From Beijing, an unfiltered view on business and economy.
Well, a nice invasion for once. They came over to give me the “official picture”, nicely framed, of the ceremony of 26 May 2012 when I received my new Green Card (see earlier blog entry) from the hands of the director of the Beijing Public Security Bureau . I also got my two first “Year of The Snake” dolls (I admit having a small collection of those in my library…).
Western media often tell stories of the sufferings of women in China, as the result of the one-child policy: forced abortions, sterilizations, bullying by local authorities. When talking with people in the U.S. or in Europe I also get the question (or call it rather, criticism) of the poor Chinese who can only have one child. Unfortunately the sad stories are mostly based on facts and some extreme cases even pop up in the Chinese media.
But that really pales in comparison with the totally barbarian ways women are treated in India. A good example of the media loving to hit at China and ignore the rest of the world. But with the recent ugly stories of gang rapes in the largest democracy in the world, India now comes out pretty bad. Many men seem to be simply animals and the police even worse – even the Chinese police suddenly looks like a friendly bunch of guys. As for the Indian rapists: cut it off down there and then hang them.
According to Indian sources, 25.000 to 100,000 women a year are killed over dowry disputes. As many as 100,000 women are burned to death each year, say other sources and another 125,000 die from violent injuries. Girls, from the time they are born, often suffer neglect as boys are favored, in breast feeding, in food, health care, education. About 130,000 fatalities a year among women in childbirth each year. Girls raped normally never go to the police as they would be promptly raped again by them. Now, I think Chinese girls are very, very lucky to live in China and not in India – or worse – in some Muslim country.
Americans have also little to be proud of. Gang rapes are not exclusive to India as the Steubenville high school football players proved. Not even to talk about that dysfunctional Congress that failed to renew the Violence Against Women Act as well as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. For sure they will come up with their usual lame excuses.
In other words, women still need their rights to be respected and people should not always bore me with their questions regarding the one-child policy. Clean up your own backyard first.
More details on this:
Nicholas B. Kristof: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/is-delhi-so-different-from-steubenville.html?ref=nicholasdkristof
Gardiner Harris: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/world/asia/in-rapes-aftermath-india-debates-violence-against-women.html?ref=gardinerharris
China Daily, as well as other Chinese media, fail to see the irony in their reporting, such as about the fines imposed on Samsung, LG and other companies for manipulating LCD panel prices. All that in the name of the Anti-Monopoly Law.
See the article in China Daily:
“Nipping monopoly activities in the bud”
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2013-01/10/content_16100647.htm
As usual, the cartoon show a fat guy, big nose, with a cigar. Chinese cartoonists lack inspiration: always the same stereotype. We can assume the fat guy is a foreigner and the poor slim guy is Chinese? So, all the bad foreigners smoke cigars?
If one stops for a second and substitutes the foreign company names with some of the Chinese SOE, then it all looks weird. A number of Chinese SOE are monopolies, that’s it. But no mention of the similarities in China Daily. It is also the case when China complains about market access issues in the EU: it suddenly forgot EU companies face worse market access restrictions over here.
China is excellent in selective memory loss. And needs some more creative cartoonists.
Expert warns policymakers yet to address most health-threatening of contamination problems
Sunday, 06 January, 2013, SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1120912/chinas-heavy-metal-and-chemical-pollution-worsening
A senior environmental policy official has warned the mainland faces an “extremely grave” environmental crisis that will only worsen as pollution increases and the health problems its causes come to light.
Wang Jinnan, a deputy director at the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, told a three-day conference at the Chinese University of Hong Kong that the country has not yet come to grips with the amount of toxins seeping into the ground, pollution that would linger for decades to come.
So far the article in the SCMP. Read more about the dramatic environmental destruction in China in “Toxic Capitalism” (water, air, soil).
The situation is indeed very grave, especially for water resources that are already limited but also too polluted. On the other hand the government is well aware of the pollution and the impact on health. The 12th Five Year Plan and other initiatives from the government show evidence China wants to turn the tide. The new team at the top has put the environment as one of the top priorities. However, if the fight against corruption, the improvement of governance and the changes in Western consumption are not carried out there is little hope. The West is also to blame for its hypocrisy, blaming China for the pollution and poor labor conditions while refusing to insist on quality and durability while paying a fair price. And stopping its habit of buying junk at rock bottom prices to satisfy the orgy of consumption. We all have to contribute to change things.
As reported by Reuters in Washington and the SCMP, opponents of Royal Dutch Shell’s ambitious Arctic oil program have called on the Obama administration to put offshore drilling plans in the region on hold after one of the company’s oil rigs broke away from tow boats in high seas and ran aground off Alaska. The accident involved Shell’s Kulluk oil rig; it is one more evidence oil companies are not prepared to safely manage extreme conditions in the new drilling methods, such as in of the Arctic.
As I demonstrate in my book Toxic Capitalism, our society is brainwashed to consume and consume. Unfortunately, to manufacture all those (often useless) consumer goods, we pollute our planet and need more and more energy resources. We can only slowdown this vicious circle by consuming less – and consuming wiser through quality and durability.
We cannot stop going into new technologies and into new areas of exploration. However, it should require careful analysis and without cutting corners. Oil and gas companies show through the approach in fracking and drilling that they cut corners so the gas and oil remain cheap. This is a terrible risk and once again it means shifting the problems to future generations. Remember Deepwater Horizon?