CSG news update -- 2006-09-27

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

China Study Group news update

China not practicing neo-colonialism in Africa: Cameroonian scholar
http://english.people.com.cn/200609/27/eng20060927_306672.html
People's Daily | 2006-09-27
China's cooperation and investment in Africa can not be labeled as "neo-colonialism" because, unlike what European colonists did before, China-Africa cooperation has brought real benefit to African people, said a Cameroonian scholar on Tuesday in Yaounde.  Pierre Essama Essomba, president of M...

New policy ensures better investment climate
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=1&art_id=28120&sid=10088295&con_type=1&d_str=20060927&sear_year=2006
The Standard | 2006-09-27
Zhong Ming
Overseas media have expressed concern over China's implementation this month of new regulations on foreign acquisitions of stakes in mainland companies, with some branding the move as a return to protectionism.  China's foreign investment policy has become more stringent compared with the ...

Yuan hits new high
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=22&art_id=28147&sid=10107511&con_type=1&d_str=20060927&sear_year=2006
Reuters | 2006-09-27
China's yuan hit a fresh post- revaluation high against the dollar Tuesday after the central bank set the currency's mid-point at a record high, sparking renewed speculation that Beijing might allow the yuan to rise at a faster pace.  The yuan traded as high as 7.9100 to the dollar before ...

Philosophy of harmony
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2006-09/27/content_697659.htm
China Daily | 2006-09-27
Unlike many of its kind in the past decades, the upcoming plenary session of the 16th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee will concentrate on a rather philosophical topic - social harmony.  At a Monday forum reviewing documents to be presented to the all-important event, CPC General S...

In pursuit of harmony between man and nature
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2006-09/27/content_697660.htm
China Daily | 2006-09-27
Qin Xiaoying
Wuhai, a small, out-of-the-way city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is working wonders, with its per capita GDP reaching 20,000 yuan (US$2,500) and its economy growing by an amazing 40 per cent each year.  The picture was entirely different 10 years ago, when this author visited the small...

Party sets the agenda for key meeting
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-09/27/content_697636.htm
China Daily | 2006-09-27
Social harmony will be the headline topic when the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee meets for its annual session next month.  The decision to convene the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the CPC in Beijing from October 8 to 11 was made on Monday at a meeting o...

China's Oil Deals With Iran, Myanmar Put It at Odds With U.S.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aObYnsr7rchs&refer=asia
Bloomberg | 2006-09-27
William Mellor and Le-Min Lim
In a steamy jungle clearing in Myanmar, a lone drilling rig topped by limp red flags bears testimony to China's insatiable thirst for oil.  A century ago, British-owned Burmah Oil Co. made a fortune for its shareholders from oil fields that lie beneath the teak forests and golden-spired Buddhi...

Senators hesitate on holding China vote
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/09/26/key_senators_say_havent_decided_on_china_vote/
Reuters | 2006-09-26
Doug Palmer
A Senate vote this week on a controversial bill threatening to impose steep tariffs on Chinese exports to the United States was put into doubt on Tuesday after the bill's authors said they were unsure whether to press ahead with the vote.  Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Sen. Li...

Research on "middle class" starts off for the 1st time
http://en.ce.cn/Life/social/200609/26/t20060926_8728255.shtml
China Economic Net | 2006-09-26
"Survey of the life of the new middle class in China" was launched officially last Friday by the Chinese Situation Research Association, which is affiliated to the State Statistics Bureau (SSB) with the SSB director Qiu Xiaohua as its chairperson. Therefore, the survey is regarded as China's fir...

'Shanghai gang' feels wrath of Beijing
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2b9bae7e-4cec-11db-b03c-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html
Financial Times | 2006-09-26
Geoff Dyer and Richard McGregor
In the opaque world of Chinese politics, power usually shifts through subtle back-room deals whose real significance is known to only the inner circle. The public only finds out much later.  The clinical sacking on Monday of Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu represents therefore a rare moment of po...

What a US recession means for China
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/HI27Dj01.html
Asia Times | 2006-09-26
Jephraim P Gundzik
The risk of economic recession in the United States in 2007 is increasing rapidly. Rather than overly tight monetary policy at the Federal Reserve, the declining value of US homes is undermining personal consumption expenditure. The decline in home values is likely to accelerate next year as housing...

Out from under Jiang's shadow
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HI27Ad01.html
Asia Times | 2006-09-26
Wu Zhong
HONG KONG - About one year ahead of the all-important 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, President Hu Jintao is deftly making political moves to strengthen his power and authority, walking out of the shadow of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin.  The announcement of the removal of Ch...

Foreign capital facilitates poverty reduction in China
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-09/26/content_696711.htm
Xinhua | 2006-09-26
BEIJING -- China will try to better use foreign capital to facilitate its poverty reduction efforts, said an official with the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.  Ou Qingping, deputy director of the Center for the Administration of Foreign-funded Projects wi...

Path of Chinese cultural revitalization
http://english.people.com.cn/200609/26/eng20060926_306438.html
People's Daily | 2006-09-26
Under the guidance of Chinese tailored Marxism, China will develop and follow an innovative path to revitalize cultural traditions while absorbing the fine cultural achievements of other countries. The plan is to revive Chinese culture in regards to living and production material, politics, mindset,...

Hu's Shanghai inquiry could snag other rivals
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/26/news/china.php
New York Times | 2006-09-26
Joseph Kahn
BEIJING - The Chinese authorities vowed Tuesday to press forward with a corruption crackdown that has already ensnared one of the country's most powerful officials, raising the possibility that President Hu Jintao may continue to purge people he considers disloyal.   The anti-corruption drive,...

 In Taiwan demonstrations, a color taboo is broken
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/26/news/taiwan.php
New York Times | 2006-09-26
Keith Bradsher
TAIPEI - Only a longtime democracy and independence activist like Shih Ming-teh, who had his teeth shattered twice by guards during a quarter century in prison under martial law, could revive the color red in Taiwanese politics.   For the past 18 days, Shih has led a sit- in in front of the presid...

China defends shutting unregistered schools
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-6106039,00.html
Reuters | 2006-09-26
China said on Tuesday that shutting dozens of privately run schools for children of migrant workers in Beijing was meant for their protection, not to deny them education as stated by a U.S. human rights group.  New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Monday that Beijing municipal authorities had...

In China, the pendulum swings the party's way
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/25/opinion/edbowring.php
International Herald Tribune | 2006-09-26
Philip Bowring
HONG KONG - It is hard for liberals and democrats to accept, but there seems to an inevitability about the reassertion in China of the political supremacy of the Communist Party and the administrative dominance of the central authorities. Prosperity and a growing property-owning middle class does no...

Even in tightly controlled China, anyone can be a reporter
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0926/p09s01-codc.html
Christian Science Monitor | 2006-09-26
Dante Chinni
WASHINGTON – Much has been made of the great democratizing impact of the new media - the fact that anyone with a laptop, a modem, and a website can be a journalist.  Of course, as has been mentioned in this very space before, not everyone actually is a journalist. In fact, most people in the Uni...