CSG news update -- 2006-06-19

[China Study Group <chinastudygroup@gmail.com>]

China Study Group news update

Public Ignorance and Social Unrest
http://www.bjreview.com.cn/06-24-e/snapshot-1.htm
Beijing Review | 2006-06-19
Li Haibo
Exactly 40 summers ago, the Cultural Revolution kicked off and swiftly went into full swing. That massive movement, the most catastrophic political upheaval in modern China, wound up 10 years later. The ending of the decade-long chaos signified the beginning of a totally different era. In late 1978,...

Murtaugh joins SAIC leadership
http://en.ce.cn/Industries/Auto/200606/19/t20060619_7423540.shtml
Shanghai Daily | 2006-06-19
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, the domestic partner of General Motors, has hired former GM China chief Philip Murtaugh as it prepares to compete against GM and other automakers by building its own brand of cars.  The 51-year-old Murtaugh, former chairman and chief executive officer at GM's...

U.S. Competes With China for Vietnam's Allegiance
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/world/asia/19vietnam.html
New York Times | 2006-06-19
Jane Perlez
HANOI, Vietnam — With the fastest growth in East Asia after China and a capitalist game plan that is attracting global investment, Communist Vietnam is emerging as a regional economic power as it moves steadily from rice fields to factories.  And with the wounds of war all but healed, Washin...

Foreign investors may quit if China tightens up labour law
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13132-2231993,00.html
The Times | 2006-06-18
Christine Buckley
A REFORM of Chinese labour laws may lead foreign investors to leave the People's Republic in favour of rival Asian nations with weaker labour standards, employers have said.  A Bill introducing tough laws that prevent the exploitation of workers, including regulations that exceed some European...

Global hunt highlights scale of graft in China
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/18/business/boc.php
International Herald Tribune | 2006-06-18
David Lague
BEIJING: They may have been small- time bankers from a provincial Chinese city, but they traveled like high rollers.  On Oct. 2, 2001, three junior Bank of China managers from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong boarded a private jet in Vancouver for a flight to Las Vegas. One of the banker...

China to tighten screening of foreign acquisitions
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200606/19/t20060619_7419360.shtml
Shenzhen Daily | 2006-06-18
Worried that it may be selling industrial assets to foreigners too cheaply, China will tighten screening of deals and impose new curbs on foreign acquisitions in its heavy industry, a Beijing-funded newspaper said.  A ministry-level committee under the State Council, or cabinet, will be set up to ...

China's Entrance Exam Further Stacks the Deck for College Seats
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-exams18jun18,1,3852041.story
LA Times | 2006-06-18
ark Magnier
BEIJING — Yao Yao, 18, emerged from her college entrance exam at Beijing No. 55 Middle School tired but relieved it was finally over. She had done what she could. In a few weeks, a website will reveal a single three-digit score that will determine her future.  The odds are high for Yao and t...

New moves on the tripolar chessboard
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HF17Ak01.html
Asia Times | 2006-06-17
Michael T Klare
For months, the US press and policymaking elite have portrayed the crisis with Iran as a two-sided struggle between Washington and Tehran, with the European powers as well as Russia and China playing supporting roles.  It is certainly true that US President George W Bush and Iranian President Mahm...

The quiet revolution
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HF17Ad01.html
Asia Times | 2006-06-17
China and Globalization: The Social, Economic and Political Transformation of Chinese Society by Doug Guthrie  Reviewed by Sreeram Chaulia  China's relentless march of rapid economic growth and reduced poverty qualifies as a quiet revolution in the contemporary world. American sociologist Do...

Chinese premier orders action to slow growth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1799007,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-06-16
Jonathan Watts
The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, has ordered his mandarins to draw up measures to slow the country's growth, it emerged yesterday amid a flood of data suggesting the world's most supercharged economy is close to overheating.  While most countries can only look on in envy at the pace...

China restores bike lanes lost to car boom
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1799008,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-06-16
Jonathan Watts
Having spent the past decade pursuing a transport policy of four wheels rich, two wheels poor, the Chinese government has suddenly rediscovered the environmental and health benefits of the bicycle.  The construction ministry announced that any bike lanes that have been narrowed or destroyed to mak...

China gives Zimbabwe economic lifeline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1798855,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-06-16
Andrew Meldrum and Jonathan Watts
China yesterday threw Zimbabwe's disintegrating economy a lifeline with energy and mining deals worth £700m, including the construction of three coal-fired thermal power stations to aid the state power company which has been cutting customers' power for seven hours a day.  Neither China n...

China hosts summit to rival US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,1798323,00.html
The Guardian | 2006-06-15
Jonathan Watts
China ramped up its role as a global player on Thursday by hosting a summit of states encompassing almost half the world's population and some of Washington's most prominent opponents.  The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - which brought together th...

Distribution system reform and expansion of the middle class
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200606/12/eng20060612_273211.html
People's Daily | 2006-06-12
The politburo of the central committee of the Communist Party of China has recently discussed reform on distribution system and regulations on distribution order.  With a population of 1.3 billion and fast development in recent years, the problem of an increasingly large gap between the rich and t...