Drug Administration has begun stopping imports of Chinese dairy and dairy-based products from entering the country in an effort to keep out food contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.

Melamine is the chemical at the heart of the Chinese infant formula scandal that has killed at least two infants and sickened more than 50,000. Scraps of melamine, which is used to make plastic and fertilizer, were added to milk as a way of boosting the milk's protein content in order to pass quality tests. The same thing was done with wheat gluten, which was then used to make pet food and sparked a wave of recalls last year after thousands of pets died.

FDA officials, who had been spot checking markets for melamine-tainted foods and recalling select products, said they expanded their import advisory in part because of intelligence from overseas counterparts.

You can read the full import alert here.

China tries to defuse latest factory protest

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:42:39 -0800

Beijing | Nov 11

Reuters - Sou Workers at a diesel engine factory in eastern China were in talks with local officials on Tuesday after days of protests and road blocks over job security at the troubled plant, locals and police said.

Many of the 2,000 workers at the Yangdong Co Ltd diesel plant in Jiangyan city, Jiangsu province, had blocked local highways, surrounded government offices and yelled chants of "Save our jobs", said local resident Yu Changjiang.

"They went to the city government yesterday to demand action on the company, and I think the city officials are talking to them today, too," Yu said by telephone.

A police officer also said local officials had sought to defuse the dispute, apparently centred on the fate of company assets, but he denied a report that a senior Yangdong executive, Wang Jianming, had been kidnapped by workers.

Labour protests have hit struggling businesses in southern China in recent weeks, prompting fears that slowing economic growth due to the global financial crisis could stir wider popular unrest. So far protests have been isolated and focused on particular businesses.

China says no compromising on Tibet's future

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:26:55 -0800

Chris Buckley | Beijing | Nov 10

Reuters - The Dalai Lama's calls for "high-level autonomy" for Tibet will never be accepted by Beijing, a Chinese official said, taking an unbending line before talks by exiled Tibetans about the future of their cause.

Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, said on Monday that envoys of the Dalai had pressed his long-standing demand for "genuine autonomy" for the mountain region during talks in Beijing last week.

Ahead of an agenda-setting meeting of exiled Tibetan activists, the Dalai's representatives gave their Chinese hosts a "Memorandum for all Tibetans to enjoy genuine autonomy". But Zhu's public response was unyielding.

China would "never allow ethnic splitting in the name of genuine autonomy," he told a news conference.

"In fact, this is seeking a legal basis for so-called Tibetan independence, or semi-independence or covert independence," said Zhu, whose department oversees the ruling Party's dealings with religious organisations.

Retracing the Path Toxic Powder Took To Food in China

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:26:46 -0800

Maureen Fan & Ariana Eunjung Cha | Shijiazhuang | Nov 8

WaPo - Xue Jianzhong never posted a sign on his ground-floor shop, but somehow everyone knew what he was selling. Customers from all over this dairy farming region in the northeastern province of Hebei flocked to Xue's dusty street to buy special concoctions that he said would make milk more nutritious -- and more marketable.

Advertised as a "protein powder," the substance was sold in 44-pound bags and was tasteless, odorless and white, like talc. It wasn't cheap, about $1 a pound, but it could be mixed into inferior milk or even with specially treated water and the result would be a milklike liquid that would pass government quality tests.

It wasn't until September, when Xue was arrested in connection with the investigation into the poisoning of tens of thousands of babies across China, that it became clear his secret ingredient was a toxic industrial chemical called melamine.

Anti-China protests bring Taiwan capital to standstill

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:49:42 -0800

Taipei | Nov 6

AFP -

The streets of central Taipei came to a standstill on Thursday as tens of thousands of protesters chanted slogans and blew air horns to protest closer ties with China being promoted by their leaders.

The demonstrators were determined to express their outrage at the presence of Chen Yunlin, Beijing's top negotiator on Taiwan affairs, who was heading a large delegation of Chinese officials and business people visiting the island.

Demonstrators said they were also angry that a meeting between Taiwan's democratically-elected President Ma Ying-jeou and Chen had been moved forward by several hours, a move they suspected was to avoid any discomfort for the Chinese official with a show of widespread public anti-China sentiment.

Ma had been embarrassed by demonstrations on Wednesday that saw Chen trapped inside a building for several hours before police could secure him safe passage back to his hotel.

Saudi Arabia agrees to bail out Pakistan

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:41:34 -0800

LaHore | Nov 7

Daily Times[Pak] - Saudi Arabia has agreed to bail out cash-strapped Pakistan with ‘substantial oil supply’ on deferred payment and cash assistance, according to a Dawn News report on Thursday.

Another report by the Online news agency said Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide ‘tangible assistance’ to ‘ease Pakistan’s balance of payment pressure’ and has assured the visiting Pakistani delegation of investing more than $1 billion in the livestock and agricultural sectors.

“Foreign Minister Shah Mehmoud Qureshi is expected to announce the Saudi package in Islamabad on Friday,” Dawn News said.

Online said the Saudi leadership also said they would increase hiring of Pakistani labour and would provide more financial assistance through the Friends of Pakistan initiative.

** Pakistan seen needing IMF even with Saudi oil help

Monsoon link to fall of dynasties

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:50:24 -0800

Nov 7

BBC -

The demise of some of China's ruling dynasties may have been linked to changes in the strength of monsoon rains, a new study suggests.

The findings come from 1,800-year record of the Asian monsoon preserved in a stalagmite from a Chinese cave.

Weak - and therefore dry - monsoon periods coincided with the demise of the Tang, Yuan and Ming imperial dynasties, the scientists said.

A US-Chinese team report their work in the journal Science.

Stalagmites are largely made up of calcium carbonate, which precipitates from groundwater dripping from the ceiling of a cave.

Chemical analysis of a 118mm-long stalagmite from Wangxiang Cave, in Gansu province, north-west China, told the history of strong and weak cycles in the monsoon - the rains that water crops to feed millions of people in Asia.

The record came from a stalagmite found in Wanxiang Cave, China

Paradise lost at Tiger Leaping Gorge

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:14:58 -0800

Antoaneta Bezlova | Lijiang | Nov 5

Asia Times -

Tucked into the folds of the snow-peaked mountains of Shangri-la is the stunningly beautiful Tiger Leaping Gorge, a river canyon so narrow a tiger once jumped across it. Now threatened by a hydropower project, the scenic site has become a battleground with China's nascent environmental movement fending off powerful lobbies and energy officials.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

story after the jump

China and Taiwan sign landmark deal

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:21:13 -0800

Tania Branigan | Beijing | Nov 5

The Guardian - China and Taiwan moved closer to overcoming six decades of hostilities today, as they signed deals drastically expanding direct flights and allowing shipping links across the Formosa strait.

The agreement follows a dramatic thaw in relations over the last six months, since the election of Taiwan's new president, Ma Ying-jeou. The island broke away from the mainland at the end of the civil war in 1949.

Beijing and Taipei have agreed to set aside contentious political issues to work on improving economic links - important to both at a time of worldwide gloom.

Taiwan and China sign flight, cargo agreements

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:56:58 -0800

Ralph Jennings | Taipei | November 4

Reuters - Top officials from Taiwan and China signed deals on daily direct flights, new cargo routes and food safety on Tuesday during Beijing's highest-level visit to its political rival in 60 years.

China negotiator Chen Yunlin also said he aimed to normalize financial ties with Taiwan amid the global financial crisis.

Communist China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

Chen and his Taiwan counterpart, P.K. Chiang, signed 13 agreements, putting aside old security and sovereignty concerns.

Maternity tourist boom brings midwife crisis to Hong Kong

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:50:17 -0800

Hong Kong | Nov 3

DPA - Like most things from the cradle to the grave in Hong Kong, it used to be simply a question of money. If you had it, then a bed in a maternity ward at a private hospital was yours. Hong Kong's birth rate was falling, and maternity care was very much a buyer's market.

But things have changed dramatically in the past five years. Now women opting to give birth in one of Hong Kong's private hospitals have to book their beds as soon as they discover they are pregnant, with some of the hospital's maternity units already fully booked until May.

The surge, driven by mainland woman seeking to qualify their children for Hong Kong residency and evade China's one-child policy, appeared to take everyone by surprise - not least of whom was the Hospital Authority, which in 1999 had looked at the falling birth rate, seen a surplus of midwives and halted training in all but one of the midwife-training schools.

China to tighten control of feed industry: state media

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:32:22 -0700

Beijing | Nov 1

AFP - China has pledged to tighten supervision of the animal feed industry, state media said Saturday, amid signs a toxic chemical found in milk and eggs was being mixed into livestock feed.

"The ministry will tighten its supervision of the feed industry and crack down on producers who add melamine to their products," the China Daily quoted Wang Zhicai, head of the Agriculture Ministry's livestock division as saying.

Melamine, an industrial chemical normally used to make plastic, was first found to have been added to milk in China, leading to the death of four infants and sickening at least 53,000 other people.

The chemical -- which can lead to severe kidney problems if ingested in large amounts -- was then discovered in Chinese eggs, leading to concerns the chemical was much more prevalent in China's food chain than initially believed.