CHINA – POLITICS
Shenzhen Special Economic Zone marks 30 years
* Hu’s speech & economic reform
President Hu Jintao hailed the southern Special Economic Zone Shenzhen as a “miracle” on September 6th as China marked 30 years of reforms in the city that provided the blueprint of the country’s economic rebirth. It’s reported that the celebration was postponed for 12 days after Hu decided to stay in Beijing in the wake of the Manila bus hostage tragedy.
“The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) created a miracle in the world’s history of industrialization, urbanization and modernization and has contributed significantly to China’s opening up and reform,” Hu said, “The central government will, as always, support the brave exploration of the special economic zone as well as its role of testing and carrying out reforms ahead of others.”
Under reforms pioneered by Deng Xiaoping, in August of 1980, Shenzhen, the once sleepy fishing village, became the first area in China to be designated a special economic zone that could accept foreign investments. The reforms touched off an annual economic growth rate of 25.8% over the past 30 years in Shenzhen, compared with about 9.8% for the entire country, according to China Daily.
* Wen’s speech & political reform
Departing from President Hu’s emphasis on the city’s economic achievement, Premier Wen Jiabao made his debate-stirring remarks on political reform in Shenzhen on August 21st. “Without the safeguard of political reform, the fruits of economic reform would be lost and the goal of modernisation would not materialise,” Wen said in his speech. Wen’s speech was played down by the state media, but caused a stir and speculation among scholars and on the internet. There was much speculation if there will be a bold move by the central government in the region in the future. But some say Wen routinely speaks of political reform and universal values without actually doing anything to change the system. The speech was just another show, said famous blogger Ran Yunfei (冉云飞) after analysing related tweets.
The Central Party School’s newspaper Study Times published an article on the front page on September 13th, echoing Wen’s bold call for political reform. The article, with the headline “Political reform is what people want”, said democratization is a global trend and the urgent request for further economic reform, it’s the only way to reach the aim of letting people to live more happily and with more dignity. South China Morning Post said the article is being seen as another round of political discussion stirred up by Wen’s speech. But Bao Tong (鲍彤), the director of the political reform bureau who worked with reform-minded party leader Zhao Ziyang, told the SCMP that he’s frustrated that the party’s commitment to political reform had not progressed beyond talk.
Hu Shuli (胡舒立)’s magazine Century Weekly’s editorial on August 30th said political reform is “simple in concept, yet difficult in practice”. China’s reform is at a critical time and we have to act and push political reform. After 30 years of reform, the top leaders are still stressing the importance of political reform, which means it can’t be delayed any longer. Lately, there came up a theory saying that the success of China’s economic development proved the success of China’s existing political system. According to its logic, China’s political system that has remained unchanged for 60 years is suitable for both the planned economy and the market economy, therefore, there’s no need to reform the “advanced” political system —- this theory is completely opposite to the central government’s current policies and the public opinion. When Shenzhen SEZ was set up, the debate focused on ideology, while today’s reform centers on complex and competing interests, we must build mechanisms that various interest groups can consult and interact to promote comprehensive reform.
But Shenzhen’s political reform doesn’t aim to build Shenzhen a special political zone, it only refers to administration reform, says Oriental Outlook, “this is a common knowledge of Shenzhen’s policy research community.”
* Social problems of the SEZ
On the other side of the story, Shenzhen is sometimes pointed to as a symbol of social problems attending the China economic model. This year, 13 workers have killed themselves in the Taiwan I.T. giant Foxconn’s Shenzhen factory. Its former mayor Xu Zongheng (许宗衡) was arrested after reported corruption scandals.
“Do we need a GDP Shenzhen or happy Shenzhen?” the Oriental Outlook’s August 26th issue questioned. “Shenzhen shouldn’t repeat the old GDP-oriented road, shouldn’t pursue “Shenzhen speed” anymore. We need to build a happy Shenzhen”, the magazine quoted former Shenzhen government official Xu Jingan (徐景安) as saying, “Expending domestic demand, public service, political democracy, social harmony, morality and culture are going to be the topics of Shenzhen’s future development and reform.”
Guangdong aims to build “Special Political Zone”
Experts at a recent high-level seminar in Guangdong said in the coming 30 years, Guangdong should transfer from “Special Economic Zone” to “Special Political Zone”, let political reform lead and guide other reforms.
It’s the 30th anniversary of Guangdong Special Economic Zone. Guangdong academic communities held the seminar to talk about the province’s future. A report issued by Guangdong Society of Reform (广东省体制改革研究会) pointed out that in the old days the obstacles to reform was the constraints of old concepts, now it’s the vested interest groups that resist reforms. Li Luoli (李罗力), vice president of China Society of Economic Reform (中国体制改革研究会) said at the seminar that a special economic zone must be a special political zone at the same time. Guangdong should refer to its neighbor Hong Kong’s legal system, government operations, social credit system and urban management experience.
23m Christians on the mainland, figures show
Christians on the mainland now number some 23 million, accounting for 1.8 per cent of the population, according to the first official figures compiled on the country’s religions released on August 11th, says South China Morning Post. The Blue Book on China Religions, which is released by the institute of world religions at CASS for the first time, suggested that about a quarter of Christians engage in religious activities at home. According to the Christian Examiner’s recent research, there are about 54 million Christians on the mainland. Most believed there were about 700,000 Christians when the People’s Republic was founded in 1949.
Oriental Outlook: efforts on party history study before the 90th anniversary
The National Work Conference on History of CPC was held in Beijing on June 21st. President Hu Jintao, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, met with the delegates before the conference. Vice President Xi Jinping, also Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote speech. “The conference has never been so high profile,” said Professor Yang Fengcheng (杨凤城), the dean of the Department of Chinese Communist Party History, Renmin University.
Xi said in his speech that the history of the 89-year-old Party is a “lively and vivid textbook,” which should be well studied and research results should be used to “educate Party members, officials and the masses, especially the youth.” He also warned that the party “strongly opposes any tendency that distorts and smears the Party’s history.”
“The current disputes on ideologies are largely about how to look at the Party’s history.” Professor Yang said, “The legitimacy of the Party’s ruling will be weaken or even shaken if we can’t interpret the Party history properly.”
According to Oriental Outlook, there are17,000 Party history researchers in China, and the Central Party History Research is guaranteed a budget of tens of millions of Yuan each year.
The guiding rule for Party history research is “rather rough than detailed”, which was raised by Deng Xiaoping. “This is very important. We can only reach consensus and unite under that rule…too much details can only cause disputes,” said Shi Zhongquan (石仲泉), former Deputy Director of the Central Party History Research.
New Weekly: Plasticine men: the painless dream free age
China Newsweek: Chinese are turning theistic
China might be marching on but more and more young people are loosing their dreams and passion and becoming “plasticine men”, says August 15th New Weekly. Triumphalism, rigid social class divisions and lack of values together shaped “Generation P”, an expression used by Singapore’s Strait Times. More and more young Chinese are losing their passion to fight for a better future as they can’t see any chance for a change in their lot in life. A survey by the magazine and sina.com among 459 readers shows 35.9% of the participants who don’t have dreams anymore belong to the middle class, and 45.3% of the participants think it’s the survival pressure that killed their dreams. Compared to the self-proclaimed middle class “plasticine men”, millions of industrial workers are working hard on assembly lines and dreaming of make their fortune in big cities. But the 13 Foxconn jumpers repeatedly warned them of a cruel reality.
According to August 30th China Newsweek, 85% of Chinese people have religions or religious practice, though some of them don’t recognize it. The recent reported celebrity Taoist monk Li Yi (李一) on the run and his star followers including entrepreneur Jack Ma Yun (李云), singer Faye Wang (王菲), TV news commentator Yang Jinlin (杨锦麟), famous movie director Zhang Jizhong (张纪中) and CCTV documentary director Fan Xinman (樊馨曼), hints the revival of the ancient Chinese religion and the huge religious demand by stressed modern people. As to another ancient religion Buddhism, the article quoted a master monk saying there are more and more young people choose to convert to Buddhism, because they can “find answers that are not written in the textbooks.” Shijiazhuang’s Bailin Temple (柏林寺) is famous for its Peking University graduated abbot Ven. Ming Hai (释明海) and has been attractive to well-educated elites. Experts say there are 185 mln self-claimed Buddhists in China, which counts for 18% of the population. While at the same time, with the development of the market economy, China sees a rapid growth of Christians in cities, among which, Wenzhou has became the biggest base for businessmen while Beijing is the centre for intellectuals. Dr. Yang Fenggang (杨凤岗) at Purdue University put the popularity of all kinds of religions in China on the supply shortage of religion, which can be seen in the crowded churches and temples.
CHINA – CULTURE
- New word: 目田，beheading freedom (自由)
Chinese gamers were thrilled at the official release of the World of Warcraft’s Wrath of the Lich King on August 31st. But they soon found a few words were censored in the game, including “freedom”, “sexy” and “passion”, account names that include those sensitive words were forced to change. So gamers quickly created the word “目田” to replace “自由(freedom)”, which means “beheading freedom”.
Chinese netizens created lots of fashionable terms that are commonly used in online forums, such as 愤青 (fenqing, angry young people) and 房奴(fangnu, mortgage slave). Some of these terms have made it into the new Oxford Chinese-English English-Chinese Dictionary, according to the South China Morning Post. Said to be the largest single-volume dictionary of its kind, it contains about 670,000 words and phrases with pronunciation in Putonghua. There were no political considerations in the decisions on which words would be included, Oxford University Press says. Decisions were based on whether a word was used frequently in different mediums, such as in online forums and in newspapers, and in daily conservations. But surprisingly, the most widely used 河蟹 (hexie, river crab) is not included. Hexie is widely used by netizens of the mainland and Hong Kong to ridicule censorship attempts by the central government, because it sounds similar in spoken Chinese to 和谐,”harmonious society”.
CHINA – DIPLOMACY
Sino – Japanese relationship on tensions
Tensions between China and Japan over the disputed waters in the East China Sea hasn’t been this high since Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid Japan an ice-breaking visit in April 2007.
On September 7th, a trawler which set off from Fujian province collided into two Japanese patrol vessels near the disputed Diaoyu Islands. The captain, Zhan Qixiong (詹其雄), and his 14 crew members, were detained by the Japanese. The 14 crew were released on September 13th after intense diplomatic efforts by the Chinese government in the past week. The Japanese ambassador Uichiro Niwa has been summoned five times by senior Chinese officials, including State Councillor Dai Bingguo (戴秉国), and the Foreign Spokeswoman Jiang Yu has been upgrading the rhetoric and said on September 14th “It will be the last straw for Beijing if Japan insists on trying the Chinese captain”, which shows the unusually bold stance the Chinese government has taken in the latest twist of the long-running territorial dispute over the eight uninhabited islands, claimed by the mainland, Taiwan and Japan.
As the latest response to the islands clash, China announced on September 14th that it would postpone planned talks with Tokyo on joint energy exploration in the East China Sea. Japan called the situation “extremely regretful” but a Foreign Ministry official said “Japan won’t change its stance no matter what card China plays.”
The trawler dust-up sparked anger on the Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. A number of posts on the internet by Chinese netizens suggested the government use force against Japan. On a Chinese web site some hackers claimed they would paralyze major Japanese web sites on September 18th, the 79th anniversary of the victory of the anti-Japanese war. In Tianjin city, a Japanese school’s security guard’s stand was attacked and the wall of the school was painted with the slogan “Chinese people are inviolable”. Activists from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan have tried to sail to Diayu islands to protest.
According to World News Journal (世界新闻报), a newspaper under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), thought the Japanese government was also holding a bold stance on the dispute, Japan’s domestic media still blame the government for being soft in front of China. Therefore, some scholars say the Japanese government’s decision is subjective to the domestic public opinion. The Japanese government doesn’t want the relationship with China to get worse, but it’s embarrassing to release the captain on the request of China. A possible way to end the crisis is to delay the decision and release the captain when discussions on the issue quiet down. Some analysts think the whole issue was raised on purpose as September 14th was the election day for Japan’s ruling Democratic Party and Diaoyu islands has been a topic for the candidates running for the party leader. Analysts say the situation will calm down after the election.
Hong Kong Economic Journal’s editorial on September 17th said Sino-Japanese relationship won’t change much for the trawler incident as the two sides share too much common interests.
Sino – U.S. relations warm after months of tensions
From September 5th, U.S. National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Deputy National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon paid a three-day visit to China and had high-level talks with senior Chinese officials including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. According to the White House, the talks covered issues including Iran, North Korea and China’s trade surpluses. During meetings, both sides emphasized the importance of the Sino-U.S. relationship.
The Sino-U.S. relationship has been on ice since President Obama approved the arms sales to Taiwan eight months ago. The tensions have since been upgraded by a series of manoeuvres in the Yellow Sea and South China Sea, including the joint naval drills by the U.S. and Vietnam in the South China Sea and the joint naval drills by the U.S. and South Korea in the Sea of Japan which was planned to take place in the Yellow Sea. Retired PLA general Luo Yuan (罗援) published an article in the PLA Daily that says the military drills were aimed at encircling Beijing by drawing its Asian neighbours to the US side. He also criticised the ‘chaotic Sino-US diplomatic policy’ adopted by the Obama administration. “On the one hand, [the US] wants China to co-operate with it to deal with the global financial meltdown. On the other hand, it is unhappy that China is playing an objective role in regional security issues,” he wrote. “The US is engaging in an increasingly tight encirclement of China and constantly challenging China’s core interests.” Another retired general Yang Yi (杨毅) said in a commentary that planned joint military exercises on Beijing’s doorstep were provocative and aimed at encircling a rising China. Hong Kong’s Ming Pao backed PLA generals and said the joint drills with Vietnam proves the U.S. is encircling China to contain the new superpower and have a hand on the rich oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea. But it suggested the U.S. be cautious because this time the counterpart is China.
Chinese currency policy is another major issue for the two countries. Chinese media speculated that the U.S. delegates would put huge pressure on China over the currency issue. An article in the 21st Century Business Herald quoted Chong Quan (崇泉), Deputy China International Trade Representative of Ministry of Commerce, as saying that China will take new measures to gradually expand importation and improve its trade balance. Chong’s words were taken as the latest response to the currency policy by the Chinese government. But the Wall Street Journal said both sides avoided mentioning the touchy topic of Chinese currency policy.
Chinese economist Li Daokui (李稻葵) said in his Davos speech that China is deeply concerned about the high unemployment rate in the States, because this is when Renminbi exchange rate becomes the whipping boy in the Congress. Li hopes the co-operation between China and the U.S. can go beyond the co-operation within the two central governments and go down to the county level, thus to help America’s structural reform and to achieve the common prosperity of the two countries.
The New York Times quoted senior U.S. officials and strategists as saying that the United States needs to forge ties with China that match in depth, scope and trust those it has with the European Union, and stressed the importance of “strategic trust” and “continuous cooperation” between the world’s two biggest economies.
Premier Wen Jiabao was reported to meet President Obama during his UN trip in New York next week. President Hu Jintao is set to visit the U.S. early next year. The intense high-profile bilateral visits are seen as a sign of possible warming of the Sino-U.S. relationship.
CHINA – ECONOMY
Labour unrest in China
* Fact sheet
Foxconn’s suicide count reached 14 on August 6th with nearly 20 of its workers jumping from high buildings so far this year. Workers in Honda’s China plants went on strike in surprising and significant ways in June. In Southern Guangdong province alone, there were 36 strikes over pay between May 25 and July 12. The wave of strikes soon spread from the south to the north. Workers at Toyota’s Tianjin plant went on strike in June, while in Beijing, workers at Lotte’s Beijing plant assembled in August.
* Wave of wage increases
All the strikes ended with big wage increases, some companies even doubled wages for some positions. Foxconn increased wages twice in a week in June, 30% for the first time and nearly 70% for the second time. Honda also promised to raise wages by 24%.
Chinese government showed its supportive stance. 27 provinces and cities in China have raised the minimum wages this year, 20 of which have raised the wages by more than 20%. Premier Wen Jiabao told a visiting Japanese delegation that the low wages Japanese companies provide to Chinese workers is the main cause of the recent labour disputes. As The Economist pointed out, China has concluded correctly that it’s better for the workers to blame their foreign bosses than local ones and foreign investors need China more than it needs them. More important, letting wages rise at the expense of profits would allow workers to enjoy more of the fruits of their labour and help the government to rebalance the economy.
The New York Times said the wage increase at Foxconn illustrated the “beginning of the end of an era” when China has been the anchor of global disinflation and helped many global companies lower costs and prices. The article says the Chinese government is supporting wage increases as a way to stimulate domestic consumption and make the country less dependent on low-priced exports. They could ease the widening rich-poor gap. The changes result from the growing clout of workers in China’s economy. Demographic changes in China are reducing the numbers of young workers entering the labour force which in turn raised the cost of Chinese goods and makes manufacturers struggle to attract workers. The rising labour costs will push the manufacturing industry to move to producing high-end goods, says the newspaper, and that matches Beijing’s ambition.
China Youth Daily said the series of strikes and wage increases put an end to the old growth model based on cheap labour. But we can’t rely on businessmen’s “kindness” to improve workers’ welfare, the government has to play its role and set up relative laws and rules.
* Aftermath: industry upgrade, foreign investments, trade unions and political freedom
As the trend of wage increases is going on, a big withdrawl of manufacturing plants is also planned. Media reported that right after Foxconn raised wages, the company announced it would merge and relocate 1/3 of its workers in Shenzhen. Affected workers and experts say the move might be so the company could avoid the high wage level in Shenzhen and if that’s the case, the wage increase announcements Foxconn has made are only PR. At the same time, it has also raised costs of its competitors. Apart from relocating, automated production is also being considered by some factory owners. Southern Weekend found that following the rising labour costs, more and more factory owners in Pearl River Delta would like to automate their assembly lines instead of raising wages or hiring more workers.
Will the wage increases affect China’s attractiveness for foreign investors? According to South China Morning Post, foreign direct investment (FDI) in the mainland was down sharply from June’s US$12.5b but rose 29.2% from a year earlier to US$6.9b. And in the first seven months of this year, investment rose 20.7 per cent year on year to US$58.35 billion, encouraging economists to forecast full-year investment will reach record US$100 billion as foreign investors bet on the country’s robust economic growth. Economist Fan Gang said the “nominal wages may increase, while real wages stagnate, owing to higher inflation. Even if real wages increase in some coastal cities, ‘surplus labour’ could keep the national average flat. And even a real wage increase on the national level will not undermine competitiveness if labour productivity grows still faster.” Companies, both multinationals and Chinese, will only leave for Vietnam, Bangladesh or Mozambique if the other countries’ wages are relatively more efficient (that is, productivity there is higher than in China), and not just because mainland nominal wages go up. But for now this does not seem to be the case.
As a response to the recent labour tensions, the official national trade union is planning to pay staff in its branches from next year and allow more leaders of grass-root unions under its umbrella to be elected by workers’ representatives. The reforms aim to make local unions more independent of their members’ employers and therefore cut firms’ influences on unions. But this may not work as trade unions wish, as the organization fighting for workers’ better wages and working conditions, China’s unions don’t have the constitutional right to organize strikes. Neither do the workers have the right to strike, though they’re already doing it at a very high frequency. According to Outlook Weekly, there were 97 labour disputes in January 2009, up 61% compare to the same period in 2008. National Trade Union official Zhang Jianguo said the frequency of mass events triggered by labour disputes is going up quickly.Therefore, national and local governments are forced to reconsider to introduce new legislations that seek to address workers’ needs and bring the rules into line with today’s social reality. Shenzhen was reported drafting new labour laws to smooth industrial relations after a series of strikes. The new rules will set up a new mechanism for periodic negotiation of pay rises in order to minimise labour disputes.
With the soaring economic freedom demanded by the young workers, some see a possible catch-up of the political freedom. The Christian Science Monitor says economic liberty and the growth it generates will no doubt profoundly change China. People will be more affluent and knowledgeable about other countries. There will be a greater area of activity free of political control.
HONG KONG – POLITICS
Debate on “sub-sovereignty” after Manila bus siege
The Manila bus siege on August 23rd ended with 8 Hong Kong tourists killed. It was watched by people in Hong Kong and mainland China live on TV and has put the whole region in shock and sorrow for the past two weeks. On August 29th, 80,000 Hong Kongers marched in protest for the victims of the bus shooting, which showed the anger and unity of the local people.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang was reported made some urgent calls that were not able to reach the Philippine president because his staff didn’t put Mr. Tsang through as they didn’t recognize the name “Donald Tsang” and didn’t know he’s the Hong Kong leader. This was viewed as an “insult” by local media. It also caused a big debate among academics and politicians on Hong Kong’s “sub-sovereignty”.
First, Dr. Shen Xu-hui (沈旭辉), associate professor of Hong Kong Institute of Education, brought up the concept of “sub-sovereignty” to media after well-known Phoenix TV commentator Anthony Yuen (阮次山) suggested Hong Kong had overreacted to the shootings and its Chief Executive Donald Tsang should have tried to call the Philippine foreign minister or police chief rather than its president. Shen said The Basic Law allows Hong Kong to have a high degree of autonomy and participate in international organisations or conferences in certain fields limited to states and directly affecting the HKSAR, therefore, Hong Kong has sub-sovereignty.
Soon Mr. Lau Nai-keung (劉迺強), member of Basic Law Committee, published an article on Hong Kong Economic Journal saying Hong Kong doesn’t have the so-called “sub-sovereignty”, Shen Xu-hui is just trying to please some Hongkongers by resisting the central government, his opinion is baseless and dangerous. After Lau, political commentator Wong On-yin joined the debate and backed Anthony Yuen.
On September 8th, Chief Consultant of Central Policy Unit of Hong Kong Government Liu Zhaojia (刘兆佳) joined the fray by publishing an article in the Hong Kong Economic Journal. He said “sub-sovereignty” is not a mature academic concept. To describe Hong Kong’s status with such a word is improper and may cause unnecessary political debates. Hong Kong should strictly comply with the Basic Law and handle foreign affairs properly under the frame of “one country, two systems”. In a response Dr. Shen Xuhui made to Liu’s article, he agreed that Hong Kong doesn’t have any “sub-sovereignty” that the Basic Law hasn’t authorized, and hopes the debate can resume to the academic field.
Current affair commentator Mr. Johnny Y.S. Lau (劉銳紹) said the “sub-sovereignty” debate should be limited to the academic field, those anti sub-sovereignty articles are only meant to show the writers’ loyalty but have nothing to do with Hong Kong people’s concern.
When academics are focusing on the concept of “sub-sovereignty”, lawmakers are urging the government to take the opportunity of the Manila bus siege to clear away obstacles to Hong Kong’s dealing with other countries through means other than diplomatic channels.
Civic Act-up lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan (何秀蘭) said to South China Morning Post that the Hong Kong government should establish a set of procedures and confirm with nearby governments as soon as possible.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee (葉劉淑儀), independent lawmaker and former secretary for security, said Hong Kong naturally does not have any hard power of its own, but if power is defined as “the ability to affect the behaviour of others to get the outcomes you want”, in the words of former dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Joseph Nye, Hong Kong does not lack tools and agents of influence, as Hong Kong has always been free to pursue bilateral relations with its trading and investment partners, take part in regional co-operation forums, conclude bi-lateral agreements with other countries or regions in matters which permit participation by non-state entities, and engage in law enforcement co-operation with myriad partners and international organisations.
Donald Tsang wins public support for handling of Manila bus siege
Latest survey by University of Hong Kong shows the popularity of Donald Tsang rose to 58.5, the highest in two years, according to South China Morning Post. But Chinese University academic Ma Ngok doesn’t think the rebound can last long as people will soon forget how well the government handled the hostage tragedy and next month’s policy address will be another big test for Tsang.
New top judge vows to defend rule of law
Hong Kong’s new top judge Geoffrey Ma took office on September 1st, vowing to defend the rule of law and judicial independence.
Ma met media for the first time on September 8th since he took the oath of the office. He was asked about the legislation regarding the national security law, which is widely known as Article 23. Ma told reporters that the administration is handling with the security law and he does not deal with it. “Our judiciary deals with many types of cases. It is important for us to bear in mind judges will only deal with the law and the legal aspects arising from the case.” Ma said.
Ma was appointed as the Chief Judge of the High Court in July 2003. As the Court Leader of the High Court, he had to ensure the smooth operation of the High Court and the efficient utilization of judicial resources and court time, and to advise the Chief Justice on policies, legislation and practices relating to the High Court.
“Hu-Li meeting” causes speculation in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, was given a high-profile reception and a 10 minute one-on-one meeting with Pres. Hu Jintao when he was in Shenzhen for the 30thanniversary of the southern Special Economic Zone. Pres. Hu said in front of the media that, “No matter how long the meeting would be, I hoped to have a chat with Mr. Li.” Pres. Hu also praised Li as an outstanding entrepreneur who had contributed to the country’s economic reform and modernization as well as the preservation of Hong Kong’s prosperity.
The meeting was described as “unpleasant” by local Hong Kong media while growing hostility toward the rich and powerful can be felt in the city. Politicians worry the message of the meeting may be perceived as the central government favours big real estate developers, which can affect Hong Kong government when issue new austerity measures.
TAIWAN – POLITICS
Ruling KMT’s future dims as year end elections closes in
Taiwan’s ruling party KMT is facing a extremely tough year end local elections, according to Nanfang Shuo (南方朔), well-known writer and news commentator from Taiwan. In his latest commentary on Taiwan’s political situation, he drew an analogy between the year end local elections and Huaihai Campaign, a determining battle of the Chinese Civil War during 1948 and 1949, after which KMT retreated to the south of Huai River and soon to Taiwan.
According to Nanfang Shuo, KMT is going to experience another fatal retreat in a few months, but the turning point was last week.
— Two recent scandals in Taipei dragged the mayor Hau Lung-bin’s popularity rate down and for the first time it’s lower than the DPP’s candidate Su Tseng-chang’s, accordingly, DPP member Tsai Ing-wen’s rate also surpassed her rival KMT member Eric Liluan Chu’s. The Taipei government was reported of paying the procurement costs for certain renovation projects related to the elevated Xinsheng Expressway (新生高) and buying flowers for the flora expo at highly inflated prices (花博弊案).
— Taiwan’s well-regarded magazine Common Wealth published a survey on the popularity of Taiwan’s 25 mayors and the first 6 are all DPP members and the last 12 are all KMT members. The survey was done before the two recent scandals happened, which shows the long-existing anti-KMT sentiment among Taiwanese people.
— DPP is going to celebrate the party’s anniversary in Taichung to increase popularity as it’s more and more confident in the situation in Taipei and Xinbei. While KMT is still not aware of the crisis it’s in and thinks the scandals in Taipei are the causes of all the negative news.
Nanfang Shuo said, KMT as the ruling party that has ¾ seats in the Legislative Yuan, hasn’t don’t any reforms and changes in the past two and half years. The fruit of economic development is only shared by a few financial groups, while Taiwan’s rich-poor gap widens.
Famous Taiwanese writer Li Ao said the KMT will lose four of the five elections, according to the Liberty Times.
MACAU – POLITICS
Concern at legal aid plan for Macau officials
SCMP reported that Macau’s public servants, including its chief executive, will be able to apply for government aid if they become victims of and act or threatened by revenge, if their lives are under threat, if they are hurt or their freedom and assets are under threat in connection with their public duties, according to the Implementation of Judicial Assistance to Civil Servants (《因执行公共职务的司法援助》), which is under scrutiny by the city’s Legislative Assembly.
The bill has caused huge debate and outraged the public. Critics fear it will become another piece of legislation that curbs freedom, though officials stress the bill is essential to offer legal protection to all public servants to ensure they can do their work without fear. Local groups including Macau Journalists Association and Macau Youth Dynamics (澳门青年动力) expressed their concerns.
Last year Macau approved the controversial national security bill, which prohibits treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the central government, or theft of state secrets. It also prohibits foreign political bodies from conducting activities locally or establishing ties with local groups. Offences under the law are punishable by 10 to 25 years’ jail.
