News » Politics » Clinton hails plan to send American students to China

---

• Clinton hails plan to send American students to China
• Changes on the cards for local CPPCC committees
• China's official banquet ban drives revelries underground
• Jiangxi man successfully challenges school over HIV discrimination
• Unpaid workers in Changchun appeal to Li Ka-shing's company
• Work With China, Don’t Contain It
• China News Broadcast, January 25, 2013: Is Bo Xilai Facing Trial Next Monday?
• Fate of China's Labor Camp System Uncertain
• Man with the secrets: Xi Jinping's right-hand man Li Zhanshu
• New measurement may reshape China-US trade ties
• Shaanxi 'house sister' probed in latest property scandal
• Middle East, China will be Obama's greatest challenges in second term
• Fewer Chinese overseas students staying abroad
• Beijing reports 5 A/H1N1 flu deaths, but outbreak unlikely
• Pyongyang risks Beijing aid cut
• Court denies Bo trial will start on Monday
• Auction goes in chaos at Ningbo Customs
• A Place That Makes New York Real Estate Look Cheap
• Labor Standoff at Angkor Temple
• China Threat to Water Security

Clinton hails plan to send American students to China Posted: 26 Jan 2013 04:31 AM PST US State of Secretary Hillary Clinton said on Jan. 24 that the nation hopes to send a total of 100,000 students to China before 2014. "For us, a government-to-government relationship is a must, but t...

Changes on the cards for local CPPCC committees Posted: 26 Jan 2013 04:07 AM PST Reports following the Communist Party's 18th National Congress in November last year, which oversaw China's once-in-a-decade leadership transition that the status and power of the "two sessions" —the...

China's official banquet ban drives revelries underground Posted: 26 Jan 2013 03:43 AM PST China's officials are making cancellations left and right for what were previously booked as luxurious, high-class banquets around the Lunar New Year, as Beijing continues to strictly enforce its new ...

Jiangxi man successfully challenges school over HIV discrimination Posted: 26 Jan 2013 03:43 AM PST A 25-year man has been awarded 45,000 yuan (US$7,150) in compensation from a would-be employer in southeast China who denied him a job because he has HIV, reports the First Financial Daily in Shanghai...

Unpaid workers in Changchun appeal to Li Ka-shing's company Posted: 26 Jan 2013 03:27 AM PST State broadcaster China Central Television recently disclosed that a property developer owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing has failed to pay over 100 migrant workers amounting to nearly 20 million ...

Work With China, Don’t Contain It Posted: 25 Jan 2013 09:00 PM PST Asia's internal balance of power should be the key to our strategy.

China News Broadcast, January 25, 2013: Is Bo Xilai Facing Trial Next Monday? Posted: 25 Jan 2013 04:54 PM PST Unconfirmed reports that Bo Xilai could be tried on Monday, January 28. New initiative to free Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Shen Yun is "like heaven" in Los Angeles.

Fate of China's Labor Camp System Uncertain Posted: 25 Jan 2013 05:28 PM PST Human rights observers have cautiously welcomed recent calls to end or reform China's labor camp system. Even state-run media and official advisors have spoken out against the unpopular form of punishment,

Man with the secrets: Xi Jinping's right-hand man Li Zhanshu Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:59 AM PST Li Zhanshu, head of the secretariat of the Communist Party's Central Committee and director of the general office, has been appointed as head of the national administration for the protection of state...

New measurement may reshape China-US trade ties Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:59 AM PST A new method for calculating global trade flows may not change an overall trade imbalance between the world's two largest economies, but it will likely help reshape the trade relationship between them...

Shaanxi 'house sister' probed in latest property scandal Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:59 AM PST The case of a "house sister," a woman found to have illegally amassed 20 homes using multiple identities will be fully investigated, China's Ministry of Public Security vowed on Thursday. The minis...

Middle East, China will be Obama's greatest challenges in second term Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:59 AM PST The president of the US, Barack Obama, will face subtle changes in the diplomatic arena in his next four years after establishing a model in his first term, and China and the Middle East will present ...

Fewer Chinese overseas students staying abroad Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:59 AM PST A survey of Chinese college students planning further studies abroad showed that most prefer to return to China after overseas studies, the official China Youth Daily reported on Thursday. The surv...

Beijing reports 5 A/H1N1 flu deaths, but outbreak unlikely Posted: 26 Jan 2013 01:59 AM PST Another two A/H1N1 flu-related deaths were reported last week, bringing the virus' death toll to five this year in Beijing, the city's health authorities said Friday. From Jan. 14 to 20, two deaths...

Pyongyang risks Beijing aid cut Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:28 PM PST North Korea's sole major ally China will decrease aid to Pyongyang if it goes ahead with a planned nuclear test, state-run media said in an unusually frank warning on Friday.

Court denies Bo trial will start on Monday Posted: 25 Jan 2013 01:27 PM PST A Chinese court has refuted media reports that expelled Communist Party leader Bo Xilai's trial will begin in Guiyang on Monday.

Auction goes in chaos at Ningbo Customs Posted: 25 Jan 2013 04:42 PM PST   Chaos at an auction held by Ningbo Customs. /Picture by CFP Zhejiang, China – An auction held by Ningbo Customs for confiscated and overdue goods went in a chaos on January 23. Several bidders got into a dispute of some imported diapers. According to China News Service, there were over 100 types of goods in action, including wine, charcoal, dried chilli, pick-up trucks and etc. Surprisingly, many people at the auction came for these imported diapers. Several men started to fight over the diapers and the action was forced to go on a break. A baby product business owner said imported diapers are highly demanded, many parents chose diapers with extra caution after the incident of "poisonous diapers". The very first batch is 1067 boxes of 4268 packages of diapers. The price started from $260,000 yuan and went up to 400,000 yuan after 10 rounds. During the action, some 20 men came in and threatened others for bidding on diapers. Several staff members and bidders were attacked and the action was forced to stop. Local police has conducted an investigation on the incident. These diapers are branded and popular among new parents in many online shops. A number of counterfeit products caused allergies in infants which made the genuine products much in demand. FMN

A Place That Makes New York Real Estate Look Cheap Posted: 24 Jan 2013 09:00 PM PST In Beijing, it costs 22.3 times the typical household income to buy a home. The most comparable number for New York is 6.2.

Labor Standoff at Angkor Temple Posted: 25 Jan 2013 04:05 PM PST Cambodian authorities have barred 170 workers involved in restoration work on a temple in the world-renowned Angkor historical site from entering the complex after they threatened to strike over planned job cuts, union members said. The workers, who were restoring the Ta Phrom temple ruins, one of the country's tourist treasures, were prevented by police from entering the site when they showed up to work on Thursday morning, workers' union leader El Saratt said. They had protested a decision by Indian and Cambodian managers of the preservation project to fire 30 workers and threatened to go on strike unless the jobs were saved. "We told the project manager that they can't fire the 30 workers, and if they want to fire them then they will have to fire all the workers," El Saratt told RFA's Khmer Service. "We urge the project to reinstate the workers," he said, adding that the managers have also refused to pay compensation for the workers upon termination. On Wednesday, the union filed a complaint to Cambodian Ministry of Labor, which has sent the case to an arbitration council. 'Discriminating against the union' Ta Phrom, known as the "Tomb Raider" temple for the Hollywood movie filmed among its atmospheric ruin, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is part of the Angkor Archaeological Park that draws millions of global visitors each year. Archaeological restoration and preservation in the park is run by the domestic Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (Apsara) in cooperation with the Archaeological Survey of India, an Indian government institution. In December, the union had requested ASI and Apsara to give holiday pay and annual wage increases. Project managers refused to respond to the request, and seven workers were fired shortly afterward. Deputy union leader Uy Koy said the restoration managers were unhappy with the workers' unionizing and threatening to strike. "The project manager doesn't like the union and they are discriminating against the union," he said, warning that all the workers would stop coming to work if the union's request to keep the jobs isn't honored. "We don't want them to use any workers [if they won't keep the 30 fired workers] because if we don't have jobs, we don't have any income." Ta Phrom restoration workers discuss their dispute, Jan. 2013. Credit: RFA. Work winding down Devendra Singh Sood, ASI archaeological engineer and head of the Ta Phrom project, refused to comment on the case when contacted by RFA, saying that only officials at the Indian Embassy and in the Cambodian government had the authority to resolve the dispute. Provincial Labor Department Director Chan Sokhomchenda said he had asked officials at the Indian Embassy not to allow the workers to be let go. He said restoration work at the temple was winding down and fewer workers were needed. Cambodian rights group ADHOC urged ASI and Apsara's Ta Phrom project managers to negotiate with the workers. The group's Siem Reap provincial coordinator Sous Narin said he had asked the Indian Embassy to organize shifts so that all the workers could keep their jobs. "I have informed the embassy about the labor law," he said. Tourism is a key pillar of Cambodia's economy and the ruins at Angkor, former capital of the Khmer kingdom, are the country's star attraction. The Angkor area reeled in 2.06 million foreign tourists last year, with the most coming from South Korea, Vietnam, China, Japan, and Thailand, according to a recent report by the Siem Reap provincial tourism department. Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

China Threat to Water Security Posted: 25 Jan 2013 03:58 PM PST Asia requires a ruled-based system to manage its water resources and maintain rapid economic growth in the region but China appears to be a stumbling block, experts say. China does not have a single water sharing treaty in place with any of its neighboring countries, refusing be tied up by a regional regulatory framework and fearing it will lose its strategic grip on transboundary river flows, the experts told a Washington conference. "Without bringing China on board, it is impossible to establish a rules-based water regime in Asia, given the centrality of China," said Brahma Chellaney, a professor at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. This could not only affect the future of water resources in the region and dampen economic outlook for Asia, but also lead to regional conflict, he warned. Nearly all of China's neighbors have forged water agreements among themselves but not one of them has a water agreement with the Asian giant. Chellaney acknowledged that it would be difficult to convince Beijing to consider negotiating a regional agreement, saying its key location as the source of much of the region's water gives it little reason to share resources with its neighbors downstream. "There is no other country in the world that comes close to the hydro-supremacy that China has established," Chellaney said. "[But] cross-border dependency on water flows is high across Asia." "The fact that most Asian countries are dependent on cross-border flows to a significant degree, makes water cooperation central to ensuring Asian peace and stability," he said. "The question is how does one bring China on board?" Internal crisis The experts also warned about a simmering water crisis within China. As China struggles with maintaining the sustainable growth of its economy and urbanizing some 300 million people in the next 20 years, tremendous strains have been placed on the country's resources, they said. Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, said Beijing is diverting massive amounts of water to mineral abundant areas in the north of the country that lack sufficient rainfall in order to support continued reliance on coal as a its main source of energy. Relocating huge amounts of water for the sake of power production in China is having profound effects on the availability of the resource within the country and elsewhere throughout the region, Turner said. "We estimate that 20 percent of China's water is going just to the coal sector," she said. Water is used to cool China's coal plants and wash mined coal for processing. "The pressure in China is energy security, but … energy security at the expense of water security." Some 70 percent of electricity generation in China uses coal power and that is set to double by 2020, Turner said. "Coal appears to remain the king in China and this is important for you to think about water security in China," Turner said. She added that growing cities across China are driving demand for energy for which coal in the north of the country is key. "[A]nd they can get to it if they can get the water." If coal is "king" in China, Turner said, hydropower is "queen"—a technology which has led the country to build dozens of dams across its rivers, many of which run from sources on the Tibetan plateau to Asian neighbors downstream. Increased demand Chellaney said that runaway growth in the greater Asian region has significantly increased the demand for water in the driest continent in the world. The world's fastest growing demand for water for industrial and food production and for municipal supply is in Asia, he said. But he said that such growth is unsustainable without a mix of international regulation and more efficient infrastructure to avoid a water crisis. "Asia's water crisis is assuming such critical proportions that without mitigating this crisis, Asia's continued economic growth will not be possible," Chellaney said. "Water scarcity and rapid economic growth do not go hand in hand, and how Asia manages its water crisis will very much shape its security and economic future," he said. Turner said that another risk for the region's water supply is the example China is setting by building massive dams without considering the interest of its downstream neighbors. "I think that what you see in China in terms of this rapid dam building is just replicated [for example] in the Mekong River basin," she said, pointing to recent plans by Laos to proceed with a megadam on the Southeast Asian river upstream from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental body including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam which manages development along Southeast Asia's main waterway, ruled last year that the dam required further study, but Laos has decided to proceed with the project. China has refused to join the MRC, although the Mekong's source is located within its borders, saying it prefers to negotiate with other countries on a bilateral basis. In addition to teaching other nations that it is acceptable to act without consulting their neighbors, Turner said, Beijing legitimizes its own actions when others in the region follow its example. "All the other countries are doing the same thing … The model goes all the way down … So I think that when China looks at that, they say, 'everyone is doing the same thing, right?'" Reported by Joshua Lipes.

You are subscribed to email updates from Update » News » Politics To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610