Google: A Simple Choice

This whole China-Google troubles is rather irritating in that choices, for Google, are rather simple: comply with the law and make money in the world's biggest online market or leave the country and keep a clean conscience.

China is not a democracy. We know this. China does not respect, which we in the free world, call human rights. We know this. Yet the expectations for China are the same as a democracy. It's an incongruity that seem to be overlooked by some critics. China is a sovereign country, whose laws we may not like but nevertheless must comply. We would expect the same of any Chinese company operating in the United States.

That Google is wringing its hands over the matter is just drama to me.

Beijing Olympics: Smooth As Expected

I've been reading editorials about the recently-concluded Beijing Olympic games all day, and I'm surprised to read that many are surprised China did so well, both off and on the field. I'm not. When you spend $40 billion, not including billions spent on a state-supported athlete factories, and the ruthless ability to control every aspect of the games with little or no dissent, things should go smoothly. It would be a shock if things didn't go smoothly as planned.

Pakistan Begs For Cheap Oil

It has become tradition for any new leader of Pakistan, elected or unelected, to visit two countries as soon as possible: China and Saudi Arabia. And they often bring a begging bowl with them. Currently, both Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari are in Saudi Arabia to ask the Saudis for cheap oil and, while they are there, to perform umrah.

According to this article, they got it. Saudi will give them cheap oil, to a point. What they extracted from Pakistan in return is anybody’s guess – a good chance it was both Gilani's and Zardari's soul. After they return to Pakistan, Gilani and Zardari will make there way to China, who will lend Pakistan even more money. Since China already owns Pakistan, there is nothing Pakistan can give aside from being China lapdog.

It's Not Worth The Paper Its Printed On

Zimbabwe has the world's worthless currency. In fact, inflation is so bad that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has issued the following banknote:

Cyclone: Burma's End Or Beginning?

The United Nations is not happy with Myanmar:

The UN says it is extremely disappointed at the slow progress made in securing access to victims of last weekend's cyclone in Burma.

Humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters that Burma's response was "nothing like as much as is needed".

If there's to be one positive outcome of this cyclone it is for the people in Myanmar to finally rise from their stupor and overthrow the generals, an insular and paranoid bunch, who have been autocratically ruling this nation for years. Bangladesh would not have demanded independence from Pakistan if it weren't for the latter's lack of action during a devastating 1970 cyclone. And don't forget: Myanmar is another client state of China.

Jealous Of China?

According to Jayati Ghosh, any criticism of China-- on Tibet, its unqualified support of Sudan, selling arms to thugs like Mugabe-- is imperialism incarnate, double-standards, racism, colonialism, and every word the left has monopolized to describe its enemies. Nice, no? Anyway, everything she says about China's critics can also be applied to China. Just ask China's neighbors. Or read a history book.

China And Olympics: A PR Stunt

I don't know how the rest of the world feels about the Olympics, but it has no charm for me whatsoever. The Olympic spirit, so to speak, has been suborned by crass commercialism and political expediency.

China is using the Olympics strictly as a public relations gimmick: to propagandize its achievements; a sort of gaudy coming out party. They want the world to know that China has arrived. So it pains them to see their efforts sullied by silly protests over Tibet. So, in response, China has attacked the Dalai Lama, who has been nothing but supportive of China. China has also attacked the West, the usual standby, for its neocolonial mindset: they can't stand the idea of China succeeding. That old chestnut.

China is on the verge of being a superpower (something it always aspired to be), it has the world's second biggest economy, yet it is offended by harmless protests. It's only going to get worse. China would to like the world to see China strictly on its own terms. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. When you put yourself on display like China is doing, the whole world will see everything, good and bad. It's the price of being a superpower. Deal with it.

China: Friend Of The Environment?

No one kisses China's ass more than The Pakistan Observer, whose editorials are nauseating for their sycophancy, if not outright worship of the Red Dragon. In its latest editorial, it heaps praise on China's new found concern for the environment:

The world today is facing grave threats due to unplanned, reckless and irresponsible development that has produced serious ecological and environmental problems for the mankind. Most of these problems are the direct result of the blind pursuit of material development by the West, which is still not prepared to take bold and vital steps to save the globe from impending disaster. In this backdrop, China deserves credit for bringing leaders and experts together to discuss the crucial issue of how to improve environment of Asia. This is timely initiative in view of the fact that after Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, countries like China and India too are moving swiftly on the path of industrial growth raising concerns about environmental issues.

If China wants to improve the environment, it should look in its own backward. According to The Guardian, no friend of capitalism, China is the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, and it's only going to get worse. Many of China's major cities live in clouds of pollution so toxic residents have to wear masks. And in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, China has banned thousands of automobiles from Beijing in order to improve its air quality.

It is quite obvious that the developing countries, which are at the receiving end, cannot spare adequate resources to undertake comprehensive programmes for promotion of environment and therefore, it is responsibility of the rich and developed nations to provide them financial assistance as well as transfer technology for the purpose.

Interesting. Is The Pakistan Observer saying that China-- with over $1 trillion in foreign reserves and arguably the second largest economy in the world-- is still considered a developing country, and that developed countries (code for the West) should give it resources to improve its environment so China can continue its economic growth at no cost? Ridiculous, simply ridiculous.

The People's Daily Supports China

The Hindu finally lets its opinion be known about Tibet. It's a rare single, six-paragraph editorial instead of the usual two, two-paragraph editorial that is their stock and trade. Not suprisingly, The Hindu takes a pro-China stance. The first paragraph says it all:

If you go by western media reports, the propaganda of the so-called ‘Tibetan government-in-exile’ in Dharamsala and the votaries of the ‘Free Tibet’ cause, or by the fulminations of Nancy Pelosi and the Hollywood glitterati, Tibet is in the throes of a mass democratic uprising against Han Chinese communist rule. Some of the more fanciful news stories, images, and opinion pieces on the ‘democratic’ potential of this uprising have been put out by leading western newspapers and television networks. The reality is that the riot that broke out in Lhasa on March 14 and claimed a confirmed toll of 22 lives involved violent, ransacking mobs, including 300 militant monks from the Drepung Monastery, who marched in tandem with a foiled ‘March to Tibet’ by groups of monks across the border in India. In Lhasa, the rioters committed murder, arson, and other acts of savagery against innocent civilians and caused huge damage to public and private property. The atrocities included dousing one man with petrol and setting him alight, beating a patrol policeman and carving out a fist-size piece of his flesh, and torching a school with 800 terrorised pupils cowering inside.

Why are reports from western media and the Dalai Lama considered propaganda while Chinese news reports, which are essentially official government press releases, more credible? And how does The Hindu account for the fact that China employed a press black-out, where no non-state media outlets were allowed in. So where did The Hindu get these images, news reports, eyewitness accounts? The Hindu does not say, but we can speculate that they got their 'fanciful' news stories directly from China.

Nitin gives the editorial the thorough dissection that it deserves.

ADDENDUM: It would not surprise me one bit that among protestors were agent provocateurs to engineer incidents like attacks on civilians and police. Authoritarian regimes often engage in such practices to give them a free hand in suppressing opposition, violently if need be.

How Many Really Die In Tibet?

From the AP:

China's official news agency says the casualty toll from anti-Chinese riots in Tibet has risen to 19 dead and 623 injured.

Xinhua said Friday night that 18 civilians and one police officer were confirmed dead in the unrest a week ago in the Tibetan capital. The news agency said 241 police officers and 382 civilians were injured in Lhasa.

The actual death and injury toll is probably much higher. Xinhua is underreporting the numbers for political reasons.

Tibet Is Just The Beginning

People seem surprised by the protests in Tibet, which seems to be growing in scope everyday. I wasn't. Tibet is just the tip of the iceberg. China is more restive than it's being reported by the mainstream media, who tend to focus on China's red-hot economy.

For one thing, the countryside is not as placid as China would have us believe. It's a region of great ferment. Violent protests have broken out in all parts of rural China, which the government brutally represses. Only sanitized version of events appear in state-controlled media, which much of the world media parrots without comment or skepticism.

And it's only going to get worse. The Communist Party, which rules China, has no mechanism to channel protests of any kind. It perceives any dissent, no matter how trivial, as a threat to its authority. There are no democratic institutions in China: no free press, no political parties, no freedoms-- nothing! As long as the economy is strong, and jobs are plentiful, people are happy. But what will happen when the economy weakens? That is the dilemma that will plague China in the days to come.

Frontline Kisses China's Ass

This article on the Communist Party of China’s 17th Congress proves that Frontline magazine is nothing more than an appendage of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). There’s not a single negative comment in it. It’s all praise: China can do no wrong. The author giddily writes:

The “Scientific Outlook on Development” is projected as a pathway to “a harmonious socialist society”, whose establishment is also outlined in the latest amendment. The idea is to “turn China into a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious modern socialist country”. The amendment further stipulates that “the CPC leads the people in developing the socialist market economy”. A related mandate is that the party “unwaveringly consolidates and develops the public sector of the economy and unswervingly encourages, supports and guides the development of the non-public sector”.

What China practices is not socialism but a type of gangster capitalism that shuts out much of the population from the prosperity that elites and the oligarchs are presently reaping. China obfuscate it by calling it “Scientific Outlook on Development.” Typical commie hypocrisy and double-speak. It’s the type of capitalism communists continually decry in India, but have no problem praising China for.

What the article fails to mention is rising discontent in the countryside among farmers. So far China has resorted to repressive measures, coupled with tight controls on media, to keep things quiet. But with hundreds of millions of people seething, how much longer can China keep lids on issues simmering for years? Frontline never explored this position because it has its head too far up its asses to take notice.

Malaysia: No More Bangladeshis

Malaysia has decided that 300,000 Bangladeshis are more than enough and will not take in any more. Of course, Malaysia doesn’t explain why it's doing this.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said there were now too many workers and agents from Bangladesh in Malaysia.He said the presence of such agents who used Malaysians as sub-agents and the huge amount of money involved "are not a healthy sign, it is not good for the country".

I know manpower export is a sleazy business, and the Home Minister’s reticence explain loads; yet Malaysia still needs workers, it’s just looking elsewhere to get them.

Mohd Radzi told reporters in Putrajaya that Malaysia could obtain workers from 10 other countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Nepal and Laos.

He said the government felt that it would do to rely on these countries for workers.

Why is Bangladesh being discriminated against? Is it their work ethic, are they dishonest, cheats, liars, etc? Considering how many Bangladeshis work overseas, this is an odd stance for Malaysia to take, not to mention an unfair one.

Shaming China On Burma

The thugs that rule Burma have opened fire on protesting Buddhist monks, who were demanding nothing more than democratic and economic reforms, killing many and injuring scores more. This is nothing new for the military junta, who have ruled through a barrel of a gun for years.

Burma has proven impervious to pressure of any kind to mend its ways, both domestically and internationally; hence they operate with impunity and arrogance and utter disregard for the welfare of its citizens. Burma does so with the tacit support of China, who, according to French journalists André Boucaud and Louis Boucaud, treat Burma like another province, where human rights plays second fiddle to exploiting Burma’s geography and abundant natural resources.

The main beneficiary of this double game is China, upon whose military and financial support Burma depends. Chinese participation in infrastructure construction has increased the penetration of Chinese products: the construction of major roads from Loije to Bhamo, and from Tengchong to Myitkyina, will improve access to the Irrawaddy river, which will soon be a major waterway for China. This could influence leases in the port of Rangoon. An opposition news agency even suggested that Burma could become China’s 24th province.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done without China’s help (their hold on Burma is that strong). And China’s involvement has been underreported by the media and ignored by much of the world, including the United Nations. The only way to make Burma change its ways, as I see it, is to publicly embarrass China for supporting such a vile regime. Burma recent actions are already making China a little nervous, and given China’s growing profile as an economic and military power, even the tiniest of problems are magnified ten-fold. By merely increasing the volume of protests we should get the desired effect: sending a firm signal to Beijing to do something about Burma.

We can only hope for the desired results.

And what should India’s position be on this issue? Idealistically, India should give support to the protestors and sharply criticize Burma for its undemocratic ways. This would’ve been the Nehurvian way. Realistically, India, with its economy growing at breakneck speed, can do or say little less they want to jeopardize a deal they recently signed with Burma to build a natural gas pipeline.

On the other hand, China is building intelligence and naval bases in Burma, one of a string that will eventually surround India, including the Pakistani port of Gwadar, that are designed to strategically strangle India. So a natural gas pipeline, like the one proposed with Iran (via Pakistan), could, down the road, pose more of a threat than a benefit.

UPDATE: The folks over at Sepia Mutiny have provided the answer: in accordance with its national interests, India will say nothing about Burma except to monitor the situation a little more closely. So realpolitik it is! Nothing morally wrong with protecting one’s national interests, of course, but it’s still a bitter pill to swallow.

China World's #1 Polluter

Guess which country is the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide? No, it’s not the United States, the perennial whipping boy, but China. From The Guardian:

The surprising announcement will increase anxiety about China's growing role in driving man-made global warming and will pile pressure onto world politicians to agree a new global agreement on climate change that includes the booming Chinese economy. China's emissions had not been expected to overtake those from the US, formerly the world's biggest polluter, for several years, although some reports predicted it could happen as early as next year.

No surprise given China’s breakneck growth rate; and with a population four times the United States (and still growing), carbon dioxide emissions will only increase, and at a quicker rate. If anything, it proves how flawed the Kyoto Protocols are to begin with, which gives deferential treatment to “developing” countries—like China and India—in reducing carbon dioxide emissions while shackling “developed” countries like the United States because the latter consumes more energy than the former. China topping the list proves this premise wrong.