Blogs » Politics » Photo: Wedding portrait, by Vadzim Vinakur

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• Photo: Wedding portrait, by Vadzim Vinakur
• China’s Arms Exports Flooding Sub-Saharan Africa
• Three Dead From Bridge Collapse, Netizens Blame Construction Quality
• China Implications of Apple’s US Patent Victory Over Samsung

Photo: Wedding portrait, by Vadzim Vinakur Posted: 25 Aug 2012 05:43 PM PDT Wedding portrait © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China’s Arms Exports Flooding Sub-Saharan Africa Posted: 25 Aug 2012 05:36 PM PDT As China transitions from being the world's largest weapons importer to becoming a major producer, the Washington Post examines its role as an exporter of arms to 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. While the exports do not technically violate any U.N. sanctions, China has been criticized for not fully cooperating with investigators tracking the global arms industry: Weapons from China have surfaced in a string of U.N. investigations in war zones stretching from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ivory Coast, Somalia and Sudan. China is by no means alone in supplying the arms that help fuel African conflicts, and there is no proof that China or its arms exporters have intentionally violated U.N. embargoes in any of those countries. But China has stood apart from other major arms exporters, including Russia, for its assertive challenge to U.N. authority, routinely refusing to cooperate with U.N. arms experts and flexing its diplomatic muscle to protect its allies and curtail investigations that may shed light on its own secretive arms industry. The stance highlights the tensions between China's responsibilities as a global power and its interests in exploiting new markets. It has also raised questions about whether Chinese diplomats have a grip on the reach of the country's influence in the arms industry beyond its borders. Beijing has responded to the disclosures not by enforcing regulations at home but by using its clout within the Security Council to claw back the powers of independent U.N. arms investigators. Those efforts have helped undercut the independence of U.N. panels that track arms trading with Iran and North Korea. In addition to fueling regional conflicts, Chinese weapons have also been recovered from elephant and rhinoceros poaching operations in southern Africa, according to a report by Saving Rhinos in 2010 (PDF). © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Africa trade, arms embargo, diplomacy, North Korea relations, UNSC, weapons exports Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Three Dead From Bridge Collapse, Netizens Blame Construction Quality Posted: 25 Aug 2012 09:25 AM PDT Three were killed and five injured early Friday morning (Aug 24, 2012) at about 5:30 AM by the collapse of the Yangmingtan Bridge in Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang Province. The collapsed part, which measures 100 meters in length, fell from a height of some 30 meters above ground, bringing down four trucks with it. The ramp to Yangmingtan Bridge Netizens Skeptical About Construction The incident caught the eyes of the public in no time. On Weibo, the Chinese Twitter, most users jumped directly into a discussion on possible causes of the collapse, and most fingers were pointed straight at the construction company and the officials on duty supervising them. Since Yangmingtan Bridge was only opened to traffic last November, netizens find the collapse inexplicable if not for the reason of shoddy construction. Most Weibo users used black humor in expressing their views on the accident. @立冬微博 posted: "Put into use less than a year…costing 1.88 billion yuan ($296 million US dollar), highest flood control capacity in 300 years – 300 years passed so fast!"@ Cars0n_C joked: "Yangmintan Bridge collapsed at dawn, I guess the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were from Harbin." Even better was the mockery by @自私鬼让你生病了 "Reason of collapse: overload, sustained influence of invisible typhoon, extreme temperature difference between morning and night, improper maintenance by sanitation workers, monster attack, etc. but low quality of construction is absolutely not the reason." There are of course more explicit Weibo posts blaming the shoddy construction and irresponsible officials and departments. @怀自杰律师 says, "I'm shocked again. Shoddy construction's everywhere, and no department, no institute, no nothing to provide guidance or to supervise." From over 50 million Weibo posts under the topic of the collapse it is inevitable to notice that netizens are eagerly waiting for an official explanation of the accident. Harbin Government: Can't Find Party at Fault Harbin's local government, curiously, didn't seem to take this eagerness serious enough. Sina News reported later Friday night that the Construction Committee of Harbin City claimed finding the party at fault of the collapsed ramp is impossible since the construction headquarter of the Yangmingtan Bridge was dismissed. There is no doubt Chinese netizens will not buy that. Sooner or later, someone will have to conduct a thorough investigation and give a clear explanation. @我爱猪小妞 dug out past TV reports on the construction of Yangmingtan and posted screenshots of related personnel:" [Construction party found!] Hey Harbin Construction Committee! I did you a favor! Here's personnel related to the construction of Yangmingtan: Yang Qingwei (杨青卫), Jin Linsheng (靳麟生) and Wu Xiangyang (吴向阳). What do you say now?"  The three construction related personnel netizens called out by name, looking triumphant at the grand opening of the bridge

China Implications of Apple’s US Patent Victory Over Samsung Posted: 25 Aug 2012 02:01 AM PDT As you may have heard by now, Apple had a rather decisive win in Federal court on Friday over rival device maker Samsung. This was a U.S. case, involving American patents, but are there any China implications of the verdict? The brief answer is not really, at least not yet. The U.S. dispute is only one of several being fought around the world, including in parts of Europe and Asia. The U.S. case, heard in California, primarily concerned infringement of certain aspects of the iPhone and iPad designs. Samsung lost on the iPhone claims, but Apple came up short on some of the iPad allegations. Is this the end of the world for Samsung, and do you need to worry that some guy from the USPTO is going to show up at your home and demand you hand over your SII? No, just take a deep breath. Robert Hof, writing about the U.S. market in Forbes, has a handy list that illustrates why the verdict may not have immediate effect: This case no doubt will be appealed You won't have to surrender your Samsung smartphones or tablets Smartphone makers will find new ways to emulate (if not copy) Apple's features The two companies, with Google lurking in the shadows, might go back to the bargaining table For the China market, keep in mind that patents are territorial, so if Apple wants to replicate its victory over Samsung here, it must first have the requisite patent portfolio, and then it would have to file in a Chinese court. So no bans on Samsung devices in China, at least not for the moment. Consumers can therefore relax. How about manufacturers that produce for the U.S. market? That's a different story entirely. If Apple manages to win an injunction against infringing Samsung products (that decision will happen within the next week or so), you could definitely see manufacturers in China (and I assume that these products are at least assembled here) take a hit. Without an injunction, we're possibly talking years before the appeals process winds up completely. One last area of concern involves other Android device makers in China that sell, or hope to sell, in the U.S. market. You know, the Huaweis, ZTEs and the Xiaomis, those types of guys. This verdict certainly calls into question the strategies of companies that have built Android devices "inspired" by the iPhone. Although we don't know at this point whether Apple intends to go after other Android competitors, given the Samsung verdict and the whopping 1.05 billion dollar damage award, it wouldn't surprise me. Long term, I have a feeling that both Android and Samsung will innovate themselves out of this mess. A combination of licensing deals with Apple and new product design will probably minimize what appears from our vantage point today to be a huge smackdown. This is a blindingly fast industry, and Android is built for flexibility. If you're wondering why Apple hasn't come after Samsung or other Android handset folks over here in China on the same grounds, you won't get a clear explanation from me. There are way too many reasons why Apple decided to either wait or simply not go down that road at all. I don't even know what sort of patent portfolio Apple has here, so that discussion is a bit of a non-starter. To sum up: China consumers needn't worry, at least for now. Manufacturers will be watching what happens next in the U.S. very closely, particularly with respect to an injunction on U.S. sales. Long term, effected companies will figure out a way to minimize the pain. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Android, apple, patent infringement, Samsung

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