By Miwa Suzuki (AFP) – 1 day ago
HACHIOJI, Japan — Girls clad in maids' outfits are not traditionally associated with Buddhism, but that has not stopped monks at a centuries-old temple using Japanese pop culture to woo visitors.
The Ryohoji temple, built in the late 16th century in a Tokyo suburb, erected a colourful manga-inspired sign at its entrance in June and has since seen visitor numbers perk up -- especially young men.
But it went a step further at the weekend, setting up tents and opening up a temporary cafe staffed by bonnet-wearing girls sporting classic frills, one of the recent popular themes among fans of anime and costume role-playing.
The "maids" look authentic and old-fashioned in every way -- save for the short length of the skirts and the fake cats' ears on their heads.
And it seemed to work, the temple drawing hundreds of visitors on Saturday as the event coincided with a local autumn festival in Hachioji, on the western outskirts of Tokyo.
"I came over because this temple has been the talk of the Net," said Mitsutaka Adachi, a 26-year-old telecom software programmer, one of many first-time visitors to the ancient temple.
"I was a bit surprised to see this but it's fun," he told AFP. "This can motivate people to come here."
One of the maids, who only identified herself as Yurin, said it was "good that young people come to the temple."
"This is my first experience as a maid but I'm enjoying myself," she added.
Ryohoji's chief monk, Shoko Nakazato, 45, said he did not think it was inappropriate.
"I'm a manga generation who grew up watching them on television. I have little resistance to manga.... I wanted to tell the people that temples are a fun place to visit," he said.
Ryohoji previously had almost no visitors during the week, but recently up to 30 people, mostly young men, had come every day, Nakazato said.
Adding to the spectacle, Toromi, a singer who drew the manga characters on the temple's sign, was in a red-and-white costume inspired by a goddess worshipped at the temple.
"I'm so happy as unexpectedly many people came," said Toromi, who goes by one name and is a common sight in Akihabara, Tokyo's electronics district that is frequented by computer buffs and fanatics, known in Japanese as "otaku."
Ryohoji is also selling a 500-yen (five-dollar) card with cartoon characters which allows buyers to download three-minute motion pictures on to their mobile phones of chief monk Nakazato chanting prayers.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Weekly Remarks by President Obama on Asia Trip
Weekly Remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House
Hi. I’m recording this message from Seoul, South Korea, as I finish up my first presidential trip to Asia. As we emerge from the worst recession in generations, there is nothing more important than to do everything we can to get our economy moving again and put Americans back to work, and I will go anywhere to pursue that goal.
That’s one of the main reasons I took this trip. Asia is a region where we now buy more goods and do more trade with than any other place in the world – commerce that supports millions of jobs back home. It’s also a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens our security, and where extremists plan attacks on America’s soil. And since this region includes some of the fastest-growing nations, there can be no solution to the challenge of climate change without the cooperation of the Asia Pacific.
With this in mind, I traveled to Asia to open a new era of American engagement. We made....
...progress with China and Russia in sending a unified message to Iran and North Korea that they must live up to their international obligations and either forsake nuclear weapons or face the consequences.
As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, we developed a host of new clean energy initiatives with China, and our two nations agreed to work toward a successful outcome at the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen – an outcome that leads to immediate action to reduce carbon pollution.
And I spoke to young men and women at a town hall in Shanghai and across the internet about certain values that we in America believe are universal: the freedom of worship and speech; the right to access information and choose one’s own leaders.
But above all, I spoke with leaders in every nation I visited about what we can do to sustain this economic recovery and bring back jobs and prosperity for our people – a task I will continue to focus on relentlessly in the weeks and months ahead.
This recession has taught us that we can’t return to a situation where America’s economic growth is fueled by consumers who take on more and more debt. In order to keep growing, we need to spend less, save more, and get our federal deficit under control. We also need to place a greater emphasis on exports that we can build, produce, and sell to other nations – exports that can help create new jobs at home and raise living standards throughout the world.
For example, if we can increase our exports to Asia Pacific nations by just 5%, we can increase the number of American jobs supported by these exports by hundreds of thousands.This is already happening with businesses like American Superconductor Corporation, an energy technology startup based in Massachusetts that’s been providing wind power and smart grid systems to countries like China, Korea, and India. By doing so, it’s added more than 100 jobs over the last few years.
Increasing our exports is one way to create new jobs and new prosperity. But as we emerge from a recession that has left millions without work, we have an obligation to consider every additional, responsible step we can take to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country.
That’s why I’ve announced that in the next few weeks, we’ll be holding a forum at the White House on jobs and economic growth. I want to hear from CEOs and small business owners, economists and financial experts, as well as representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups, about what they think we can do to spur hiring and get this economy moving again.
It is important that we do not make any ill-considered decisions – even with the best of intentions – particularly at a time when our resources are so limited. But it is just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we’ve already taken to put America back to work. That’s what I hope to achieve in this forum.
Still, there is no forum or policy that can bring all the jobs we’ve lost overnight. I wish there were, because so many Americans – friends, neighbors, family members – are desperately looking for work. But even though it will take time, I can promise you this: we are moving in the right direction; that the steps we are taking are helping; and I will not let up until businesses start hiring again, unemployed Americans start working again, and we rebuild this economy stronger and more prosperous than it was before. That has been the focus of our efforts these past ten months – and it will continue to be our focus in the months and years to come. Thanks. ###
Hi. I’m recording this message from Seoul, South Korea, as I finish up my first presidential trip to Asia. As we emerge from the worst recession in generations, there is nothing more important than to do everything we can to get our economy moving again and put Americans back to work, and I will go anywhere to pursue that goal.
That’s one of the main reasons I took this trip. Asia is a region where we now buy more goods and do more trade with than any other place in the world – commerce that supports millions of jobs back home. It’s also a place where the risk of a nuclear arms race threatens our security, and where extremists plan attacks on America’s soil. And since this region includes some of the fastest-growing nations, there can be no solution to the challenge of climate change without the cooperation of the Asia Pacific.
With this in mind, I traveled to Asia to open a new era of American engagement. We made....
...progress with China and Russia in sending a unified message to Iran and North Korea that they must live up to their international obligations and either forsake nuclear weapons or face the consequences.
As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, we developed a host of new clean energy initiatives with China, and our two nations agreed to work toward a successful outcome at the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen – an outcome that leads to immediate action to reduce carbon pollution.
And I spoke to young men and women at a town hall in Shanghai and across the internet about certain values that we in America believe are universal: the freedom of worship and speech; the right to access information and choose one’s own leaders.
But above all, I spoke with leaders in every nation I visited about what we can do to sustain this economic recovery and bring back jobs and prosperity for our people – a task I will continue to focus on relentlessly in the weeks and months ahead.
This recession has taught us that we can’t return to a situation where America’s economic growth is fueled by consumers who take on more and more debt. In order to keep growing, we need to spend less, save more, and get our federal deficit under control. We also need to place a greater emphasis on exports that we can build, produce, and sell to other nations – exports that can help create new jobs at home and raise living standards throughout the world.
For example, if we can increase our exports to Asia Pacific nations by just 5%, we can increase the number of American jobs supported by these exports by hundreds of thousands.This is already happening with businesses like American Superconductor Corporation, an energy technology startup based in Massachusetts that’s been providing wind power and smart grid systems to countries like China, Korea, and India. By doing so, it’s added more than 100 jobs over the last few years.
Increasing our exports is one way to create new jobs and new prosperity. But as we emerge from a recession that has left millions without work, we have an obligation to consider every additional, responsible step we can take to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country.
That’s why I’ve announced that in the next few weeks, we’ll be holding a forum at the White House on jobs and economic growth. I want to hear from CEOs and small business owners, economists and financial experts, as well as representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups, about what they think we can do to spur hiring and get this economy moving again.
It is important that we do not make any ill-considered decisions – even with the best of intentions – particularly at a time when our resources are so limited. But it is just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we’ve already taken to put America back to work. That’s what I hope to achieve in this forum.
Still, there is no forum or policy that can bring all the jobs we’ve lost overnight. I wish there were, because so many Americans – friends, neighbors, family members – are desperately looking for work. But even though it will take time, I can promise you this: we are moving in the right direction; that the steps we are taking are helping; and I will not let up until businesses start hiring again, unemployed Americans start working again, and we rebuild this economy stronger and more prosperous than it was before. That has been the focus of our efforts these past ten months – and it will continue to be our focus in the months and years to come. Thanks. ###
South Korea Mass Murderer Hangs Himself In Cell
November 22, 2009
South Korea Mass Murderer Hangs Himself In Cell
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:53 a.m. ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - A convicted South Korean mass murderer died on Sunday after hanging himself in his cell, where he spent two years on death row in a country that still has the death penalty but has not conducted an execution in 12 years.
Chung Nam-kyu was sentenced to death for the murder of 13 people, all women and children, in a two-year killing spree beginning in 2004. He was also charged for robbery, assault and rape of 20 other people who survived with injuries.
He was found hanging in his cell on Saturday from a garbage bag and was rushed to hospital where he died of a heart attack a day later, a Justice Ministry official said. Suicide is suspected although no will has been found.
South Korea has not executed a death row inmate since December 1997 when Kim Dae-jung, who had been sentenced to death for treason by a military government, was elected president.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
South Korea Mass Murderer Hangs Himself In Cell
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:53 a.m. ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - A convicted South Korean mass murderer died on Sunday after hanging himself in his cell, where he spent two years on death row in a country that still has the death penalty but has not conducted an execution in 12 years.
Chung Nam-kyu was sentenced to death for the murder of 13 people, all women and children, in a two-year killing spree beginning in 2004. He was also charged for robbery, assault and rape of 20 other people who survived with injuries.
He was found hanging in his cell on Saturday from a garbage bag and was rushed to hospital where he died of a heart attack a day later, a Justice Ministry official said. Suicide is suspected although no will has been found.
South Korea has not executed a death row inmate since December 1997 when Kim Dae-jung, who had been sentenced to death for treason by a military government, was elected president.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
I know I'm like a ghost: a cry for help before dying
HENRY SAMUEL PARIS
November 22, 2009
Tragic end ... Daul Kim worked across the globe.
FANS and friends expressed shock yesterday at the death of a South Korean model who was found hanged in her central Paris apartment.
Daul Kim's friends remembered her talent and the difficulties she had trying to battle depression, swamping her internet home page with tributes after reports of the rising star's apparent suicide.
The model who starred in high-profile fashion campaigns was found dead after leaving messages on a website saying she was "lonely" and "depressed".
Kim, 20, who was a regular on catwalks in New York, Milan and Paris, modelled for leading designers, including Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Alexander McQueen.
Despite her professional success, she had hinted in a popular internet blog at her desire to end her life.
On November 5, she wrote: "I already accepted that I relate to nothing. The more I gain the more lonely it is ... I know I'm like a ghost."
The last entry, made on Thursday, on her blog titled "I Like To Fork Myself", was headlined "Say hi to forever" and had a link to a video of the song I Go Deep by British singer Jim Rivers.
On October 30, she sounded upbeat: "I left Seoul and I'm in Paris – I'm happy!" Her former home town had, she said, made her "mad, depressed and overworked". The following day she wrote: "No more running away from something or someone or myself."
Raised in Seoul and Singapore, Kim modelled in Asia before making her debut in Paris in 2007.
She most recently appeared at Seoul Fashion Week last month.
Known for her thick mane of hair and her quirkiness, the 178-centimetre model was appreciated for her sense of style. She recently featured in a Topshop commercial for the designer Christopher Kane.
Kim was also an accomplished painter and filmmaker, who had a solo show of her artwork in Seoul.
Commentators pointed to the parallels between her death and that of Lucy Gordon, 28, a British model-turned-actress who hanged herself in Paris in May.
Kim's Seoul agency, Esteem, said her family and agency officials had arrived in the French capital to speak to authorities.
Her death was announced on Friday by a number of agencies she worked for. Her Paris representatives said: "She was a top model and a great friend of all of us at Next."
South Korea, which has the highest suicide rate among the 30 nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has had a string of high-profile suicides recently, including, in May, that of Roh Moo-hyun, the former president, under investigation for corruption.
In 2008, Choi Jin-sil, one of the country's top actresses, killed herself.
November 22, 2009
Tragic end ... Daul Kim worked across the globe.
FANS and friends expressed shock yesterday at the death of a South Korean model who was found hanged in her central Paris apartment.
Daul Kim's friends remembered her talent and the difficulties she had trying to battle depression, swamping her internet home page with tributes after reports of the rising star's apparent suicide.
The model who starred in high-profile fashion campaigns was found dead after leaving messages on a website saying she was "lonely" and "depressed".
Kim, 20, who was a regular on catwalks in New York, Milan and Paris, modelled for leading designers, including Chanel, Dries Van Noten and Alexander McQueen.
Despite her professional success, she had hinted in a popular internet blog at her desire to end her life.
On November 5, she wrote: "I already accepted that I relate to nothing. The more I gain the more lonely it is ... I know I'm like a ghost."
The last entry, made on Thursday, on her blog titled "I Like To Fork Myself", was headlined "Say hi to forever" and had a link to a video of the song I Go Deep by British singer Jim Rivers.
On October 30, she sounded upbeat: "I left Seoul and I'm in Paris – I'm happy!" Her former home town had, she said, made her "mad, depressed and overworked". The following day she wrote: "No more running away from something or someone or myself."
Raised in Seoul and Singapore, Kim modelled in Asia before making her debut in Paris in 2007.
She most recently appeared at Seoul Fashion Week last month.
Known for her thick mane of hair and her quirkiness, the 178-centimetre model was appreciated for her sense of style. She recently featured in a Topshop commercial for the designer Christopher Kane.
Kim was also an accomplished painter and filmmaker, who had a solo show of her artwork in Seoul.
Commentators pointed to the parallels between her death and that of Lucy Gordon, 28, a British model-turned-actress who hanged herself in Paris in May.
Kim's Seoul agency, Esteem, said her family and agency officials had arrived in the French capital to speak to authorities.
Her death was announced on Friday by a number of agencies she worked for. Her Paris representatives said: "She was a top model and a great friend of all of us at Next."
South Korea, which has the highest suicide rate among the 30 nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has had a string of high-profile suicides recently, including, in May, that of Roh Moo-hyun, the former president, under investigation for corruption.
In 2008, Choi Jin-sil, one of the country's top actresses, killed herself.
City Slicker in Shanghai
This Chinese city will host the World Expo next year. And preparations are well under way. Evelyn Chen offers a guide for new and returning visitors
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Why visit?
Shanghai is gearing up to host the six-month-long World Expo, which opens in the Pudong district in May 2010 – a staggering 70 million visitors are expected, bringing with them around 300bn yuan (£26bn) to spend.
As the deadline approaches, this densely populated city of 20 million is being transformed into an enormous construction site, with major projects including two new airport terminals, subway lines and a £420m renovation of the Bund's historic promenade.
An extra 20,000 rooms will be available by 2010 to cope with the swelling tourist numbers, including the recently opened five-star Peninsula Shanghai, the urban resort PuLi, and The Waterhouse, a boutique offering at South Bund, which is due to open in December. There's also a bumper crop of restaurant openings – including the star-studded Restaurant Martin, by three-Michelin-star Martin Berasategui – which look set to raise the bar even higher in a city that was already gaining an excellent reputation for its dining scene.
Don't miss
*The chance to stroll around the cobbled streets of the waterfront Bund area with Patrick Cranley, co-founder of Historic Shanghai (historic-shanghai.com);
*M50, a hip arts centre set in an old textile mill. It houses more than 120 galleries and art studios (m50.com.cn/en);
*Xintiandi, a modish enclave of upscale dining and shopping with a traditional shikumen facade and slick contemporary interiors;
*A ride on the Maglev, the fastest train in the world, which zips from Longyang Lu Metro to Pudong International Airport within eight adrenaline-pumping minutes;
*Tianzifang at Taikang Lu, an artsy maze of laneways with laid-back, Bohemian cafés and boutiques;
*A visit to Jing An Park at dawn to watch the locals practise tai chi;
*A cruise along the Huangpu river;
*Shanghai Museum, for its collection of 120,000 pieces of prized Chinese art, such as bronze ware, porcelain and paintings (shanghaimuseum.net);A
*A trip to the French concession streets of Chang Le Lu to pick up a qi pao (one of those body-hugging, Mandarin gowns), Xin Le Lu for fashion boutiques, and Julu Lu for ceramics and textiles;
*Yuyuan Garden, a classical Chinese garden complete with Ming Dynasty pavilions, rockeries, ponds and arched bridges;
*Dinner at M on the Bund and Three on the Bund, for great food with views of the neon-lit skyline of the Pudong (m-restaurantgroup.com; threeonthebund.com);
*A drink in the world's highest bar, on the 92nd floor of the Park Hyatt Shanghai in the 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Centre (shanghai.park.hyatt.com).
What's new?
Cool Docks
A mile south of the Bund, Cool Docks is taking the crown from Xintiandi as the hippest place to hang out in the city. Shanghai's newest cultural hotspot centres on a large, open square framed by recherché bars, restaurants – including chef Stefan Stiller's European gourmet restaurant – fashion and jewellery boutiques. Drop by Zhu Jun, one of Shanghai's favourite qi pao tailors, and enjoy a drink and a game of pool at Spring Surprise.
Barbie Shanghai
This is the stuff that girlie dreams are made of: a six-storey pink palace where you can live out your Barbie fantasies. Mattel's 35,000sq ft Barbie flagship store houses the world's largest collection of Barbie dolls and licensed Barbie products. But make no mistake, this is not just another toy shop. You can take to the cat walk in Barbie-style designer clothes; nibble on cupcakes crowned with pink icing at The Pink Room; have a facial or a manicure at the Barbie Spa; or simply admire the 875 Barbie dolls on display at the heart of the three-storey spiral staircase.
Details: barbieshanghai.com
1933
Named after the year it was completed, this Art Deco building in the historic Hong Kou district was once East Asia's largest slaughterhouse. Now, after years spent derelict, it has been given the kiss of life by architect Paul Li (of Three on the Bund fame) and turned into a cultural centre – and an architectural tour de force – housing slick restaurants, trendy boutiques and a stunning glass-encased events studio. Next door to 1933, the Factory is creating a buzz, serving food and drinks in a glass recording studio.
Details: 1933shanghai.com
Chinatown
Shanghai's nightlife just got a shot in the arm with the introduction of the city's first Chinatown entertainment emporium. Chinatown is cabaret, burlesque and vaudeville nightclub all rolled into one and in Shanghai it's set in a three-storey building in the atmospheric Hongkou District. Watch the Chinatown dolls dance, sing and perform acrobatics in a sensuous interior decorated in gold and ruby-red tones, with velvet and dark wood. Get an invite to the Observatory Bar or check out the box seats on the balcony level.
Details: chinatownshanghai.com
Mr and Mrs Bund
Paul Pairet is making a big comeback after hanging up his apron as chef-de-cuisine at Jade on 36. This time, he's at the helm of a sensual, Art Deco-inspired French dining salon with a grazing menu of up to 250 affordably priced creations. The lure? Part classic, part avant-garde French cuisine is executed with flair and finesse. Choosing favourites is impossible, but you will not want to miss the intensely flavoured, toasted bread crowned with slices of black truffles and meuniere foam, and Pairet's legendary sweet and tangy lemon tart, a candied lemon dessert filled with lemon sorbet and vanilla chantilly cream.
Details: mmbund.com
Insider's secret: Walter Zahner, General Manager, T8
"Visit Wujiang Lu, Shanghai's famous food street, and join the queue at Xiao Yang Sheng Jian Guan, a local institution for juicy shengjian bao [pan-fried dumplings]. Bite into one of those near-perfect pillows of dumplings bursting with heart-warming pork stock. It's well worth the wait."
Compact Facts
How to get there
Evelyn Chen travelled to Shanghai with Mandarin Journeys (mandarin journeys.com), which offers a five-night tour of Shanghai from £850 per person, based on two sharing, including half-board accommodation and private sightseeing excursions. Mandarin Journeys offers a Shanghai Expo tour package from £790 per person. Return flights from London to Shanghai with Singapore Airlines (0844 800 2380; singaporeair.com) cost from £845 in January.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Why visit?
Shanghai is gearing up to host the six-month-long World Expo, which opens in the Pudong district in May 2010 – a staggering 70 million visitors are expected, bringing with them around 300bn yuan (£26bn) to spend.
As the deadline approaches, this densely populated city of 20 million is being transformed into an enormous construction site, with major projects including two new airport terminals, subway lines and a £420m renovation of the Bund's historic promenade.
An extra 20,000 rooms will be available by 2010 to cope with the swelling tourist numbers, including the recently opened five-star Peninsula Shanghai, the urban resort PuLi, and The Waterhouse, a boutique offering at South Bund, which is due to open in December. There's also a bumper crop of restaurant openings – including the star-studded Restaurant Martin, by three-Michelin-star Martin Berasategui – which look set to raise the bar even higher in a city that was already gaining an excellent reputation for its dining scene.
Don't miss
*The chance to stroll around the cobbled streets of the waterfront Bund area with Patrick Cranley, co-founder of Historic Shanghai (historic-shanghai.com);
*M50, a hip arts centre set in an old textile mill. It houses more than 120 galleries and art studios (m50.com.cn/en);
*Xintiandi, a modish enclave of upscale dining and shopping with a traditional shikumen facade and slick contemporary interiors;
*A ride on the Maglev, the fastest train in the world, which zips from Longyang Lu Metro to Pudong International Airport within eight adrenaline-pumping minutes;
*Tianzifang at Taikang Lu, an artsy maze of laneways with laid-back, Bohemian cafés and boutiques;
*A visit to Jing An Park at dawn to watch the locals practise tai chi;
*A cruise along the Huangpu river;
*Shanghai Museum, for its collection of 120,000 pieces of prized Chinese art, such as bronze ware, porcelain and paintings (shanghaimuseum.net);A
*A trip to the French concession streets of Chang Le Lu to pick up a qi pao (one of those body-hugging, Mandarin gowns), Xin Le Lu for fashion boutiques, and Julu Lu for ceramics and textiles;
*Yuyuan Garden, a classical Chinese garden complete with Ming Dynasty pavilions, rockeries, ponds and arched bridges;
*Dinner at M on the Bund and Three on the Bund, for great food with views of the neon-lit skyline of the Pudong (m-restaurantgroup.com; threeonthebund.com);
*A drink in the world's highest bar, on the 92nd floor of the Park Hyatt Shanghai in the 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Centre (shanghai.park.hyatt.com).
What's new?
Cool Docks
A mile south of the Bund, Cool Docks is taking the crown from Xintiandi as the hippest place to hang out in the city. Shanghai's newest cultural hotspot centres on a large, open square framed by recherché bars, restaurants – including chef Stefan Stiller's European gourmet restaurant – fashion and jewellery boutiques. Drop by Zhu Jun, one of Shanghai's favourite qi pao tailors, and enjoy a drink and a game of pool at Spring Surprise.
Barbie Shanghai
This is the stuff that girlie dreams are made of: a six-storey pink palace where you can live out your Barbie fantasies. Mattel's 35,000sq ft Barbie flagship store houses the world's largest collection of Barbie dolls and licensed Barbie products. But make no mistake, this is not just another toy shop. You can take to the cat walk in Barbie-style designer clothes; nibble on cupcakes crowned with pink icing at The Pink Room; have a facial or a manicure at the Barbie Spa; or simply admire the 875 Barbie dolls on display at the heart of the three-storey spiral staircase.
Details: barbieshanghai.com
1933
Named after the year it was completed, this Art Deco building in the historic Hong Kou district was once East Asia's largest slaughterhouse. Now, after years spent derelict, it has been given the kiss of life by architect Paul Li (of Three on the Bund fame) and turned into a cultural centre – and an architectural tour de force – housing slick restaurants, trendy boutiques and a stunning glass-encased events studio. Next door to 1933, the Factory is creating a buzz, serving food and drinks in a glass recording studio.
Details: 1933shanghai.com
Chinatown
Shanghai's nightlife just got a shot in the arm with the introduction of the city's first Chinatown entertainment emporium. Chinatown is cabaret, burlesque and vaudeville nightclub all rolled into one and in Shanghai it's set in a three-storey building in the atmospheric Hongkou District. Watch the Chinatown dolls dance, sing and perform acrobatics in a sensuous interior decorated in gold and ruby-red tones, with velvet and dark wood. Get an invite to the Observatory Bar or check out the box seats on the balcony level.
Details: chinatownshanghai.com
Mr and Mrs Bund
Paul Pairet is making a big comeback after hanging up his apron as chef-de-cuisine at Jade on 36. This time, he's at the helm of a sensual, Art Deco-inspired French dining salon with a grazing menu of up to 250 affordably priced creations. The lure? Part classic, part avant-garde French cuisine is executed with flair and finesse. Choosing favourites is impossible, but you will not want to miss the intensely flavoured, toasted bread crowned with slices of black truffles and meuniere foam, and Pairet's legendary sweet and tangy lemon tart, a candied lemon dessert filled with lemon sorbet and vanilla chantilly cream.
Details: mmbund.com
Insider's secret: Walter Zahner, General Manager, T8
"Visit Wujiang Lu, Shanghai's famous food street, and join the queue at Xiao Yang Sheng Jian Guan, a local institution for juicy shengjian bao [pan-fried dumplings]. Bite into one of those near-perfect pillows of dumplings bursting with heart-warming pork stock. It's well worth the wait."
Compact Facts
How to get there
Evelyn Chen travelled to Shanghai with Mandarin Journeys (mandarin journeys.com), which offers a five-night tour of Shanghai from £850 per person, based on two sharing, including half-board accommodation and private sightseeing excursions. Mandarin Journeys offers a Shanghai Expo tour package from £790 per person. Return flights from London to Shanghai with Singapore Airlines (0844 800 2380; singaporeair.com) cost from £845 in January.
Plotting Thrillers in the Fog of China
November 21, 2009
By ALEX BERENSON
President Obama stood at a “town hall” meeting in Shanghai last week, fielding questions from eager Chinese students, an American leader demonstrating the give-and-take of democracy to a nation under one-party rule. Except that the students were mainly members of the Communist Youth League, hand-picked by the Chinese Communist Party, and the first question set the tone: “What measures will you take to deepen this close relationship between cities of the United States and China?”
All in all, the “town hall” exemplified the sort of stagecraft that the Chinese seem to specialize in — managed in a way that is so obvious as to be condescending, but still successful at stifling dissent.
The moment reminded me of why I decided, three years ago, to center my second spy novel, “The Ghost War,” on a conflict between the United States and China.
For novelists, China’s rise is pure gold. The Communist Party’s opacity and its passion to control China’s image have had the opposite effect: they feed Western fears of China’s intentions, and dare Western thriller writers to invent disaster.
Never mind that so far the Chinese have not projected military power outside of East Asia, that they prefer to compete mainly by accumulating dollars by the trillion. Military power grows from economic strength, and military analysts do not doubt that the People’s Republic could one day become a full-bore competitor to the United States, offering its protection to all manner of governments throughout the Persian Gulf and Africa.
For journalists, couldis a blank page. But novelists exist to fill that space. So, in 2006, after outlining my book, I procured a tourist visa (I doubted the regime would welcome any working spy novelist, let alone one whose day job was being a business reporter for The New York Times), and went off to China.
The trip was fascinating. I’d been to the People’s Republic in 1988, before the protests in Tiananmen Square forced China’s rulers to liberalize their economic policies. I vaguely remembered a gray Communist country, with empty stores and note-pad sized currency. No more. On Beijing’s giant avenues, cars and buses crowded out bicycles. Giant skyscrapers towered above Guangzhou and Shanghai. Even Xian, in the interior, was bustling and prosperous.
But I can’t pretend that I left China with a better understanding of the machinations at the top of the Communist Party. Those doors stayed closed to me, as they do to nearly all Westerners.
Journalists and spies find such obfuscation frustrating; they are reduced to reading between the lines of official statements and guessing at the shifting alliances and ideologies of the middle-aged men who run China. Facts are hard to come by.
But the opacity that maddens reporters is manna for novelists, and the novelist in me had a fine time imagining what might be happening behind closed doors in Beijing. What if a hard-line Chinese general wanted to take control of the People’s Republic? Could he maneuver China and the United States into a clash, a limited war, to grab control?
I did have a few facts to work with. Military analysts and the Pentagon say China has sharply increased its military spending in the last decade (though it remains far less than the $680 billion the United States will spend this year). The People’s Liberation Army Navy (yes, that’s its name) has been developing submarines and super-fast torpedoes whose only logical targets are American naval vessels. Beijing is trying to build ties all over the world, especially with resource-rich nations in Africa. And China has deep national scars from the quasi-colonialism it faced during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Are old resentments and a shifting balance of power enough to push nuclear-armed powers to the brink of war? In the real world, probably not. In a spy novel, absolutely.
Readers sometimes comment on the realism of my novels. But I don’t aspire to realism. I want, instead, the illusion of realism — a little like the way the Chinese government cares little about the reality of public consent, so long as it has the appearance of consent.
If I can conjure an image of the meetings of the Politburo Standing Committee that seems accurate to you the reader, I’ve succeeded. After all, Hu Jintao — the general secretary of the committee — is unlikely to complain. (If only he would. What publicity that would be!) To steal an old joke: If a bear is chasing both of us, I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.
And so I and other spy novelists can only hope that the Chinese, and the rest of the world’s authoritarian regimes, stick with their stage-managed town halls, Internet censorship, and jailings of mouthy dissidents. During the 1990s, we had reason to worry: democracy seemed to be spreading globally, international tensions fading. Now, though, those dark days are behind us, and we can get back to imagining the worst without fear of contradiction.
Bad for the world, I suppose. Lucky for us.
By ALEX BERENSON
President Obama stood at a “town hall” meeting in Shanghai last week, fielding questions from eager Chinese students, an American leader demonstrating the give-and-take of democracy to a nation under one-party rule. Except that the students were mainly members of the Communist Youth League, hand-picked by the Chinese Communist Party, and the first question set the tone: “What measures will you take to deepen this close relationship between cities of the United States and China?”
All in all, the “town hall” exemplified the sort of stagecraft that the Chinese seem to specialize in — managed in a way that is so obvious as to be condescending, but still successful at stifling dissent.
The moment reminded me of why I decided, three years ago, to center my second spy novel, “The Ghost War,” on a conflict between the United States and China.
For novelists, China’s rise is pure gold. The Communist Party’s opacity and its passion to control China’s image have had the opposite effect: they feed Western fears of China’s intentions, and dare Western thriller writers to invent disaster.
Never mind that so far the Chinese have not projected military power outside of East Asia, that they prefer to compete mainly by accumulating dollars by the trillion. Military power grows from economic strength, and military analysts do not doubt that the People’s Republic could one day become a full-bore competitor to the United States, offering its protection to all manner of governments throughout the Persian Gulf and Africa.
For journalists, couldis a blank page. But novelists exist to fill that space. So, in 2006, after outlining my book, I procured a tourist visa (I doubted the regime would welcome any working spy novelist, let alone one whose day job was being a business reporter for The New York Times), and went off to China.
The trip was fascinating. I’d been to the People’s Republic in 1988, before the protests in Tiananmen Square forced China’s rulers to liberalize their economic policies. I vaguely remembered a gray Communist country, with empty stores and note-pad sized currency. No more. On Beijing’s giant avenues, cars and buses crowded out bicycles. Giant skyscrapers towered above Guangzhou and Shanghai. Even Xian, in the interior, was bustling and prosperous.
But I can’t pretend that I left China with a better understanding of the machinations at the top of the Communist Party. Those doors stayed closed to me, as they do to nearly all Westerners.
Journalists and spies find such obfuscation frustrating; they are reduced to reading between the lines of official statements and guessing at the shifting alliances and ideologies of the middle-aged men who run China. Facts are hard to come by.
But the opacity that maddens reporters is manna for novelists, and the novelist in me had a fine time imagining what might be happening behind closed doors in Beijing. What if a hard-line Chinese general wanted to take control of the People’s Republic? Could he maneuver China and the United States into a clash, a limited war, to grab control?
I did have a few facts to work with. Military analysts and the Pentagon say China has sharply increased its military spending in the last decade (though it remains far less than the $680 billion the United States will spend this year). The People’s Liberation Army Navy (yes, that’s its name) has been developing submarines and super-fast torpedoes whose only logical targets are American naval vessels. Beijing is trying to build ties all over the world, especially with resource-rich nations in Africa. And China has deep national scars from the quasi-colonialism it faced during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Are old resentments and a shifting balance of power enough to push nuclear-armed powers to the brink of war? In the real world, probably not. In a spy novel, absolutely.
Readers sometimes comment on the realism of my novels. But I don’t aspire to realism. I want, instead, the illusion of realism — a little like the way the Chinese government cares little about the reality of public consent, so long as it has the appearance of consent.
If I can conjure an image of the meetings of the Politburo Standing Committee that seems accurate to you the reader, I’ve succeeded. After all, Hu Jintao — the general secretary of the committee — is unlikely to complain. (If only he would. What publicity that would be!) To steal an old joke: If a bear is chasing both of us, I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.
And so I and other spy novelists can only hope that the Chinese, and the rest of the world’s authoritarian regimes, stick with their stage-managed town halls, Internet censorship, and jailings of mouthy dissidents. During the 1990s, we had reason to worry: democracy seemed to be spreading globally, international tensions fading. Now, though, those dark days are behind us, and we can get back to imagining the worst without fear of contradiction.
Bad for the world, I suppose. Lucky for us.
Tibet thrown under the bus
Monday, November 23, 2009
William C. Triplett II
Buried in a very long joint statement by President Obama and President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China is the following declaration by the American president:
"We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have."
The magic words are "we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China." Although the State Department has stated these words or similar ones for decades, so far as anyone can discover, this is the first time an American president has ever made such a statement in public, before the television cameras of the world's press. Beijing is trumpeting the Obama declaration with lead articles in People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper.
Mr. Obama was probably not a volunteer on this subject. On Nov. 6, the South China Morning Post reported that having the American president say these words in public was the No. 1 priority of the Chinese side for the Obama-Hu meetings. They got what they wanted. The comforting words about resuming dialogue with his holiness the Dalai Lama was a small price to pay since Beijing controls the dialogue.
What's going on here? Why does this matter so vitally to the Chinese Communist Party? Do they just want to humiliate the American president? That may be part of it, but the matter really tracks back 59 years to unfinished business.
In the fall of 1950 the party's military arm, the People's Liberation Army, invaded and occupied Tibet. It was the largest military conquest since World War II. Even before China became a nuclear power in the 1960s, no outsider or group of outsiders was going to throw them out. But the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's claim to Tibet has always been an underlying issue.
Beginning in 1987 the Chinese had a setback. After a brutal crackdown in Lhasa in which the photograph of a dead Tibetan child in his grief-stricken father's arms appeared on the front pages of American newspapers, the American Congress passed a resolution taking note of the 1950 invasion and occupation of Tibet.
Since you can't invade and conquer your own country, the Congress had recognized the independence of Tibet. Resolutions passed in the early 1990s made that even more explicit and can be found on the International Campaign for Tibet Web site.
Foreign observers in Tibet reported the joy by which these resolutions were read aloud and passed from hand to hand. In essence, the legislative branch of the U.S. government had a different policy on Tibet than the executive branch.
The issue has percolated in U.S.-Chinese relations for more than 20 years but just recently it has risen to the top on Beijing's agenda list. Why now?
First, because of the American debt to Beijing, they have the power to force the issue. Up to this point, American presidents had artfully dodged the issue. In 1986, President Reagan signed a piece of minor trade legislation he might not have read that included the acknowledgement of Beijing's rights to Tibet. But no American president, until now, had been forced to walk the plank in public.
Second, on the timing issue, it may be an issue of water. All the major rivers of Asia arise in Tibet and countries in the neighborhood have long been concerned that Beijing would divert the flow to China or use water as a political weapon. Just this year the Chinese began building dams on the Tibet Plateau, and lying about it to the Indian government. Perhaps a coincidence, perhaps not.
The ball is now in the Congress' court. Rep. Tom Lantos and Sen. Jesse Helms, two leading congressional supporters of the Tibetan people, have passed from the scene. A Democratic Congress is unlikely to embarrass the White House by passing a new resolution denying Beijing's claim to Tibet.
Unless it is done in the dark of night, it is unlikely that the Congress will pass a resolution reversing their own record on the issue. So, it is likely to remain in limbo for a while, but so long as the Congress has not knowingly given its acquiescence to Beijing's subjugation of the Tibetan people, there is hope.
William C. Triplett II is the former chief Republican counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
William C. Triplett II
Buried in a very long joint statement by President Obama and President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China is the following declaration by the American president:
"We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have."
The magic words are "we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China." Although the State Department has stated these words or similar ones for decades, so far as anyone can discover, this is the first time an American president has ever made such a statement in public, before the television cameras of the world's press. Beijing is trumpeting the Obama declaration with lead articles in People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party newspaper.
Mr. Obama was probably not a volunteer on this subject. On Nov. 6, the South China Morning Post reported that having the American president say these words in public was the No. 1 priority of the Chinese side for the Obama-Hu meetings. They got what they wanted. The comforting words about resuming dialogue with his holiness the Dalai Lama was a small price to pay since Beijing controls the dialogue.
What's going on here? Why does this matter so vitally to the Chinese Communist Party? Do they just want to humiliate the American president? That may be part of it, but the matter really tracks back 59 years to unfinished business.
In the fall of 1950 the party's military arm, the People's Liberation Army, invaded and occupied Tibet. It was the largest military conquest since World War II. Even before China became a nuclear power in the 1960s, no outsider or group of outsiders was going to throw them out. But the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's claim to Tibet has always been an underlying issue.
Beginning in 1987 the Chinese had a setback. After a brutal crackdown in Lhasa in which the photograph of a dead Tibetan child in his grief-stricken father's arms appeared on the front pages of American newspapers, the American Congress passed a resolution taking note of the 1950 invasion and occupation of Tibet.
Since you can't invade and conquer your own country, the Congress had recognized the independence of Tibet. Resolutions passed in the early 1990s made that even more explicit and can be found on the International Campaign for Tibet Web site.
Foreign observers in Tibet reported the joy by which these resolutions were read aloud and passed from hand to hand. In essence, the legislative branch of the U.S. government had a different policy on Tibet than the executive branch.
The issue has percolated in U.S.-Chinese relations for more than 20 years but just recently it has risen to the top on Beijing's agenda list. Why now?
First, because of the American debt to Beijing, they have the power to force the issue. Up to this point, American presidents had artfully dodged the issue. In 1986, President Reagan signed a piece of minor trade legislation he might not have read that included the acknowledgement of Beijing's rights to Tibet. But no American president, until now, had been forced to walk the plank in public.
Second, on the timing issue, it may be an issue of water. All the major rivers of Asia arise in Tibet and countries in the neighborhood have long been concerned that Beijing would divert the flow to China or use water as a political weapon. Just this year the Chinese began building dams on the Tibet Plateau, and lying about it to the Indian government. Perhaps a coincidence, perhaps not.
The ball is now in the Congress' court. Rep. Tom Lantos and Sen. Jesse Helms, two leading congressional supporters of the Tibetan people, have passed from the scene. A Democratic Congress is unlikely to embarrass the White House by passing a new resolution denying Beijing's claim to Tibet.
Unless it is done in the dark of night, it is unlikely that the Congress will pass a resolution reversing their own record on the issue. So, it is likely to remain in limbo for a while, but so long as the Congress has not knowingly given its acquiescence to Beijing's subjugation of the Tibetan people, there is hope.
William C. Triplett II is the former chief Republican counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Assessing the China Trip
Editorial
Published: November 21, 2009
President Obama has faced a fair amount of criticism for his China trip. He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results. The trip wasn’t all that we had hoped it would be, but some of the complaints are premature.
The trip was a template for rising American anxieties about the rising Asian power. President Obama went into his meetings with President Hu Jintao with a weaker hand than most recent American leaders — and it showed. He is still trying to restore the country’s moral authority and a battered economy dependent on Chinese lending. Yet the United States needs China’s cooperation on important and difficult problems, including stabilizing the global financial system, curbing global warming, persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear program and preventing Iran from building any nuclear weapons.
On the positive side, the two leaders hinted in a joint statement that there may have been enough agreement on climate change to give momentum to the Copenhagen negotiations. An American government source said there also may have been some unannounced progress on North Korea.
But publicly, Mr. Obama pulled his punches on China’s exchange rate, saying only that Beijing had promised previously to move toward a more market-oriented rate over time. Despite its indebtedness, the United States has the world’s largest economy; Mr. Obama should have nudged Beijing to move faster. We hope he did so privately.
We were especially disappointed that China made no discernible move to join with the United States and other major powers in threatening tougher sanctions if Iran fails to make progress on curbing its nuclear weapons program. President Obama should have made clear in his private talks that the United States and Europe will act anyway if Beijing and Moscow block United Nations Security Council action.
It was also dispiriting that Mr. Obama agreed to allow China to limit his public appearances so markedly. Questions were not permitted at the so-called press conference with Mr. Hu, and his town hall meeting with future Chinese leaders in Shanghai not only had a Potemkin air, it was not even broadcast live in China. It’s obvious that the last thing Mr. Hu wanted was to get questions about issues like his brutal repression in Tibet and Xinjiang. That doesn’t explain Mr. Obama’s acquiescence in such restrictions.
Mr. Obama did not meet with Chinese liberals. In Shanghai, he spoke of the need for an uncensored Internet and universal rights for all people, including Chinese, and at the press conference he called for dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama. He delayed a meeting with the Dalai Lama until after the China summit and should schedule it soon.
President Obama was elected in part because he promised a more cooperative and pragmatic leadership in world affairs. We support that. The measure of the success (or failure) of his approach won’t be known for months, and we hope it bears fruit. But the American president must always be willing to stand up to Beijing in defense of core American interests and values.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 21,2009, on page A18 of the New York edition.
Published: November 21, 2009
President Obama has faced a fair amount of criticism for his China trip. He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results. The trip wasn’t all that we had hoped it would be, but some of the complaints are premature.
The trip was a template for rising American anxieties about the rising Asian power. President Obama went into his meetings with President Hu Jintao with a weaker hand than most recent American leaders — and it showed. He is still trying to restore the country’s moral authority and a battered economy dependent on Chinese lending. Yet the United States needs China’s cooperation on important and difficult problems, including stabilizing the global financial system, curbing global warming, persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear program and preventing Iran from building any nuclear weapons.
On the positive side, the two leaders hinted in a joint statement that there may have been enough agreement on climate change to give momentum to the Copenhagen negotiations. An American government source said there also may have been some unannounced progress on North Korea.
But publicly, Mr. Obama pulled his punches on China’s exchange rate, saying only that Beijing had promised previously to move toward a more market-oriented rate over time. Despite its indebtedness, the United States has the world’s largest economy; Mr. Obama should have nudged Beijing to move faster. We hope he did so privately.
We were especially disappointed that China made no discernible move to join with the United States and other major powers in threatening tougher sanctions if Iran fails to make progress on curbing its nuclear weapons program. President Obama should have made clear in his private talks that the United States and Europe will act anyway if Beijing and Moscow block United Nations Security Council action.
It was also dispiriting that Mr. Obama agreed to allow China to limit his public appearances so markedly. Questions were not permitted at the so-called press conference with Mr. Hu, and his town hall meeting with future Chinese leaders in Shanghai not only had a Potemkin air, it was not even broadcast live in China. It’s obvious that the last thing Mr. Hu wanted was to get questions about issues like his brutal repression in Tibet and Xinjiang. That doesn’t explain Mr. Obama’s acquiescence in such restrictions.
Mr. Obama did not meet with Chinese liberals. In Shanghai, he spoke of the need for an uncensored Internet and universal rights for all people, including Chinese, and at the press conference he called for dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama. He delayed a meeting with the Dalai Lama until after the China summit and should schedule it soon.
President Obama was elected in part because he promised a more cooperative and pragmatic leadership in world affairs. We support that. The measure of the success (or failure) of his approach won’t be known for months, and we hope it bears fruit. But the American president must always be willing to stand up to Beijing in defense of core American interests and values.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 21,2009, on page A18 of the New York edition.
TIMELINE: Ethnic Chinese nabbed for stealing secrets, espionage
Fri Nov 20, 2009 4:10am EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States is seeking the release of Chinese-born, American geologist Xue Feng, who was detained two years ago on state secrets charges after negotiating the purchase of an oil industry database.
The following is a chronology of cases involving ethnic Chinese executives of foreign companies and Chinese-born, overseas-based academics, reporters and dissidents charged with stealing state secrets, espionage or other crimes.
March 1996 - An official of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp was detained for leaking state secrets to a Chinese employee of Royal Dutch Shell who was released after spending a year largely incommunicado. Shell was in talks with CNOOC then to build an oil refinery.
October 1996 - China freed a Chinese employee of Swiss-owned SBC Warburg, detained for one month on suspicion of leaking state secrets, apparently for having helped prepare materials for company clients on the trend of China's currency, the yuan.
November 1999 - Australian businessman James Peng, held in a Chinese prison for six years, was released on parole and deported. He had been abducted from a hotel in Macau in October 1993, spirited across the border to China and sentenced in 1996 to 18 years in jail on bribery charges.
January 2000 - Song Yongyi, a Pennsylvania-based scholar and expert on China's chaotic 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, was released after five months in a Chinese prison on charges of gathering state secrets. He has since become a U.S. citizen.
July 2001 - Li Shaomin, a Hong Kong-based U.S. professor, was convicted of spying for Taiwan, but spared a sentence and released after spending five months in custody. The conviction came one day after Beijing won its bid to host the 2008 Olympics.
July 2001 - Gao Zhan and Qin Guangguang, Chinese academics with U.S. permanent residency status, were sentenced to 10 years in prison each for collecting intelligence for Taiwan. They were released days later ahead of a visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
February 2003 - A Chinese court sentenced dissident Wang Bingzhang, a permanent U.S. resident, to life in prison on charges of terrorism and spying for Taiwan after he stole into the country and was caught.
May 2004 - A Chinese court handed Boston-based scholar Yang Jianli a five-year prison sentence for entering China illegally and spying for Taiwan in a case that drew U.S. congressional attention and triggered widespread criticism abroad.
August 2006 - Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong reporter for Singapore's Straits Times, was jailed for five years for spying for Taiwan. He was paroled in February 2008, six months before Beijing hosted the Olympic Games.
November 2008 - China executed Wo Weihan, a businessman accused of spying for Taiwan, despite a last-ditch effort by his daughters to appeal for clemency through diplomatic channels. Wo had lived in Germany and Austria for many years. His ex-wife and daughters are Austrian citizens.
July 2009 - Four employees of Australian miner Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets shortly before a deadline for acrimonious iron ore price negotiations. They were later formally arrested for stealing commercial secrets, and the investigation was recently extended into mid-January.
They included Stern Hu, an Australian national and Rio Tinto's top iron ore salesman in China.
(Compiled by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.
BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States is seeking the release of Chinese-born, American geologist Xue Feng, who was detained two years ago on state secrets charges after negotiating the purchase of an oil industry database.
The following is a chronology of cases involving ethnic Chinese executives of foreign companies and Chinese-born, overseas-based academics, reporters and dissidents charged with stealing state secrets, espionage or other crimes.
March 1996 - An official of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp was detained for leaking state secrets to a Chinese employee of Royal Dutch Shell who was released after spending a year largely incommunicado. Shell was in talks with CNOOC then to build an oil refinery.
October 1996 - China freed a Chinese employee of Swiss-owned SBC Warburg, detained for one month on suspicion of leaking state secrets, apparently for having helped prepare materials for company clients on the trend of China's currency, the yuan.
November 1999 - Australian businessman James Peng, held in a Chinese prison for six years, was released on parole and deported. He had been abducted from a hotel in Macau in October 1993, spirited across the border to China and sentenced in 1996 to 18 years in jail on bribery charges.
January 2000 - Song Yongyi, a Pennsylvania-based scholar and expert on China's chaotic 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, was released after five months in a Chinese prison on charges of gathering state secrets. He has since become a U.S. citizen.
July 2001 - Li Shaomin, a Hong Kong-based U.S. professor, was convicted of spying for Taiwan, but spared a sentence and released after spending five months in custody. The conviction came one day after Beijing won its bid to host the 2008 Olympics.
July 2001 - Gao Zhan and Qin Guangguang, Chinese academics with U.S. permanent residency status, were sentenced to 10 years in prison each for collecting intelligence for Taiwan. They were released days later ahead of a visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
February 2003 - A Chinese court sentenced dissident Wang Bingzhang, a permanent U.S. resident, to life in prison on charges of terrorism and spying for Taiwan after he stole into the country and was caught.
May 2004 - A Chinese court handed Boston-based scholar Yang Jianli a five-year prison sentence for entering China illegally and spying for Taiwan in a case that drew U.S. congressional attention and triggered widespread criticism abroad.
August 2006 - Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong reporter for Singapore's Straits Times, was jailed for five years for spying for Taiwan. He was paroled in February 2008, six months before Beijing hosted the Olympic Games.
November 2008 - China executed Wo Weihan, a businessman accused of spying for Taiwan, despite a last-ditch effort by his daughters to appeal for clemency through diplomatic channels. Wo had lived in Germany and Austria for many years. His ex-wife and daughters are Austrian citizens.
July 2009 - Four employees of Australian miner Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets shortly before a deadline for acrimonious iron ore price negotiations. They were later formally arrested for stealing commercial secrets, and the investigation was recently extended into mid-January.
They included Stern Hu, an Australian national and Rio Tinto's top iron ore salesman in China.
(Compiled by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.
'2012' a home run with patriotic fans in China
By CHI-CHI ZHANG (AP) – 2 days ago
BEIJING — When the apocalypse comes, China will save the world.
Or at least that's how Chinese audiences are interpreting "2012," Hollywood's latest blockbuster disaster movie.
"It's about time the world sees us as a dominant ally," said Liu Xinliang, 27, a Beijing-based computer programmer who watched the movie twice.
The movie, currently No. 1 in the U.S., is also No. 1 in China, grossing $17.2 million here since it opened Nov. 13.
Like others in a Beijing theater this week, Liu grinned with pride as he watched Chinese troops in the movie escort wealthy and important citizens onto an ark designed to withstand cataclysmic doom.
In the nearly 3-hour feature, the Earth's core overheats, threatening humanity. Leaders of the world embark on a mission to build an ark in the mountains of central China to house people and animals that can repopulate the planet — a story line many Chinese have praised.
Chinese netizens on popular blogs have been quick to note scenes in the movie perceived as having pro-China messages — Chinese military officers saluting American refugees entering China, China being one of the first nations to agree to open the ark's gates to admit more refugees, and a U.S. military officer saying that only the Chinese could build an ark of such a scale so quickly.
"I felt really proud to be Chinese as I was watching our (military) officers rescue civilians in need," said Zhang Ying, 26, an advertising executive in Beijing. "The movie along with (President Barack) Obama's visit this week made me realize that China has become a respected country on the world stage."
At a theater in central Beijing, hoards of people lined up to buy tickets.
"It's been sold out every night. They all want to watch China save the world," a ticket attendant said with a laugh.
The movie is a refreshing change for Chinese audiences after decades of unflattering portrayals of China in Hollywood movies such as "Red Corner" starring Richard Gere, in which an innocent foreigner faces a corrupt Chinese legal system, and Martin Scorsese's "Kundun," which highlights China's rule of Tibet.
Scenes with Chinese bad guys were cut from "Mission Impossible III" and the China release of last year's blockbuster Batman film, "The Dark Knight," which portrayed Hong Kong unflatteringly, was canceled by Warner Bros. due to "cultural sensitivities."
As China's economy continues to burgeon, Hollywood has set it sights on the nation of 1.3 billion where only 20 foreign movies are allowed to be shown in theaters each year — making it crucial for studios to profit as much as they can with each movie.
"China has a legitimate movie market that's growing, but Hollywood is learning that movies portraying us as poor or the enemy will not make money in China," said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
"Chinese love action and disaster movies with special effects, so "2012" would have been released regardless if China played a role in the story line," Li Chow, Sony Pictures Releasing International's general manager for China, said in a phone interview.
It is unclear whether director Roland Emmerich, who also directed "The Day After Tomorrow," "Independence Day" and "Godzilla," intentionally inserted the China element to gain wider viewership on the mainland.
Steve Elzer, a spokesman for Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, declined to comment on the China element or whether any scenes were cut from the movie.
China's box office is growing but is still small compared to the U.S. market. Government statistics show that revenues surged from 920 million yuan in 2003 to 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) in 2008 — compared to $9.8 billion in the U.S. last year.
The "Transformers" sequel earlier this year brought in $63 million in China, which broke the 11-year record of $53 million set by "Titanic" in 1998.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
BEIJING — When the apocalypse comes, China will save the world.
Or at least that's how Chinese audiences are interpreting "2012," Hollywood's latest blockbuster disaster movie.
"It's about time the world sees us as a dominant ally," said Liu Xinliang, 27, a Beijing-based computer programmer who watched the movie twice.
The movie, currently No. 1 in the U.S., is also No. 1 in China, grossing $17.2 million here since it opened Nov. 13.
Like others in a Beijing theater this week, Liu grinned with pride as he watched Chinese troops in the movie escort wealthy and important citizens onto an ark designed to withstand cataclysmic doom.
In the nearly 3-hour feature, the Earth's core overheats, threatening humanity. Leaders of the world embark on a mission to build an ark in the mountains of central China to house people and animals that can repopulate the planet — a story line many Chinese have praised.
Chinese netizens on popular blogs have been quick to note scenes in the movie perceived as having pro-China messages — Chinese military officers saluting American refugees entering China, China being one of the first nations to agree to open the ark's gates to admit more refugees, and a U.S. military officer saying that only the Chinese could build an ark of such a scale so quickly.
"I felt really proud to be Chinese as I was watching our (military) officers rescue civilians in need," said Zhang Ying, 26, an advertising executive in Beijing. "The movie along with (President Barack) Obama's visit this week made me realize that China has become a respected country on the world stage."
At a theater in central Beijing, hoards of people lined up to buy tickets.
"It's been sold out every night. They all want to watch China save the world," a ticket attendant said with a laugh.
The movie is a refreshing change for Chinese audiences after decades of unflattering portrayals of China in Hollywood movies such as "Red Corner" starring Richard Gere, in which an innocent foreigner faces a corrupt Chinese legal system, and Martin Scorsese's "Kundun," which highlights China's rule of Tibet.
Scenes with Chinese bad guys were cut from "Mission Impossible III" and the China release of last year's blockbuster Batman film, "The Dark Knight," which portrayed Hong Kong unflatteringly, was canceled by Warner Bros. due to "cultural sensitivities."
As China's economy continues to burgeon, Hollywood has set it sights on the nation of 1.3 billion where only 20 foreign movies are allowed to be shown in theaters each year — making it crucial for studios to profit as much as they can with each movie.
"China has a legitimate movie market that's growing, but Hollywood is learning that movies portraying us as poor or the enemy will not make money in China," said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
"Chinese love action and disaster movies with special effects, so "2012" would have been released regardless if China played a role in the story line," Li Chow, Sony Pictures Releasing International's general manager for China, said in a phone interview.
It is unclear whether director Roland Emmerich, who also directed "The Day After Tomorrow," "Independence Day" and "Godzilla," intentionally inserted the China element to gain wider viewership on the mainland.
Steve Elzer, a spokesman for Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, declined to comment on the China element or whether any scenes were cut from the movie.
China's box office is growing but is still small compared to the U.S. market. Government statistics show that revenues surged from 920 million yuan in 2003 to 4.3 billion yuan ($630 million) in 2008 — compared to $9.8 billion in the U.S. last year.
The "Transformers" sequel earlier this year brought in $63 million in China, which broke the 11-year record of $53 million set by "Titanic" in 1998.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Japan: U.S. Soldier Says He May Have Run Over Man
November 21, 2009
World Briefing | Asia
By REUTERS
An American soldier has admitted that he may have run over a Japanese man who was found dead two weeks ago on the southern island of Okinawa, his lawyer said on Friday. Under an agreement that irritates many Okinawans, the United States is not obliged to hand over American personnel suspected of a crime outside the base unless they are charged. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has called for the soldier to be transferred to Japanese police custody if he was involved in the death. The soldier, who is being held by the United States military, previously denied that he had hit the man. The case comes as Japan and the United States are locked in a dispute over the relocation of an American Marine air base on Okinawa.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
World Briefing | Asia
By REUTERS
An American soldier has admitted that he may have run over a Japanese man who was found dead two weeks ago on the southern island of Okinawa, his lawyer said on Friday. Under an agreement that irritates many Okinawans, the United States is not obliged to hand over American personnel suspected of a crime outside the base unless they are charged. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has called for the soldier to be transferred to Japanese police custody if he was involved in the death. The soldier, who is being held by the United States military, previously denied that he had hit the man. The case comes as Japan and the United States are locked in a dispute over the relocation of an American Marine air base on Okinawa.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Siebold House pays homage to Dutchman's connection to Japan
November 22, 2009
By Susan Spano
Reporting from Leiden, Netherlands
For a small town, Leiden has a surprising number of museums dedicated to natural history, medical science, antiquity and the city's past. A gem among them is the Siebold House on tree-lined Rapenburg Canal, opened to the public in 1837 by a Bavarian surgeon who collected wonders as an agent for the Dutch East India Co. in Japan.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Holland's special trade relationship with Japan, forged long before the hermetic Asian nation opened its doors to the West. Dutch merchants, permitted to work and live on Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay, brought European technology to Japan and took examples of exquisite Japanese arts and crafts to Holland.
As a physician, Philipp von Siebold had special access to the mainland, where he treated patients, took a common-law wife, opened a clinic and traveled to Edo (later Tokyo), the capital. Although he was ultimately condemned as a spy and banished, he amassed a collection of 25,000 art, ethnographic and natural science specimens before his departure in 1829.
That collection, now housed at Siebold House in Leiden, includes stunning lacquerware and porcelain, delicate textiles, prints and maps, a scale model of a rich Japanese merchant's house, shells, fish, herbs, even a preserved snake.
Of special interest is a display on the Siebold Incident, which tells the story of the doctor's alleged espionage, his refusal to reveal to authorities his Japanese friends and informants, and his offer to remain in Japan the rest of his life.
Siebold House, 19 Rapenburg, Leiden; 011-31-71-512-5539, www.sieboldhuis.org.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
By Susan Spano
Reporting from Leiden, Netherlands
For a small town, Leiden has a surprising number of museums dedicated to natural history, medical science, antiquity and the city's past. A gem among them is the Siebold House on tree-lined Rapenburg Canal, opened to the public in 1837 by a Bavarian surgeon who collected wonders as an agent for the Dutch East India Co. in Japan.
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Holland's special trade relationship with Japan, forged long before the hermetic Asian nation opened its doors to the West. Dutch merchants, permitted to work and live on Deshima Island in Nagasaki Bay, brought European technology to Japan and took examples of exquisite Japanese arts and crafts to Holland.
As a physician, Philipp von Siebold had special access to the mainland, where he treated patients, took a common-law wife, opened a clinic and traveled to Edo (later Tokyo), the capital. Although he was ultimately condemned as a spy and banished, he amassed a collection of 25,000 art, ethnographic and natural science specimens before his departure in 1829.
That collection, now housed at Siebold House in Leiden, includes stunning lacquerware and porcelain, delicate textiles, prints and maps, a scale model of a rich Japanese merchant's house, shells, fish, herbs, even a preserved snake.
Of special interest is a display on the Siebold Incident, which tells the story of the doctor's alleged espionage, his refusal to reveal to authorities his Japanese friends and informants, and his offer to remain in Japan the rest of his life.
Siebold House, 19 Rapenburg, Leiden; 011-31-71-512-5539, www.sieboldhuis.org.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
Delta CEO pushes Japan Airlines deal
Atlanta Business News
2:44 p.m. Friday, November 20, 2009
By Kelly Yamanouchi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Delta chief executive Richard Anderson pushed the benefits of a deal with Japan Airlines in a message to employees Friday.
Atlanta-based Delta and its SkyTeam alliance are trying to lure JAL away from its marketing alliance with American Airlines. They are offering $1 billion in financial assistance to JAL as it restructures.
“We are No. 1 between Japan and Europe. We’re No. 1 between Japan and the U.S.,” Anderson said. “There’s no doubt that Delta and SkyTeam are the strongest partners for Japan Airlines.”
Anderson said Delta, which recently merged with trans-Pacific power Northwest Airlines, carries about 7,500 passengers daily between the United States and Japan, while American and JAL carry fewer than 1,400 daily.
If JAL joined SkyTeam, Delta and other members carriers could offer seats on JAL flights, as well as carry passengers booked by JAL on theirs. Such alliances aim to cement flier loyalties and share in the revenue they generate.
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday said Delta and SkyTeam’s proposal to JAL -- including $500 million of capital from SkyTeam, a $300 million revenue guarantee and $200 million of asset-backed funding -- would not affect Delta’s credit ratings or outlook.
However, S&P said that once an “Open Skies” U.S.-Japan aviation treaty is completed, antitrust immunity for Delta and JAL “could prove more challenging than a similar request from American and JAL” because Delta now has authority to fly routes to and beyond Japan, while American does not.
Antitrust immunity enables airline marketing partners to move beyond simple marketing ties and coordinate on pricing and services.
Anderson downplayed the risk that a Delta-JAL deal would not gain antitrust immunity.
“The DOT has approved every antitrust immunity it’s received,” Anderson said. “We shouldn’t be discussing the regulatory issues, we ought to be discussing long-term commercial, underlying business.”
American said it has its own “value proposition” to JAL , calling it “superior in every way.” American said it is confident its partnership with JAL can get antitrust immunity.
The Air Line Pilots Association at Delta backs the SkyTeam-JAL deal. Union chairman Lee Moak this week said the deal would help “enhance the job security and long-term career prospects of our pilots.”
2:44 p.m. Friday, November 20, 2009
By Kelly Yamanouchi
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Delta chief executive Richard Anderson pushed the benefits of a deal with Japan Airlines in a message to employees Friday.
Atlanta-based Delta and its SkyTeam alliance are trying to lure JAL away from its marketing alliance with American Airlines. They are offering $1 billion in financial assistance to JAL as it restructures.
“We are No. 1 between Japan and Europe. We’re No. 1 between Japan and the U.S.,” Anderson said. “There’s no doubt that Delta and SkyTeam are the strongest partners for Japan Airlines.”
Anderson said Delta, which recently merged with trans-Pacific power Northwest Airlines, carries about 7,500 passengers daily between the United States and Japan, while American and JAL carry fewer than 1,400 daily.
If JAL joined SkyTeam, Delta and other members carriers could offer seats on JAL flights, as well as carry passengers booked by JAL on theirs. Such alliances aim to cement flier loyalties and share in the revenue they generate.
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday said Delta and SkyTeam’s proposal to JAL -- including $500 million of capital from SkyTeam, a $300 million revenue guarantee and $200 million of asset-backed funding -- would not affect Delta’s credit ratings or outlook.
However, S&P said that once an “Open Skies” U.S.-Japan aviation treaty is completed, antitrust immunity for Delta and JAL “could prove more challenging than a similar request from American and JAL” because Delta now has authority to fly routes to and beyond Japan, while American does not.
Antitrust immunity enables airline marketing partners to move beyond simple marketing ties and coordinate on pricing and services.
Anderson downplayed the risk that a Delta-JAL deal would not gain antitrust immunity.
“The DOT has approved every antitrust immunity it’s received,” Anderson said. “We shouldn’t be discussing the regulatory issues, we ought to be discussing long-term commercial, underlying business.”
American said it has its own “value proposition” to JAL , calling it “superior in every way.” American said it is confident its partnership with JAL can get antitrust immunity.
The Air Line Pilots Association at Delta backs the SkyTeam-JAL deal. Union chairman Lee Moak this week said the deal would help “enhance the job security and long-term career prospects of our pilots.”
Delta Says SkyTeam Willing to Invest More Than $1 Billion in JAL
NOVEMBER 23, 2009
By MARIKO SANCHANTA and MIKE ESTERL
The chief executive of Delta Air Lines Inc. said the SkyTeam alliance of global carriers would be willing to invest more than its proposed $1.02 billion into struggling Japan Airlines Corp. as it tries to forge a trans-Pacific partnership.
The final proposed investment into JAL by the nine-airline SkyTeam alliance could be "greater than what we've stated" thus far, Richard Anderson said in an interview Friday.
"When you get that value, it can be financeable. You create a lot more value, and together parties can figure out how to monetize that value," Mr. Anderson said.
Atlanta-based Delta and its SkyTeam partners are trying to persuade the Japanese carrier to defect from the rival Oneworld alliance of airlines to expand their share of the lucrative travel markets in Japan and Asia.
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, a member of Oneworld, has said it and private-equity partner TPG also are willing to inject an undisclosed amount of money into JAL, which is undergoing a restructuring after several quarters of losses.
Delta, the world's largest carrier by traffic, said this week it was prepared to inject $500 million into JAL from SkyTeam in addition to a $300 million revenue guarantee, $200 million in asset-backed funding and $20 million or more in transition costs if JAL agrees to switch to SkyTeam.
"This is the first top-line revenue opportunity that has been presented to JAL," Mr. Anderson said.
The restructuring of JAL is seen as the first big test of the new Japanese government's willingness to take a hard line with "zombie" companies weighed down by billions of dollars in debt. Since the Democratic Party of Japan took power two months ago, it has focused on restructuring JAL, which is bogged down by over one trillion yen ($11.24 billion) in net debt and legacy pension costs.
Both Delta and American see this move as an opportunity to invest in JAL, a former flag carrier that has long been protected by the state and known for its proud and insular culture.
Mr. Anderson said that neither Delta nor its SkyTeam partners are interested in a board seat or management representation at JAL. "We don't need to manage anybody. We don't want to and don't expect to,'' he said.
The Delta CEO said SkyTeam was unlikely to link up with a private-equity group as it tries to woo JAL. "We have had many inquiries from other third parties that would be interested," said Mr. Anderson. Nonetheless, he added, "we're focused on a SkyTeam strategic investment."
The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, the government-led body that is leading JAL's rehabilitation efforts, is expected to complete its due diligence on the carrier in January.
Mr. Anderson said Friday that Delta would be willing to step in to aid JAL even before this process in finished. "We are ready, willing and able to participate at the right time," he added.
Write to Mariko Sanchanta at mariko.sanchanta@wsj.com and Mike Esterl at mike.esterl@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A29
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
By MARIKO SANCHANTA and MIKE ESTERL
The chief executive of Delta Air Lines Inc. said the SkyTeam alliance of global carriers would be willing to invest more than its proposed $1.02 billion into struggling Japan Airlines Corp. as it tries to forge a trans-Pacific partnership.
The final proposed investment into JAL by the nine-airline SkyTeam alliance could be "greater than what we've stated" thus far, Richard Anderson said in an interview Friday.
"When you get that value, it can be financeable. You create a lot more value, and together parties can figure out how to monetize that value," Mr. Anderson said.
Atlanta-based Delta and its SkyTeam partners are trying to persuade the Japanese carrier to defect from the rival Oneworld alliance of airlines to expand their share of the lucrative travel markets in Japan and Asia.
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, a member of Oneworld, has said it and private-equity partner TPG also are willing to inject an undisclosed amount of money into JAL, which is undergoing a restructuring after several quarters of losses.
Delta, the world's largest carrier by traffic, said this week it was prepared to inject $500 million into JAL from SkyTeam in addition to a $300 million revenue guarantee, $200 million in asset-backed funding and $20 million or more in transition costs if JAL agrees to switch to SkyTeam.
"This is the first top-line revenue opportunity that has been presented to JAL," Mr. Anderson said.
The restructuring of JAL is seen as the first big test of the new Japanese government's willingness to take a hard line with "zombie" companies weighed down by billions of dollars in debt. Since the Democratic Party of Japan took power two months ago, it has focused on restructuring JAL, which is bogged down by over one trillion yen ($11.24 billion) in net debt and legacy pension costs.
Both Delta and American see this move as an opportunity to invest in JAL, a former flag carrier that has long been protected by the state and known for its proud and insular culture.
Mr. Anderson said that neither Delta nor its SkyTeam partners are interested in a board seat or management representation at JAL. "We don't need to manage anybody. We don't want to and don't expect to,'' he said.
The Delta CEO said SkyTeam was unlikely to link up with a private-equity group as it tries to woo JAL. "We have had many inquiries from other third parties that would be interested," said Mr. Anderson. Nonetheless, he added, "we're focused on a SkyTeam strategic investment."
The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, the government-led body that is leading JAL's rehabilitation efforts, is expected to complete its due diligence on the carrier in January.
Mr. Anderson said Friday that Delta would be willing to step in to aid JAL even before this process in finished. "We are ready, willing and able to participate at the right time," he added.
Write to Mariko Sanchanta at mariko.sanchanta@wsj.com and Mike Esterl at mike.esterl@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A29
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
N.Korean leader inspects security forces
(AFP) – 23 hours ago
SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has inspected the nation's security force headquarters, state media said on Sunday, in what Seoul media say is a bid to further tighten his control on society.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim expressed "great satisfaction" over his undated visit to the Ministry of People's Security, equivalent to police authorities in the West.
Yonhap news agency and YTN television channel in Seoul said Kim's latest inspection appeared to be part of the North's campaign to further tighten its control of the people amid food shortages and social instability.
"The security of the country and its people is reliably protected by the interior force intensely loyal to the Party and the leader, the country and its people," Kim was quoted by KCNA as saying.
During the visit, Kim described the public security forces as "the political defenders of the Party and vanguard fighters in the class struggle" KCNA said.
Experts say the North's chronic food shortage is likely to worsen in the coming year as its rice and corn harvests have been damaged by bad weather.
The North suffered famine in the 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands. Since then it has relied on overseas aid to feed millions of its people.
Under previous liberal governments Seoul sent around 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertiliser a year across the border.
But shipments stopped after a conservative government took office and linked major aid to progress on nuclear disarmament, angering Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has inspected the nation's security force headquarters, state media said on Sunday, in what Seoul media say is a bid to further tighten his control on society.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim expressed "great satisfaction" over his undated visit to the Ministry of People's Security, equivalent to police authorities in the West.
Yonhap news agency and YTN television channel in Seoul said Kim's latest inspection appeared to be part of the North's campaign to further tighten its control of the people amid food shortages and social instability.
"The security of the country and its people is reliably protected by the interior force intensely loyal to the Party and the leader, the country and its people," Kim was quoted by KCNA as saying.
During the visit, Kim described the public security forces as "the political defenders of the Party and vanguard fighters in the class struggle" KCNA said.
Experts say the North's chronic food shortage is likely to worsen in the coming year as its rice and corn harvests have been damaged by bad weather.
The North suffered famine in the 1990s which killed hundreds of thousands. Since then it has relied on overseas aid to feed millions of its people.
Under previous liberal governments Seoul sent around 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertiliser a year across the border.
But shipments stopped after a conservative government took office and linked major aid to progress on nuclear disarmament, angering Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
President Obama Didn't Impress Asia
OPINION
ASIA
NOVEMBER 23, 2009.
China and others know exactly how to take advantage of a 'post-American' President.
By JOHN BOLTON
Barack Obama's first visit to Asia since his inauguration was one of the most disappointing trips by any U.S. president to the region in decades, especially given media-generated expectations that "Obamamania" would make it yet another triumphal progression. It was a journey of startlingly few concrete accomplishments, demonstrable proof that neither personal popularity nor media deference really means much in the hard world of international affairs.
The contrast between Asia's reception for Obama and Europe's is significant. Although considered a global phenomenon, Obamamania's real center is Europe. There, Mr. Obama reigns as a "post-American" president, a multilateralist carbon copy of a European social democrat. Asians operate under no such illusions, notwithstanding the "Oba-Mao" T shirts briefly on sale in China. Whatever Mr. Obama's allure in Europe, Asian leaders want to know what he means for peace and security in their region. On that score, opinion poll ratings mean little.
What the president lacked in popular adulation, however, he more than made up for in self-adulation. In Asia, he labeled himself "America's first Pacific president," ignoring over a century of contrary evidence. The Pacific has been important to America since the Empress of China became the first trading ship from the newly independent country to reach the Far East in 1784. Theodore Roosevelt created a new Pacific country (Panama) and started construction on the Panama Canal to ensure that America's navy could move rapidly from its traditional Atlantic bases to meet Pacific challenges. William Howard Taft did not merely live on Pacific islands as a boy, like Obama, but actually governed several thousand of them as Governor-General of the Philippines in 1901-1903. Dwight Eisenhower served in Manila from 1935 to 1939, and five other presidents wore their country's uniform in the Pacific theater during World War II—two of whom, John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, very nearly perished in the effort.
But it was on matters of substance where Mr. Obama's trip truly was a disappointment. On economics, the president displayed the Democratic Party's ambivalence toward free trade, even in an economic downtown, motivated by fear of labor-union opposition. On environmental and climate change issues, China, entirely predictably, reaffirmed its refusal to agree to carbon-emission limitations, and Mr. Obama had to concede in Singapore that the entire effort to craft a binding, post-Kyoto international agreement in Copenhagen had come to a complete halt.
On U.S. national security, Mr. Obama came away from Beijing empty-handed in his efforts to constrain both the Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons programs, meaning that instability in the Middle East and East Asia will surely grow. In Japan, Mr. Obama discussed contentious issues like U.S. forces based on Okinawa, but did not seem in his public comments to understand what he and the new Japanese government had agreed to. Ironically, his warmest reception, despite his free-trade ambivalence, was in South Korea, where President Lee Myung-bak has reversed a decade-long pattern by taking a harder line on North Korea than Washington.
Overall, President Obama surely suffered his worst setbacks in Beijing, on trade and economics, on climate change, and on security issues. CNN analyst David Gergen, no conservative himself, compared Mr. Obama's China meetings to Kennedy's disastrous 1961 encounter with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, a clear indicator of how poorly the Obama visit was seen at home. The perception that Mr. Obama is weak has already begun to emerge even in Europe, for example with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and if it emerges in Asia as well, Obama and the U.S. will suffer gravely.
Many media analysts attributed the lack of significant agreements in Beijing to the "rising China, declining America" hypothesis, which suits their ideological proclivities. But any objective analysis would show that it was much more Mr. Obama's submissiveness and much less a new Chinese assertiveness that made the difference. Mr. Obama simply seems unable or unwilling to defend U.S. interests strongly and effectively, either because he feels them unworthy of defense, or because he is untroubled by their diminution.
Of course, most Americans believe they elect presidents who will vigorously represent their global interests, rather than electing Platonic guardians who defend them only when they comport with his grander vision of a just world. Foreign leaders, whether friends or adversaries, expect the same. If, by contrast, Mr. Obama continues to behave as a "post-American" president, China and others will know exactly how to take advantage of him.
Mr. Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad" (Simon & Schuster, 2007).
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A17
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
ASIA
NOVEMBER 23, 2009.
China and others know exactly how to take advantage of a 'post-American' President.
By JOHN BOLTON
Barack Obama's first visit to Asia since his inauguration was one of the most disappointing trips by any U.S. president to the region in decades, especially given media-generated expectations that "Obamamania" would make it yet another triumphal progression. It was a journey of startlingly few concrete accomplishments, demonstrable proof that neither personal popularity nor media deference really means much in the hard world of international affairs.
The contrast between Asia's reception for Obama and Europe's is significant. Although considered a global phenomenon, Obamamania's real center is Europe. There, Mr. Obama reigns as a "post-American" president, a multilateralist carbon copy of a European social democrat. Asians operate under no such illusions, notwithstanding the "Oba-Mao" T shirts briefly on sale in China. Whatever Mr. Obama's allure in Europe, Asian leaders want to know what he means for peace and security in their region. On that score, opinion poll ratings mean little.
What the president lacked in popular adulation, however, he more than made up for in self-adulation. In Asia, he labeled himself "America's first Pacific president," ignoring over a century of contrary evidence. The Pacific has been important to America since the Empress of China became the first trading ship from the newly independent country to reach the Far East in 1784. Theodore Roosevelt created a new Pacific country (Panama) and started construction on the Panama Canal to ensure that America's navy could move rapidly from its traditional Atlantic bases to meet Pacific challenges. William Howard Taft did not merely live on Pacific islands as a boy, like Obama, but actually governed several thousand of them as Governor-General of the Philippines in 1901-1903. Dwight Eisenhower served in Manila from 1935 to 1939, and five other presidents wore their country's uniform in the Pacific theater during World War II—two of whom, John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush, very nearly perished in the effort.
But it was on matters of substance where Mr. Obama's trip truly was a disappointment. On economics, the president displayed the Democratic Party's ambivalence toward free trade, even in an economic downtown, motivated by fear of labor-union opposition. On environmental and climate change issues, China, entirely predictably, reaffirmed its refusal to agree to carbon-emission limitations, and Mr. Obama had to concede in Singapore that the entire effort to craft a binding, post-Kyoto international agreement in Copenhagen had come to a complete halt.
On U.S. national security, Mr. Obama came away from Beijing empty-handed in his efforts to constrain both the Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapons programs, meaning that instability in the Middle East and East Asia will surely grow. In Japan, Mr. Obama discussed contentious issues like U.S. forces based on Okinawa, but did not seem in his public comments to understand what he and the new Japanese government had agreed to. Ironically, his warmest reception, despite his free-trade ambivalence, was in South Korea, where President Lee Myung-bak has reversed a decade-long pattern by taking a harder line on North Korea than Washington.
Overall, President Obama surely suffered his worst setbacks in Beijing, on trade and economics, on climate change, and on security issues. CNN analyst David Gergen, no conservative himself, compared Mr. Obama's China meetings to Kennedy's disastrous 1961 encounter with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, a clear indicator of how poorly the Obama visit was seen at home. The perception that Mr. Obama is weak has already begun to emerge even in Europe, for example with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and if it emerges in Asia as well, Obama and the U.S. will suffer gravely.
Many media analysts attributed the lack of significant agreements in Beijing to the "rising China, declining America" hypothesis, which suits their ideological proclivities. But any objective analysis would show that it was much more Mr. Obama's submissiveness and much less a new Chinese assertiveness that made the difference. Mr. Obama simply seems unable or unwilling to defend U.S. interests strongly and effectively, either because he feels them unworthy of defense, or because he is untroubled by their diminution.
Of course, most Americans believe they elect presidents who will vigorously represent their global interests, rather than electing Platonic guardians who defend them only when they comport with his grander vision of a just world. Foreign leaders, whether friends or adversaries, expect the same. If, by contrast, Mr. Obama continues to behave as a "post-American" president, China and others will know exactly how to take advantage of him.
Mr. Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of "Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad" (Simon & Schuster, 2007).
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A17
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Obama Raises Human Rights, Tibet In Beijing Talks
November 17, 2009
President Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed to cooperate in a number of issues ranging from climate change to nuclear weapons. During more than two hours of closed-door talks, Obama is said to have described human rights as a core bedrock principle for the U.S. He also urged Hu to restart talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Its MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. Im Steve Inskeep.
Two men sat down today, who between them, have influence over much of the planet. One is President Obama, the other is Chinas President Hu Jintao. The two discussed a wide range of challenges, from the warming of the atmosphere to the spread of nuclear weapons, none of which, Mr. Obama says, can be solved without Chinas help.
President BARACK OBAMA: Thats why the United States welcomes Chinas efforts in playing a greater role on the world stage - a role in which a growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities.
INSKEEP: Mr. Obama also had some frank words for the Chinese president about Chinas human rights record and about Tibet.
Were going to talk about all this with NPRs Scott Horsley, whos on the line. Hes traveling with the President. Hi, Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Good to be with you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Must have been a little awkward, bringing up sensitive issues like Tibet, at the same time the United States is looking for Chinas help.
HORSLEY: Well, certainly the U.S. is sensitive to Chinas feelings. Youll remember that President Obama skipped the opportunity to meet with the Dalai Lama in Washington not long ago. But were told he did speak very clearly about the subject in private with President Hu today, describing human rights as a core bedrock principle for the U.S. and urging China to restart talks with the Dalai Lamas representatives.
This was described as a deliberate and clear statement of the priority President Obama places on these issues. For his part, though, President Hu was noncommittal. Hes speaking here through a translator.
President HU JINTAO (China): (Through translator) Given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues. What is important is to respect and accommodate each others core interests and major concerns.
INSKEEP: And, of course, China insists that Tibet is a part of China and that what happens there is of no concern to outsiders. At the same time, Scott Horsley, the United States has a concern about Iran and its nuclear program, which were hearing about elsewhere in the program today. Does the U.S. have Chinas cooperation when it comes to Iran?
HORSLEY: Well, it has at least a veneer of cooperation. One of the things that happens with these high-level talks is the two leaders can come out and smile and say conciliatory things and that can sort of mask differences below the surface. The U.S. has talked about pursuing a two-track path with Iran, negotiations and a chance for Iran to show its nuclear plans are peaceful, but with consequences on a second track if that first track doesnt work out.
President Hu agreed its important for stability in the Middle East to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran, but he said nothing about that second track should negotiations fail.
INSKEEP: Were talking with NPRs Scott Horsley. Hes in Beijing at the meeting of the American and Chinese presidents. And Scott, its hard not to notice that were witnessing the meeting between the president of the worlds largest economy and the president of a rising economy thats considered the worlds largest polluter. What did they say about greenhouse gases?
HORSLEY: Well, thats right. Both are interested in seeing some successful movement on climate change in Copenhagen next month. These two countries obviously play an outsized role in that issue. And they reached a lot of agreements today on things like clean energy, energy efficiency. Mr. Obama said they also hope to take significant mitigation stands of their own and stand behind those commitments, but he didnt what those commitments about reducing greenhouse gases on their parts might be.
INSKEEP: And at the same time, they want to at least talk about using energy more efficiently. Theres the trade balance between the two countries and trying to get that right.
HORSLEY: Thats right. President Obama says they discussed a more balanced approach to trade. That means the Chinese buying more goods from the U.S., very important to President Obama, who sees it as a jobs maker in the U.S. Theres a limit to the presidents bargaining position, of course, since China is such a big banker for the U.S. Aides were asked, afterwards, if that debtor relationship compromised the president at all. They said, no, the president pulled no punches today.
INSKEEP: Does the United States have some leverage because it is the debtor. China, because it has loaned so much money, has an interest in the healthy American economy.
HORSLEY: You know the old saying, you owe the bank 10 bucks the bank owns you; you owe the bank a million bucks you own the bank. China definitely has an interest in seeing the U.S. economy succeed.
INSKEEP: NPRs Scott Horsley is in Beijing. Scott, thanks very much.
HORSLEY: Good to be with you, Steve.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
President Obama and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed to cooperate in a number of issues ranging from climate change to nuclear weapons. During more than two hours of closed-door talks, Obama is said to have described human rights as a core bedrock principle for the U.S. He also urged Hu to restart talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Its MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. Im Steve Inskeep.
Two men sat down today, who between them, have influence over much of the planet. One is President Obama, the other is Chinas President Hu Jintao. The two discussed a wide range of challenges, from the warming of the atmosphere to the spread of nuclear weapons, none of which, Mr. Obama says, can be solved without Chinas help.
President BARACK OBAMA: Thats why the United States welcomes Chinas efforts in playing a greater role on the world stage - a role in which a growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities.
INSKEEP: Mr. Obama also had some frank words for the Chinese president about Chinas human rights record and about Tibet.
Were going to talk about all this with NPRs Scott Horsley, whos on the line. Hes traveling with the President. Hi, Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY: Good to be with you, Steve.
INSKEEP: Must have been a little awkward, bringing up sensitive issues like Tibet, at the same time the United States is looking for Chinas help.
HORSLEY: Well, certainly the U.S. is sensitive to Chinas feelings. Youll remember that President Obama skipped the opportunity to meet with the Dalai Lama in Washington not long ago. But were told he did speak very clearly about the subject in private with President Hu today, describing human rights as a core bedrock principle for the U.S. and urging China to restart talks with the Dalai Lamas representatives.
This was described as a deliberate and clear statement of the priority President Obama places on these issues. For his part, though, President Hu was noncommittal. Hes speaking here through a translator.
President HU JINTAO (China): (Through translator) Given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues. What is important is to respect and accommodate each others core interests and major concerns.
INSKEEP: And, of course, China insists that Tibet is a part of China and that what happens there is of no concern to outsiders. At the same time, Scott Horsley, the United States has a concern about Iran and its nuclear program, which were hearing about elsewhere in the program today. Does the U.S. have Chinas cooperation when it comes to Iran?
HORSLEY: Well, it has at least a veneer of cooperation. One of the things that happens with these high-level talks is the two leaders can come out and smile and say conciliatory things and that can sort of mask differences below the surface. The U.S. has talked about pursuing a two-track path with Iran, negotiations and a chance for Iran to show its nuclear plans are peaceful, but with consequences on a second track if that first track doesnt work out.
President Hu agreed its important for stability in the Middle East to reach a negotiated settlement with Iran, but he said nothing about that second track should negotiations fail.
INSKEEP: Were talking with NPRs Scott Horsley. Hes in Beijing at the meeting of the American and Chinese presidents. And Scott, its hard not to notice that were witnessing the meeting between the president of the worlds largest economy and the president of a rising economy thats considered the worlds largest polluter. What did they say about greenhouse gases?
HORSLEY: Well, thats right. Both are interested in seeing some successful movement on climate change in Copenhagen next month. These two countries obviously play an outsized role in that issue. And they reached a lot of agreements today on things like clean energy, energy efficiency. Mr. Obama said they also hope to take significant mitigation stands of their own and stand behind those commitments, but he didnt what those commitments about reducing greenhouse gases on their parts might be.
INSKEEP: And at the same time, they want to at least talk about using energy more efficiently. Theres the trade balance between the two countries and trying to get that right.
HORSLEY: Thats right. President Obama says they discussed a more balanced approach to trade. That means the Chinese buying more goods from the U.S., very important to President Obama, who sees it as a jobs maker in the U.S. Theres a limit to the presidents bargaining position, of course, since China is such a big banker for the U.S. Aides were asked, afterwards, if that debtor relationship compromised the president at all. They said, no, the president pulled no punches today.
INSKEEP: Does the United States have some leverage because it is the debtor. China, because it has loaned so much money, has an interest in the healthy American economy.
HORSLEY: You know the old saying, you owe the bank 10 bucks the bank owns you; you owe the bank a million bucks you own the bank. China definitely has an interest in seeing the U.S. economy succeed.
INSKEEP: NPRs Scott Horsley is in Beijing. Scott, thanks very much.
HORSLEY: Good to be with you, Steve.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
U.S., China Pledge To Address Economic Imbalances
November 17, 2009
With a mix of Chinese and U.S. flags behind them, President Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, accentuated the positive at their post-summit news conference Tuesday in Beijing.
The two leaders emphasized the importance of the U.S.-China relationship and pledged to cooperate on a long list of issues — from trade to nuclear proliferation. On the big economic issue, the two leaders agreed again to do something about the imbalances that helped bring about the financial crisis. But change won't come easily.
In the run-up to the financial crisis, the U.S. and China reinforced each other's bad habits: Americans happily consumed more than they could afford using borrowed money, much of it from China. Meanwhile, China gladly kept Americans shopping by exporting products at artificially low prices.
After his meeting with Hu on Tuesday, Obama said the leaders had recommitted to taking a more sustainable approach to growth, one in which "America saves more, spends less, reduces our long-term debt, and where China makes adjustments across a broad range of policies to rebalance its economy and spur domestic demand."
But how likely is it that the two countries will be able to make good on those pledges?
Letting China's Currency Get Stronger
First, let us take a look at what China needs to do: Focus more on selling to its own people and less on exporting to the rest of the world.
The first step in that process, says Ken Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is for China to take its thumb off the currency scale. Virtually the whole world believes that China's currency, the yuan, is significantly undervalued.
"They are flirting with allowing their currency to appreciate a little faster, but they're very nervous about doing anything to throw off the export machine," Rogoff says.
If its currency strengthened, China's exports wouldn't sell as well, the country's growth would slow and unemployment would rise. To pick up the slack, China's government needs to give households the means to consume more, says economist Andy Xie, a former analyst with Morgan Stanley. Right now, he says, Chinese workers are intensely focused on saving for retirement, partly as a result of China's one-child policy.
"You have two parents and four grandparents and one kid, and obviously all these people are not going to depend on this kid for their retirement," Xie says. "So they're all preparing for themselves."
With Chinese households stuffing their mattresses, there is not much money left for shopping. The government has taken some steps, boosting pensions and health care. But, Xie says, the government needs to do more. He suggests taking government-owned shares in Chinese companies and giving them to individuals. That could boost consumption and make the Chinese economy less dependent on exports.
Xie acknowledges this would be politically challenging.
Getting Americans To Keep On Saving
Rogoff says the U.S. also has hurdles in getting Americans to save more and spend less.
"It is massively difficult politically," he says. "We like to shop; we like to consume."
Fear of unemployment and declining wealth has recently prompted Americans to save more, but Rogoff, now a professor at Harvard University, says he thinks we need financial reforms to cement the progress.
"We have to prevent the situation where consumers are going nuts the way they did in the run-up to the financial crisis," Rogoff says.
That means discouraging risky lending by banks and eliminating things like no-money-down mortgages and government subsidies that supercharged the housing market. Rogoff is doubtful there is the political will to do what needs to be done.
As for the other step in U.S. rebalancing — reining in our massive budget deficits — Rogoff says that may be even harder because it will require tax increases.
"It's deeply embedded in the American psyche now that we don't need to pay taxes, and yet we expect all these government services," he says.
And, Rogoff says, raising taxes only on the rich won't balance the budget and live up to the commitment Obama repeated Tuesday. More likely, Rogoff says, a value-added tax or national sales tax would be needed. That would both rein in consumption and help balance the budget.
With a mix of Chinese and U.S. flags behind them, President Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, accentuated the positive at their post-summit news conference Tuesday in Beijing.
The two leaders emphasized the importance of the U.S.-China relationship and pledged to cooperate on a long list of issues — from trade to nuclear proliferation. On the big economic issue, the two leaders agreed again to do something about the imbalances that helped bring about the financial crisis. But change won't come easily.
In the run-up to the financial crisis, the U.S. and China reinforced each other's bad habits: Americans happily consumed more than they could afford using borrowed money, much of it from China. Meanwhile, China gladly kept Americans shopping by exporting products at artificially low prices.
After his meeting with Hu on Tuesday, Obama said the leaders had recommitted to taking a more sustainable approach to growth, one in which "America saves more, spends less, reduces our long-term debt, and where China makes adjustments across a broad range of policies to rebalance its economy and spur domestic demand."
But how likely is it that the two countries will be able to make good on those pledges?
Letting China's Currency Get Stronger
First, let us take a look at what China needs to do: Focus more on selling to its own people and less on exporting to the rest of the world.
The first step in that process, says Ken Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is for China to take its thumb off the currency scale. Virtually the whole world believes that China's currency, the yuan, is significantly undervalued.
"They are flirting with allowing their currency to appreciate a little faster, but they're very nervous about doing anything to throw off the export machine," Rogoff says.
If its currency strengthened, China's exports wouldn't sell as well, the country's growth would slow and unemployment would rise. To pick up the slack, China's government needs to give households the means to consume more, says economist Andy Xie, a former analyst with Morgan Stanley. Right now, he says, Chinese workers are intensely focused on saving for retirement, partly as a result of China's one-child policy.
"You have two parents and four grandparents and one kid, and obviously all these people are not going to depend on this kid for their retirement," Xie says. "So they're all preparing for themselves."
With Chinese households stuffing their mattresses, there is not much money left for shopping. The government has taken some steps, boosting pensions and health care. But, Xie says, the government needs to do more. He suggests taking government-owned shares in Chinese companies and giving them to individuals. That could boost consumption and make the Chinese economy less dependent on exports.
Xie acknowledges this would be politically challenging.
Getting Americans To Keep On Saving
Rogoff says the U.S. also has hurdles in getting Americans to save more and spend less.
"It is massively difficult politically," he says. "We like to shop; we like to consume."
Fear of unemployment and declining wealth has recently prompted Americans to save more, but Rogoff, now a professor at Harvard University, says he thinks we need financial reforms to cement the progress.
"We have to prevent the situation where consumers are going nuts the way they did in the run-up to the financial crisis," Rogoff says.
That means discouraging risky lending by banks and eliminating things like no-money-down mortgages and government subsidies that supercharged the housing market. Rogoff is doubtful there is the political will to do what needs to be done.
As for the other step in U.S. rebalancing — reining in our massive budget deficits — Rogoff says that may be even harder because it will require tax increases.
"It's deeply embedded in the American psyche now that we don't need to pay taxes, and yet we expect all these government services," he says.
And, Rogoff says, raising taxes only on the rich won't balance the budget and live up to the commitment Obama repeated Tuesday. More likely, Rogoff says, a value-added tax or national sales tax would be needed. That would both rein in consumption and help balance the budget.
Obama, Hu Pledge Cooperation
November 17, 2009
President Obama met with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, for wide-ranging talks on the challenges facing their two countries. The two discussed how they can pursue a more balanced economic strategy, cooperate on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and the spread of nuclear weapons.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
Jobs, climate change, trade and nuclear weapons - today in China, President Obama and China's leader, Hu Jintao, discussed those topics and more. It was a full day for Mr. Obama. In addition to talks, he was formerly welcomed to the ceremony in Beijing. He toured the Forbidden City, which for centuries was home to Chinese emperors and he attended a state dinner.
NPR's Scott Horsley has this report on what Mr. Obama and his Chinese counterpart discussed when they sat down together.
SCOTT HORSLEY: More than halfway through an eight-day tour of Asia, President Obama is still keenly aware that the number one issue back home is jobs. He and President Hu talked about how the U.S. and China can pursue a more balanced economic strategy, so more Americans are working and more Chinese are shopping.
President BARACK OBAMA: A strategy where America saves more, spends less, reduces our long-term debt and where China makes adjustments across a broad range of policies to rebalance its economy and spur domestic demand. This will lead to increased U.S. exports and jobs on the one hand, and higher living standards in China on the other.
HORSLEY: With its rising living standards, China is beginning to consume more energy and produce more greenhouse gases. The U.S. and China agreed to work together on ways to generate cleaner energy. And while next month's climate summit in Copenhagen now seems unlikely to produce a binding agreement on greenhouse gases, Mr. Obama says the U.S. and China hope to lead the way toward solid progress in that direction.
Pres. OBAMA: This kind of comprehensive agreement would be an important step forward in the effort to rally the world around a solution to our climate challenge. And we agreed that each of us would take significant mitigation actions and stand behind these commitments.
HORSLEY: The two leaders also talked about curbing the spread of nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran. China is part of the so-called P5+1 group of countries leaning on Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful. Negotiations with Iran have so far been unsuccessful though, and the U.S. has said time is running out.
Pres. OBAMA: On this point our two nations and the rest of our P5+1 partners are unified. Iran has an opportunity to present and demonstrate its peaceful intentions but if it fails to take this opportunity, there will be consequences.
HORSLEY: Presumably, those consequences would involve stiffer sanctions against Iran. China has been reluctant to go along with that though, and President Hu gave no indication today his position on sanctions has changed.
(Soundbite of bugle)
HORSLEY: Important differences between the U.S. and China were largely glossed over though on this day of ceremonial goodwill. The United States' new ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, has been watching these events since the U.S. and China reopened diplomatic ties some three decades ago. And Huntsman, a Republican, said he was proud of Mr. Obama's performance.
Mr. JON HUNTSMAN (U.S. Ambassador to China): The President stepped off the plane in Shanghai in an environment that I'd have to characterize as being really at an all-time high, a cruising altitude that is higher than any other time in recent memory, thereby able to kind of sail above some of the windsheers and the storms that have typically been part of the bilateral relationship.
HORSLEY: President Obama did raise a few sensitive topics though in his meeting with President Hu. He urged China to stop censoring the Internet to respect the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities and quickly reopen talks with the exiled leader of Tibet.
Pres. OBAMA: While we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have.
HORSLEY: The U.S. and China are scheduled to talk more about human rights at a meeting next year. President Hu said it's only normal the two countries would disagree on some issues. After a day of bridging those barriers, Mr. Obama wraps up his China trip with a visit to the Great Wall tomorrow.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Beijing.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved
President Obama met with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, for wide-ranging talks on the challenges facing their two countries. The two discussed how they can pursue a more balanced economic strategy, cooperate on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and the spread of nuclear weapons.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
Jobs, climate change, trade and nuclear weapons - today in China, President Obama and China's leader, Hu Jintao, discussed those topics and more. It was a full day for Mr. Obama. In addition to talks, he was formerly welcomed to the ceremony in Beijing. He toured the Forbidden City, which for centuries was home to Chinese emperors and he attended a state dinner.
NPR's Scott Horsley has this report on what Mr. Obama and his Chinese counterpart discussed when they sat down together.
SCOTT HORSLEY: More than halfway through an eight-day tour of Asia, President Obama is still keenly aware that the number one issue back home is jobs. He and President Hu talked about how the U.S. and China can pursue a more balanced economic strategy, so more Americans are working and more Chinese are shopping.
President BARACK OBAMA: A strategy where America saves more, spends less, reduces our long-term debt and where China makes adjustments across a broad range of policies to rebalance its economy and spur domestic demand. This will lead to increased U.S. exports and jobs on the one hand, and higher living standards in China on the other.
HORSLEY: With its rising living standards, China is beginning to consume more energy and produce more greenhouse gases. The U.S. and China agreed to work together on ways to generate cleaner energy. And while next month's climate summit in Copenhagen now seems unlikely to produce a binding agreement on greenhouse gases, Mr. Obama says the U.S. and China hope to lead the way toward solid progress in that direction.
Pres. OBAMA: This kind of comprehensive agreement would be an important step forward in the effort to rally the world around a solution to our climate challenge. And we agreed that each of us would take significant mitigation actions and stand behind these commitments.
HORSLEY: The two leaders also talked about curbing the spread of nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran. China is part of the so-called P5+1 group of countries leaning on Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful. Negotiations with Iran have so far been unsuccessful though, and the U.S. has said time is running out.
Pres. OBAMA: On this point our two nations and the rest of our P5+1 partners are unified. Iran has an opportunity to present and demonstrate its peaceful intentions but if it fails to take this opportunity, there will be consequences.
HORSLEY: Presumably, those consequences would involve stiffer sanctions against Iran. China has been reluctant to go along with that though, and President Hu gave no indication today his position on sanctions has changed.
(Soundbite of bugle)
HORSLEY: Important differences between the U.S. and China were largely glossed over though on this day of ceremonial goodwill. The United States' new ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, has been watching these events since the U.S. and China reopened diplomatic ties some three decades ago. And Huntsman, a Republican, said he was proud of Mr. Obama's performance.
Mr. JON HUNTSMAN (U.S. Ambassador to China): The President stepped off the plane in Shanghai in an environment that I'd have to characterize as being really at an all-time high, a cruising altitude that is higher than any other time in recent memory, thereby able to kind of sail above some of the windsheers and the storms that have typically been part of the bilateral relationship.
HORSLEY: President Obama did raise a few sensitive topics though in his meeting with President Hu. He urged China to stop censoring the Internet to respect the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities and quickly reopen talks with the exiled leader of Tibet.
Pres. OBAMA: While we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have.
HORSLEY: The U.S. and China are scheduled to talk more about human rights at a meeting next year. President Hu said it's only normal the two countries would disagree on some issues. After a day of bridging those barriers, Mr. Obama wraps up his China trip with a visit to the Great Wall tomorrow.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Beijing.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved
In Japan, MRIs Cost Less
November 18, 2009
Prices for MRIs are much cheaper in Japan than in the U.S. The difference in prices provides some insight into why health care costs are so high in the U.S. There's something else at work, too. MRIs are very popular in Japan: Some people get them every year even if they aren't sick.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
One of the strange facts about our health care system is there are no clear prices. NPR's Planet Money team recently explored that conundrum in a story from Pensacola, Florida. One hospital there charges $900 for a shoulder MRI. You can get the same MRI down the street for half that, 450 bucks.
Today, NPR's Chana Joffe-Walt takes the MRI pricing search abroad.
CHANA JOFFE-WALT: You've heard this story before. A guy goes into the hospital with a problem - weeks later, sits with a shocking bill, shaking his head.
Professor HOWARD FORMAN (Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University): That's the MRI of a lumbar spine - with total charges submitted by the hospital: $2,352.96 cents. Aetna had a negotiated rate of $1,731 just for an MRI of the lumbar spine, which is a fairly routine study. It's a lot of money.
JOFFE-WALT: Typical story, right? But listen to who this guy is.
Prof. FORMAN: Howard Forman. I am a professor of diagnostic radiology and also of management, also of public health, and also of economics at Yale University.
JOFFE-WALT: A radiologist, a public health specialist and health care economist, who was shocked, decades into his career, to find out how much an MRI costs. Okay, test, test. If you just tell me your name and your title?
Professor NOA YEKAGAMI(ph) (Health Care Management, University of Tokyo School of Medicine): Noa Yekagami, professor of health (unintelligible) management at (unintelligible) University School of Medicine.
JOFFE-WALT: A comparison: Professor Yekagami, also a health care economist, although he is in Japan. And he has had many, many MRIs. And do you know how much a MRI cost in Japan?
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Hundred and sixty dollars.
JOFFE-WALT: You know exactly the number?
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Right.
JOFFE-WALT: Hear that number: $160. And just in case you forgot, Dr. Forman's MRI: $1,700. So, how does Japan work this incredible magic? By law. The government sets the prices. But how does that work? I mean, costs are costs, right. We have to buy MRI machines. So does Japan. We have to pay the electricity bill. So does Japan. There are staff and supplies. You can't just force cost to be low. If you could, you'd make it a dollar for an MRI. I mean, how is it possible that you're doing that procedure for so much less than what do it for?
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Two thousand dollars, I would think, is a state-of-the-art MRI, most expensive type.
JOFFE-WALT: So, we have better machines? They are different machines.
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Well, in general you have some more expensive types.
JOFFE-WALT: In the U.S., we tend to demand the best, state-of-the-art machines available. But they are not that much fancier. It doesn't explain the more than tenfold difference in price. So, another possible explanation can be found by typing MRI into a Japanese search engine. This is something I asked Dr. Michi Kokinora Bruno(ph) to do. She is a Japanese trained neurologist. And she gets all these ad results, including one that offers to satisfy your MRI needs in a spa-like environment.
In Japan, we can buy a less fancy MRI machine and then you can make up the cost fast because MRIs are incredibly popular. Now, it's unclear if MRIs are popular because they are cheap or if they are cheap in part because they are popular. So, I have two more quick theories for you. We here in the U.S. pay our radiologists much more than Japan does. So that's the cost. And then there is this from Professor Gerard Anderson at Johns Hopkins.
Professor GERARD ANDERSON (Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University): I'm talking about the MRI machine. When you go and you buy it from Siemens or General Electric or any of the manufacturers, you will be paying about twice as much in the United States for the exact same machine.
JOFFE-WALT: Japan sets the price they pay for MRIs super low. And so to get into the Japanese market, the manufacturers lower their prices. They charge more here in the U.S. because we will pay more. How come? Well, I called a number of American hospitals and doctors and I got basically two reactions. The first and most popular: a shrug. We could never get those prices. That's just how it is. And the second: some were surprised. Just like that radiologist getting his first MRI. Health care prices even to them are something of a mystery.
Chana Joffe-Walt, NPR News.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved
Prices for MRIs are much cheaper in Japan than in the U.S. The difference in prices provides some insight into why health care costs are so high in the U.S. There's something else at work, too. MRIs are very popular in Japan: Some people get them every year even if they aren't sick.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
One of the strange facts about our health care system is there are no clear prices. NPR's Planet Money team recently explored that conundrum in a story from Pensacola, Florida. One hospital there charges $900 for a shoulder MRI. You can get the same MRI down the street for half that, 450 bucks.
Today, NPR's Chana Joffe-Walt takes the MRI pricing search abroad.
CHANA JOFFE-WALT: You've heard this story before. A guy goes into the hospital with a problem - weeks later, sits with a shocking bill, shaking his head.
Professor HOWARD FORMAN (Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University): That's the MRI of a lumbar spine - with total charges submitted by the hospital: $2,352.96 cents. Aetna had a negotiated rate of $1,731 just for an MRI of the lumbar spine, which is a fairly routine study. It's a lot of money.
JOFFE-WALT: Typical story, right? But listen to who this guy is.
Prof. FORMAN: Howard Forman. I am a professor of diagnostic radiology and also of management, also of public health, and also of economics at Yale University.
JOFFE-WALT: A radiologist, a public health specialist and health care economist, who was shocked, decades into his career, to find out how much an MRI costs. Okay, test, test. If you just tell me your name and your title?
Professor NOA YEKAGAMI(ph) (Health Care Management, University of Tokyo School of Medicine): Noa Yekagami, professor of health (unintelligible) management at (unintelligible) University School of Medicine.
JOFFE-WALT: A comparison: Professor Yekagami, also a health care economist, although he is in Japan. And he has had many, many MRIs. And do you know how much a MRI cost in Japan?
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Hundred and sixty dollars.
JOFFE-WALT: You know exactly the number?
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Right.
JOFFE-WALT: Hear that number: $160. And just in case you forgot, Dr. Forman's MRI: $1,700. So, how does Japan work this incredible magic? By law. The government sets the prices. But how does that work? I mean, costs are costs, right. We have to buy MRI machines. So does Japan. We have to pay the electricity bill. So does Japan. There are staff and supplies. You can't just force cost to be low. If you could, you'd make it a dollar for an MRI. I mean, how is it possible that you're doing that procedure for so much less than what do it for?
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Two thousand dollars, I would think, is a state-of-the-art MRI, most expensive type.
JOFFE-WALT: So, we have better machines? They are different machines.
Prof. YEKAGAMI: Well, in general you have some more expensive types.
JOFFE-WALT: In the U.S., we tend to demand the best, state-of-the-art machines available. But they are not that much fancier. It doesn't explain the more than tenfold difference in price. So, another possible explanation can be found by typing MRI into a Japanese search engine. This is something I asked Dr. Michi Kokinora Bruno(ph) to do. She is a Japanese trained neurologist. And she gets all these ad results, including one that offers to satisfy your MRI needs in a spa-like environment.
In Japan, we can buy a less fancy MRI machine and then you can make up the cost fast because MRIs are incredibly popular. Now, it's unclear if MRIs are popular because they are cheap or if they are cheap in part because they are popular. So, I have two more quick theories for you. We here in the U.S. pay our radiologists much more than Japan does. So that's the cost. And then there is this from Professor Gerard Anderson at Johns Hopkins.
Professor GERARD ANDERSON (Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University): I'm talking about the MRI machine. When you go and you buy it from Siemens or General Electric or any of the manufacturers, you will be paying about twice as much in the United States for the exact same machine.
JOFFE-WALT: Japan sets the price they pay for MRIs super low. And so to get into the Japanese market, the manufacturers lower their prices. They charge more here in the U.S. because we will pay more. How come? Well, I called a number of American hospitals and doctors and I got basically two reactions. The first and most popular: a shrug. We could never get those prices. That's just how it is. And the second: some were surprised. Just like that radiologist getting his first MRI. Health care prices even to them are something of a mystery.
Chana Joffe-Walt, NPR News.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved
Assessing Obama's China Trip
November 18, 2009
President Obama, in his first trip to China as president, met Wednesday with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Harry Harding, dean of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, discusses what the China visit say about U.S.-China relations.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
We have just passed a landmark in the most important international relationship in the world: Barack Obama's first presidential visit to China. He met today with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, made a sightseeing trip to the Great Wall, then he left for South Korea.
Together the U.S. and China buy and sell to each other and borrow and lend from each other on a colossal scale. They are both great Pacific powers and they also both pollute like no two other countries in the world. So, what did the China visit say, if anything, about U.S.-China relations?
Well, joining us is Harry Harding, dean of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He's the author of several books on China. Welcome to the program.
Dr. HARRY HARDING (Dean, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia): Thanks very much.
SIEGEL: Has anything happened or changed in U.S.-China relations on this trip?
Dr. HARDING: I think that the trip shows several things. First of all, this is a more stable and routine relationship. We don't expect big breakthroughs any longer in this kind of a summit meeting. The presidents meet all the time now, talk on the phone. Secondly, it has a much broader scope than it ever did before, dealing not only with bilateral issues, but with functional issues like climate change and of course a variety of global and regional issues like Iran and North Korea.
But I think what everybody is seeing is that there is a shift in the balance of power between the two countries. The Chinese were in some ways pushing back on a number of issues important to them. Mr. Obama seemed to be sort of almost holding back on his punches, pulling his punches on some issues. And in general, you have a sense that, at least from the Chinese perspective, they're getting stronger and the United States is leveling off and maybe even in some ways getting weaker.
SIEGEL: I'd like to read to you something that The Washington Post had on a front page news analysis today. They contrasted this visit with President Bill Clinton's visit in 1998, when they write, Clinton stood before television cameras in Beijing's Great Hall of the People. The U.S. owed more money to Spain than to China then and did more than twice as much trade with Mexico. At a freewheeling news conference, Clinton criticized China's military crackdown in Tiananmen Square. And they contrast that with the Obama visit and the very tamed Chinese style news conference that he took part in.
Dr. HARDING: That's absolutely right. The news conference was basically two parallel statements by the two presidents, no questions were taken. We don't want to exaggerate this. The president did talk about human rights in that press conference statement. He talked about human rights also in the town hall meeting with Chinese students in Shanghai.
But I think it's more the overall framing of the relationship. We have these adjectives that we use to describe where we welcome China going. And this one this time did not say anything about China's internal system of governance. We often in the past talked about a democratic China or a humanely governed China, nothing like that anymore.
And, in fact, there was some language where both sides said that they agreed on the principle that every country in today's world should chart its own course, which, again, implies that the Chinese are not accepting that they have any obligation to follow any norms or models that the United States might advocate for them.
SIEGEL: And that is in recognition not so much of the military might of a superpower, as the fact that they hold our notes.
Dr. HARDING: Yeah, to some degree. That's absolutely right. We are, however, in a mutually dependent relationship. It's not all one-sided. It's true that they hold a lot of our treasuries, but if those treasuries lose their value, that means the Chinese holdings lose their value. If they - what some are calling the equivalent of the Cold War in financial terms, mutual assured destruction.
So, it's not as one-sidedly in China's favor as you might think. But it's clear that overall, if we look at overall Chinese comprehensive national power, it's been rising. Whereas the United States, of course, has these huge domestic obligations, its problems in Iraq and Afghanistan and there is a common perception, therefore, that the balance of power is shifting.
SIEGEL: Dean Harding, thank you very much for talking with us today.
Dr. HARDING: You're very welcome.
SIEGEL: That's Harry Harding, who is the dean of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He spoke to us from Charlottesville, Virginia.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
President Obama, in his first trip to China as president, met Wednesday with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Harry Harding, dean of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, discusses what the China visit say about U.S.-China relations.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
We have just passed a landmark in the most important international relationship in the world: Barack Obama's first presidential visit to China. He met today with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, made a sightseeing trip to the Great Wall, then he left for South Korea.
Together the U.S. and China buy and sell to each other and borrow and lend from each other on a colossal scale. They are both great Pacific powers and they also both pollute like no two other countries in the world. So, what did the China visit say, if anything, about U.S.-China relations?
Well, joining us is Harry Harding, dean of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He's the author of several books on China. Welcome to the program.
Dr. HARRY HARDING (Dean, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia): Thanks very much.
SIEGEL: Has anything happened or changed in U.S.-China relations on this trip?
Dr. HARDING: I think that the trip shows several things. First of all, this is a more stable and routine relationship. We don't expect big breakthroughs any longer in this kind of a summit meeting. The presidents meet all the time now, talk on the phone. Secondly, it has a much broader scope than it ever did before, dealing not only with bilateral issues, but with functional issues like climate change and of course a variety of global and regional issues like Iran and North Korea.
But I think what everybody is seeing is that there is a shift in the balance of power between the two countries. The Chinese were in some ways pushing back on a number of issues important to them. Mr. Obama seemed to be sort of almost holding back on his punches, pulling his punches on some issues. And in general, you have a sense that, at least from the Chinese perspective, they're getting stronger and the United States is leveling off and maybe even in some ways getting weaker.
SIEGEL: I'd like to read to you something that The Washington Post had on a front page news analysis today. They contrasted this visit with President Bill Clinton's visit in 1998, when they write, Clinton stood before television cameras in Beijing's Great Hall of the People. The U.S. owed more money to Spain than to China then and did more than twice as much trade with Mexico. At a freewheeling news conference, Clinton criticized China's military crackdown in Tiananmen Square. And they contrast that with the Obama visit and the very tamed Chinese style news conference that he took part in.
Dr. HARDING: That's absolutely right. The news conference was basically two parallel statements by the two presidents, no questions were taken. We don't want to exaggerate this. The president did talk about human rights in that press conference statement. He talked about human rights also in the town hall meeting with Chinese students in Shanghai.
But I think it's more the overall framing of the relationship. We have these adjectives that we use to describe where we welcome China going. And this one this time did not say anything about China's internal system of governance. We often in the past talked about a democratic China or a humanely governed China, nothing like that anymore.
And, in fact, there was some language where both sides said that they agreed on the principle that every country in today's world should chart its own course, which, again, implies that the Chinese are not accepting that they have any obligation to follow any norms or models that the United States might advocate for them.
SIEGEL: And that is in recognition not so much of the military might of a superpower, as the fact that they hold our notes.
Dr. HARDING: Yeah, to some degree. That's absolutely right. We are, however, in a mutually dependent relationship. It's not all one-sided. It's true that they hold a lot of our treasuries, but if those treasuries lose their value, that means the Chinese holdings lose their value. If they - what some are calling the equivalent of the Cold War in financial terms, mutual assured destruction.
So, it's not as one-sidedly in China's favor as you might think. But it's clear that overall, if we look at overall Chinese comprehensive national power, it's been rising. Whereas the United States, of course, has these huge domestic obligations, its problems in Iraq and Afghanistan and there is a common perception, therefore, that the balance of power is shifting.
SIEGEL: Dean Harding, thank you very much for talking with us today.
Dr. HARDING: You're very welcome.
SIEGEL: That's Harry Harding, who is the dean of the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He spoke to us from Charlottesville, Virginia.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.
Obama Ready To Keep Pressure On Pyongyang
November 19, 2009
The threat posed by a nuclear North Korea and the expansion of bilateral trade were on the agenda Thursday as President Obama met with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul on the final leg of a swing through Asia.
Lee Myung-bak greeted Obama at the presidential "Blue House" in the South Korean capital, where schoolchildren, a modern military band and soldiers dressed in ancient blue and yellow uniforms were featured in an elaborate welcoming ceremony.
In discussions that followed, the two men agreed to redouble efforts on a U.S.-Korean free trade agreement.
"I am a strong believer that both countries can benefit from expanding our trade ties," Obama said at a joint news conference with Lee. South Korea is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner.
A free trade pact was negotiated by the Bush administration more than two years ago, but it has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Obama, mindful that many in his own Democratic Party think free trade is a threat to American jobs, said that such agreements are mutually beneficial if done right.
"One of my goals is to make sure as we work through some of these issues that the American people, American businesses, American workers recognize that we have to look at each country on its own merits and make sure that we can create the kind of win-win situation that I know President Lee is interested in seeing as well," Obama said.
One major sticking point has been access to the Korean market by U.S. automakers. During the news conference, South Korea's president noted that the European Union inked a free trade deal without such a concession for its automakers.
Free trade advocates have warned that Washington's delay in ratifying a trade deal with South Korea is putting U.S. exporters at a competitive disadvantage.
With the delay, the U.S. is "shooting itself in the foot," said Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
While the U.S. dithers over ratification, "the Europeans have negotiated an agreement. India has negotiated an agreement," Bergsten said. "Those will probably go into effect before ours, and we will be discriminated against. We will lose exports; we will lose jobs. There will be an adverse effect on our economy, because we've failed in that case to follow through on our own initiative."
Obama and Lee also talked about climate change, Afghanistan and South Korea's role as host of next year's Group of 20 talks. But the nuclear threat from North Korea overshadowed other issues.
Lee said that in two decades of negotiations between the two Koreas, it has been one step forward and two steps back. But he praised efforts by the Obama administration and the U.N. Security Council to put pressure on North Korea to return to the table, and expressed hope Pyongyang would relent.
"International cooperation is perfect in my opinion in terms of trying to resolve this issue peacefully," he said. "I think we are entering a new chapter in bringing this issue to an end."
Obama also touched on the issue of Iran, saying that the U.S. and its allies are discussing new penalties to pressure Tehran into complying with international demands that it halt its nuclear program.
"They have been unable to get to 'yes,' and so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said. "Our expectation is that over the next several weeks, we will be developing a package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran."
The White House described the visit to Asia as largely showing Washington's re-engagement with a region of fast-growing economies that often felt neglected by the Bush administration and its focus on fighting terrorism. To that end, Obama has spoken frequently of reinvigorating alliances with Japan, South Korea and in Southeast Asia, and of welcoming a prosperous, confident China as a partner.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report
The threat posed by a nuclear North Korea and the expansion of bilateral trade were on the agenda Thursday as President Obama met with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul on the final leg of a swing through Asia.
Lee Myung-bak greeted Obama at the presidential "Blue House" in the South Korean capital, where schoolchildren, a modern military band and soldiers dressed in ancient blue and yellow uniforms were featured in an elaborate welcoming ceremony.
In discussions that followed, the two men agreed to redouble efforts on a U.S.-Korean free trade agreement.
"I am a strong believer that both countries can benefit from expanding our trade ties," Obama said at a joint news conference with Lee. South Korea is the United States' seventh-largest trading partner.
A free trade pact was negotiated by the Bush administration more than two years ago, but it has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Obama, mindful that many in his own Democratic Party think free trade is a threat to American jobs, said that such agreements are mutually beneficial if done right.
"One of my goals is to make sure as we work through some of these issues that the American people, American businesses, American workers recognize that we have to look at each country on its own merits and make sure that we can create the kind of win-win situation that I know President Lee is interested in seeing as well," Obama said.
One major sticking point has been access to the Korean market by U.S. automakers. During the news conference, South Korea's president noted that the European Union inked a free trade deal without such a concession for its automakers.
Free trade advocates have warned that Washington's delay in ratifying a trade deal with South Korea is putting U.S. exporters at a competitive disadvantage.
With the delay, the U.S. is "shooting itself in the foot," said Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
While the U.S. dithers over ratification, "the Europeans have negotiated an agreement. India has negotiated an agreement," Bergsten said. "Those will probably go into effect before ours, and we will be discriminated against. We will lose exports; we will lose jobs. There will be an adverse effect on our economy, because we've failed in that case to follow through on our own initiative."
Obama and Lee also talked about climate change, Afghanistan and South Korea's role as host of next year's Group of 20 talks. But the nuclear threat from North Korea overshadowed other issues.
Lee said that in two decades of negotiations between the two Koreas, it has been one step forward and two steps back. But he praised efforts by the Obama administration and the U.N. Security Council to put pressure on North Korea to return to the table, and expressed hope Pyongyang would relent.
"International cooperation is perfect in my opinion in terms of trying to resolve this issue peacefully," he said. "I think we are entering a new chapter in bringing this issue to an end."
Obama also touched on the issue of Iran, saying that the U.S. and its allies are discussing new penalties to pressure Tehran into complying with international demands that it halt its nuclear program.
"They have been unable to get to 'yes,' and so as a consequence, we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences," Obama said. "Our expectation is that over the next several weeks, we will be developing a package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran."
The White House described the visit to Asia as largely showing Washington's re-engagement with a region of fast-growing economies that often felt neglected by the Bush administration and its focus on fighting terrorism. To that end, Obama has spoken frequently of reinvigorating alliances with Japan, South Korea and in Southeast Asia, and of welcoming a prosperous, confident China as a partner.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report
Cars Are A Hurdle To U.S., Korea Free-Trade Deal
November 19, 2009
More than two years ago, U.S. and South Korea signed a bilateral free trade agreement but lawmakers of both countries have yet to ratify the deal. Officials from both countries hope the deal will create new jobs and open up markets. However, auto trade is a major hurdle.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Doualy Xaykaothao reports on how the president was received by those troops and how South Koreans viewed the visit by a leading ally.
(Soundbite of cheering)
DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO: Mr. Obama visited U.S. troops at Osan Air Base, home to some 10,000 Americans. He walked on to a stage in front of a huge U.S. flag and loads of American servicemen and women who stood to greet him.
President BARACK OBAMA: Hello, Osan.
(Soundbite of cheering)
XAYKAOTHAO: The audience, filled with excitement, waved their hands in the air and snapped photographs of Mr. Obama. He said America's commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea will never waiver and that the alliance has never been stronger, and he thanked the U.S. troops for their contribution to security in the region.
Pres. OBAMA: And I promise you this: I will not hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, but I will also not risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary. And if it is�
(Soundbite of cheering and applause)
Pres. OBAMA: �and when it is necessary, America will back you up to the hilt. We'll give you the strategy, the clear mission, the equipment and the support you need to get the job done. That's the promise I make to you.
XAYKAOTHAO: His visit to Osan was his last stop before leaving South Korea and ending his week-long Asia trip. As Mr. Obama left Osan Air Base in the city of Pyeongtaek, traffic halted briefly. At the nearby train station, asked about Mr. Obama's visit, some South Koreans gave a thumbs up or just smiled. Some didn't even know he was in town for 24 hours. A recent Pew study found that near eight in 10 South Koreans expressed a favorable view of the U.S. That's up eight percent from last year. When asked in central Seoul about their views of the U.S., like the survey, there was a modest improvement in how South Koreans see the U.S. A few youths expressed their anti-U.S. sentiment by saying directly, we don't like the U.S. Many of the U.S. beef protestors last year were young people.
The South Korean-U.S. trade deal was a key element of Mr. Obama's talks here. The pact was signed by the Bush administration more than two years ago, and lawmakers from the U.S. and South Korea are pushing for ratification of the deal, hoping it will create new jobs and open up markets for both countries. But auto trade is a major hurdle.
(Soundbite of footfalls)
XAYKAOTHAO: Earlier this morning, Mat Kim(ph), an HR specialist, was still eating his egg and ham sandwich when he was asked about the U.S.-South Korea free trade deal. He shrugged off the topic. But when asked about U.S. automobiles, he emphatically said he wouldn't buy one.
Mr. MAT KIM (HR Specialist): (Through translator) Quality, overall, is the same. In terms of price, fuel efficiency, and after-service, I think U.S. cars are not very good.
XAYKAOTHAO: Less than 7,000 U.S. vehicles were sold in South Korea last year. In a recent survey done by Dong-A Ilbo, a major daily in South Korea, the newspaper found about 73 percent of Korean consumers said they would still buy Korean, Japanese or European cars even if the price of American cars gets cheaper.
Ms. OK MING CHUNG(ph) (Grand National Party, Foreign Affairs Trading Unification Committee): The reason why U.S. cars are not sold very well in Korea is not because we have put some sort of trade barrier, but because the consumers prefer European, Japanese and Korean cars.
XAYKAOTHAO: That's Ok Ming Chung. She's a member of the ruling Grand National Party and a member of Foreign Affairs Trading Unification Committee.
Ms. CHUNG: The problem is the perception of U.S. cars among the Korean consumers. So we don't have any tariff barrier, non-tariff barrier.
XAYKAOTHAO: Korea is a $1 trillion economy, and according to U.S. data, is the U.S.'s seventh largest trading partner. Congressman Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, wants to change this.
Representative ADAM SMITH (Democrat, Washington): I don't think anybody can deny that. They've come up with various creative ways, some of it has been taxes, some of it has been regulations on particulars about the engines that have blocked access to the market, no question about it. But this agreement that has been negotiated eliminates all of that.
XAYKAOTHAO: He says he doesn't want to see this one particular aspect of the U.S. economy being used to hold the rest of this trade agreement hostage, because he says there are a number of products the U.S. can sell in South Korea.
For NPR News, I am Doualy Xaykaothao in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved
More than two years ago, U.S. and South Korea signed a bilateral free trade agreement but lawmakers of both countries have yet to ratify the deal. Officials from both countries hope the deal will create new jobs and open up markets. However, auto trade is a major hurdle.
Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
TRANSCRIPT
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Doualy Xaykaothao reports on how the president was received by those troops and how South Koreans viewed the visit by a leading ally.
(Soundbite of cheering)
DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO: Mr. Obama visited U.S. troops at Osan Air Base, home to some 10,000 Americans. He walked on to a stage in front of a huge U.S. flag and loads of American servicemen and women who stood to greet him.
President BARACK OBAMA: Hello, Osan.
(Soundbite of cheering)
XAYKAOTHAO: The audience, filled with excitement, waved their hands in the air and snapped photographs of Mr. Obama. He said America's commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea will never waiver and that the alliance has never been stronger, and he thanked the U.S. troops for their contribution to security in the region.
Pres. OBAMA: And I promise you this: I will not hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, but I will also not risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary. And if it is�
(Soundbite of cheering and applause)
Pres. OBAMA: �and when it is necessary, America will back you up to the hilt. We'll give you the strategy, the clear mission, the equipment and the support you need to get the job done. That's the promise I make to you.
XAYKAOTHAO: His visit to Osan was his last stop before leaving South Korea and ending his week-long Asia trip. As Mr. Obama left Osan Air Base in the city of Pyeongtaek, traffic halted briefly. At the nearby train station, asked about Mr. Obama's visit, some South Koreans gave a thumbs up or just smiled. Some didn't even know he was in town for 24 hours. A recent Pew study found that near eight in 10 South Koreans expressed a favorable view of the U.S. That's up eight percent from last year. When asked in central Seoul about their views of the U.S., like the survey, there was a modest improvement in how South Koreans see the U.S. A few youths expressed their anti-U.S. sentiment by saying directly, we don't like the U.S. Many of the U.S. beef protestors last year were young people.
The South Korean-U.S. trade deal was a key element of Mr. Obama's talks here. The pact was signed by the Bush administration more than two years ago, and lawmakers from the U.S. and South Korea are pushing for ratification of the deal, hoping it will create new jobs and open up markets for both countries. But auto trade is a major hurdle.
(Soundbite of footfalls)
XAYKAOTHAO: Earlier this morning, Mat Kim(ph), an HR specialist, was still eating his egg and ham sandwich when he was asked about the U.S.-South Korea free trade deal. He shrugged off the topic. But when asked about U.S. automobiles, he emphatically said he wouldn't buy one.
Mr. MAT KIM (HR Specialist): (Through translator) Quality, overall, is the same. In terms of price, fuel efficiency, and after-service, I think U.S. cars are not very good.
XAYKAOTHAO: Less than 7,000 U.S. vehicles were sold in South Korea last year. In a recent survey done by Dong-A Ilbo, a major daily in South Korea, the newspaper found about 73 percent of Korean consumers said they would still buy Korean, Japanese or European cars even if the price of American cars gets cheaper.
Ms. OK MING CHUNG(ph) (Grand National Party, Foreign Affairs Trading Unification Committee): The reason why U.S. cars are not sold very well in Korea is not because we have put some sort of trade barrier, but because the consumers prefer European, Japanese and Korean cars.
XAYKAOTHAO: That's Ok Ming Chung. She's a member of the ruling Grand National Party and a member of Foreign Affairs Trading Unification Committee.
Ms. CHUNG: The problem is the perception of U.S. cars among the Korean consumers. So we don't have any tariff barrier, non-tariff barrier.
XAYKAOTHAO: Korea is a $1 trillion economy, and according to U.S. data, is the U.S.'s seventh largest trading partner. Congressman Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, wants to change this.
Representative ADAM SMITH (Democrat, Washington): I don't think anybody can deny that. They've come up with various creative ways, some of it has been taxes, some of it has been regulations on particulars about the engines that have blocked access to the market, no question about it. But this agreement that has been negotiated eliminates all of that.
XAYKAOTHAO: He says he doesn't want to see this one particular aspect of the U.S. economy being used to hold the rest of this trade agreement hostage, because he says there are a number of products the U.S. can sell in South Korea.
For NPR News, I am Doualy Xaykaothao in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved
Setbacks Stall Finish Of China's Massive Dam Project
November 22, 2009
The massive reservoir behind China's Three Gorges Dam was supposed to be filled to capacity this month. But landslides on the reservoir and water shortages downstream have delayed the process.
The dam is the world's largest hydropower project, and the government says it allows the country to burn 30 million fewer tons of coal a year. The dam is also supposed to improve flood control and navigation on the Yangtze, the world's third-largest river.
But unforeseen problems have surfaced, raising questions about the river's fate.
In Wushan county in China's Chongqing municipality, the dam has tamed the river's rushing currents, turning them into a 360-mile-long lake. Barges laden with coal and cruise ships with tourists glide through the placid, jade-green waters.
It's been 15 years since China began building the dam. The rising waters of the reservoir have submerged the old Wushan county town, just one of many along the river. A new Wushan has been built farther up the hill.
Tan Songxiang, a local official in charge of relocating residents, says the new Wushan is a big improvement over the old one.
"Ordinary citizens have reaped real benefits from relocation, and standards of living have improved in all respects," Tan says. "I've experienced it myself. When I was a student, my family lived five or six people to a room, with only curtains separating us. In the new town, I have my own home."
Tan denies widespread allegations that officials have embezzled relocation funds, and he says government audits prove his point.
Repeated Relocation
Local governments have already relocated 1.3 million residents to make room for the reservoir. Some residents have had to move several times.
Speaking in a friend's shack near the river, farmer Wang Chuanju says the Wushan county government relocated her and her husband to a piece of land that was later taken by the municipal government to build a road.
Wang says that inadequate compensation has left them so poor they are forced to pick food from the garbage.
"I signed a contract with the government to be permanently relocated there," Wang says. "If they don't like me complaining about it, then why did they relocate me there in the first place?"
Wang says that when she protested inadequate government compensation, police detained and beat her. Her husband, Zou Xinrui, says they are desperate.
"If I weren't so old, I might be out robbing, stealing and killing. Why? Because when people are driven past a certain point, there's nothing else they can do," he says. "I might even join some counterrevolutionary group just to fill my belly."
A Thin Layer Of Land
Many of the problems on the Yangtze's middle reaches come down to this: Too many people are living on the land and overwhelming its fragile ecosystems. The reservoir means there is now even less land.
An hour upstream in Fengjie county, farmer Fan Zhuxian tends to his fields. Before the reservoir was constructed, his fields were mostly level. Now, 70 percent of them are on steep hillsides.
Fan squats down to plant seedlings. Every blow of his small pickax seems to hit a rock. The earth here is a thin layer covering the mountains, and it is easily washed away.
"I try to hold the soil in place with stone barriers," Fan explains, "but when it rains, they just collapse."
Fan says his sweet potatoes only grow to a size somewhere between that of a golf ball and a baseball.
Dwindling Water Resources
An increase in landslides in recent years, caused by fluctuating water levels, has forced the government to go slow in filling the reservoir.
China now says it wants to double hydropower generation by the year 2020 to reduce its reliance on coal. But experts fear more dams on the Yangtze could lead to conflicts over dwindling water resources.
Pu Yongjian, a professor at the Sustainable Development Research Institute at Chongqing University, says local governments are keen on damming their sections of the river to generate energy and jobs.
"There's no solution to this problem. Local governments have to set goals to raise their economic output, and they have to reach those goals," Pu says. "This is a conflict between economic development and environmental protection."
What's needed is a holistic management of the entire river, Pu says. Otherwise, the mighty Yangtze — which China has tried for millennia to tame — could one day run dry before it reaches the sea.
The massive reservoir behind China's Three Gorges Dam was supposed to be filled to capacity this month. But landslides on the reservoir and water shortages downstream have delayed the process.
The dam is the world's largest hydropower project, and the government says it allows the country to burn 30 million fewer tons of coal a year. The dam is also supposed to improve flood control and navigation on the Yangtze, the world's third-largest river.
But unforeseen problems have surfaced, raising questions about the river's fate.
In Wushan county in China's Chongqing municipality, the dam has tamed the river's rushing currents, turning them into a 360-mile-long lake. Barges laden with coal and cruise ships with tourists glide through the placid, jade-green waters.
It's been 15 years since China began building the dam. The rising waters of the reservoir have submerged the old Wushan county town, just one of many along the river. A new Wushan has been built farther up the hill.
Tan Songxiang, a local official in charge of relocating residents, says the new Wushan is a big improvement over the old one.
"Ordinary citizens have reaped real benefits from relocation, and standards of living have improved in all respects," Tan says. "I've experienced it myself. When I was a student, my family lived five or six people to a room, with only curtains separating us. In the new town, I have my own home."
Tan denies widespread allegations that officials have embezzled relocation funds, and he says government audits prove his point.
Repeated Relocation
Local governments have already relocated 1.3 million residents to make room for the reservoir. Some residents have had to move several times.
Speaking in a friend's shack near the river, farmer Wang Chuanju says the Wushan county government relocated her and her husband to a piece of land that was later taken by the municipal government to build a road.
Wang says that inadequate compensation has left them so poor they are forced to pick food from the garbage.
"I signed a contract with the government to be permanently relocated there," Wang says. "If they don't like me complaining about it, then why did they relocate me there in the first place?"
Wang says that when she protested inadequate government compensation, police detained and beat her. Her husband, Zou Xinrui, says they are desperate.
"If I weren't so old, I might be out robbing, stealing and killing. Why? Because when people are driven past a certain point, there's nothing else they can do," he says. "I might even join some counterrevolutionary group just to fill my belly."
A Thin Layer Of Land
Many of the problems on the Yangtze's middle reaches come down to this: Too many people are living on the land and overwhelming its fragile ecosystems. The reservoir means there is now even less land.
An hour upstream in Fengjie county, farmer Fan Zhuxian tends to his fields. Before the reservoir was constructed, his fields were mostly level. Now, 70 percent of them are on steep hillsides.
Fan squats down to plant seedlings. Every blow of his small pickax seems to hit a rock. The earth here is a thin layer covering the mountains, and it is easily washed away.
"I try to hold the soil in place with stone barriers," Fan explains, "but when it rains, they just collapse."
Fan says his sweet potatoes only grow to a size somewhere between that of a golf ball and a baseball.
Dwindling Water Resources
An increase in landslides in recent years, caused by fluctuating water levels, has forced the government to go slow in filling the reservoir.
China now says it wants to double hydropower generation by the year 2020 to reduce its reliance on coal. But experts fear more dams on the Yangtze could lead to conflicts over dwindling water resources.
Pu Yongjian, a professor at the Sustainable Development Research Institute at Chongqing University, says local governments are keen on damming their sections of the river to generate energy and jobs.
"There's no solution to this problem. Local governments have to set goals to raise their economic output, and they have to reach those goals," Pu says. "This is a conflict between economic development and environmental protection."
What's needed is a holistic management of the entire river, Pu says. Otherwise, the mighty Yangtze — which China has tried for millennia to tame — could one day run dry before it reaches the sea.
China Coal Mine Blast Death Toll Jumps To 87
by The Associated Press
November 22, 2009
Rescuers worked in frigid cold to reach 21 miners trapped underground Sunday as the death toll from a huge gas explosion in a northern Chinese mine jumped to 87 — the deadliest blast to hit the beleaguered industry in nearly two years.
The pre-dawn blast Saturday at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang (pronounced HAY-long-jeeahng) province near the border with Russia was the latest to hit China's mining industry — the world's most dangerous. Authorities say safety is improving, but hundreds still die in major accidents each year.
The death toll more than doubled overnight, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. A duty officer at Xinxing's work safety authority and an employee at the company that owns the mine confirmed 87 had died.
Ventilation and power were restored in the mine, said the employee, who refused to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The mine's director, deputy director and chief engineer were fired Saturday, he said.
A total of 528 people were working in the Xinxing (pronounced shin-shing) mine at the time of the 2:30 a.m. explosion Saturday, the State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement. Xinhua reported 420 escaped.
Steam was seen Sunday rising from the site of the explosion, which resulted from a gas build-up. The blast littered the ground with shards of shattered glass and twisted pieces of metal. A building next to the mine lay crumbled, its blackened roof on the ground.
The site was cordoned off by police tape and guarded by a half-dozen officers while a handful of passers-by watched as rescue teams entered the mine shaft.
Tang Cunha, a local resident who stood about 30 yards (meters) behind the police tape, likened the destruction caused by the blast to that of a massive earthquake. "I had to come by and see it," he said. "It's awful, it's awful."
Survivors recounted their harrowing escapes. Wang Jiguo, 35, a miner who monitored gas levels in the shaft, said he suddenly grabbed two other workers near him and started scrambling to the door, shouting: "Run quickly, don't carry anything!"
At the entrance of the shaft, Wang and Fu Maofeng, 48, phoned other workers who were still underground and told them to escape, Fu told Xinhua from the intensive care unit of a hospital in Hegang, where he was being treated.
"Just after we hung up the phone, we heard a loud bang from inside the shaft. The entrance of the shaft started shaking," Fu said. Then a wave of searing hot air slammed them to the ground, knocking them unconscious.
When he came to, Fu found himself lying in the hospital, his face covered with scratches and burns on his left eye. "Our team has 10 people, and I don't know how they are now," Fu said.
Company officials remained hopeful of finding survivors.
"If we haven't found them, to us that means they are still alive," San Jingguang, a spokesman for the mining company, told reporters. "Rescuing people is still our first priority."
State-run CCTV displayed a diagram showing the miners trapped about a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground. One entrance was blocked, and rescue teams in orange work suits and yellow hard hats were sent underground in mining carts down a separate shaft.
Overnight temperatures dropped as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius), according to the Central Meteorological Station.
Xinxing, which started operations in 1917, is located near the border with Russia. Large state-owned coal mines, such as Xinxing, are generally considered safer than smaller, private ones that account for the bulk of production. Saturday's blast underscores the difficulties the government faces in trying to boost safety while maintaining output.
Heilongjiang provincial governor Li Zhanshu urged officials to better manage coal mines. "Development is important, but the growth of GDP shouldn't be achieved at the price of miners' blood," he told Xinhua.
Coal is vital to the vast population and booming economy, as China uses it to generate about three-quarters of its electricity.
The government has cracked down on unregulated mining operations, which account for almost 80 percent of the country's 16,000 mines. It says the closure of about 1,000 dangerous small mines last year has helped it cut fatalities.
Yet major accidents persist. In the first nine months of this year, China's coal mines had 11 such incidents with 303 deaths. Gas explosions were the leading cause, the government said.
A blast at the Tunlan coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province in February killed 78 people. In December 2007, a gas explosion at another Shanxi coal mine killed 105 people.
November 22, 2009
Rescuers worked in frigid cold to reach 21 miners trapped underground Sunday as the death toll from a huge gas explosion in a northern Chinese mine jumped to 87 — the deadliest blast to hit the beleaguered industry in nearly two years.
The pre-dawn blast Saturday at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang (pronounced HAY-long-jeeahng) province near the border with Russia was the latest to hit China's mining industry — the world's most dangerous. Authorities say safety is improving, but hundreds still die in major accidents each year.
The death toll more than doubled overnight, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. A duty officer at Xinxing's work safety authority and an employee at the company that owns the mine confirmed 87 had died.
Ventilation and power were restored in the mine, said the employee, who refused to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The mine's director, deputy director and chief engineer were fired Saturday, he said.
A total of 528 people were working in the Xinxing (pronounced shin-shing) mine at the time of the 2:30 a.m. explosion Saturday, the State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement. Xinhua reported 420 escaped.
Steam was seen Sunday rising from the site of the explosion, which resulted from a gas build-up. The blast littered the ground with shards of shattered glass and twisted pieces of metal. A building next to the mine lay crumbled, its blackened roof on the ground.
The site was cordoned off by police tape and guarded by a half-dozen officers while a handful of passers-by watched as rescue teams entered the mine shaft.
Tang Cunha, a local resident who stood about 30 yards (meters) behind the police tape, likened the destruction caused by the blast to that of a massive earthquake. "I had to come by and see it," he said. "It's awful, it's awful."
Survivors recounted their harrowing escapes. Wang Jiguo, 35, a miner who monitored gas levels in the shaft, said he suddenly grabbed two other workers near him and started scrambling to the door, shouting: "Run quickly, don't carry anything!"
At the entrance of the shaft, Wang and Fu Maofeng, 48, phoned other workers who were still underground and told them to escape, Fu told Xinhua from the intensive care unit of a hospital in Hegang, where he was being treated.
"Just after we hung up the phone, we heard a loud bang from inside the shaft. The entrance of the shaft started shaking," Fu said. Then a wave of searing hot air slammed them to the ground, knocking them unconscious.
When he came to, Fu found himself lying in the hospital, his face covered with scratches and burns on his left eye. "Our team has 10 people, and I don't know how they are now," Fu said.
Company officials remained hopeful of finding survivors.
"If we haven't found them, to us that means they are still alive," San Jingguang, a spokesman for the mining company, told reporters. "Rescuing people is still our first priority."
State-run CCTV displayed a diagram showing the miners trapped about a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground. One entrance was blocked, and rescue teams in orange work suits and yellow hard hats were sent underground in mining carts down a separate shaft.
Overnight temperatures dropped as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius), according to the Central Meteorological Station.
Xinxing, which started operations in 1917, is located near the border with Russia. Large state-owned coal mines, such as Xinxing, are generally considered safer than smaller, private ones that account for the bulk of production. Saturday's blast underscores the difficulties the government faces in trying to boost safety while maintaining output.
Heilongjiang provincial governor Li Zhanshu urged officials to better manage coal mines. "Development is important, but the growth of GDP shouldn't be achieved at the price of miners' blood," he told Xinhua.
Coal is vital to the vast population and booming economy, as China uses it to generate about three-quarters of its electricity.
The government has cracked down on unregulated mining operations, which account for almost 80 percent of the country's 16,000 mines. It says the closure of about 1,000 dangerous small mines last year has helped it cut fatalities.
Yet major accidents persist. In the first nine months of this year, China's coal mines had 11 such incidents with 303 deaths. Gas explosions were the leading cause, the government said.
A blast at the Tunlan coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province in February killed 78 people. In December 2007, a gas explosion at another Shanxi coal mine killed 105 people.
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