Twenty-five people lost their lives whereas 33 were injured in an explosion that occurred at a privately owned karaoke bar in Northeast China on July 4. The blast took place at about 8:50 pm, leveled the two-story building in Tianshifu Township in Liaoning Province and killed the karaoke parlor’s owner, Qu. The investigations are still under way to know the cause of the explosion. Qu’s wife and and several employees are being questioned however, they are not suspects for the crime. Initially the death toll was put to five but on July 5, 25 more bodies were found from the debris of the blast. The rescuers are still clearing the debris from the blast site. Due to negligence and lax in safety procedures, China is suffering a number of explosions in recent months. Despite government’s promises to improve safety measures it is still facing fires and accidents in shopping malls, movie theaters and other public places. In 2005, a fire was reported in an illegally run bar in the southern city of Zhongshan that had killed 26 people. It was learnt that the bar lacked fire extinguishers and the emergency exit was too narrow to be used during crisis. One of the worst recent nightclub disaster that took place in China, is the fire that is believed to have been caused by a welding accident that tore through a disco in the central city of Luoyang in December 2000. It had killed 309 people. Image Source: Nytimes
Taiwan’s secesion to China inevitable
Taiwan’s application to join the UN was turned down once again. The world body said it was turned down because of the ‘one-china’ resolution of 1971. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian did this to shore up electoral support what with elections coming up. Taiwan has applied several times before, with similar results. Every time Taiwan applies to the UN, China makes threatening noises about the People’s army ready to overrun the island. But this response is tame stuff. China is giving Taiwan a long rope. It does not want to militarily occupy the country. Instead it is increasing trade with Taiwan so that sometime in the future a stage is reached when it cannot exist without Chinese economic ties. Also China is arming itself heavily so that, in case the need arises, it can overwhelm Taiwan militarily quickly before the US can come to its ally’s aid. US, Taiwan’s leading ally, is bound by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to provide Taipei with defensive weapons to maintain a balance of power across the strait, given that China is thought to have about nine hundred missiles pointed at Taiwan. But Chinese strategists feel the US has lost the inclination to intervene militarily if it comes to the crunch. Most observers feel that Taiwan’s unification with China is inevitable and will happen in 15-20 years. As a former Taiwanese leader said that it is wise to cook a frog in slow heat; it will not jump out of the vessel. China is doing just that. Image credit
China pacing up its safety efforts
In another effort to crackdown the tainted product market, Chinese officials have started public displays sentencing death to a former drug safety official of a high rank and also revealing that an investigation will be done of the case where a cellphone battery exploded killing the man as it pierced his heart. China is facing credibility crisis these days. Its products are being banned due to the fact that they don’t maintain quality and safety standards. Chinese officials are trying there best to improve their image. A lot of steps are being taken by the government to ensure that its products match up to the standards of other nations. When and whether, the measurements will do any good for the market, only time can tell us that. However, it is certain that China will do anything to get back to lead again as most of the Chinese economy is dependent on the exports. After investigations it was found that in the southern Guangdong Province the batteries of Motorola and Nokia were found tainted and prone to explosion under certain conditions. Both the companies are sure that the batteries were fake and not theirs. Motorola’s Yang Bo-ning, a spokesman for Motorola in Beijing regarding the batteries said that they ‘were not Motorola genuine batteries; they were fakes.’ He also added that the distributing companies ‘are not our suppliers.’ The companies are co-operating with the Chinese officials for the investigations. But now, the Chinese products have started proving deadly and dangerous and thus, have drawn attention from across the globe. For the first time, Chinese officials have started taking counterfeit drugs seriously enough. But action is still not to the effect. China recently closed its 180 food factories that were found not sticking to food safety. The system of China received a shock again when a former high ranking official, Cao Wenzhuang, who was placed at a top food and drug agency, was sentenced to death against the charges of corruption and approval of tainted and illegal drugs. China on the basis of its low prices is able to tame the inflation and has so emerged as one of the global powers. However, now the situation has changed and China is in a black state of affairs. China is today known for its fake and copied products. It is a known fact in the streets of China but the issue remained ignored. Source: NYtimes
After food, Chinese tires under fire
China’s food safety norms have repeatedly called for criticism around the globe. Now, China’s tires seem to the target for censure. All these events give a negative impact of a country preparing for as big an event as Olympics. While China was battling with its food safety norms assuring the world that it isn’t the lone figure that is mired by such a problem. As if this wasn’t enough, it is time for the country’s tires to call for attention around the globe, especially when the U.S. is planning to recall around three lakh China imported tires following an accident in the country that it is blaming on tire defect. According to the U.S., the tires lack safety features like gum strip that doesn’t let the tire tear apart. However, like every other occasion China disagrees with the accusations stating that the ulterior motives of the countries are trying to mislead others on buying Chinese products. Earlier china made products like seeds, baby food, medicines, drugs, dog food, additives and preservatives, and toothpaste have been found toxic for which the country is still battling, trying to inspect, supervise and examine its entire food product system. And now with its tires calling for criticism, the country needs to have another look at what went wrong and where. Because safety of lives if of utmost importance and if it finds any kind of nuisance, the same needs to be dealt with properly because any mishandling of the situation by China can call for an international ban on Chinese products. And with the countdown to Olympics having already begun, calls for all the more attention from China. Image1 Image2 Via: Record Online
Taiwan’s presidential candidates want closer ties with China
With Taiwan going to the presidential polls on 22 March, it seems that who ever becomes the new President of Taiwan will soft peddle the issue of Taiwan’s separate identity from China. The controversy surrounding the political status of Taiwan depends on whether Taiwan should remain the effective territory of the Republic of China (ROC) or be absorbed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or become the Republic of Taiwan. The controversy over the political status of the Republic of China hinges on whether its existence as a state is legitimate and recognized. With the Republic of China being replaced by the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations in 1971, most of the sovereign states have switched their diplomatic relation to People’s Republic of China. The supporters of Taiwan independence say that PRC is the government of mainland China and Taiwan, not being a part of China will remain as the Republic of China (Taiwan) and will maintain its position as an independent autonomous government of Taiwan. In 1999, Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui proposed a two-state theory in which both the ROC and the PRC would acknowledge that they are two separate countries with special diplomatic, cultural and historic relationship and gained immense support from within Taiwan. This however, drew angry reactions from PRC who believed that Lee was covertly supporting independence of Taiwan. The present position of the majority of the Taiwanese is that they do not want any fresh confrontation with Mainland China. Ma Ying-jeou, the presidential candidate of Kuomintang, the party that governed Taiwan for 51years, is willing to improve ties with Beijing as earliest as possible. Compulsion of moving ahead the Taiwanese economy with Chinese help has made Ma explore possibilities of increasing the number of charter and commercial flights between Taiwan and Beijing. He also hopes to increase tourism and investment in Taiwan with help from Mainland China. Ma’s opponent Frank Hsieh, though not as liberal as Ma also wants closer economic cooperation with Beijing. What ever is the outcome of the Presidential election, the political and economic necessities will push Taiwan and Beijing closer. Source: IHT Image: Destination360
The heroism of those Tibetans who remain in Tibet
No one but a few high-profile celebrities and the Tibetans themselves are interested in Tibet. At least, that is how China would like us all to believe. Years after the Chinese Government forced the Dalai Lama to flee his homeland and take shelter in Dharamshala, India; nothing really has changed for the Tibetans. They are routinely tortured for their Buddhist Faith and a third degree genocide is on at Tibet. There are many ways to finish off a race. The method here is to flood Tibet with the Chinese to the extent that the native population just becomes too small to have any meaningful presence. Now again we are watching with bated breathe as Tibetan peace activists make the perilous journey home. They are marching from Dharamshala to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. And as is to be expected the Chinese Government has banned the protesters from entering Tibet. Also is banned any remembrance of the 49th Anniversary of the suppression of Tibetans by the People’s Liberation Army. Yet, the UK Independent reports how all of Tibet and exiled Tibetans throughout the world have become publicly defiant. The Chinese, in short, are Tibetan all red in the face. The UK Independent reports the whole chain of events with a sort of characteristic Western gush we are so accustomed to when a person like Richard Gere discusses his own consternation at the failing of the Tibetan cause. This is all very well and is really grand of the First World to so care for the fallen of this wretched earth. But then, to focus on this, as mainstream media does, is to miss the main point. Even to carry on quoting the Dalai Lama ad infinitum is to miss the main issue here. The main issue here is that the Tibetans who stayed back in their own land are out on the streets of Lhasa and protesting their servitude at the hands of the Chinese. This, in spite of being kicked, abused, raped and burnt. It is easy to protest from outside one’s country and lament the despicable conditions of the motherland. But it is tough, sometimes to the point of absurdity, to protest while living under the oppressive regime. After so many years, the Tibetans in their homeland, who have no escape route or rather, who will not run away from Tibet, are vocal and filled with the fire of renewed protest. This is true rebellion: to annihilate the evil from within. There is only one problem; the Chinese are too technologically advanced and ruthless to allow any meaningful protest. Like the military junta in Burma, the Chinese are just biding their time to crush all protests in Tibet. There is none to prevent that because the world community will perversely continue to enjoy the spirit of the rebellion while the rebels die fighting. Tibet has no oil to bribe either the Americas or Europe. Source: UK Independent Image: Newsmax
The benevolence of China in annexing Tibet
Parag Khanna is a good writer and like most writers she tends to be more of a disciple of fancy and imagination than of realities and solid historical research. She has set up a tenuous and theoretical parallel between the US and China. In the UK Guardian, Khanna asks the innocent question whether the US can ever think of allowing Texas or California to break away from the mother nation. The answer is of course in the negative. Such a thing can hardly be imagined, leave alone implemented. Such, we are told is the lot of China with reference to especially Tibet. Tibet, Khanna would have us believe, is as much coveted by China as Texas is loved by the greater Americas. This is good syllogistic logic but pathetically bad practice of social scientific tenets and false retrojections into history. A cursory glance into Texan history will tell us that there were large number of Texans who wanted to be part of the United States of America and not joining either Mexico or being an Independent State. Tibetans, on the other hand, have always been eager to remain independent and neither be part of China or even be a prefecture of China even as the Dalai Lama feebly gives in to Tibetan demands. Khanna subtly avoids mentioning even in passing the great cultural and spiritual heritage that Tibet is heir to. This is done also by first comparing Tibet to Texas et al, then with the Muslim Uighur separatists ruled Xinjiang province in China. Texas is oil rich and thus attractive to the US. Xinjiang and Tibet are both rich in uranium, gold and timber. The Chinese simply want that. This is the truth but for an outsider to writer of Tibet without referring at all to any of its cultural glory shows that the writer’s sympathy lies with atheistic China. In fact the latter portion of the report reads like a veritable raison d’être about why Tibet should not gladly be part of China. Khanna lets us know of the great improvements that Tibetan life will have if only Tibet accepts Chinese hegemony. Education for all, better communication, both physical and wireless, a stronger economy and the list goes on. The Dalai Lama would do well to read this article for the former is slowly conceding defeat in the face of Chinese tyranny. But the moot question for us reading Parag Khanna is how the work has been published by the Western media and the writer’s forthcoming book is on its way to Western academia. In the name of research and historiography, Khanna’s writings will further isolate the Tibetans and make them vassals of the Han Chinese. People will increasingly believe in the benevolent attitude of China and one day we will all shout for joy at China’s annexation of Tibet. Source: UK Guardian Image: Destination 360
Fate of Tibet victims: How riots made their lives miserable
The Tibetan riots have been a miserable experience for those who have been deeply hurt and injured by the way they were treated by Chinese authorities. Women who expressed their sentiments in the rallies against China, along with the monks, have been victimized by cruelty and curtailment of their freedom of expression. Riots in Tibet during the March 14 incident were a nightmare and no one could have ever thought these will be as bloody as ever. These incidents were certainly a devastating experience for the families of the five women who were burned to death in a nearby clothing store where the riots occurred. The turn of events was like filming a movie that you wouldn’t want to happen in real life. Up to this day, the Dalai Lama is suspected to be the mastermind of the Tibetan riots as Meng Jianzhu, head of the Ministry of Public Security, visited the burned store and delivered the message of the government. But I believe this is pure allegation and no evidence has been gathered to prove this hearsay as true. What Beijing has not realized is that these incidents are a big blow on the head of Chinese authorities and only validate their countless violations to the powerless Tibetans. Tibet is a small country and yet China used its full-throttled cruelty to stop any riots against the superpower nation. I am very sure the setbacks as the Beijing Olympics nears are greater than expected because of this. Herald Tribune
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After Tibetans, Uighurs too turn restive in China
One of the reasons why China is panicking over the Tibetan independence ‘genie’ popping up again is that it has over the years kept many such genies captured in bottles. The Uighurs Muslims in Xingjiang province is another restive group in the country. They are quite numerous; they number 8 million among a population of 19 million in the province. The Tibetan unrest seems to be fanning their sense of resentment against the Chinese rule. Many have come out on the roads to protest. The Uighurs is a discontented lot. They feel (and rightly so) that their religious rights are being trampled upon. The violent elements in the community have joined Al Qaeda and Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan. This has alarmed China. In an interesting aside, many Uighur Muslim fighters who were captured by US forces in Afghanistan and sent to Guantanamo Bay, have finally landed up in Albania. The US did not want to send them back to China as they would be tortured. The Uighurs want to break free from China. This separatist tendency coupled with their Islamist zeal and their association with Al Qaeda is giving top Chinese leaders sleepless nights. What they want last is a clash between Islam and their communist-capitalist ideology. In Pakistan resentment against China is increasing by the day. The impetus for the hatred is the bad treatment Uighur Muslims are receiving in Xingjiang province of China. Chinese nationals are being targeted. The kidnapping of Chinese girls from a massage parlour a few months ago was one of the stimulus that made Musharraf act against the Red Mosque. Via: Timesonline
Korean reunification: Is it a reality in the near future?
Tensions in the Korean peninsula have reduced dramatically since the North decided to stop its nuclear weapons programmes in return for economic aid. South Korea’s economic help towards its impoverished northern neighbour and international pressure to reconciliate may have made the communist government in Peongyang realise that it cannot survive the political isolation anymore. But can the two ideologically different Koreas ever become one? The opening of train service between the two countries is indeed a very symbolic and positive achievement towards normalising the relationship further. Since the first ever presidential summit between Seoul and Peongyang in 2000, both the countries have been able to move ahead towards an ultimate reunification process. But the road ahead is not at all smooth given the uncertain political ramifications resulting from any unification. There is huge division among South Koreans over the policy towards communist North. Continue reading “Korean reunification: Is it a reality in the near future?” »