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News » Society » Foxconn improves work conditions |
- Foxconn improves work conditions
- Rich Chinese seeking overseas residency
- Local news: Cumbrian woman finds Chinese tortoise in garden
- KMT big gun urges medical parole for Chen
- Taipei mayor and Kuomintang heavyweight Hau Lung-pin has called for medical parole for ex-president Chen Shui-bian.
- Joint ocean drill refuels isles row
- River floods suburban villages in Nanning
- 'Killer at large' rumors persist
- Incomes up on average but wealth gap a worry
- Chinese astronomers at the final frontier
- China's drive for patents in 'wrong direction'
- Another fine mess for urban management
- Bikinis add controversy to beautiful cow contest
- Toilet danger no problem for Chinese customers
- Li & Fung Faces Threat as Retail Supplier
- KKR buys into Novo, bets on China youth apparel market
- Shell plans at least $1 billion a year China shale gas investment
- Why China Can’t Afford a Confrontation With Japan
- In China, Gu Kailai’s Reprieve Reinforces Cynicism
- Have You Heard…
| Foxconn improves work conditions Posted: 21 Aug 2012 07:33 PM PDT Foxconn, Apple's main manufacturer in China, is improving working hours and conditions, says the US-based Fair Labour Association (FLA). |
| Rich Chinese seeking overseas residency Posted: 21 Aug 2012 05:12 PM PDT Why Chinese millionaires are buying foreign residency |
| Local news: Cumbrian woman finds Chinese tortoise in garden Posted: 21 Aug 2012 01:42 PM PDT
So. They called the Knoxwood Wildlife Rescue Centre, near Wigton. The wee creature was placed carefully inside a cardboard box he tortoise. Rescue volunteer Pauline Adams soon arrived. Says Margaret:
Don't all pet tortoises have writing on their shells? |
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| River floods suburban villages in Nanning Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:24 AM PDT Residents take boat on a flooded road at Xinxin Village in the Yongning District of Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Province, yesterday. The water level of the Yongjiang River in the urban areas of Nanning City reached 73.01 meters yesterday, surpassing the alarming level of 70 meters and flooding suburban villages. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| 'Killer at large' rumors persist Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:51 AM PDT A POLICE officer has appeared on television to scotch a rumor that he had been mistaken for killer Zhou Kehua and shot dead in Chongqing last Tuesday. Online rumors said Zhou was still at large and the man shot dead by police on August 14 was a policeman in plain clothes sent from neighboring Hunan Province to take part in the manhunt. Some people posted a photograph of the police officer, who looked like Zhou, and compared the photo with that of the man lying in a pool of blood after the shootout. The officer looked so similar to the wanted killer that the rumor quickly spread that Zhou was still alive and it was the policeman who had been shot dead. "It is ridiculous because I have had no business with the killer," Duan Zhipeng, the officer, told Hunan Province's television station from Changsha on Monday. He said the photograph posted online was taken several years ago during an outing of his police bureau. It was later put on the bureau's website. A DNA test and fingerprint comparison confirmed absolutely that the man killed by Chongqing police was Zhou, the city's police force said on Sunday. All the Hunan police dispatched to Chongqing to hunt for Zhou had returned safely to Changsha, police in the provincial capital also confirmed. Three portraits of the dead Zhou posted online showed blood on his face and a bullet wound to his right temple but Chongqing police said they had not released the photographs. Rumors that Zhou was still alive began over the weekend after police closed access to the southwest municipality's Gele Mountain. The rumors claimed that the killer must still be at large in the mountain area where police and military personnel had been searching before his final shootout with police. However, police have said they were just searching for any hideouts Zhou might have used for further clues to the killer's activities. They were also still searching for a rifle Zhou had stolen after killing a sentry outside a barracks in Chongqing in 2009. Zhou's ex-wife said Zhou once told her the gun was buried on the mountain when questioned by police after his death. Zhou, 42, killed 11 people over the past eight years, usually targeting people who had withdrawn large sums of money from banks. |
| Incomes up on average but wealth gap a worry Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT HOUSEHOLDS in rural China have seen incomes increase on average over the past three years thanks to migrant work in cities, but the wealth gap in the countryside has almost reached a warning level, a Chinese institute for rural studies said yesterday. The income of rural households grew 14.13 percent from a year earlier to an average of 38,894.4 yuan (US$6,125) last year, according to a survey by Central China Normal University's Center for China Rural Studies. The survey covers more than 6,000 rural households. The institute said in a report that the income growth was fueled by rising wages among farmers who had abandoned rural life to work outside their hometowns, mostly in cities. Wages paid to migrant workers accounted for 65.7 percent of the total income of rural households, it said. The nation had 253 million migrant workers by the end of 2011, 10.55 million more than a year earlier, according to official data. The wealth gap among rural households is widening. The Gini coefficient, which reflects the rich-poor gap, in rural China stood at 0.3949 last year, nearing the warning level of 0.4 set by the United Nations, the institute said. The index, which measures income distribution on a scale of zero to one, indicates a relatively reasonable income gap if between 0.3 and 0.4. Most scholars believe it is currently between 0.45 and 0.50. The reason why the gap exists is that those who work as migrant laborers in urban areas earn twice as much as those who grow crops, the institute said. The income gap, said Xu Yong, chief of the institute, could force more rural residents to abandon farming and leave the countryside. |
| Chinese astronomers at the final frontier Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:49 AM PDT CHINA is to launch several space projects, including a hard X-ray telescope for black hole studies, between 2014 and 2016, according to a senior Chinese astronomer. Su Dingqiang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former president of the Chinese Astronomical Society, revealed some details regarding the hard X-ray modulation telescope, China's first space telescope, at the opening ceremony of the International Astronomical Union's 28th General Assembly in Beijing yesterday. Hard X-rays originate mostly from regions close to black holes and have high penetrative power, making them important tools for studying physical processes in extreme conditions, such as high matter density and high energy density. Su said China will develop another satellite, the dark matter particle explorer, to help detect high-energy electrons and gamma rays, as well as a telescope, to study the solar magnetic field and a Sino-French joint mission to study gamma ray bursts. Su said Chinese scientists are also planning to establish an Antarctic astronomical observatory. Cui Xiangqun, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of the Chinese Astronomical Society, said a lot of work had been done to gain experience for the construction of an observatory in the Antarctic. An Antarctic Survey Telescope was installed there at the beginning of the year and another AST will be installed in 2013, said Cui. Cui was optimistic about the Antarctic facility. "It has drier air, better visibility and fewer background disturbances," she said. The conference is the first of its size to be held in China. Robert Williams, IAU president, said: "China's technology has advanced markedly, and some of its buildings are really world-class. The fact that we are meeting here is an indication that China has emerged in a short period of time to be competitive on the world stage in the science of astronomy." |
| China's drive for patents in 'wrong direction' Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:48 AM PDT CHINA'S drive to produce millions of new patents in the next few years as part of a switch from a "made in China" to "designed in China" economic model will curtail innovation standards, a European study warned yesterday. China is seeking to transform itself from being the world's factory floor into a global pioneer by setting ambitious state-mandated patent targets - a goal that has already resulted in it surpassing the United States last year in patent filings. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report that the nation filed more than 1.6 million patent applications in 2011, but just 32 percent met the highest threshold for patent quality - new inventions. The study noted that while China's innovation potential is "impressive," its actual innovation is "overhyped." "This explosion (of patent applications) has come with a price in terms of the quality and mix of patents. This is not in the right direction," Chamber Secretary General Dirk Moens said. In some cases, financial incentives and performance evaluations for state-owned firms, officials and academics drive the filing of low-quality patents as they seek to meet quotas - 2 million annually by 2015 under one national plan. In addition to inventions, China also gives patents for designs and "utility models," incremental developments that can advance an existing product but rarely result in technological breakthroughs. The US does not use utility model patents, though some developed countries, such as Germany, do. Sixty-five percent of patent applications filed by medium and large-sized Chinese state-owned enterprises in recent years have been for the lower end design or utility model patents, making them among the country's least effective innovators, the study said. "One cannot drive or 'force' creativity, but only nurture it, whereas creativity leading to breakthroughs of the type that typically produce the highest quality patents at best comes in spurts," it said, noting that at least 20 countries have greater innovation potential than the world's second largest economy. But Elliot Papageorgiou, an intellectual property expert at Rouse Legal in Shanghai, said utility model patents are good for China. "In developing economies, you're not going to get a new wheel, you're going to get an improved or cheaper wheel," Papageorgiou said. |
| Another fine mess for urban management Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:32 AM PDT DRIVERS and pedestrians in a central China city were shocked when fellow citizens began stopping them to demand they pay fines for breaking traffic regulations. A driver surnamed Zhang said "someone suddenly knocked his window" when he was waiting for the lights to turn green demanding payment. He had stopped for the red light but had encroached on the crosswalk. "He said he would fine me 10 yuan (US$1.57) and then several others rushed to surround my car," Zhang said. The men weren't in uniform but wore armbands. "I didn't know if they were traffic police or urban management officials, and why did they have the right to fine me? Ten yuan is just a little sum, what really matters is an official explanation," Zhang said. The Urban Management Bureau in Shaoyang, Hunan Province revealed that, beginning August, it has entrusted 1,000 city environment inspectors to fine offenders. The group, aged between 40 and 60, are being paid 500 yuan (US$78.65) a month and get to keep 80 percent of the fines they collect, the authority said. However, the city government legal affairs office. which supervises law enforcement, said those inspectors are not in the position to enforce the law. The office is in talks with the urban management authority about the issue, yesterday's Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. The city's traffic police and community officials admitted employing members of the public to supervise the city environment, but denied giving them the right to issue fines. They said that would have been the urban management. For their part, urban management officials said they were just carrying out the plan the local government had worked out, the newspaper said. But the report also said that the government had never authorized "environment inspectors" to issue fines in its notice issued on June 29 which aimed to regulate and enhance the daily behavior of residents. Wang Yingshuai, a Hunan lawyer, told the newspaper that government bodies are not entitled to entrusting others to carry out administrative punishments. Besides, any fines should be handed over to the government in full, he said. In 2008, Zhuzhou in Hunan hired 18,299 such inspectors who were said to have collected fines of up to 127,560 yuan in just three months. And since the start of this year, the province's Xiangtan City had recruited 1,100 people to help authorities crack down on breaches of regulations. |
| Bikinis add controversy to beautiful cow contest Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:32 AM PDT A CONTEST to find a county's most beautiful cow caused controversy when young women in bikinis began milking them in Shanyin County of Shanxi Province. The event was meant to promote the county's dairy industry, but instead sparked claims of promoting vulgarity. The "beauty pageant," organized by the Shanyin government, asked villagers to vote for cows based on their appearance, milk production, udder size and bloodlines. Organizer said the 30 "contestants" had been selected from the county's more than 100,000 dairy cows. However, many villagers were shocked when eight young women in bikinis joined the beauty pageant to milk the cows. A model told a reporter she had been hired to represent harmony between human beings and nature. But the move backfired, with many people accusing the event of "promoting vulgarity" by hiring the models. There were some, though, who thought it was an entertaining idea. "Are the county officials trying to test people's aesthetic notions to see whether they would focus more on the cows or on the young girls wearing bikinis?" read one Weibo post. "If they were to select the most beautiful cow, why did they hire models? I don't think it's good for children to watch," was another. Some supporters said they had been shocked to see such a pageant but appreciated the idea as it could help to promote the county's dairy products. County head Nan Zhizhong, told Chinanews.com that he understood why some people felt the pageant was controversial but said it had been held to promote the dairy industry. Nan said the county had more than 100,000 cows, the largest number in the province. "We selected 30 cows from 100,000 to compete in the pageant. They are the Ferraris and Rolls-Royces of cows," said Nan. "We want to promote the local dairy industry to let more people drink safe milk." |
| Toilet danger no problem for Chinese customers Posted: 21 Aug 2012 09:32 AM PDT BATHROOM fittings maker Flushmate, which supplies major toilet manufacturers such as Kohler and American Standard, said yesterday that a flushing mechanism being recalled in the United States and Canada was not used in China. The US company began to recall more than 2.3 million units in June after 304 customers reported problems that had resulted 14 impact and laceration injuries. The pressure from the defective system can lift and shatter toilet tank lids, according to newspaper reports. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning about the defect mechanism and the potential for laceration injuries. The news sparked concern in China where Kohler and American Standard are hugely popular and widely used. However, Richard Zhang, a representative of Flushmate China, said: "The defect systems have not flowed into China." Kohler China also issued a statement yesterday reassuring Chinese customers and saying that the substandard system was not used in its toilets sold in China. American Standard made a similar announcement. |
| Li & Fung Faces Threat as Retail Supplier Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:14 AM PDT  Source: Wall Street Journal By Kathy Chu HONG KONG—For the past century, Li & Fung Ltd. has been supplying everything from shoes to baby clothes for such global retailers as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. But after decades of rapid expansion, the company is logging shrinking profit margins. The company's shares this month have posted their biggest drop since listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1992, and several brokerage firms have downgraded the stock. Despite making nearly two dozen acquisitions in the past 18 months, Li & Fung's revenue rose only 4% in the first half and expenses rose sharply, indicating that some of the companies Li & Fung acquired may be underperforming. Analysts estimate that the company's organic earnings, which excludes results from acquisitions, have declined. Chief Executive Bruce Rockowitz blames the company's weak performance on a challenging global economy rather than internal operating problems. "When the world is bad, of course your organic growth is going to slow down," says Mr. Rockowitz, a 53-year-old former tennis instructor from Canada. "If the world improved a lot, and we were still performing at a lower organic rate, then that's [a problem]. But that hasn't happened." Li & Fung's original business model was to contract with factories to manufacture goods for retailers, but the company long ago expanded into a one-stop shop: It now designs, markets and transports products as well. A weak global economy has given Li & Fung the opportunity to buy cheap assets, which helps offset slowing organic growth, says Mr. Rockowitz, who cruises around Hong Kong in a blue two-door Bentley with a license plate that says "Rock 8," a reference to his lucky number. He married Asian pop star Coco Lee last year in a ceremony attended by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars and other celebrities.  Mr. Rockowitz says he expects profit margins in the company's distribution business, which are at a record low, to recover next year as raw-material costs ease and the company shifts jobs to countries such as China and Bangladesh from higher-cost countries. "We feel good" about Li & Fung's ability to increase core operating profit to $1.5 billion in 2013 from $726.1 million in 2010, he says. Barclays analyst Vineet Sharma believes the company will miss the target "by a significant margin," however. But the main challenge facing Li & Fung is maintaining its role as a middleman. "My biggest concern is that the margin deterioration we saw was not just cyclical but could be structural," says Gabriel Chan, director of Asian equity research at Credit Suisse. The bank downgraded Li & Fung's stock to "underperform" this month. "Li & Fung has to do more and more to keep their customers," which could hurt profit margins, Mr. Chan says. Customers including Wal-Mart and children's apparel companies Carter's Inc. and Gymboree Corp. have said they plan to obtain more of their products directly in coming years. But even when retailers decide to source directly, they will still need an intermediary to manage logistics, communications and quality checks with the factories, Mr. Rockowitz says. He says retailers aren't moving away from Li & Fung; indeed the company has signed agreements to source products for retailers including Target Australia and Wal-Mart. Li & Fung gets 62% of its revenue from the U.S., 18% from Europe, and the rest from Canada, Asia, Central and Latin America, South Africa and the Mideast. Li & Fung recorded an operating loss last year from its 2010 sourcing deal with Wal-Mart, a trend that UBS analyst Spencer Leung says will likely continue. Large retailers often use a mix of direct sourcing and working with intermediaries, and as they grow, migrate toward the former to boost profits, says Peter Brown, vice chairman of Kurt Salmon, a retail consulting firm. The need to design, manufacture and get products in the store quickly—a fast-retailing concept popularized by chains such as Inditex Group SA's Zara—also boosts the appeal of direct sourcing, he says. When the global economy improves, the threat of retailers sourcing directly will increase, says Credit Suisse's Mr. Chan. During a weak economy, retailers may not want to pay the upfront costs for infrastructure and offices that allow them to source directly. Mr. Rockowitz says Li & Fung will change with the times, if necessary. "We're doing more for our customers today, not less," he says. "No one can say what's going to happen in the future, but we look at our business as a drumbeat, and we look every three years to see if we need to change."   |
| KKR buys into Novo, bets on China youth apparel market Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:20 AM PDT  Source: Reuters By Stephen Aldred (Reuters) – Global buyout fund KKR & Co L.P. (KKR.N) has placed a bet on China's $38 billion youth apparel retail market, saying on Tuesday that it had acquired a stake in privately held retailer Novo Holdco Ltd for $30 million. KKR gave no further details of the investment in a statement, but the source said it had bought about 40 percent of the company and gained two seats on the five-member board. The source declined to be named as many details of the deal were private. The investment gives KKR new shares and the existing investors are locked in until the fund exits, the source said. "We see enormous long-term potential in the Chinese fashion retail industry, driven by rising domestic consumption and an increasing demand for the latest fashion trends," said David Liu, member of KKR and CEO of KKR Greater China. KKR, which invested in Novo through its dedicated $1.1 billion China fund, has several other investments in Asia's busiest private equity market. Its previous China investments also bet on the nation's rapid consumption growth and include casual men's retailer China Outfitters Holdings Ltd (1146.HK) and China's largest cord blood storage company, U.S. listed China Cord Blood (CO.N). Novo, founded in 2004 by Chairman and CEO Alan Fang, a member of one of Hong Kong's most prominent textile families, rents store space of around 5,000 square metres in prime shopping malls, then sublets the space to up-and-coming designers who build their profile under the Novo brand. The company has 11 operational stores and plans to expand that to around 30 in two years using the KKR investment, in provincial capitals, particularly along China's coast. KKR will potentially exit through an IPO in Hong Kong or an A-share listing in China in around three years, the source said. Like many global private equity funds, KKR is heavily focused on the consumer retail theme in China, and investment opportunities created by rising consumption among the urban middle class. China's annual economic growth cooled to 7.6 percent in the April-June period, the slackest in more than three years, confirming a downtrend that leaves full-year growth on course for its softest showing since 1999. Retail sales growth in China continues to ease this year, with a gain of 13.1 percent in July from a year ago after logging a 17.2 percent annual growth pace in July last year. The world's No.2 sporting goods maker Adidas (ADSGn.DE) said that a summer of sporting events including the Olympics was boosting demand, helping it to avoid the worst of a slowdown in sales growth in China and Europe.   |
| Shell plans at least $1 billion a year China shale gas investment Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:23 AM PDT  Source: Reuters By Chen Aizhu and Judy Hua (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) plans to spend at least $1 billion a year exploiting China's potentially vast resources of shale gas, the firm's top China executive said, part of an aggressive strategy to expand in the world's biggest energy market. Asked if the firm remained committed to a plan to invest $1 billion a year in China's shale gas over the coming few years, Lim Haw Kuang, Shell's top China executive, said in an interview: "Yes, yes and yes." "If there has been an adjustment to that pledge, it could only be an upward revision," added Lim, a Malaysian national and a Shell veteran of 34 years. China is estimated to hold the world's largest reserves of the unconventional gas — which can be unlocked from ancient shale rocks by "hydraulic fracturing", a technology well developed in recent years in North America. Shell is also aiming to build a $12.6 billion refinery and petrochemical complex in eastern China, a project that could become the single largest foreign investment in China. The Anglo-Dutch firm is one of the biggest investors in China's energy sector but faces strong competition. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), BP (BP.L), Total (TOTF.PA) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) are also trying to get a bigger slice of the Chinese market, where use of natural gas is set to triple this decade and growth in oil demand makes up more than a third of the world total. LOCAL PARTNERS KEY FOR INVESTING Shell has lined up China National Petroleum Corp CNPC.UL, the country's top energy group and parent of PetroChina (0857.HK)(601857.SS), as its partner for both shale gas and the Taizhou refinery project. "It's an alliance between strong firms. That should help control the cost," said Lim, referring to its shale gas venture with CNPC in Sichuan province, where Shell drilled 11 wells last year, more than any other international firm. Shell hopes to leverage its operational and technology expertise gained developing shale gas in North America, while CNPC holds the country's premium oil and gas acreage. CNPC, through PetroChina, produces some 60 percent of China's crude oil and nearly three-quarters of its natural gas. Shell is a major supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China, securing gas from its global fields including in Australia and Qatar. LNG is super chilled gas for shipping in tankers. The company also plans to relocate its global business unit for coal bed methane to China later this year, and establish a global research hub for unconventional gas and oil — its first outside Houston. China expects CBM, gas trapped in coal seams, to meet 15 percent of the country's needs by 2020. Lim, 58, who has been Shell China executive chairman since 2005, said successfully investing in China required finding a long-term strategic partner. "We need to find a partner who will not only cooperate with us well for one day or two, but also share the same development vision and direction over the next few decades," he said. Shell has lined up alliances with Chinese oil firms outside China, covering coal-seam gas in Australia, LNG in Canada, gas exploration in Qatar and drilling offshore West Africa. Shell has taken a different approach in China's fuel retailing, by aligning with regional players independent of the big two local oil firms PetroChina and Sinopec Corp (0386.HK). The company may face a bigger test investing in China's refining sector where there are question marks over profitability due to rigid state controls, while environmental issues have also become more important. Environmental concerns forced the relocation a few years ago of a Kuwaiti-invested plant, while recent protests in China over pollution have turned violent and forced authorities to cancel projects. Shell, which hopes to complete a feasibility study on its Taizhou project in the next few months, said it had been communicating about the project from early on with its partner CNPC, local government and residents in a bid to allay safety and environmental worries.   |
| Why China Can’t Afford a Confrontation With Japan Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:51 AM PDT  Source: Bloomberg News By Bruce Einhorn In its latest confrontation with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea, China might seem to have all the leverage. China is a rising power, having passed Japan as the world's second-largest economy, while Japan is stuck in the doldrums. With few growth prospects at home, Japanese companies like Toyota (TM) and Sony (SNE) need to sell to Chinese consumers. China is also the world's biggest supplier of rare earth metals, crucial ingredients for high-tech products like Japanese-made hybrid cars. The dispute centers on some rocky outposts northeast of Taiwan called by the Chinese the Diaoyu Islands and by the Japanese the Senkaku Islands. Over the weekend, a group of Japanese activists landed on the islands after Japanese authorities detained and then expelled a group of activists from Hong Kong who landed on one of the islands with Chinese and Taiwanese flags. Angry Chinese took to the streets in cities across the country, denouncing Japan. China has disputes with many of its neighbors, with the Beijing government quarreling not only with Japan but also with Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. China has a border dispute with India, too. With a major leadership transition due to take place at the upcoming Communist Party congress, the last thing China's rulers want is an escalating political crisis that will lead Asian countries wary of Beijing's intentions to look to the U.S. for protection. Moreover, Japan actually controls the islands. Calling attention to that fact isn't in China's interests, says Ting, since anti-Japan protesters might soon start asking why China's government can't protect the country's territory. Chinese leaders "don't want the demonstrations to continue for a long time and develop into a national movement against Japan," says Ting. If Chinese people feel the government is too weak, "they will turn their attention to the Chinese government and criticize the Chinese government," says Ting. That would be "a nightmare" for China's leaders. Already, the government is trying to contain the anti-Japanese demonstrations before they get out of hand. "Patriotism is a noble act, but protestors should avoid any irrational or violent behavior," the official Xinhua News Agency editorialized on Monday in a story with the headline "Irrational, violent anti-Japanese protests should be avoided." The Xinhua commentary was a response to protests in Shenzhen over the weekend that led to what Xinhua called "rabid" demonstrators attacking a Japanese restaurant and overturning a Japanese-brand car. And not just any car—a police car. "Although Chinese authorities have encouraged the country's citizens to express their patriotism peacefully, the government ultimately rejects the kind of blind patriotism that can result in violence, especially against Chinese compatriots."   |
| In China, Gu Kailai’s Reprieve Reinforces Cynicism Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:46 AM PDT  Source: New York Times By Andrew Jacobs BEIJING — When it comes to patriotic blockbusters, synchronized military parades and choreographed political cavalcades that fill the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese Communist Party knows how to put on a show. The party's carefully scripted trial of Ms. Gu — which led to her conviction on Monday for poisoning the Briton, Neil Heywood, and a suspended death sentence — appears to have prompted anger and cynicism from almost everyone here who paid attention. Die-hard leftists who still back Mr. Bo and his populist policies detected strands of a grand political conspiracy. Legal scholars identified glaring inconsistencies in what the government had trumpeted as a model of judicial exactitude. And liberals, noting that Ms. Gu's crime would have remained secret had not a player in the scandal divulged incriminating details to American diplomats, found further evidence that their leaders believe they can literally get away with murder. "For many people, the party was just trying to use the justice system for their own purposes, but they did it in such a way that made everyone laugh," said Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist provocateur who spent 81 days in extralegal detention last year for what he says was his unyielding government criticism. "It's obvious to everyone that they came up with the sentence before the facts were known." Even ordinary Chinese ridiculed the decision to spare Ms. Gu's life, saying a commoner would have been summarily executed for the murder of a foreigner. "Steal a whole country and they make you prince. Steal a fishing hook and they hang you," read one oft-forwarded proverb. In sparing her, court officials cited Ms. Gu's mental instability; her fear that Mr. Heywood might harm her son; and her testimony, which also led to the conviction on Monday of four police officials she had enlisted in a cover-up. Her principal accomplice, Zhang Xiaojun, a family employee convicted of a limited role, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Suspended death sentences in China are often tantamount to life in prison, but good behavior can bring jail time down to 25 years. And the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco group that advocates reform of China's criminal justice system, noted that the psychological ailments cited by the court could make medical parole possible in less than a decade. There was no such discussion in the statement published by the official Xinhua news agency, which brimmed with congratulatory prose and quoted spectators at the trial extolling the government's devotion to the rule of law. "Listening to both the trial and the verdict announcement gave me firsthand experience of justice delivered by the law," said one Wang Xiuqin, a local party member in Anhui Province, where the trial was held. "A healthy socialist legal system does not leave crimes unpunished." Many legal observers, however, were less inspired, noting that Ms. Gu, 53, a trained lawyer, would have known precisely what she was doing when, according to the prosecution's account, she got Mr. Heywood drunk and then fed him cyanide mixed with water. "She planned the crime herself, put the poison in his mouth herself, destroyed the evidence herself but didn't turn herself in," Wang Lianqi, a lawyer and commentator, wrote in a blog post. "Why did she receive a suspended death sentence? Could it be that our Constitution has been amended to say that people are not treated equally before the law?" On Sina Weibo, the country's most popular microblog service, Ms. Gu was avidly compared to Xia Junfeng, a food peddler on death row who fatally stabbed two urban management officials after they beat him. "A lawyer who commits premeditated murder gets a suspended death penalty, and a peddler who defends himself gets death," one posting said. "This is the Chinese justice system." From the outset, the murder of Mr. Heywood was an especially daunting public relations challenge for the party. And the Internet made the task even more difficult — despite a veritable army of censors. Judicial officials, who normally conduct criminal trials behind closed doors, were forced to accept greater transparency because of the victim's nationality. The authorities barred foreign journalists but could not deny access to British consular officials. But party strategists seem to have made several miscalculations, releasing details of a confession by Ms. Gu that defied conventional wisdom and allowing leaks from several attendees of the trial. Portions of those accounts, including prosecution claims that Mr. Bo's most trusted aide had a hand in the cover-up, were omitted from an official narrative released by the state media, fueling accusations that the authorities were trying to shield Mr. Bo from any criminal charges. In fact, Mr. Bo was the biggest elephant in the room. There was one prosaic mention of his name, but no exploration of whether he had played any role in the crime. Also absent was his former aide, Wang Lijun, that pivotal player who started the case's unraveling in an American Consulate in February. He and Mr. Bo, who lost his job as party chief of the municipality of Chongqing, still await their fates. The trial raised a long list of unanswered questions. Why would a powerful woman like Ms. Gu kill a man she could have easily had arrested or deported? Why did none of the witnesses testify in court? And if Mr. Heywood had threatened the life of her son as prosecutors claim, why would Mr. Heywood have traveled to Chongqing to spend a night drinking at her side? Many also found implausible Ms. Gu's purported main contention: that Mr. Heywood had briefly detained her son, Bo Guagua, during a visit to Britain, and then sent an e-mail threatening to "destroy" him. Then there were the small inconsistencies: The court said Ms. Gu and Mr. Heywood had first met in 2005; most published accounts say their association dates back to at least the late 1990s, when Mr. Heywood helped her son gain admission to an elite British school. "This was a satire of justice," said He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University. "The trial was more about covering up facts than revealing what really has happened." Perhaps the most glaring omission was the trial's failure to discuss the so-called economic dispute underlying the crime. Prosecutors said Mr. Heywood had been demanding $22 million from the family for a failed real estate venture. Many wondered how Mr. Bo, a civil servant, and Ms. Gu, who had not worked in years, might have been expected to come up with such a sum. The implication, many analysts say, is that the Communist Party was eager to avoid highlighting the sort of unbridled official corruption that many Chinese believe is endemic. Even Ms. Gu's emotionally leaden statement at her sentencing inspired disbelief and ridicule. In her brief monologue, broadcast on Monday afternoon on national television, she thanked the court for its magnanimity. Ma Jian, an exiled Chinese novelist who lives in London, found her performance patently scripted. "Not since Stalin's show trials of the 1930s," he wrote in a blog post, "has a defendant so effusively praised a judge who seemed bound to condemn her at a trial where no witness or evidence against her was presented."   |
| Posted: 21 Aug 2012 10:09 AM PDT Have You Heard…   |
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