Links » Cream » Mitt Romney Jumps the China Debt Shark

---

• Mitt Romney Jumps the China Debt Shark
• More on Apple’s Map Malfunction
• Diaoyu-Senkaku Dispute: Everyone’s An Expert
• Sensitive Words: “Watch Brother” and “Watch Uncle”
• Rational Patriotism in the (Canned) Air
• China Announces Handover of First Aircraft Carrier
• Taiwanese Ships Join The Diaoyu Fray (Updated)
• If Attacked, Would Taiwan Fight?
• Cartoon: Reading the Truth, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场)
• Hexie Farm (蟹农场): Reading the Truth
• The Daily Twit – 9/24/12: I Been Wanglijailed, Diaoyued, and Foxconned
• Is It Time to Start Pitying China Copyright Pirates?
• Some Guy on Weibo Says That Foxconn Workers Have Established a People’s Commune
• Wang Lijun Sentenced to 15 Years

Mitt Romney Jumps the China Debt Shark Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:45 AM PDT Mitt Romney has said some mighty stupid things in the past couple of weeks, so I can't exactly put the below quote forward as competitive in the "Top Romney Gaffes" list. In terms of China policy, though, this is not only an inane non sequitur, but it's also quite misleading: I'm going to look at every federal program and I'll ask this question, "Is this so — program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?" And if it doesn't pass that test, I'm going to eliminate the program because we just can't afford to keep spending more money than we take in. This is, this is something which is not just bad economics. I think it's immoral. (Foreign Policy) {facepalm} Several issues here, but let's start with the misleading nature of the comments with respect to China's holdings of U.S. debt. I've talked about this many times before, but let's update the numbers. Total U.S. government debt hit the $16 trillion mark at the beginning of this month. As of July, the amount of debt owed to foreigners was roughly $5.35 trillion, or about one-third of the total. So already, when Romney suggests that government debt equates to borrowing from foreigners, he is being misleading. But even that 33% might seem scary to some folks. Just who are these creditors? Well, among the top creditor nations include the UK ($141 billion); Switzerland ($190 billion) and Belgium ($144), not exactly countries that are hostile to the United States. China of course is at the top of the list and always held out as the bogeyman, as Romney's words illustrate. When you hear late-night comedians talk about the U.S. owing so much money to China, you might think that their ownership percentage of U.S. debt must be quite high. In fact, as of July, it was only about 7.2% of total U.S. debt, or about 21.5% of all foreign-held U.S. debt. By the way, #2 on the list of foreign creditors is Japan, which has been upping its purchasing of U.S. treasuries this year, while China has been reducing its buys. As of July, China held only about $40 billion more than Japan. That gap might even be narrower now. So Romney is essentially suggesting that every dollar of government debt equates to borrowing from China, when in reality, we're only talking about seven cents on the dollar and most likely comparable to what the U.S. owes to Japan at this point. But of course Japan isn't as scary as the Commies in Red China. Now, Romney can deny that he is being deliberately misleading. He can say something like "I never said that all of the borrowing was from China, just some." Right. So Romney wants us to believe that his entire calculation on federal spending will be based on the fact that China represents seven percent of borrowing? Even 7% is too much! Does that make even a tiny bit of sense? As usual, he is either lying his ass off or is mentally deficient (I'll go with the former explanation). In addition to this dishonest fear mongering that totally ignores real data, Romney never bothers to explain what this "test" might look like. How exactly would a President Romney determine whether a federal program was worth borrowing from China anyway? I mean, if you ask me, I'd borrow as much as possible from China at these low interest rates – what a bargain! To the question of whether Romney's statement about the "bad economics" of Keynesian recessionary spending is concerned, I'd suggest you go read Paul Krugman or just about any other economist who isn't a supply side ideologue. And as for the "morality" angle, well, hearing that from the mouth of a politician just makes me laugh. The sad part of all this is that I bet if you polled the American people and asked them "How much of our debt is held by China?" you'd probably get a number like 80%. I bet Romney's words resonate with some folks. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: government debt, Mitt Romney, U.S. Treasuries

More on Apple’s Map Malfunction Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:24 AM PDT The Apple Maps that replaced Google's in the new iOS 6 for iPhone and iPad have attracted widespread mockery. Quirks in the maps' representation of China include a duplicate set of Diaoyu Islands and a missing Yangtze river. But Anthony Drendel (via Daring Fireball) argues that in general Apple's new maps are actually an improvement for users in China: I'm not disputing that Maps does give a lot of strange results to a lot of people all around the world, but for a large, large number of people, iOS 6 Maps has been a huge improvement over Google Maps. I'm talking about those of us who live in China (you know, the place with 1.3+ billion people and the second-largest economy in the world). Google Maps was always pretty terrible here. In the big cities and tourist centers, it was passable. Once you left China's large metropolises, however, you were pretty much on your own. You could usually see expressways, highways, and even a lot of smaller roads, but there were very, very few shops, restaurants, banks, ATMs, etc. listed. […] As someone who lives in China and has to find my way around, the superiority of iOS 6 Maps is clear. In my experience, the new version of Maps zooms in much further, shows more points of interest, clearly labels banks and cellphone shops (China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom), and gives the locations of ATMs and public restrooms (my original iPad running iOS 5 with Google-powered Maps doesn't show either of those things). Drendel's post includes a comparison of Apple's and Google's renditions of an area just outside of Lijiang, Yunnan—perhaps not a large enough sample to base any firm conclusions on. In any case, not all China-based users are benefiting from Chinese mapping partner Autonavi's local knowledge. Charles Custer reported the company's explanation at Tech in Asia: AutoNavi […] has responded to Chinese user complaints by saying that there is nothing wrong with the AutoNavi Maps product, and the reason for the issues people have experienced is that apparently, the upgrade to iOS 6 has caused some users to be unable to connect to the AutoNavi service. Their maps of China, then, are being served by TomTom (another Apple Maps partner), and that's where the mistakes are coming from. Autonavi has offered a fix for this problem. Meanwhile, Baidu has released a major update to its own maps app. At Sinosplice, meanwhile, John Pasden gives instructions for accessing a silver lining to iOS 6: its new system-wide text-to-spoken-Chinese function. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Apple, Baidu, iPhone, iPhones, lijiang, maps, Yunnan Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Diaoyu-Senkaku Dispute: Everyone’s An Expert Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:16 PM PDT This post is going to turn into yet another criticism of the media. Two posts in two days is laying it on a bit thick, but that's the luck of the draw. I get media inquiries from time to time, asking my opinion on a variety of subjects. This is flattering, and I usually have something to say if the topic meshes with either my field of expertise (i.e., China foreign investment or intellectual property law) or something I have written about recently. Sometimes I'll be asked about subjects about which I know little or nothing, like human rights or the law of the sea; when those questions fly at me, I'll politely beg off and, if I can, refer the person to someone who actually knows what they're talking about. Feigned expertise annoys me when others do it and instills feelings of guilt and embarrassment when I engage in the practice myself. Even though I may not be an expert in certain China-related topics, I can at least understand why I'm being asked the question to begin with. For foreign media, it's sometimes difficult to find the right folks to talk to. Bloggers are easy to reach out and (virtually) touch, and there aren't really a lot of us English-language China bloggers around these days. For law-related topics, many attorneys simply cannot comment on stories involving multinationals because of confidentiality concerns, and the pool of qualified China law experts is fairly small to begin with. But what makes no sense is to ask the same question to someone who is obviously unqualified, someone who is almost certainly incapable of responding with an informed opinion. That's what was going through my mind as I read through a Reuters article entitled "China's Li Na silent over island row." China's Li Na stuck to the business of tennis before her appearance in this week's Pan Pacific Open in Japan, refusing to comment on a deepening political crisis between the two countries over disputed islands. Li sat stony-faced at a press gathering on Sunday as an official from the women's WTA tour said repeatedly last year's French Open champion would not answer questions on the row. Apparently the reporters asked her repeatedly to comment on the dispute, and the WTA official stepped in each time to deflect the inquiry. For insulating the players from politics, I say good on the WTA. I think that there was only one relevant question about all this, which was whether or not Beijing put any pressure on Li to withdraw from the tournament. I wouldn't expect an answer to that question, but I can at least understand why it would be posed to her, since it dealt with something of which she had direct knowledge. Unfortunately, it sounds like the questions actually asked at this press conference were numerous and addressed the underlying dispute as well. OK, I get that she is a high-profile Chinese player who happened to be in Japan at the same time that all these anti-Japanese demonstrations were taking place over here. The dispute must have been on everyone's mind. But really, why do they bother with this kind of thing? Would anything Li Na says about the dispute really be considered newsworthy? I think this is just another example of "Let's ask someone famous about a controversial issue and hope that she says something outrageous. It's not like we have anything else to talk about." The fact that Li has a reputation for outspokenness probably encourages this sort of thing. Moreover, sports and nationalism often go hand in hand, so getting a famous athlete to profess an opinion on a sensitive subject like this could be quite sensational, and I use that term in the pejorative sense. Keep in mind that Li was not inviting these questions. She did not put herself out there as someone with an opinion on the dispute. She was in Japan playing tennis (i.e., her job). Some celebrities have indeed raised their voices, including an infamous Japanese adult movie actor, whose name I won't use (don't really want my blog showing up on web searches for that keyword), but not usually to comment on the dispute itself. This adult movie star (She Who Must Not Be Named), who has a huge following in China, responded to the China-Japan tensions with some weibo posts that promoted good relations and peace. Yes, she injected herself, in a very small way, into the debate, but she certainly didn't express an opinion on the dispute itself. No surprise, this "news" received coverage from several major media outlets, whose editorial decisions are now apparently being driven by their search engine optimization teams. Call it the huffingtonization of the news business. The one thing I've learned about the islands dispute is that it's extremely complicated in terms of history, politics, law and business. There has been tremendous news coverage of the dispute thus far from all of these angles that has drawn on the opinions of very prominent academics. In other words, I think there are plenty of experts we can turn to without asking athletes what their opinion is. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Diaoyu, Li Na, Senkaku

Sensitive Words: “Watch Brother” and “Watch Uncle” Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:27 PM PDT As of September 24, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the "search for user" function): Amid the online scrutiny of his watch collection, Yuan Dacai admitted to purchasing five, but netizens identified a few more. "Watch Brother" Gone, "Watch Uncle" in Crosshairs: Last month, Shaanxi Provincial Work Safety Administration Chief Yang Dacai became infamous for smiling at the scene of a terrible road accident that killed 36. Netizens found photos of Yang wearing various luxury watches—many more than he could afford on his public salary. Now relieved of his post, "Watch Brother" has drawn attention to Shaanxi Vice Governor Li Jinzhu, a man some claim covered up Yang's corruption. - Li Jin(zhu) (李金（柱）) - (Li) Jinzhu（李）金柱 - Governor Li (李省长) - Vice Governor Li 李副省长 - Watch Brother (表哥) - Watch Uncle (表叔): Netizens' new nickname for Li Jinzhu. Note: All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results. CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search.  CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese's latest sensitive words post. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: censorship, Internet censorship, Li Jinzhu, official corruption, sensitive words, Shaanxi, sina weibo, weibo, Yang Dacai Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Rational Patriotism in the (Canned) Air Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:26 PM PDT Recycling tycoon Chen Guangbiao leapt into action after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, travelling to Japan to distribute food, blankets and good wishes from China, and personally—according to one Chinese newspaper—pulling three survivors from the rubble. Even then, Chinese reactions were coloured by nationalism, with one netizen suggesting that the billionaire "must have been kicked in the head by a donkey". Now, amid the ongoing dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, Chen has tried to encourage "rational patriotism" by offering to replace his microblog followers' cars destroyed in recent anti-Japan protests. On the arguably less rational side, he has been selling cans of 'Chen Guangbiao: Nice Guy'-branded fresh air to raise money for the Chinese military. From Tea Leaf Nation's Liz Carter at The Atlantic, with pictures: Recent tensions between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands have brought out the best and worst in Chinese society. They've also led to some unusual displays of patriotism. Recycling tycoon and eccentric philanthropist Chen Guangbiao, known as "Brother Biao" (标哥) by his fans, announced on September 18 that he would personally replace any car damaged in acts of "irrational patriotism." […] This offer encouraging "rational patriotism," as promoted by Chinese authorities in the wake of violent protests against Japan, comes on the heels of Chen's announcement that he followed through on his plan to sell canned air (see pictures — lots of them — below). Chen claims the air is not only more pure than that in cities, but reportedly also comes from "revolutionary" regions. Proceeds, Chen says, will go to Chinese military efforts to defend the Diaoyu Islands. The canned air sold out in just a few days, and Chen told his social media followers to hold on to the cans, promising to buy them back for 40 or 50 RMB (about US$7) in ten years. Global Times gives more details on the air cans and their reception by the public: The air is collected from revolutionary regions, including Jinggang Mountain in Jiangxi Province, some ethnic minority areas and Taiwan, and sells for four to five yuan each, he said. "One only has to open the can, directly 'drink' it or put the nose close to the can to breath deeply," said Chen. […] Residents were cautious over Chen's claims. "Who can ensure the air was collected in Shangri-La?" said resident Shi Tingting, 27, from Chaoyang district. "Is the fresh air really better than what we breathe every day?" said Wang Fu, a Beijing resident. (Possibly, yes.) © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: air quality, anti-Japan protests, diaoyu islands, ethnic minority, Japan earthquake 2011, Jiangxi, nationalism, patriotism, senkaku islands, Shangri-la, Taiwan Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China Announces Handover of First Aircraft Carrier Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:09 PM PDT China's Ministry of Defense has announced the country's first aircraft carrier has entered the ranks of the navy. The announcement comes amid ongoing tensions with Japan over the disputed Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands. From Reuters: The ministry announcement of the handover to the navy came while Beijing and Tokyo are embroiled in a dispute over islands claimed by both sides. "The entry into the ranks of this aircraft carrier will raise the level of modernization of China's overall naval operational forces," the ministry said on its website (www.mod.gov.cn). It did not say whether the announcement meant the carrier had formally entered service. While its status is not entirely clear, official media has reported that it will be ready for combat missions "soon," and that it is prepared to play a role in resolving the Diaoyus dispute. From Shanghai Daily: "China will have more variable ways, both strong and soft, to solve the disputes in the East and South China seas," Qiao Liang, an air force major general, said yesterday. Li Jie, a researcher with the China Navy Military Academy, also said the aircraft carrier would play an important role in China's handling of island disputes and safeguarding its maritime interests. China's newly developed 052D missile destroyers will be the most suitable company for the aircraft carrier, said Hu Siyuan, a professor with the National Defense University PLA China. The 160-meter-long destroyer is equipped with 130 millimeter caliber cannon and has two vertical launch systems to set off Redflag-9B missiles. © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: aircraft carrier, diaoyu islands, maritime security, navy Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Taiwanese Ships Join The Diaoyu Fray (Updated) Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:44 PM PDT A number of Taiwanese boats entered the waters around the disputed Diaoyu Islands on Tuesday, according to the Japanese Coast Guard, just a day after two Chinese surveillance ships arrived on their own "rights defense" patrol. From AFP: "Tens of fishing boats entered the waters. They were accompanied by six Taiwanese coastguard ships," a coastguards spokesman said. The boats are part of a fleet that left Taiwan on Monday vowing to stake their claim to islands where they say they have ancestral fishing rights. Their arrival and large-scale breach of what Japan considers its territorial waters will further complicate an already high-stakes confrontation pitting Tokyo against Beijing. China's state-run Global Times is reporting that the Taiwanese contingent consists of nearly 100 vessels, mostly fishing boats: A total of 75 fishing boats from Taiwan sailed to the Diaoyu Islands on Monday afternoon from a port in the island's northeastern county of Yilan. They were later joined on the sea by fishing boats from other parts of Taiwan, which raised the total number to around 100. According to organizers, the boats will try to sail around the Diaoyu Islands in a move to protect the fishing rights in nearby waters and to protest against Japan's illegal "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands. In a press briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei also pressed "compatriots" across the Taiwan Strait to work together to protect China's territorial sovereignty. Updated at 00:25 PST: Following a brief water-cannon skirmish (via Mark MacKinnon), the ships had left Japanese waters by noon on Tuesday, according to the Japanese Coast Guard. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: diaoyu islands, east china sea, maritime security, senkaku islands, territorial disputes Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

If Attacked, Would Taiwan Fight? Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:15 PM PDT The Diplomat's J. Michael Cole challenges the assumption that a  majority of Taiwanese would choose not to fight if China attacked their country, writing that Taiwan's unique national identity would likely trump any socio-ethnic similarities its people may share with the Mainland: No recent conflict highlights this reality better than the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988. In it, the leadership on both sides launched invasions of their neighbor on the assumption that groups there with which they shared ethnicity or religion would welcome them as liberators and side with invading forces. Before launching the invasion of Iran, for instance, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had banked on Khuzistani Arabs in Iran to side with him against Tehran; instead, Iraqi forces were met with spirited resistance from them. Similarly, once the fortunes of war had turned against Baghdad and Ayatollah Khomeini ordered an invasion of Iraq to unseat the Baathist regime, Tehran assumed that Iraqi Shias, who formed a majority in Iraq, would fight alongside their co-religionists against Baghdad's Sunni minority. There again, nationalism trumped other considerations, and such support did not materialize (Tehran had better luck with the Kurds in northern Iraq). While the Iran-Iraq War is an imperfect analogy for the situation in Taiwan, it nevertheless forces us to revisit the assumption that Taiwanese — especially those who identify as Nationalists or "mainlanders" — would not fight Chinese invaders. With few exceptions, almost every member of the armed forces today was born in Taiwan. The effect of one's identification with land and nation cannot be ignored, even among those who are direct descendants of Chinese who fled across the Taiwan Strait in 1949. All, regardless of their "ethnic" identification, are the result of, and were shaped by, the idiosyncratic social forces that prevail in Taiwan, such as its culture and democratic way of life. Consequently, few are those who, when the abstracts of hostility are replaced by the harsh realities of war, would willingly abandon Taiwan, let alone refuse to fight for what makes it their home. In the end, there is little doubt that once bombs and missiles, however precise, began raining down on Taiwan, killing family members, friends, and neighbors, most Taiwanese would rally round the flag. And that flag bears one white sun, not five yellow stars. © Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Iran, iraq, reunification, taiwan identity, taiwan war Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Cartoon: Reading the Truth, by Hexie Farm (蟹农场) Posted: 24 Sep 2012 03:16 PM PDT Reading the Truth © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Hexie Farm (蟹农场): Reading the Truth Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT For the latest installment in his CDT series, cartoonist Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm again comments on government censorship, by drawing a red devil reading a newspaper titled "Truth" while the portraits on the wall all honor the censors' shears. Read more about Hexie Farm's CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series. [CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.] © Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: hexie farm, media censorship, propaganda Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The Daily Twit – 9/24/12: I Been Wanglijailed, Diaoyued, and Foxconned Posted: 24 Sep 2012 04:47 AM PDT Three stories in particular today rose out of the disgusting pile of muck that I like to call my Inbox, although only one of them is actually timely news. That's right, I'm deliberately wasting your time by feeding you links of questionable importance. First up is the verdict in the Wang Lijun trial, the police chief we all know and love by now for his role in the Bo Xilai/Gu Kailai/dead guy/attempted defection saga. Try saying that five times really fast. The bottom line: Wang got a 15-year sentence, which is hella lenient, all things considered. Guardian: China jails Bo Xilai's former police chief Wang Lijun for 15 years Reuters: China closes in on Bo Xilai after jailing ex-police chief Xinhua: Wang Lijun sentenced to 15 years in prison Next up, today was a day that ended with a "y" so of course there were plenty of stories out there about the maritime dispute between Japan and China, soon to be immortalized in a new movie from Golden Harvest  (working title: "Diaoyu Serious?" or "I Just Stepped in a Pile of Senkaku"). Reuters: China surveillance ships enter waters near disputed islands - A couple "marine surveillance" vessels entered what Japan considers to be its territorial waters. Beijing says there were sent on a "rights defense" patrol. Oy veh. Bloomberg: China-Japan Islands Dispute Stokes S. Korean Tourism Boom — This is what happens when two countries fight with each other. As I've been saying all along, after all the politics and nationalistic fervor dies down, what we'll be left with are the economic repercussions. And for the Japanese hospitality industry, this year's China National Day holiday, which is one week away, is going to suck big time, apparently to the benefit of South Korea. Associated Press: Some Japanese imports to China delayed by more customs checks amid islands row — Speaking of economic fallout, here's another example. What do countries do when they get pissed off? They throw up trade barriers like these. Who benefits? No one, but that's beside the point. The third "big" story of the day involves yet another Foxconn production facility and some sort of "mass incident." The news coverage of this odd event, which has been called a riot, a brawl, and a disturbance, annoyed me (I responded with: Some Guy on Weibo Says That Foxconn Workers Have Established a People's Commune). New York Times: Foxconn Factory in China Is Closed After Worker Riot ZDNet: Foxconn riot shuts down China factory for a day Guardian: Foxconn closes China factory after brawl In other news: Global Times: Majority of civil suits caused by contract disputes — These are stats collected from one court in Shanghai. The conclusion here is that folks need to be better educated, have more in-house legal help, etc. I'm not so sure. A healthy economy generates lots of contract disputes — it's not always a bad thing. Reuters: China's corruption crackdown takes shine off luxury boom — A new "frugal working style" rule set to go into effect may mean fewer luxury purchases by government officials in China. Good for public budgets, good for the country, but not so good for the luxury goods sector. I think I can live with that. MarketWatch: Corporate China — exposed abroad — In addition to all the other challenges facing Chinese companies that are going overseas is the demand for transparency. They will either have to adapt or give up and go home. For many that are listed in the U.S., they've decided on the latter option. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

Is It Time to Start Pitying China Copyright Pirates? Posted: 24 Sep 2012 02:26 AM PDT Seriously, it's getting hard to be a pimp copyright thief in the city these days. Technology can cut both ways apparently, and the good guys had it on their side in this case: Huayi Brothers Media announced Saturday that it will seek to reclaim 660 million yuan (US$105 million) in lost box office revenue from two parties responsible for pirating its blockbuster film Painted Skin: The Resurrection. [ . . . ] Huayi Brothers, one of the main producers of the film, immediately collected evidence from the anti-piracy watermark ID on the digital copy and delivered it to China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television for analysis. The ID confirmed that the pirated version came from a projector at Ma'anshan Dahua Times Cinema in eastern Anhui province and was initially leaked online by Beijing Tengdu Internet Company. Both parties will be named in the lawsuit, Huayi said. [ . . . ] More than 2,000 links to the pirated version of Painted Skin: The Resurrection have been made available online. As each link as been viewed around 10,000 times, Huayi estimates that the piracy has cost the film's producers about 660 million yuan (US$105 million) in box office earnings. Damn. You might be surprised to hear this, but the idea that one could take a digital copy and trace not only the identity of the screener, but then also find the online platform operator and distribution statistics, that's physically arousing. Well, probably only for IP lawyers who have been around a while. And don't get out much. I would guess that tech workarounds already exist to extract these watermarks, but at least in this instance, the system worked as intended. Two enthusiastic thumbs up. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags:

Some Guy on Weibo Says That Foxconn Workers Have Established a People’s Commune Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:32 AM PDT Sometimes social media pisses me off. Often times media outlets upset me. On rare occasions, they team up to annoy me. Today is one of those days. Early this morning, while I was sitting at my desk with my decaf (I'm trying it for a month, just because) when I saw a report from a tech journalist that thousands of workers had rioted at a Foxconn plant in Taiyuan. Wow, big news. I read the article, which had zero direct sources but only referenced a weibo microblog post. Hmm. I thought I'd better sit this one out for a while and see whether it was real or not. Over the next couple of hours, I saw that some of the major papers jumped on it and confirmed that yes, there was something going on at that particular factory. By now, you may have seen one of these reports. All the major news agencies have covered it by now. The facts seem to be that: 1. Several hundred to a couple of thousand workers were involved. 2. The factory suffered some damage, including broken windows, but it is unclear how severe it was. 3. The factory was closed down following the whatever-it-was, and remains closed. 4. The cause of all this remains a mystery. 5. Several workers were arrested, and quite a few were hospitalized, perhaps as many as 40. Now the annoying bits. I'm not going to do a proper fisking with quotes and links — screw it, I'm not interested. They know who they are. First, is this really a story that merits emergency coverage by leading international media outlets? Maybe, but without knowing more details, the importance of the story escapes me. Nevertheless, they ran with it with little information, apparently fearing that all those tech blogs would scoop them by running groundless rumors about a violent struggle between the workers and their bosses. Second, just about every news article I read about this today thought it was really important to find out whether this factory was involved in either supplying parts for the iPhone 5 or assembling it. Does this factoid at all illuminate the situation? We don't even know what the dispute was all about, for God's sake. Who cares what widget or doohickey these workers were putting together? The reality of course is that if a similar riot had occurred at a Chinese factory that produces a more mundane item, like cheese straighteners, the incident would have gotten scant attention even in 5,000 workers were involved. Third, this is a good lesson about timing. The earliest reporting on this went with the tech journo's version, which was just grabbing information from a weibo post. The rumor, or at least the suggestion, at that time was that this was a labor clash. A bit later in the morning, after folks called Foxconn, they ran with stories that simply used a quote from management, who said that the dispute was not work related, without getting the other side of the story. The latest round now says that there may have been a fight between a security guard and a worker that sparked the whole thing. Please. If this is what I get from the newspapers, I might just throw all my subscriptions in the trash and just read the weekly news magazines, if any still exist. Take a breath, folks. I thought it was verboten to run articles with this kind of thin sourcing. It seems that journalists have some sort of biochemical/hormonal reaction to the word "iPhone" that makes them goofy. Kind of like putting a plate of french fries in front of a toddler or showing a 14-year-old boy a picture of naked breasts. I still don't know what happened in that factory last night. Maybe I'll find out on Friday when the Economist comes out. © Stan for China Hearsay, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: apple, foxconn, iphone

Wang Lijun Sentenced to 15 Years Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:03 AM PDT Xinhua reports that former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun has been sentenced to fifteen years in prison "for bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking". Wang, the former vice mayor and police chief of southwest China's Chongqing municipality, was charged with several crimes and received a combined punishment for all offenses, according to a verdict announced by the Chengdu City Intermediate People's Court in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Wang received seven years in prison for the charge of bending the law for selfish ends, two years in prison and deprivation of his political rights for one year for the charge of defection, two years in prison for the power abuse charge and nine years in prison for the charge of bribe-taking. He received a combined punishment of 15 years in prison and deprivation of his political rights for one year. Wang stated to the court that he would not appeal the sentence. Defence lawyer Wang Yuncai suggested to The Telegraph's Malcolm Moore, however, that there is some possibility of Wang's early release on medical grounds: "I cannot say how many years he will serve," she said. "If he gets the chance to go to a hospital for a serious illness then there is no minimum sentence that he will have to serve." She declined to comment further. Mr Wang appeared in rosy health at his trial, and clips of him giving evidence, dressed not in the standard orange boiler suit of Chinese prisoners but in a crisp white shirt, were broadcast on national television. However, one diplomatic source suggested in the run-up to his trial that he was in poor physical and mental health. A psychiatrist who knew Mr Wang in Chongqing also said he exhibited "clear signs of mental disturbance" in the days before he fled to the US consulate in February. Wang's sentence is the latest omen of the fate of his former superior, Bo Xilai, for whom its relative lightness—Wang could have faced the death penalty—may be a bad sign. A nine-page Xinhua account of Wang's trial explained last week that the defence had sought a reduced sentence in recognition of his "meritorious reporting" of others' crimes. The account also implied that Bo had been aware of his wife Gu Kailai's killing of Neil Heywood for over a week before Wang finally brought it to light, suggesting his complicity in the cover-up for which Wang, Gu and several others have already been prosecuted. Caixin editor-in-chief Hu Shuli alluded to the possibility of a Bo trial in an editorial on Friday: The magnitude of power Wang had at his disposal during the famous Chongqing "anti-mafia" campaign and the cover-up of Heywood's death was a public outrage. But even more egregious was just how quickly local political and police forces moved to smother Wang when he fell out of favor with the Bo family. The rule of law is written in China's constitution, and states that consensus between the ruling party and the public is a goal. The trials of Bogu and Wang, and the shards of truth that have since emerged, were an important exercise in the rule of law. According to the prosecutor, Wang "revealed important information of others' legal activities" and "played an important role in the investigation of relevant cases." Perhaps this represents only a prelude to another trial, which can serve as the final installment to the saga and open the door to legal reforms. While nothing has been a foregone conclusion with regard to the handling of the cases, it is clear that the establishment of a judicial system that can make horizontal and vertical checks on power must be implemented with greater urgency than ever. In the wake of Wang's trial and sentencing, the South China Morning Post examined how Bo's criminal prosecution might come about: So far, Bo has only been accused of breaching internal party discipline. But experts say the public citing of Bo's angry rebuke of Wang has raised the likelihood that he too will face criminal charges, probably after the party congress. Before then, party leaders could first expel Bo from the party and hand him over for criminal investigation. "The prosecutors said Wang exposed leaders to major crimes by others," said Li Zhuang, a Beijing lawyer who opposed Wang and Bo for mounting a sweeping crackdown on foes in the name of fighting organised crime. Bo was the likely target of Wang's allegations, said Li. "That was a slap around the ears that changed history," Li said of Bo's alleged actions against Wang. "Otherwise, Bo might still be in power and hoping to rise higher." Li himself faced charges, later dropped, of "fabricating evidence" in defence of a client during one of Bo's signature anti-Mafia campaigns. AFP's account today of Wang's rise and fall describes how he personally "confronted Li at the airport, in front of dozens of police cars, their lights flashing, greeting him with the words 'Li Zhuang, we meet again!' before taking him into custody, the lawyer said." Another profile by The Guardian's Tania Branigan also describes Wang's expansive flamboyant side, as well as his extreme dedication to police work: He claimed to have wrestled a suicide bomber to the floor just seconds before the man detonated his explosives. He boasted about love letters from awed young women and that his classmates at police academy had nicknamed him "tiger general". But for all the self-mythologising, he succeeded in winning popular acclaim. […] Now 52, Wang, grew up in north-eastern Liaoning province and served in the army – where he met his wife – before joining the police, initially as a traffic policeman. His devotion to duty was such that he chose to holiday in Beijing, where – rather than sightseeing – he spent hours standing at major road junctions, watching the traffic officers work. Once back home, he used the photographs he had taken to practise his gestures and hand signals. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: abuse of power, Bo Xilai, bribery, Chengdu, Chongqing, corruption, defection, gu kailai, Hu Shuli, legal system, Li Zhuang, Neil Heywood, trials, Wang Lijun Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

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