China Post # 2

China has been a surprise to me. I was expecting something like Indonesia in terms of development, but it has left Indonesia in its wake long ago. I can see why the Chinese are so fiercely nationalistic and proud of their country. Aside from the propaganda / censorship / arbitrary laws and lack of human rights, China has definitely made some very substantial economic achievements. Granted, we travelled mosty in Eastern China, and I know Western China lags behind, but it is much more developed and less dodgy than expected.

A note about propaganda – not sure if people have been following this story (http://www.theage.com.au/national/chinas-new-film-threat-20090807-ecxz.html), but basically there have been some protests here by the Uighur minority group. The Uighurs have presented their side of the story in western media, and made some accusations against the Chinese government. They have been labeled as terrorists by China, who are right now trying to pressure the Melbourne International Film Festival into canceling the planned screening of this film: http://www.uhrp.org/articles/2344/1/THE-10-CONDITIONS-OF-LOVE/index.html.

There is a Beijing TV channel presented entirely in English when we could. I think the intended audience is western expatriates and tourists, as most programs are travel-related. We are mostly interested in the news. Basically, according to Chinese media, the riots were "masterminded from overseas"; no local grievances have been mentioned. Bizarrely, Uighur community leaders interviewed by journalists are busy complimenting local government officials for their "quick and effective action" in subduing the riots and arresting those responsible. There are 200 casualties reported by China, as opposed to the 800 reported by The Age. And everyone stopped on the street for a “random” interview – from schoolkids to shopkeepers to teachers etc – have condemned the protests and are most concerned about “social cohesion” and “ethnic unity”. I've lost count of the number of times I heard these two phrases, or variations of. It is apparently the most important thing for a country, because "no one can be happy or prosperous without it". So the riots, as undermining social unity, are a bad thing for everyone. But make no mistake about it, the situation is “firmly under control”.

Another good example is the arrest of 4 Riot Tinto executives for corruption and espionage which came coincidentally right after Rio Tinto and Chinolco (a Chinese government-owned steel producer) talks failed. Chinolco wanted to take a 40% stake in Rio Tinto, and many people had objections to this plan, one of them the Australian Government. So the plans collapsed, and 4 people have been arrested (http://www.theage.com.au/national/china-tells-australia-to-butt-out-20090716-dmxi.html). Interestingly, I first learned of this in the Australian media, even though we’ve been watching Chinese news almost every night. When it was finally mentioned, the story was a farce. The only information it gave was that “4 executives have been arrested on suspicion of corruption and espionage, and more are being investigated”. This took about 10 seconds. The rest of the story discussed only China’s requirement for steel, its need to import steel, and the high price of steel. The story was a really pathetic excuse for independent journalism.