This week in Shanghaiist
- Critics howl at pooch's pampering, price tag [China Daily] "A welcome worthy of a world leader that was given to a 4-million-yuan ($588,000) dog has raised the hackles of critics. The Tibetan mastiff, or Zang'ao in Chinese, arrived in his new masters' hometown of Xi'an, Shaanxi province, by air on Wednesday after he was bought for the colossal sum. After his safe landing, a motorcade comprising 30 Mercedes-Benz vehicles escorted the canine to his new digs."
- China and U.S.: Tire-d of Fighting [Forbes] "There was a time not too long ago when little seemed more important in U.S.-China relations than the politics of trade -- when a dispute over steel tariffs or the value of Chinese currency would bring out fire-breathers on either side of the Pacific. Now we'll find out if that time finally has passed. By Thursday Sept 17th, President Obama will take up the first big China trade issue of his presidency: tires, as in the cheap Chinese tires that millions of Americans have on their cars. Obama must decide whether to impose a tariff of as high as 55 percent that has been recommended to him by the U.S. International Trade Commission."
- High hurdles for China's commercial aviation ambitions [Reuters] "As Boeing and Airbus grapple with problems from global recession to manufacturing glitches, a longer-term worry looms: China's ambition to compete in the aerospace business. Beijing has declared its goal to manufacture large passenger jets with more than 150 seats and freighters capable of handling over 100 tonnes of cargo, with the explicit aim of taking on Boeing and Airbus."
- After Taiwan, Dalai Lama to visit disputed India state [Washington Post] "The Dalai Lama plans to visit a northeast Indian state that China claims as its territory in November, a trip that could again rile Beijing following its denunciations of his visit to Taiwan this month. "He plans to be in Arunachal Pradesh in the second week of November," Chhime Chhoekyapa, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's aide, told Reuters."
- China: The World's Untouchable Internet Market, Even For Google [Bnet] "With China’s 338 million Internet users surpassing the U.S. population, Google and other key media and commerce players are struggling to stake claim there to an exploding, complex market tightly controlled by government censors. Google’s efforts to establish U.S.-style dominance is being squashed in China by stiff regulatory scrutiny and competition from the home search engine favorite, Baidu."
- China: Considering Han chauvinism [Global Voices] "Xinjiang remains offline and online discussion of the recent ethnic unrest there continues to be highly restricted. Building off radical interpretation of Uighur-on-Han violence in Ürümqi, however, and noting that neighboring Mongolia has its fair share of neo-nazis, what conclusions can be made regarding the violence from both sides? Beijing Spring editor Hu Ping, in a recent post for RFA, wonders if Uighur anger can be attributed to government policies in the region, lists several reasons why that might be and, using the term Han chauvinism, concludes that it is."
- Ex-Taiwan President Chen Sentenced to Life [Time] "It was a dramatic fall from grace for the man once called the "Son of Taiwan." Former President Chen Shui-bian and First Lady Wu Shu-chen were sentenced to life in prison by the Taipei District Court on Sept. 11, nine years after Chen became the first politician from Taiwan's long-time opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to take the island's top post. Chen, 58, and his wife were both charged with embezzlement, bribery, money laundering and forgery and fined $15.3 million for their mishandling of a special state fund and land deals. Chen's son was also sentenced to two-and-a-half years for money laundering, and his daughter-in-law to one year and eight months."
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Of course, nobody has proven that the money Wu moved about abroad was illegal. Therefore, it is hard to say that Chen and family laundered money. This just one hole in a case with oh so many. I would rely more on what commentators such as Jerome Cohen, Ma Ying-jeou's former mentor and one of the world's leading specialists in law in China and Taiwan, says about the issue. Time is an establishment rag.
I just feel pretty satisfied to see, with the democratically elected president used-to-be locked behind the bar with murders, thieves and rapist, the world is looking nicer.
Soon we'll see who will suffer the most in tires issue, with two-third tire plants in China are owned by Americans and over 200,000 Americans are involved in tire import trade, not to mention the millions American car buyers.