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Friday, December 31, 2010
RUSSIA: The Next Treaties
December 31, 2010
Even after the herculean effort required to win Senate ratification of the New Start treaty, President Obama has no time to rest. The treaty, which mandates modest cuts in long-range nuclear weapons, is on its way to approval by the Duma, the lower house of Parliament in Russia. Once that happens, Washington and Moscow should quickly begin discussing other, more far-reaching agreements.
Two decades after the end of the cold war, the United States and Russia still have many thousands of nuclear weapons. The two countries cannot credibly argue for restraining the nuclear ambitions of Iran, North Korea and other wannabes unless they keep working to bring their own numbers down...
SEOUL, S. KOREA: Kim Yun-jin to Strike Bell on New Year's Eve
Actress Kim Yun-jin will take part in the New Year's Eve bell ringing ceremony at Bosingak Bell Pavilion in Jongno, Seoul at midnight on Friday.
Kim was the first Korean star to make a career in Hollywood, and became a worldwide celebrity with the success of the popular TV series "Lost."
View The Chosun Ilbo Article...
N. KOREA: North Korea bends a little to air British movie
From left, Shaznay Lewis, Keira Knightley, and Parminder Nagra arrive at the 2002 premiere of the film, "Bend it Like Beckham," in London. The three actresses played soccer players. (Max Nash, Associated Press / April 11, 2002) Researchers try to parse the meaning of the secretive regime's decision to air a heavily edited version of 'Bend It Like Beckham,' about a young soccer player pulled between the sport and her South Asian family's expectations. 5:15 PM PST, December 31, 2010 By John M. Glionna and Ethan Kim, Los Angeles Times - Reporting from Seoul The curtain that shrouds North Korean culture and daily life opened briefly this week with reports that state television in Pyongyang had broadcast the British soccer film "Bend It Like Beckham." In one of the world's most reclusive nations, Western movies and TV fare are largely verboten, especially a film that deals with such racy subject matters as intercultural relationships, homosexuality and religion. But censors took care of that: The 2002 movie starring Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley as young soccer players and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as their coach was edited down to one hour, leaving little more than scenes of a sport that is beloved to most North Koreans. Then it was back to the wooden fare of crop-yield documentaries and paeans to the regime's strongman, Kim Jong Il... View Los Angles Times Article... |
JAPAN: For Japan, 2010 was a year to forget
By Malcolm Foster
TOKYO —
Japan has been overtaken by China as the world’s No. 2 economy. Its flagship company, Toyota, recalled more than 10 million vehicles in an embarrassing safety crisis. Its fourth prime minister resigned in three years, and the government remains unable to jolt an economy entering its third decade of stagnation.
For once-confident Japan, 2010 may well mark a symbolic milestone in its slide from economic giant to what experts see as its likely destiny: a second-tier power with some standout companies but limited global influence.
As Japanese drink up at year-end parties known as “bonen-kai,” or “forget-the-year gatherings,” this is one many will be happy to forget...
View Japan Today Article...
TOKYO —
Japan has been overtaken by China as the world’s No. 2 economy. Its flagship company, Toyota, recalled more than 10 million vehicles in an embarrassing safety crisis. Its fourth prime minister resigned in three years, and the government remains unable to jolt an economy entering its third decade of stagnation.
For once-confident Japan, 2010 may well mark a symbolic milestone in its slide from economic giant to what experts see as its likely destiny: a second-tier power with some standout companies but limited global influence.
As Japanese drink up at year-end parties known as “bonen-kai,” or “forget-the-year gatherings,” this is one many will be happy to forget...
View Japan Today Article...
FROM HEATHER: Apology for Unplanned Hiatus and New Year's Resolution
My apologies for taking an unanticipated hiatus from blogging the latter half of 2010 due to some medical issues. However, I am now as healthy as ever and looking forward to resuming my regular postings in the New Year.
I hope you will find the articles I share of interest and will post your own comments as well.
I hope you will find the articles I share of interest and will post your own comments as well.
Happy New Year!
明けましておめでとうございます
新年快乐
С новым годом
새해 복 많이
S. KOREA: Happy New Year from Seoul
Crowds gather in Seoul to watch the traditional striking of the bell at Bosingak as the official start of 2011.
View CNN Video...
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
SHANGHAI, CHINA: Shanghai Schools’ Approach Pushes Students to Top of Tests
Ryan Pyle for The New York Times
By DAVID BARBOZA
December 29, 2010SHANGHAI — In Li Zhen’s ninth-grade mathematics class here last week, the morning drill was geometry. Students at the middle school affiliated with Jing’An Teachers’ College were asked to explain the relative size of geometric shapes by using Euclid’s theorem of parallelograms.“Who in this class can tell me how to demonstrate two lines are parallel without using a proportional segment?” Ms. Li called out to about 40 students seated in a cramped classroom.One by one, a series of students at this medium-size public school raised their hands. When Ms. Li called on them, they each stood politely by their desks and usually answered correctly. They returned to their seats only when she told them to sit down.Educators say this disciplined approach helps explain the announcement this month that 5,100 15-year-olds in Shanghai outperformed students from about 65 countries on an international standardized test that measured math, science and reading competency.
Ryan Pyle for The New York Times
By DAVID BARBOZA
December 29, 2010
SHANGHAI — In Li Zhen’s ninth-grade mathematics class here last week, the morning drill was geometry. Students at the middle school affiliated with Jing’An Teachers’ College were asked to explain the relative size of geometric shapes by using Euclid’s theorem of parallelograms.
“Who in this class can tell me how to demonstrate two lines are parallel without using a proportional segment?” Ms. Li called out to about 40 students seated in a cramped classroom.
One by one, a series of students at this medium-size public school raised their hands. When Ms. Li called on them, they each stood politely by their desks and usually answered correctly. They returned to their seats only when she told them to sit down.
Educators say this disciplined approach helps explain the announcement this month that 5,100 15-year-olds in Shanghai outperformed students from about 65 countries on an international standardized test that measured math, science and reading competency.
Friday, December 24, 2010
SHANGHAI, CHINA: China Detains Officials Over Shanghai Fire
December 24, 2010
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI — Prosecutors in Shanghai said on Friday that they had detained three government officials for their role in a high-rise apartment fire here last month that killed 58 people and injured about 70 others.
The government said the three officials were placed under criminal detention for abuse of power in allowing illegal construction activities to spark a huge fire at a 28-story apartment complex in the central part of Shanghai. It was one of the deadliest fires in Shanghai in decades.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
SHANGHAI, CHINA: As China's obsession with plastic surgery grows, so too do the pitfalls
A patient is seen as she goes through the so-called "double eyelid surgery", which adds a crease to the eyelids to make the eyes appear larger, in a plastic surgery clinic in Shanghai. Double eyelid surgery is the most popular cosmetic procedure in China. Picture taken November 4, 2007. (Nir Elias) (© Nir Elias/reuters - Reuters) |
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 22, 2010; 10:05 AM
SHANGHAI - Wang Baobao got her first taste of plastic surgery when she was just 16.
A nip and a tuck led to another nip and another tuck, another after that, and another, and another. There were the follow-up surgeries, and the repairs for the procedures that were botched the first time, and the second time, and then the third time.
Wang, now 28, estimates she has had between 170 to 180 different operations, usually six or seven at a time, and on "nearly every part of my body." She had her eyes widened. She had her nose and jaw made narrower, and her chin shaped smaller. Her breasts were enhanced, but "I had to keep having operations to repair them."
She had the fat taken out of her hips, thighs, stomach and backside. She even had implants put into her heels to try to make her taller; it didn't work.
Wang, while extreme, is in many ways emblematic of China's new and growing obsession with plastic surgery. Many now feel the craze has gone badly awry, as more and more unlicensed, unskilled and unscrupulous practitioners jump into an increasingly lucrative, yet largely unregulated, industry.
The problems were highlighted last month when a promising 24-year-old singer, Wang Bei, died in the operating room in China's central Hubei province while undergoing a facelift with her mother.
About 3 million people in China underwent plastic surgery last year, according to an official estimate. China ranks third in the world behind the United States and Brazil for the number of plastic surgeries performed, according to industry officials...
View The Washington Post Article...
Thursday, December 9, 2010
SHANGHAI, CHINA: Shanghai test scores have everyone asking: How did students do it?
By Ariel Zirulnick, Correspondent
posted December 9, 2010 at 5:14 pm EST
When the results of an international education assessment put Shanghai and several other Asian participants ahead of the US and much of Western Europe, many Americans were shocked. “Top test scores from Shanghai stun educators” read the headline in The New York Times.
Meanwhile, many education and Asia experts felt vindicated. After years of saying that China was rapidly catching up or surpassing the US and the rest of the West in education, here was hard proof...
View Christian Science Monitor Article...
posted December 9, 2010 at 5:14 pm EST
When the results of an international education assessment put Shanghai and several other Asian participants ahead of the US and much of Western Europe, many Americans were shocked. “Top test scores from Shanghai stun educators” read the headline in The New York Times.
Meanwhile, many education and Asia experts felt vindicated. After years of saying that China was rapidly catching up or surpassing the US and the rest of the West in education, here was hard proof...
View Christian Science Monitor Article...
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
JAPAN: Haunting Films From Japan
OCTOBER 27, 2010
The Japanese have long had a knack for telling a good ghost story. And for more than half a century they've been equally adept at putting those stories on the screen. Yet Japanese movies featuring the supernatural are different from their Western counterparts. Japanese spirits tend to be more passive—their mere presence often driving guilty souls to ruin or redemption. Though such films can be enjoyed anytime, Halloween's approach makes them especially attractive as a welcome twist to an otherwise predictable holiday. Below are several films, available individually on DVD from the Criterion Collection, that show the Japanese flair for fright. Some are undisputed classics, while others represent milestones in the genre's development.
Monday, October 4, 2010
SOUTH KOREA: Vegeflation and Imperiled Kimchi
There are several interesting articles addressing the skyrocketing prices for cabbage and radishes--key ingredients for the national dish, kimchi--that have resulted from a summer of bad weather. The unprecedented development has implications for Korean culture and global trade.
- Cabbage Crisis Causes Kimchi Crunch (Joong Ang Daily)
- Dear Cabbage (The Economist)
- Import Tariffs to be Lifted on Napa Cabbage, Radish (The Chosun Ilbo)
- Kimchi Crisis Leaves South Koreans in a Pickle (NPR)
- Korea All-Out to Secure Cabbages Amid Kimchi Crisis (The Korea Times)
- Koreans Go Sour on Soaring Kimchi Prices (AFP)
- Koreans Scramble to Adjust to Soaring Kimchi Prices (The Korea Times)
- Napa Cabbages to be Imported from China Due to Rising Prices (The Chosun Ilbo)
- Pain in the Produce Aisle (JoongAng Daily)
- Solve Kimchi Crisis by Growing Your Own (The Korea Times)
- South Korea Cuts Chinese Vegetable Tariffs (Voice of America)
- South Korea's Kimchi Crisis (Christian Science Monitor)
- Surging Kimchi Prices Bite Korean Restaurants (The Wall Street Journal)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong-il looks to family succession
28 September 2010 Last updated at 14:36 ETHelp
A rare meeting of North Korea's ruling party has opened the way for Kim Jong-il to hand power to his youngest son.
The Workers' Party, which had not met for 30 years, convened hours after Kim Jong-un was named a four star general, even though he has no military experience.
According to observers, it is a sure sign he is in line to take over.
The BBC's John Simpson reports from neighbouring South Korea.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
ASIA: 5 of the Top 10 Global Cities in the World from the Asia-Pacific region
The survey measures how much sway a city has beyond its borders -- its influence and integration with global markets, culture, and innovation.
Of the top 10 cities, five are in Asia -- Tokyo (3rd), Hong Kong (5th), Singapore (8th), Sydney (9th) and Seoul (10th).
The survey also focused on trend such as megacities and rapid urbanization as more people are moving from rural to urban areas. In addition it noted that global influence is shifting from the West to the East.
This year's survey of 68 cities was the second ever done. The survey in 2008 looked at 60 cities from around the world.
This year's rankings with Asian cities in red:
Rank City
1 New York
2 London
3 Tokyo
4 Paris
5 Hong Kong
6 Chicago
7 Los Angeles
8 Singapore
9 Sydney
10 Seoul
11 Brussels
12 San Francisco
13 Washington
14 Toronto
15 Beijing
16 Berlin
17 Madrid
18 Vienna
19 Boston
20 Frankfurt
20 Shanghai
22 Buenos Aires
23 Stockholm
24 Zurich
25 Moscow
26 Barcelona
27 Dubai
28 Rome
29 Amsterdam
30 Mexico City
31 Montreal
32 Geneva
33 Miami
33 Munich
35 Sao Paulo
36 Bangkok
37 Copenhagen
38 Houston
39 Taipei
40 Atlanta
41 Istanbul
42 Milan
43 Cairo
44 Dublin
45 New Delhi
46 Mumbai
47 Osaka
48 Kuala Lumpur
49 Rio de Janeiro
50 Tel Aviv
51 Manila
52 Johannesburg
53 Jakarta
54 Bogota
55 Caracas
56 Nairobi
57 Guangzhou
58 Bangalore
59 Lagos
60 Karachi
61 Ho Chi Minh City
62 Shenzhen
63 Kolkata
64 Dhaka
65 Chongqing
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
CHINA: China’s Got Talent and the Armless Piano Sensation Liu Wei
The “Got Talent” franchise has exploded since it was first launched in Britain in 2007, and has since spawned dozens of authorized spinoffs in other countries, including China’s Got Talent in China. The show, which aired its first episode in June, is on Dragon TV, and through a partnership with Youku, its episodes are all available in their entirety online as well.
Already, the show has produced some of the spectacular moments that have made it a sensation in other countries. In China, as elsewhere, the producers have discovered performers who are not only remarkably talented but also who have incredible backgrounds. The first episode, for example, featured a troupe of breakdancers who are also migrant workers. In real life, they told the judges, they build roads and wash cars, but on stage they were a tight-knit group of very professional looking dancers — and the crowd went nuts.
The first episode also featured a singer with dwarfism and a fat man who blew the judges away with his performance of the song “Hero”. A clip of his performance has been watched tens of thousands of times on Youku, and netizens were impressed.
“Shocking!” wrote one in the comments. “Very moving,” wrote another.
A more recent episode closed with an even more moving performance: a young man named Liu Wei had no arms, but had learned to play the piano with his feet. His performance alone would have been impressive; what really shocked the judges and the viewers alike was the man’s upbeat attitude about his disability. “There are only two roads in life,” he said. “[Give up and] die quickly, or [persevere and] live an exciting life.”
People have viewed clips from his episode a whopping 30+ million times so far on Youku, and there’s no sign of slowing. The video has attracted thousands of comments, many of them expressing support and admiration for Liu Wei. The judges loved him too, so we’ll be seeing Liu Wei again later this season, and it’s clear many of Youku’s users are hoping that he might even win the whole contest!
Until then, though, rest assured we’ll see plenty of Liu Wei outside the contest, too. He’s already been interviewed and profiled my many major media organizations, and he even gave an exclusive interview to Youku.
Monday, August 16, 2010
THE KOREAS: Lee Lays Out 3-Stage Master Plan for Reunification
President Lee Myung-bak in a speech on Sunday marking the 65th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule proposed a three-staged method of reunification with North Korea and the introduction of a "unification tax" to prepare for the massive cost.
"Today, inter-Korean relations demand a new paradigm," Lee said. "The two of us need to overcome the current state of division and proceed with the goal of peaceful reunification." The comments mark a shift from policies aimed at maintaining stability to active steps toward reunification.
"We long for the common prosperity and peace of both the South and the North, which will lead to reunification, and this is the right way to achieve the genuine liberation of the nation," he said. He urged North Korea to face reality and make a choice for change.
"Today, inter-Korean relations demand a new paradigm," Lee said. "The two of us need to overcome the current state of division and proceed with the goal of peaceful reunification." The comments mark a shift from policies aimed at maintaining stability to active steps toward reunification.
"We long for the common prosperity and peace of both the South and the North, which will lead to reunification, and this is the right way to achieve the genuine liberation of the nation," he said. He urged North Korea to face reality and make a choice for change.
President Lee Myung-bak and leading political figures celebrate the 65th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule in central Seoul on Sunday.
The three-stage plan would start with a "peace community" that assures security on the peninsula including a denuclearized North, followed by the creation of an "economic community" developing the North's economy through exchanges, and eventually the full integration. His proposal of the "unification tax" was seen as a way of taking active steps toward those goals.
There have been two broad theories of reunification. One is the so-called Sunshine Policy of gradual reunification proposed by former President Kim Dae-jung and favored by progressives. Proponents of the Sunshine Policy believe sudden reunification stemming from regime collapse in North Korea or other unexpected causes would entail tremendous social and financial costs for South Korea. They therefore favor reunification further down the road after the two Koreas narrow their economic differences and acclimatize to each other's societies.
In contrast, conservatives say such an approach would only prolong North Korea's autocratic regime and warn that the South must prepare for a sudden regime collapse in the North. Some even say South Korea should pressure North Korea in order to trigger regime collapse.
Lee's speech leans to the conservative approach, as is evident from his mention of the "need to overcome the current state of division," the establishment of a "peace community" and the shouldering of reunification costs, apparently in preparation for sudden changes in North Korea.
Evidently concerned about conveying such a strong message, Cheong Wa Dae issued a customary supplementary gloss of the presidential statement explaining that the unification tax and other measures were not designed specifically with a potential North Korean regime collapse in mind.
Lee's speech is expected to lead to a major debate in South Korea over how to deal with the North. At a press conference in Washington D.C. in 2008, Lee said reunification in the name of democracy is the "ultimate goal." He added it is important for the North and South to coexist in peace. Since then the North has severed ties with the South and stepped up military provocations. One close aide to Lee said, "The fact that the president, who is fully aware of repercussions, has raised the issue again at the start of the second half of his term reflects his determination."
There have been two broad theories of reunification. One is the so-called Sunshine Policy of gradual reunification proposed by former President Kim Dae-jung and favored by progressives. Proponents of the Sunshine Policy believe sudden reunification stemming from regime collapse in North Korea or other unexpected causes would entail tremendous social and financial costs for South Korea. They therefore favor reunification further down the road after the two Koreas narrow their economic differences and acclimatize to each other's societies.
In contrast, conservatives say such an approach would only prolong North Korea's autocratic regime and warn that the South must prepare for a sudden regime collapse in the North. Some even say South Korea should pressure North Korea in order to trigger regime collapse.
Lee's speech leans to the conservative approach, as is evident from his mention of the "need to overcome the current state of division," the establishment of a "peace community" and the shouldering of reunification costs, apparently in preparation for sudden changes in North Korea.
Evidently concerned about conveying such a strong message, Cheong Wa Dae issued a customary supplementary gloss of the presidential statement explaining that the unification tax and other measures were not designed specifically with a potential North Korean regime collapse in mind.
Lee's speech is expected to lead to a major debate in South Korea over how to deal with the North. At a press conference in Washington D.C. in 2008, Lee said reunification in the name of democracy is the "ultimate goal." He added it is important for the North and South to coexist in peace. Since then the North has severed ties with the South and stepped up military provocations. One close aide to Lee said, "The fact that the president, who is fully aware of repercussions, has raised the issue again at the start of the second half of his term reflects his determination."
View Article...
Sunday, August 15, 2010
CHINA & JAPAN: China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy
August 15, 2010
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI — After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures released early Monday.
The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China’s ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.
The recognition came early Monday, when Tokyo said that Japan’s economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion in the second quarter, slightly below China’s $1.33 trillion. Japan’s economy grew 0.4 percent in the quarter, Tokyo said, substantially less than forecast. That weakness suggests that China’s economy will race past Japan’s for the full year.
Experts say unseating Japan — and in recent years passing Germany, France and Great Britain — underscores China’s growing clout and bolsters forecasts that China will pass the United States as the world’s biggest economy as early as 2030. America’s gross domestic product was about $14 trillion in 2009.
“This has enormous significance,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “It reconfirms what’s been happening for the better part of a decade: China has been eclipsing Japan economically. For everyone in China’s region, they’re now the biggest trading partner rather than the U.S. or Japan.”
For Japan, whose economy has been stagnating for more than a decade, the figures reflect a decline in economic and political power. Japan has had the world’s second-largest economy for much of the last four decades, according to the World Bank. And during the 1980s, there was even talk about Japan’s economy some day overtaking that of the United States.
But while Japan’s economy is mature and its population quickly aging, China is in the throes of urbanization and is far from developed, analysts say, meaning it has a much lower standard of living, as well as a lot more room to grow. Just five years ago, China’s gross domestic product was about $2.3 trillion, about half of Japan’s.
This country has roughly the same land mass as the United States, but it is burdened with a fifth of the world’s population and insufficient resources.
Its per capita income is more on a par with those of impoverished nations like Algeria, El Salvador and Albania — which, along with China, are close to $3,600 — than that of the United States, where it is about $46,000.
Yet there is little disputing that under the direction of the Communist Party, China has begun to reshape the way the global economy functions by virtue of its growing dominance of trade, its huge hoard of foreign exchange reserves and United States government debt and its voracious appetite for oil, coal, iron ore and other natural resources.
China is already a major driver of global growth. The country’s leaders have grown more confident on the international stage and have begun to assert greater influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with things like special trade agreements and multibillion dollar resource deals.
“They’re exerting a lot of influence on the global economy and becoming dominant in Asia,” said Eswar S. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell and former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China division. “A lot of other economies in the region are essentially riding on China’s coat tails, and this is remarkable for an economy with a low per capita income.”
In Japan, the mood was one of resignation. Though increasingly eclipsed by Beijing on the world stage, Japan has benefited from a booming China, initially by businesses moving production there to take advantage of lower wages and, as local incomes have risen, by tapping a large and increasingly lucrative market for Japanese goods.
Beijing is also beginning to shape global dialogues on a range of issues, analysts said; for instance, last year it asserted that the dollar must be phased out as the world’s primary reserve currency.
And while the United States and the European Union are struggling to grow in the wake of the worst economic crisis in decades, China has continued to climb up the economic league tables by investing heavily in infrastructure and backing a $586 billionstimulus plan.
This year, although growth has begun to moderate a bit, China’s economy is forecast to expand about 10 percent — continuing a remarkable three-decade streak of double-digit growth.
“This is just the beginning,” said Wang Tao, an economist at UBS in Beijing. “China is still a developing country. So it has a lot of room to grow. And China has the biggest impact on commodity prices — in Russia, India, Australia and Latin America.”
There are huge challenges ahead, though. Economists say that China’s economy is too heavily dependent on exports and investment and that it needs to encourage greater domestic consumption — something China has struggled to do.
The country’s largely state-run banks have recently been criticized for lending far too aggressively in the last year while shifting some loans off their balance sheet to disguise lending and evade rules meant to curtail lending growth.
China is also locked in a fierce debate over its currency policy, with the United States, European Union and others accusing Beijing of keeping the Chinese currency, the renminbi, artificially low to bolster exports — leading to huge trade surpluses for China but major bilateral trade deficits for the United States and the European Union. China says that its currency is not substantially undervalued and that it is moving ahead with currency reform.
Regardless, China’s rapid growth suggests that it will continue to compete fiercely with the United States and Europe for natural resources but also offer big opportunities for companies eager to tap its market.
Although its economy is still only one-third the size of the American economy, China passed the United States last year to become the world’s largest market for passenger vehicles. China also passed Germany last year to become the world’s biggest exporter.
Global companies like Caterpillar, General Electric, General Motors and Siemens — as well as scores of others — are making a more aggressive push into China, in some cases moving research and development centers here.
Some analysts, though, say that while China is eager to assert itself as a financial and economic power — and to push its state companies to “go global” — it is reluctant to play a greater role in the debate over climate change or how to slow the growth of greenhouse gases.
China passed the United States in 2006 to become the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, which scientists link to global warming. But China also has an ambitious program to cut the energy it uses for each unit of economic output by 20 percent by the end of 2010, compared to 2006.
Assessing what China’s newfound clout means, though, is complicated. While the country is still relatively poor per capita, it has an authoritarian government that is capable of taking decisive action — to stimulate the economy, build new projects and invest in specific industries.
That, Mr. Lardy at the Peterson Institute said, gives the country unusual power. “China is already the primary determiner of the price of virtually every major commodity,” he said. “And the Chinese government can be much more decisive in allocating resources in a way that other governments of this level of per capita income cannot.”
Hiroko Tabuchi contributed from Tokyo.
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