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Wed, Feb 26, 1997
PLA: Study Jiang's Speech
also: an update on Xinjiang; issues facing the Hong Kong educational system; requests for water; Taiwan and Okinawa; and more . . .
I'm working on developing a better work-flow for producing China Informed. With classes both in the morning and afternoon, it's difficult to publish in a timely manner. Also, I'm on Hawaii Standard Time and that places me many hours behind the mainland.
Military: the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was told to "maintain absolute and complete unity with the Communist Party Central with Jiang Zemin at the core", reports the South China Morning Post. The directive came from General Fu Quanyou , Chief of Staff of the PLA. Officers were also directed to study the speech given by Jiang Zemin during yesterday's funeral ceremony for Deng Xiaoping.
The China Daily has published Jiang's speech
The New York Times has an analysis of the speech.
(Note: the New York Times on-line edition is free, but requires that users register a name and password, and therefore first-time users should first introduce themselves on the Times registration page.)
Ethnic problems: CNN has an Associated Press article on yesterday's bombing in Urumqi. According to the article, two people died and dozens were injured, when three bombs planted on public busses almost simultaneously detonated. Muslim 'separatists' are believed to be responsible. The article is short on details.
South China Morning Post also has a story on the bombs in Xinjiang. The paper says that a fourth bomb was found before it exploded. Seven people have died and 67 were injured. The Chinese government has denied that the explosions were the result of pro-independence activities and placed the blame on "hooliganism", writes the paper. But it is believed by residents in Urumqi that separatists from Kashgar and Korla, two cities in the south of the province, were responsible for the bombs. The paper quotes one person who said that these groups are "well-organized and funded" by Islamic groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Hong Kong: the Asia Times reports about problems put before Hong Kong's educational system in face of political change this July. Issues of identity and history stand out as important questions for educators. The paper reports that 150 new immigrant children from the mainland enter the colony everyday.
Research: the University of San Diego's Modern Chinese History site has bibliographies on various topics of Qing, Republican and PRC history.
Water: we are looking for additional information on water resources in mainland China. Yesterday's story about a water shortage in Jinan, capital of Shandong Province, hints at a much larger problem in China and Asia in general. From my own notes on China's current physical and environmental geography, it can be noted that of 600 cities in China, 300 are short of water, and of these 100 are considered seriously short. Approximately 87 percent of all water is consumed for agricultural purposes.
Industrial processes are not efficient in their water utilization; for example, Chinese steel mills consume three times as much water per ton of steel as mills in the U.S. and Japan. As for Shandong the flow of the Yellow River is generally restricted in that region, due to such factors as excessive silting in the river.
It would be appreciated if readers who have more information or expertise on these matters would write to me. I will post the information for people to read.
Taiwan: the Asia Times has a story about stray dogs in Taiwan.
Taiwan: we get a Japanese perspective on fostering ties between Taiwan and Okinawa, as part of a move by the prefecture to "break its economic reliance" on the U.S. The article comes from the Asahi Newspaper and says that Okinawa has an opportunity to rekindle close economic ties, just "as the Ryukyu Kingdom did with China from the late 14th century through the 16th century". This is an interesting comment, placing future developments in the context of (long past) historical ones.
Taiwanese tourists are numerous, and their numbers are growing. The service sector dominates Okinawa's economy, but there are ongoing efforts to move into manufacturing and hi-tech industries. For these reasons the prefecture is looking toward Taiwan for investment, says the paper.
The paper writes that the Taiwan government itself has identified Okinawa as important to its overall investment strategy for Southeast Asia, Japan and China. There also appears to be other reasons motivating Taiwan: with the handover of Hong Kong set for this July, Taiwan is afraid that legal 'difficulties' may surface concerning Taiwan's vast investment thru the colony into the mainland. Taiwan sees Okinawa as a potential new hub from which to coordinate business activities, says the paper.
United States: the PBS News Hour has a discussion with two former U.S. diplomats, Dr. Zbigniew Brezezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Carter, and Winston Lord, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. The two gentlemen offer an 'American' perspective on Deng Xiaoping and China. They found Deng to be very sharp, tough, and witty.
Deng Xiaoping: the Chinese government denies stories published in two Hong Kong newspapers that Deng Xiaoping apologized for the 1989 Tiananmen shootings, reports CNN.