A member of the first group of students admitted to university after late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping ordered the resumption of the university entrance exam in 1977, following the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, Li studied law under Professor Gong Xiangrui , an expert on Western constitutional law who had studied in Britain in the 1930s. Li followed that with a PhD in economics under Li Yining, the mainland's market reform guru.
[...] Li reportedly plunged into campus politics as reformist ideas galvanised students, befriending freethinkers who went on to become dissidents in exile, and helping to translate The Due Process of Law by famed English jurist Lord Denning.
[...] Former classmate and prominent dissident Wang Jintao [sic], who has lived in exile in the United States since 1994 after being sentenced to 13 years in jail for supporting the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement, said Li was outspoken and quick-witted on campus.
[...] "On campus, Li Keqiang was a student with an active mind and sharp words," Wang wrote in a memoir. "He has his own independent thinking and preferences. But he will not challenge authority on major issues. He is also a person who wants to have big personal accomplishments."
Li Keqiang said on Thursday that China should lose no time in deepening reform in key sectors and resolutely discard all notions and systems that hinder efforts to pursue development in a scientific way.
[...] Li noted China remains in an important period of strategic opportunities for its development, the period that is full of unprecedented risks and challenges.
Under such circumstances, he said, China should accelerate improvement of the socialist market economy and facilitate the change of growth model to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects as well as deepen reform and opening up in an all-round way.
The Party needs to properly handle the relations between the regulators and the market and implement a more proactive opening up strategy to boost the momentum and vitality of development, he said.
He is also believed to have played a role in the China 2030 report authored by the World Bank and the Development Research Center, a think-tank under the Chinese cabinet, that recommended limiting the power of state-owned companies.
[...] "Li Keqiang will be more effective than Wen Jiabao," said Bo Zhiyue, an expert on Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore. "Wen Jiabao tried to promote too many things – political reform, social reform as well as economic reform. Li Keqiang will be more focused."
Li's father was a mid-level county official — "a small potato," said one classmate — in Anhui province, one of China's poorest areas. And unlike Xi and the other princelings, whose upward path was eased by family connections, Li was admitted to Peking University on the basis of his scores on the national entrance exam, or "gaokao," when it was first reinstated in 1977 after being suspended during the Cultural Revolution.
[...] Li Datong, who was fired as an editor of a China Youth Daily supplement for pushing the boundaries of official censorship, met Li Keqiang in the '90s and considers him a reformer — even though, like others, he said the incoming premier's hands may be tied by the system.
[...] "If we can expect any democracy, it will be democracy within the system, and Li will help Xi in doing this," said Yan Huai, a former official with the Communists' now-disbanded Young Cadres Bureau, who joined the 1989 protests and then left for the United States. "How far Xi walks will determine how far Li can go. He won't walk in front of Xi. And neither will he lag behind him."
Li, to be promoted within the leadership's top council after a pivotal party congress closes later this week and expected to take the economy-focused post of premier from outgoing Wen Jiabao next spring, was governor of the agricultural province of Henan in 1998 during an unusual explosion of AIDS cases.
Tens of thousands of people had contracted HIV from illegal blood-buying rings that pooled plasma and re-injected it into donors after removing the blood products. But Beijing hadn't acknowledged the problem yet, and Li oversaw a campaign to squelch reporting about it, harass activists and isolate affected villages.
[...] "He just tried to escape from this crisis" at first, said Wan Yanhai, a prominent Chinese AIDS activist who fled to the United States with his family in 2010 following increasing police harassment. "He's probably not a bad guy, but he's not shown himself to be very capable of managing crises in a strong and responsible way."
As vice premier in charge of economic development, food safety and health care, Mr. Li has overseen an expansion of the medical insurance program. But his other signature project, which seeks to build 36 million low-cost apartments, has been criticized by some for poor planning and shoddy construction. And some analysts say his commitment to the commonweal has been tested by his brother's role as the top official in China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration.
[...O]ne former official turned businessman thought it would probably take a crisis to compel Mr. Li and other leaders to embrace a substantial loosening of political and economic controls.
"I think in the end, events will force them to change, even if they don't want to," the businessman said. "Smart leaders will reform because they want to. Idiots will reform because they have to."
The party held a meeting of leading cadres in Beijing in May and "democratically recommended" members of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and the 25-seat Politburo, state news agency Xinhua said late on Thursday, hours after new line-ups for both councils were unveiled.
[...] Xinhua said the cadres took into consideration the "party spirit" of candidates, jargon for their loyalty to the party.
They also took into account whether the candidates were "just and honest", their abilities and integrity, their age as well as portfolios. Politicians 68 or older are not qualified to join the Standing Committee.
The "democratic recommendation" process involved informal discussions while the views of unspecified people were fully solicited, Xinhua said. It did not elaborate.
Two sources said the influential retirees flexed their muscles in landmark informal polls taken before last week's 18th party congress, where the seven–member standing committee, the apex of China's power structure, was unveiled.
The clout of the elder statesmen, who include former party chief Jiang Zemin and ex-parliament head Li Peng, underscores the obstacles to even limited reform within senior levels of the party, which has held continuous power since 1949.
The informal polls are the first time the party has flirted with "intra-party democracy" to settle factional fighting over the line-up of the standing committee. It held informal polls in 2007 to decide the larger Politburo.
The report also explains that Wang Yang was left off the Standing Committee after the fall of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai in order to avoid further antagonizing Bo's supporters:
The two sources said party seniors decided to drop Wang, who has favored private enterprise in Guangdong and was seen as a rival of Bo, to avoid further upsetting pro-Mao factions in the party, government and military.
"Wang Yang was ousted to avoid Bo supporters creating trouble," one of the two sources said.
Yet it is not clear how the poll was held or if this will become a standard method to choose new leadership within the Party. Some journalists remain skeptical:
Would like to see evidence of CPC voting. "Informal straw-polling" means asking people for their opinions.
#SpoilerTweet #Enter-at-your-own-peril "Final Destination 6" has arrived. In which the Great Hall of the People collapses all of a sudden. All 2,000+ people meeting there died except for 7 of them. But afterwards, the seven die one after another in bizarre ways. Is it a game of God, or the wrath of Death? How will 18, the mysterious number, unlock the gate of Hell? Premieres globally on November the 8th to bring you an earthshaking experience! (translated by Yaxue Cao)
Zhai, whose Twitter handle is @Stariver, studied ancient (pre-Qin) literature at Peking University, and formerly worked in the media. His acerbic tweets make no excuses for the violence and corruption in China, while images of armed police in Lhasa streets and protests in Hong Kong against patriotic education mingle with cat and food photos. Yaxue Cao of Seeing Red in China writes, "In Twitter's Chinese community, @Stariver is known for his cool and biting comments about current events in China that cut the froth and burst false 'hopes.' He is also known for the depth of his knowledge in classics."
CDT Chinese has collected some of Zhai's more urgent tweets, translated here by Mengyu Dong:
Stariver: If not in consideration of biodiversity, I believe God wouldn't have created those beasts, the "old friends of the Chinese people."
各级网警和小秘书团结协作，众志成城，投身救灾抢险工作，将受灾死亡人数牢牢控制在37人，用青春热血谱写了一曲忠诚的赞歌。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) July 25, 2012
Stariver: All levels of Internet policemen and little secretaries coordinated together, used their united will as strength and devoted to disaster relief work. They kept the number of victims to 37, and composed a faithful song of praise with their youth and ardor.
Noticing that the death toll was reported at 37 for multiple incidents across China this summer, netizens call this the "Law of 37" (死亡37定律). Zhai wrote this tweet soon after the Beijing flood.
人民日报的任务是把中国打扮成白富美，全球都不如它牛逼；环球时报的任务是把中国打扮成迫害狂，全球都是针对中国的阴谋陷害；新闻联播的任务是把中国打扮成班干部，德智体美劳全面发展，还能一帮一一对红。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) July 26, 2012
Stariver: The task of the People's Daily is to dress up China as "white, rich, and beautiful," the f**king best in the world; the task of the Global Times is to dress up China as a paranoid, as if the whole world is scheming against it; the task of Xinwen Lianbo is to dress up China as a class leader who is moral, intelligent, physically fit, tasteful and socially responsible, and can pair up with partners and help each other to develop.
文革暴力，是匪帮组织暴力对于底层民众的裹挟，是极端程序邪恶和实质邪恶对普遍人性黑暗面的强力激发，对此不了解，就是历史愚昧；民间暴力，是对匪帮利益勒索和国家机器暴力镇压的反抗，是在程序正义无可诉求之下的最后防线，对此的否定，就是现实无耻。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) July 28, 2012
Stariver: The violence of the Cultural Revolution was the coercion of the lowest in society by organized gangs, the brutal excitation of humanity's dark side by essential and programmatic evil. Whoever does not understand this is ignorant of history. The violence among the people is revolt against extortion by gangs and the brutal oppression of the state apparatus, the final line of defense in a system where it is impossible to appeal for justice. Whoever denies this is truly shameless.
Stariver: The popularity of novels about official circles originates from reader's pursuit of the mystique of China's "court" politics, the worship of the "art of conspiracy" in struggles among political gangs, as well as the worship of rent-seeking among politician and businessmen. The only thing it intends to prove is the rationality of officialdom's rules.
Stariver: If someone eats from a bowl of crap he is clutching, yet at the same time complains that the table is not clean, you'll definitely figure him for a loon. If someone ignores the atrocity of state power, yet shows pathological concern for the cleanliness of the people's conduct, then he is the loon who eats crap and complains about the dirtiness of the table.
Stariver: 9.18子曰："吾未见好德如好色者也。"～孔丘局长说：我就没见过在小姐面前还能坚持原则的。#论语今译# Stariver: (9.18) Confucius said: "I have not seen one who loves virtue as much as he loves beauty." ~ Bureau Director Confucius said: I have not seen someone who can uphold his principles in the presence of a hooker. #ModernAnalects#
重庆打黑成果表明，在任何地方以任何方式惩治任何党员干部，都可以得到人民群众的拥护。 — 星河舰队 (@Stariver) March 19, 2012
Stariver: The outcome of the "beat black" in Chongqing shows that people support any punishment of any cadre, regardless of when, where, or how. –Chinese re-tweet robot
牛 RT @stariver: 烈士求民主，今世壮心犹可励；英杰为自由，后生远志必行之。 — Jian Alan Huang (@hnjhj) April 8, 2012
Stariver: The martyr pursues democracy; those ambitious among us today will still find him encouraging. The hero seeks liberty; those idealists of tomorrow must pursue it.
Sources in the region say that Norbu set himself ablaze near Kangtsa Gaden Choephelling Monastery and shouted slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet, release of the Panchen Lama and freedom for Tibet.
Around 10:30 pm local time, the crowds are reported to have shouted slogans calling for the return of the exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to Tibet. As of receiving the report, the gathering of monks and local people are reported to be reciting long life prayers for the Dalai Lama.
The situation in the area is tense with paramilitary forces surrounding the area.
The Xinhua News Agency says herder Tsering Dongdri set himself on fire Tuesday in a remote area of Xiahe county in a Tibetan part of the western province of Gansu.
The Dolma Square, named after a golden statue of Jetsun Dolma, a Bodhisattva and female deity known for her compassion, has been a site of several protests by Rongwo monks and local Tibetans since March, when two Tibetans set themselves on fire in the town. The square sits at the entrance of the Rongwo monastery, which is a site of significance for Tibetans and particularly for the Yellow Hat sect, for whom the Dalai Lama is the most important figure.
During a visit to Rebkong in April, The Hindu found tight security outside Dolma Square, where a black SWAT van was permanently stationed. Monks at Rongwo Monastery told The Hindu in interviews that tensions had been high in the monastery after two self-immolation protests at Dolma Square in March, where a monk and a farmer, in separate incidents, set themselves on fire.
Rebkong is a quiet town, where small Tibetan shops displaying artwork and handicrafts line narrow, muddy streets that run outside the monastery's walls. Further down the road from the monastery, monks and school-students walk amidst groups of paramilitary security forces.
In recent weeks, the town has emerged at the centre of spreading self-immolation protests, with Tibetan monks in India, citing their sources in Rongwo, recording at least eight protests since November 7, the day before the Communist Party of China began its leadership congress.
LinkTV interviewed Columbia University Tibet scholar Robert Barnett about the self-immolations and the Chinese government's response:
Officials in the Rebkong area have warned people that they cannot go to the homes of those who self-immolated and express their condolences. They also said that if monks go to pray for self-immolators, monasteries will be closed down, and that the families of self-immolators will be punished.
As a part of the Aba prefectural government's efforts to better protect more than 250 monasteries in the areas against fire risks, four monasteries: Dagcha, Tisannyi, Mewa, and Changlie, were chosen to participate in a trial program to create their own firefighting teams.
Young and strong candidates are chosen to take part in regular training sessions that teach them how to detect fire risks, fight fires and protect themselves. Courses held by the Aba prefectural fire brigade also cover laws and regulations pertaining to firecontrol.
In addition to their usual routine of studying scriptures and meditating, the monks engage in firefighting training sessions once a week. Large rooms outside temple prayer halls are used as fire control offices.
China should independently build its own aircraft carriers, the country's largest shipbuilder said at a pivotal Communist Party meeting where Beijing announced plans to become a "maritime power".
The China Daily reported Tuesday the call for China to match its growing global influence with new military hardware after Beijing in September commissioned its first carrier, the Liaoning, which was purchased from Ukraine.
Hu Wenming, chairman of China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC), said his company was ready to build "seagoing airbases", the China Daily reported.
"We must enhance our independent weapons and equipment research and production capacity to match the country's clout, and independently build our own aircraft carriers," he told the state-run newspaper on the sidelines of a Communist Party congress which ended last week.
Hu Wenming suggested the country develop carriers using what he called catapult stroke technology on the flight deck.
The Liaoning is more than 300 meters long and over 70 meters wide. Flight coordination at sea obviously differs fundamentally from land-based runways, Hu said.
He declined to say how many people were involved in the project to equip the carrier, but said a whole research and development institute under his company was engaged in it, and its workforce had doubled in the process.
He also said his company is ready to build the vessels for the carrier formation "at any time". Such a formation is generally made up of the carrier itself, destroyers, escorts, supply vessels and submarines, he said
The privately held toy store operator also said it will develop mobile-friendly Web sites and apps in 11 markets around the world; including Australia, Canada, France and other countries.
Companies across all industries have focused on expanding in the fast growing so-called BRIC markets — Brazil, Russia, India and China — as growth in developed markets slow.
In October, 2011, Toys R Us bought back the majority stake of its business in Greater China and Southeast Asia from Fung Retailing. In August, it opened two stores in Beijing, and currently operates 30 stores across 21 cities in China.
Earlier this month, Toys R Us also announced international shipping is available in more than 60 countries.
To ply a market where many parents would sooner buy their children books than Barbies, the retailer is stocking up on toy microscopes, building blocks and other educational toys to win Chinese parents over.
Toys "R" Us executives say they will emphasize educational toys in an effort to win over the fiercest of strict "tiger mothers." About 35% of sales in existing stores in China are tied to education, compared with 21% in the U.S., Mr. Storch said.
"We've been learning from other retailers—successful and unsuccessful—and we have a strong plan in place," said Mr. Storch, noting that Toys "R" Us is also localizing its merchandise, carrying toys and brands targeted to Chinese consumers, such as the TV and movie characters Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.
Mr. Storch said Toys "R" Us is adapting to local culture. It plans to open smaller stories of about 10,000 square feet—about a quarter of the size of many of its U.S. stores—that will fit in shopping malls, which are popular with Chinese spenders.
3 April 2006, 8:55, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao
Please timely reprint this in the important news section of the News Centre: "Disaster Precaution and Emergency Response Handbook" is given to urban residents, mayor Wang Qishan delivers a speech, http://beijing.qianlong.com/3825/2006/04/03/2442@3089383.htm. This city will freely issue the handbook on disaster precaution and emergency response to urban residents, http://www.beijing.gov.cn/rdgz/t341408.htm. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
3 April 2006, 16:03, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Chen Hua
Everyone, today, the article in the Beijing Modern Commercial Daily "Money Laundering Domestic Films" (general idea), forums are not to discuss this.
9 April 2006, 18:26, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao
The Proposal Letter must be put in the header of the news section of the main page of websites, and in a large header on the main page of the news centre (on a red background); website forums and all forum websites are to reprint it at the top at the same time; websites send short messages with the headline of that day, all websites, when reprinting, may not change title or content. Content of trackers must be kept under control, trackers must be supporting and have positive content. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
Please pay attention, websites having short message services, please only send short messages after eight o'clock tomorrow. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
10 April 2006, 9:43, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao
Experts state that Japan's choice for a China expert as ambassador in China is intended to foster good will, 10 April 2006, 1:26, Dongfang Net. Please delete this.
10 April 2006 (Monday), 10:57
All websites are requested to timely reprint the Beijing Daily commentator's article "Run the Web and Use the Web in a Civilized Manner," http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/rb/20060410/200604/t5206.htm (Beijing Daily information, under the information follows the Beijing Daily commentator's article); at the same time, reprint the People's Daily commentator's article "Promote Honour and Abandon Disgrace, Run the Web in a Civilized Manner," http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/4283456.html. Furthermore, please let the Letter of Proposal in place until eight o' clock tonight, after removing it from the header, corresponding content is to be continuously maintained in the important news section. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
11 April 2006, 8:59, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Fan Tao
Sino-American Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade meeting held today, the U.S. side pressures China on exchange rate reform – please push this to the back stage!
11 April 2006, 15:04
On the case of "30 deaths after explosion in the original Pingxuangang Coal and Electricity Company Hospital" in Shanxi, do not make special subjects, do not make header pictures, and remove it from the important news section to the domestic news section. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
11 April 2006
Xinhua will issue an article entitles "Main Central News Websites Jointly Issue a 'Letter of Response on Running the Internet in a Civilized Manner,'" please reprint it; make it into a header title on websites' main pages and news centres, and into a large title in news centres on a red background, keep it there fore 24 hours; it will do for all websites to put the present headers into special subjects. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
12 April 2006, 9:00, Beijing Information Office, Fan Tao
Please remove the two articles "Train Collision on Beijing-Kowloon Line Causes 10 Hours of Interruption (Images)" and "Beijing-Kowloon Line Train Collision Means 7000 Passengers Delayed or Needing Ticket Refund" from the main pages of websites and news centres. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
12 April 2006, 9:00
Fan Tao (Municipal Government Information Office-Municipal Internet Management Office: 65278743) says:
Please completely reprint the Beijing Evening News article "Zhang Pingzheng Brought "Grandmother" into Marriage 25 Years Ago – a Rare Loving Act of a Young Woman for a Grandparent without Blood Relationship," http://epaper.bjd.com.cn/wb/20060404/200604/t2946.htm. Please acknowledge receipt, thank you.
13 April 2006, 22:00, Beijing Municipal Information Office, Chen Hua
Everyone, issue this article in a news header on the main page of websites and a large header in the news centre, http://news.qianlong.com/28874/2006/04/13/1160@3116849.htm
Issue this article in a smaller header under the large header of the news centre, http://beijing.qianlong.com/3825/2006/04/13/178@3115767.htm
Everyone, please clean up information in your forums and blogs on the wedding of Zhang Chunxian and Li Xiuping, no longer report it.
The clearest measure of the symbolic significance of President Obama's visit to Burma on Monday came not in his surprising speech, or in the sight of him towering over the Nobel laureate and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi. It came from a less likely source: the Chinese Propaganda Department.
In the past year, as Burmese leaders released wave after wave of political prisoners, ended its censorship of the press, and welcomed former dissidents into government, China and its fellow-autocrats, have looked on with bewilderment and no small degree of concern that the infection of openness could spread beyond Burma's borders. So in an internal notice to national media last week, China's Orwellian agency, which oversees the world's largest censorship apparatus, made clear just how it feels about witnessing an American President welcomed by once-hostile generals in Burma, a nation that was, just two years ago, one of China's most avid partners in authoritarianism: "Downplay Obama's visit," the Chinese Propaganda Department ordered.
The propaganda officials are not the only ones with reservations about the occasion. At Foreign Policy, Joshua Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations argued at length that the presidential presence in Myanmar was "too much, too soon". In short:
Myanmar's political and economic changes, though substantial, are not as secure as many Burmese reformers and outside observers think. The economic reforms that have been put in place are tenuous, and if they do not lead to broad-based growth, they could only fuel greater unrest. Civil wars still rage in parts of the country, and the end of the authoritarian era seems to have unleashed dormant ethnic tensions in places like Arakan State in the west. Meanwhile, though the former senior generals really do seem to have retired, that does not mean the army has simply vanished from power.
Trumping the concerns […] is America's "pivot" towards Asia and the geopolitical contest for friends and influence in the face of a rising China. Myanmar, which shares a 2,000-kilometre (1,250-mile) border with China, is viewed as a crucial prize in this contest. Mr Obama hotfooting it to Myanmar throws out an unequivocal message of American intent.
[…] Meanwhile, foreign-policy experts in China refuse to be taken in by all the American rhetoric about democracy and human rights. America, complains Zhu Feng, an international-relations specialist at Peking University, always had a strategic concern with China in the region, assuming that it wants to use "Myanmar as a springboard to the Indian Ocean". (That is a not unreasonable assumption.)
And so the Obama visit is likely only to deepen the Chinese feeling of creeping encirclement. Chinese experts also point to last month's extraordinary announcement that next year the Burmese army will, as observers, probably attend America's annual regional military exercises with its friends, known as Cobra Gold. This year's event, in Thailand, included contingents from South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. If the Burmese join this lot, then expect the more conspiratorial readings of the "pivot" to get a really good airing in the Chinese capital.
At The Wall Street Journal, Deborah Kan and Patrick Barta discussed these geopolitical manoeuvres and the prospects for expanded American commercial investment. Barta stressed, however, that "Burma cannot afford to upset China in the long run".
Myanmar was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with New China in 1950. But the two countries' close relationship dates to centuries ago, Hlaing said. He said the ancestors of people now living in both countries had referred to each other at one time as "paukphaw", a Myanmar word meaning brothers and sisters.
The countries' relationship has remained strong in recent decades, especially during Myanmar's isolation, a time that it received much assistance from China. China is now the country's largest investor and trade partner, he said.
[…] "We need to keep cordial relations with all nations," Hlaing said. "But the truth is, China is our most important neighbor. We will never forget that."
This very importance has been a major force behind Myanmar's recent shift, however. China's stance towards its much smaller neighbour has at times been predatory. One example is the voracious logging carried out there by Chinese companies dodging environmental restrictions at home. "Soon the trees will be all cut," a manager at one Chinese logging firm told The Globe and Mail last year. "Without the trees, there will be only mountains. So we will look into mining them."
Even within the ruling military, anti-Chinese feelings run high. Already in 2004, a document was compiled by Lieutenant Colonel Aung Kyaw Hla, a researcher at Burma's Defence Services Academy located in Pyin Oo Lwin, an old hill station in the highlands northeast of Mandalay.
[…] The thesis bluntly states that having China as a diplomatic ally and economic patron has created a "national emergency" that threatens the country's independence. Aung Kyaw Hla, probably a committee of army strategists rather than a single person, goes on to argue that although human rights are a concern in the West, the US would be willing to modify its policy to suit "strategic interests." Although the author does not specify those interests, the thesis makes it clear that includes common ground with the US vis-à-vis China. The author cites Vietnam and Indonesia under former dictator Suharto as examples of US foreign-policy flexibility in weighing strategic interests against democratization.
If bilateral relations with the US were improved, the master plan suggests, Burma would also gain access to badly needed funds from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other global financial institutions. The country would then emerge from "regionalism," where it currently depends on the goodwill and trade of immediate neighbors, including China, and "enter a new era of globalization."
But Chinese officials have suggested that they, too, see advantages in a more open Myanmar, provided that core Chinese interests are protected. Yunnan Party chief Qin Guanrong commented on the issue during the 18th Party Congress in Beijing this month. From Ben Blanchard at Reuters:
"We understand and support the wish of the Myanmar authorities wanting to open up and become part of the world," he told reporters on the sidelines of a Communist Party congress, in rare comments on a sensitive relationship.
"We believe that Myanmar's leaders will exercise their wisdom to lead their country's opening up. They know that the people of China will always be true friends of Myanmar's."
[…] Still, concern persists over some vital Chinese projects in the country, notably a twin oil and gas pipeline being built across Myanmar into Yunnan.
[…] "We hope that Myanmar will protect the safety of China's investments and personnel there," Qin said. "Because the cooperation on these projects accord with the interests of both sides, and are mutually beneficially and win-win."
Myanmar's opening-up was unavoidable. Sino-Myanmese relations must undergo some changes to adapt to this. But the changes will be limited.
There is no possibility that bilateral relations will be overturned entirely. China is the biggest neighboring country of Myanmar and has irreplaceable influences on it. More importantly, such influences are based on equality.
Myanmar is becoming open to the West in order to maximize its national interests. But it's unwise to replace China with the West. Both the current leadership of Myanmar and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi well know this.
That said, Obama's visit may still have an eye toward challenging China's influence. But the actual effect will be difficult to tell. Obama likes to be applauded for his efforts in promoting democracy in Myanmar and this merits some reward. However, the US can't squeeze China out of Myanmar.
One weibo user called Dengba invoked the One Hundred Days Reform of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when China's emperor rolled out a series of policies—modeled on Japan's earlier Meiji Restoration—to modernize Chinese society, only to see the powerful conservative faction in his court shut them down a few months later.
"The Great Qing has made and will make significant progress in its reform," Dengba wrote, likening the voice of the Global Times editorial to those of the hardline Qing aristocrats. "We mustn't make an idol of Japan, a backward country that has completed the Meiji Restoration."
[…] It is against the brightening backdrop held up by China's neighbors that Beijing's suspicion and wariness of basic freedoms and rights seems anachronistic. The Global Times editorial is oddly reminiscent of Emperor Qianlong's reaction to the Macartney Mission in 1793. The British aimed to expand trade with the Qing Empire, but Lord Macartney's entreaties famously ended in failure because Qianlong found engagement with the rest of the world unnecessary. China, believed the emperor, possessed everything it needed in abundance, and, as such, it was unnecessary to "import the manufactures of outside barbarians." "Strange and costly objects do not interest me," Qianlong wrote in the letter he sent back to King George III.
[…] As "strange and costly" as press freedom seems to China's censors, it may be unstoppable in the Middle Kingdom. […]
Blogs » Politics » In Defense of China’s Golden Week In Defense of China’s Golden Week The Xi Administration Introduces the “Eight Musts” In China, Slowdown Is a Bigger Danger Than Growth Article 73 Detainee Allowed to See Wife Outspoken Critic Attacked at Book Promotion in China Landslide Survivors Demand Investigation of Mine’s Role (Updated) Photo: Fridge Transport, by Svend Erik Hansen Ministry of Truth: Heat and Orphans China: Dirty Air, Dirtier Water? Li Chengpeng’s Silent Book Signing Word of the Week: Primary Stage of Socialism A Chinese Official Realizes the Dream of Home Ownership — 31 Times China's Transparent Reporting on Air Pollution “Avoid Outdoor Activities”: Record-Breaking Air Pollution in Beijing When Two Chinese Women Found the Courage to Report Abuse, They Were Ignored In Defense of China’s Golden Week Posted: 16 Jan 201
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