Unrest in Xinjiang

Posted on June 29, 2013 by Bigdragon

The Times reports that 17 people were killed by rioters in Lukqun, Xinjiang Province, before police opened fie on the rioters and shot ten of them dead. The notion of China as a nation state is a very recent – at least by Chinese standards – one. Well into the last dynasty (Qing) China had no official borders as such. There were areas of Imperial control, and these faded into ‘barbarian lands’ beyond. Modern China has famously been described as a culture masquerading as a nation state.

It was not until the arrival of the West that the Qing his can be understood in the context of the land grab that was taking place for China by nations such as Britain, France and Japan (all with colonies which bordered with China) as well as with Russia, with a long border with Russia. The best illustration of why demarcating the borders was needed is the case of Mongolia.

The entire lands of Mongolia were once part of China. Today there is the sovereign state of Mongolia, and the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, in northern China. The idea that the land closest to Beijing is called Inner Mongolia is clearly a sinocentric one. The modern state of Mongolia was formed in the 1920’s heavily influenced and encouraged by the Soviet Union. Russia had historically had similar aims in Xinjiang, whilst the British sought control over Tibet as an extension of their control of India.

The fact that foreign powers were so aggressive in their attempts to acquire Chinese lands in part explains why modern China is so steadfast when it comes to issues of national sovereignty. China’s view of itself in terms of territory is one firmly routed in the Westphalian concept of nationhood. And although this is often a perspective not enjoyed by the West today, it was in fact the only conceptual framework available to the Chinese in which to respond to nineteenth century Western (and Japanese) aggression.

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New leader hints at foreign policy apporach

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Bigdragon

The Times reports on the first publicised speech of China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, on foreign policy. The Times article is titled’ “Xi strikes strident note on foreign policy” although the report itself simply reports on Xi Jnpings assertion that China will never compromise on its core interests and legitimate rights. This, I would suggest, is the position of every country in the world, although of course, the devil is in the detail. What are China’s legitimate rights?

Looking beyond the headline there is a throw away comment in the article which perhaps is worth reflecting upon. “The speech appears to be mostly aimed at domestic consumption and scoring easy political points.” Why I suggest this is of interest is the implicit suggestion that Xi Jinping has to address the concerns of a domestic audience. I don’t think that this is referring to internal political maneuvering, the likes of which happen in any government, regardless of type. No, this is referring essentially to public opinion.

Often painted as a totalitarian one party state, it is easy to think that China’s leaders hold a carte blanche when it comes to domestic affairs. This is not true. Public opinion matters to China’s politicians more than at any time in China’s 5,000 years of history.

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New leadership in China

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Bigdragon

China has new leaders. That’s not to say that the old ones have completely disappeared. There’s lots of commentary and news coverage on the subject, and I don’t want to simply regurgitate that material. Rather a simple point of observation, but one which is invariably overlooked.

When Mao Tse-Tung died in 1976 what followed was a classic power struggle, with different factions fighting for control. The appointment of Hua Guofeng seemd to put China an a conservative projector, Hua being backed by the infamous Gang of Four headed by Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing. Within three years Deng Xiaoping was in control of the country, the era of reform embarked upon and the rest is history.

This week what we have observed is a monumental reform that cannot be overestimated. China has created a process by which power has moved from the “strong man” model we saw under Mao to a power-sharing model requiring consensus in the leadership. But more than this, we see established rules for the transfer of power, a timetable for that transfer and the retirement age of leaders established. And all this has been done quietly and efficiently.

For those who ask, “when will China change?” the point has been missed. China has changed, and what’s more, China is committed to continuing that change process.

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China’s soft power

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Bigdragon

China’s soft power is arguably weak, at least if you are to listen to voices within China. Recently the press in China have asking why China can’t produce a global hit as Korea has done in PSY’s Gangnam Style. The press lament the fact that the Chinese can only copy (parody) the song.

But is China’s soft power really that weak? It is one of the great paradoxes of British Chinese life that the Chinese community at one and the same time is culturally open and culutrally closed. It’s openness is demonstrated in its sharing of Chinese culture and traditions, from martial arts to Chinese New Year, traditional Chinese medicine to Feng Shui, and of course the ubiquitous nature of Chinese food. Indeed, it is difficult to think of another culture that has so visibly impacted upon British cultural life either in breadth or in depth as the Chinese.

Capitalising on the cultural foundations established by overseas Chinese communities is certainly one way hat China could at the very least raise its own understanding of its position in the world in regards to soft power – perhaps then there would be less lamenting and more developing?

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Scapegoating China

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Bigdragon

China features highly in the US elections, with neither Republican nor Democrats wanting to be seen to be soft on “Red China”. The evils of China range from spy networks, cyber crimes and stealing American jobs to trade deficits, undervalued Yuan and China’s holding of US debt. The issue has led Chinas official news agency, Xinhua, to warn that Sino-US relations could be damaged.

Bloomberg has reported that China is set to loose its position as the US’s biggest foreign creditor. Will this stop the China-bashing back in the US? Unlikley. It probably won’t even stop the table thumping in outrage of lending from the communists. It’s election year in the US, and yes, we can expect politicians to be pampering to various constituents, including those holding anti-China sentiments. But surely there is some need to preserve good relations with China too. As the world’s two largest economies we all have an interest in this happening.

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Caught in the middle

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Bigdragon

The US Congress has deemed that the two Chinese telecoms companies, Huawei and ZTE pose a security threat to the US, and recommended that the two companies should not be allowed to take part in any US mergers or acquisitions.

Based on available classified and unclassified information, Huawei and ZTE cannot be trusted to be free of foreign state influence and thus pose a security threat to the United States and to our systems.

The panel said their investigation had received credible allegations from current and former Huawei employees of bribery and corruption, discriminatory behaviour and copyright infringement.

Of course we are in the midst of the US presidential election campaigns, and China has (once again) become a central issue. Both Republican and Democratic candidates promise to apply more pressure on Beijing, ranging from the perennial human rights issues to the laboured, though clearly entrenched views on the value of the Yuan. Being tough on China is a vote winner.

But whereas China has never accused any American enterprises of any complicity with its government, China has taken a broadly similar stand in regards to some usage of American software, and in particular the Chinese government made a conscious decision not to use Microsoft Windows and Office products within government. Whereas some may see this as a shrewd move for technical reasons, the decision was guided by national security concerns. Microsoft lost out, but on the plus side it was a huge boost for China’s chosen operating system, Linux. Being open source, the Chinese could see exactly what was being installed on their computers.

Are there any truths to the allegations? The two companies concerned naturally say not. What is telling is that the Congressional Committee actually stops short of calling for a boycott of the products. This would suggest that the evidence is at best circumstantial if we assume that any hard evidence would lead to such a call. This is further supported by the use of the word “credible allegations.” Credible and true are far from the same.

Once again the notion of a threat to national security appears to be being used as the ultimate beating stick which people find hard to challenge.

Meanwhile, back in China responses ranging from calls to boycott Apple to allegations that this is yet one more attempt by the USA to proactively prevent Chinas development.

Whatever the truth of the matter, until trust between the world’s two largest economies rises beyond the sceptical it is likely that businesses will continue to be caught in the middle.

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Bo Xilai – understanding the process

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Bigdragon

In understanding the Bo Xilai case we need to first understand why the case is so important in China. Mr Bo was one of Chinas top ranking members of government, poised to take a seat on the all powerful Politburo Standing Committee. Although not tipped (or destined) for the top post, equivalent to Prime Minister in the UK, he was heading for one of the top positions in government, equivalent in the UK to being made Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary or Foreign Secretary – a position of considerable power, and why his case raises so many questions in China. But Mr Bo’s political career is no over as Xinhua Newsagency, the official newsagency of China, has announced that Bo Xilai is to be expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee decided at the meeting to expel Bo from the Party in accordance with the Party Constitution and CPC intra-party supervisory disciplinary regulations. The Party sanctions will be endorsed by the 7th plenary meeting of the 17th CPC Central Committee, which will be held ahead of the Party’s 18th National Congress set to convene on Nov. 8.

The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has also decided to remove Bo from public office in accordance with the country’s Law on Public Servants and to transfer Bo’s suspected law violations and relevant evidence to judicial organs for handling.

In short Bo Xilai is being expelled from the party, removed from office and allegations investigated by the police. It all seems straight forward enough (although this surface view masks the intense debates that must have happened within the Party before this course of action was finally agreed upon). It ends Mr Bo’s political career, and a long jail sentence is likely if he is found guilty.

But to truly understand what has happened, and to understand why this matter is not as straight forward as it seems we need to understand the process – not simply the outcome. Key to this is understanding that for members of the CPC transgressions of the law are a matter of Party discipline, not legal process. That is to say, had Mr Bo remained a Party member, all the allegations could have been handled internally by the Party.

It is easy to assume that the “transfer [of] Bo’s suspected law violations and relevant evidence to judicial organs for handling” is a natural part of the judicial process, as would be the case in the UK. It is not. There has already been an investigation, the case has been heard (by The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee) and a judgment has been handed out – expulsion, removal from office and the case being handed over to the police. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee could have stopped at expulsion and removal had it so wished.

When dealing with China it is important that we don’t simply transpose our own systems and processes to China. Even if, as in this case, things look very similar on the surface, differences in how things are done, said or approached, can be significant. Highlighting and explaining these differences lie at the heart of our China Training courses.

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Hate Crimes

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Bigdragon

It’s the start of a new academic year for Universities across The UK. British Universities rank among some of the finest in the world, and not surprisingly attract many students from China – indeed, Chinese students are by far the largest overseas student body, with about 90,000 enrolled in British educational institutions. In addition there will be significant numbers from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. And let’s not forget, a sizeable number of ‘home students’ with British Chinese continuing to top the tables for performances at both GCSE and A’ Levels. This is great for the British economy, with overseas Chinese students bringing in up to £4bn.

Yet there’s a worrying statistic. A recent report by the National Union of Students states:

Broken down by ethnicity, we found that Chinese respondents were most likely to be victims of most types of race hate incident — 30 per cent of respondents from this group had experienced at least one incident (during their current studies). Chinese people were also the least likely to be perpetrators of hate incidents, with none being identified in the survey as having been the sole perpetrator, and only two per cent of multiple perpetrator hate incidents involving at least one Chinese person.

It is a sad fact that hate crimes against the Chinese are more common than for any other ethnic group both among students and mainstream society. Explaining this is difficult. No doubt the social isolation of many takeaways, combined with staying open to catch people leaving pubs at closing contributes to hate crimes fuelled by alcohol, but it can’t be the whole story. No reasoning is obvious when it comes to Chinese students.

Perhaps it is foolhardy to expect to find reason for something as unreasonable as racism and resultant hate crimes. Nonetheless, it is a worrying situation, and one that needs to be tackled.

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Anti Japanese protests

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Bigdragon

Back in 1998 Emperor Akihito of Japan made a state visit to Britain. As the BBC reported, the trip was marred in protests:

PoWs [Prisoners of War] symbolically turned their backs on Emperor Akihito as he was taken by the Queen along The Mall in London to Buckingaham Palace.

The report goes on:

Former prisoners-of-war and civilian internees were demanding a full apology for their treatment in World War II, during which a third of all PoWs of the Japanese died.

Some fifty years on, and thousands of miles away, the appearance of the Japanese Head of State engendered such sentiments, and protest from a group that would probably not take to the streets for any other reason.

Today is the 81st anniversary of the Japanese invasion of China, the start of the Second World War in the far east. For the Chinese the surrender in 1945 by Japanese Imperial forces closed 14 years of war with Japan, during which time war atrocities were committed by the Japanese the most infamous of which is the Rape of Nanking.

The Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, publically states that the Rape of Nanking never happened. He’s not the only Japanese politician to do so. But it is not only right wing nationalists such as Ishihara that are the problem. To this day authorized Japanese school text books fail to mention war atrocities, and most Japanese, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of Japan’s wartime history in China and the rest of Asia. They certainly would not understand the context to the PoWs protest on the Mall. It’s a touchy matter for the Chinese – a very touchy matter. But then again, the Holocaust is a touchy matter for Israelis. It is its apparent failure to adequately recognize and accept its historical past which is at the root of anti-Japanese sentiment in China.

As for the PoWs? Well their demands faired no better than those coming from China, Korea or the Philippines, according to the Emperor’s press secretary, Kazuo Chiba,

constitutional restraints prevented the Emperor meeting the veterans’ demands for a full apology.

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The rise of the Renminbi

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Bigdragon

China continues to make steps in its liberalization of the Renminbi. Currently about 9% of China’s trade is conducted in Renminbi, and this is undoubtedly going to continue to increase. Not only does China want to reduce its reliance upon the US Dollar, but liberalization of its currency and money markets in general are necessary for Chinas continued economic development. Opening her capital account will inevitably loose China an element of control over its interest rate policy and currency – something the Chinese government, wisely, will only do when conditions are right for China. Full convertibility may be many years off yet, but once fully convertible, the Renminbi may well eclipse both the Euro and the US Dollar.

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