China Geopolitical News Thread

[Engineer]

This is so damn true.

It I were the central government, this is what I will do regarding HK:

1, Trim down the Basic Law, only keep the part about sovereignty.

2, Withdraw the PLA stationed at HK.

3, Grant full immediate democratic election to HK. You want to vote whoever you like? Sure no problem.

4, You don't like mainland women to give birth in HK right? Sure I'll ban that.

5, You don't like mainland tourists flooding your streets and "pushing up prices" right? Sure I'll restrict the number of tourists to as low as it doesn't make any impact at all.

6, Water, Food, Electricity will have to be charged at higher than market price. Otherwise HK can import these from elsewhere if they think the price is too high.

7, Move RMB off-shore clearing to Singapore. Or the new economic zone at Shanghai. We won't bother you any more.

Let HK be an experimental field for democracy. Let's see what else HKers will complain. Let's see what true democracy will bring to HK.

Taiwan is waiting for you guys on the path called "stagnation".

Why? If people don't like where they live, they can get out.

 

[bd popeye]

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I see some folks are getting a little snarky with each other.. Time for our naps..

Thread closed for 24 hours to allow for cooling off. OK?

This thread will be open by 2000HRS GMT tomorrow.

Good thread, just don't get snarky and personal.

Do not respond to or quote this post.


bd popeye super moderator

 

[bd popeye]

Thread open.

bd popeye super moderator

 

[Blackstone]

In a 'water is wet' comment, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned members at a NATO gathering that China and Russia are trying to close the military technology gap with the West. But a corollary question is how much longer will Sino-Russo military technology partnership benefit both sides equally? China is surging ahead in all fields of military endeavors, and Russia simply doesn't have the resources to keep up. At what point will China turn down/off the spigot?

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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday, Russia and China are trying to close the technology gap with the U.S. military and developing weapons systems. Hagel was speaking before a NATO summit expected to bring Russia's souring relations with the West into sharp focus and the goals of NATO allies to strengthen defense spending. U.S. defense officials have watched as Moscow and Beijing have tested a string of sophisticated weapons, from radar-evading aircraft and anti-ship missiles that fly many times the speed of sound, to integrated air defenses. Hagel said the goal was to promote greater innovation needed to preserve America's technological edge, even at a time of tighter budgets.

 

[Air Force Brat]

In a 'water is wet' comment, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned members at a NATO gathering that China and Russia are trying to close the military technology gap with the West. But a corollary question is how much longer will Sino-Russo military technology partnership benefit both sides equally? China is surging ahead in all fields of military endeavors, and Russia simply doesn't have the resources to keep up. At what point will China turn down/off the spigot?

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Oh come on Stoney, the Russians have a lot to offer, and they have shared their good stuff in the past, as in Mig-21/J-7, Su-27/J-11, and many other weapons systems, submarines, aircraft carriers, etc, etc, and please, please don't make me mention jet aircraft engines.... so lets give evil genius its due, didn't say it comes free or even cheap, but really, they have carried their weight. With BHO on the ropes, this is tag team genius, just like the old WWF.LOL I'm laughing and my tongue is in my cheek, but, oh well?????? lets just say, its a match made in heaven, don't blow it????

 

[broadsword]

Oh come on Stoney, the Russians have a lot to offer, and they have shared their good stuff in the past, as in Mig-21/J-7, Su-27/J-11, and many other weapons systems, submarines, aircraft carriers, etc, etc, and please, please don't make me mention jet aircraft engines.... so lets give evil genius its due, didn't say it comes free or even cheap, but really, they have carried their weight. With BHO on the ropes, this is tag team genius, just like the old WWF.LOL I'm laughing and my tongue is in my cheek, but, oh well?????? lets just say, its a match made in heaven, don't blow it????

A tag team against a mob has their work cut out.

 

[xiabonan]

A lot of Chinese laws are written with a due amount of ambiguity intentionally.

This is especially true for laws regarding certain "principles" or laws regarding certain "grey areas" that even the highest legislative bodies haven't had a consensus.

For example, the Chinese do not own their properties in the same sense the Westerners own theirs. In China, when you buy an apartment, in practice you only obtained the lease to that property for a period of 70 years. This actually goes against the Laws of Property which was rolled out in 2007 I believe. However, as far as I know, nobody has yet provided a clear definition, or rather, consequence, of what will follow after the 70 years.

Some said that it will just automatically renew for another 70 years, some suggested you'll have to pay again, but in reality nobody knows, and nobody seems to be greatly interested to dig to the bottom of this.

In fact it is not only ambiguity in laws, there is pretty much ambiguity everywhere in the Chinese society, although the degree of ambiguity varies.

For example, there's little to none ambiguity that a murderer will be sentenced to death, but if you're buying goods on the local markets (not the supermarkets in shopping malls), there's ample room to bargain.

In the early days of the "open&reform" policies, even the government does not know how exactly to define the economy. You know, it's the beginning of a transition from an almost completely centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented one. Many fear to use the term "market economy", but they also realise it's no longer a traditional command economy any more. Some came up with the very ambiguous term of "commodity economy or 商品经济 (shang'pin Jing'Ji)“, but such confusion or ambiguity did not stop the reforms.

I'd say this is normal and to a large extent beneficial for China at an early stage of her development, because you really wouldn't want to constrain yourself to a certain set of ideas or values, or define everything so precisely that there's no more room for new explorations. But as China matures and development continues, and more stuff falls into place, it should follow the West and make things more clear-cut.

 

[tphuang]

Guys, let's cut short this topic of china model vs other models. Everyone has their own opinion of which way China should go and we are not going to settle it here.

 

[Blackstone]

Not happy enough with stealing Hong Kong and abusing its residents for almost a century, Britain is once again budding into Chinese internal affairs. The most gulling portion of British attitude is in bold; ceding HK back to China? "ceding?" CEDING??? [

>>> REMOVED PROFANITY SPECIFICALLY NOT ALLOWED BY THE RULES <<<

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The extent of China's anger over what it sees as interference in Hong Kong's affairs by the UK has been laid bare, after the UK parliament published angry letters to British lawmakers from Chinese officials.
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China's ambassador to the UK, Lui Xiaoming wrote that a proposed UK parliamentary enquiry into relations with Hong Kong – a former British colony – would “only send out a wrong signal and offer [a] convenient platform for [pro-democracy supporters] unlawful propositions. This will not facilitate the advancement of Hong Kong's political reform in accordance with law. Nor does it serve... the healthy development of China-UK relations. It will ultimately harm the interests of Britain.”

China's National People's Congress, or NPC, the country's main legislature, recently issued a decree that effectively ruled out open elections in the city for the post of Chief Executive, the top post in the Special Administrative Region's quasi-devolved government. The NPC ruling stipulated that any candidate for the office must be approved by a nominating committee widely seen as being stacked with pro-Beijing members.

Lui's letter also told Richard Ottaway, a member of the UK parliament and the chairman of that body's Foreign Affairs Committee: “I hope that your committee will not hold the afore-mentioned inquiry, and not offer the pulpit for [opposition leaders] Martin Lee and Anson Chan, who are bent on undermining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. Likewise I do not think your planned visit to Hong Kong is helpful and strongly advise you not to make it.”

British lawmakers are conducting an inquiry into the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the agreement which governed the UK's ceding of Hong Kong to China in 1997. The agreement states that Hong Kong should have a high degree of autonomy and executive power, and that personal rights must be enshrined by law.

Ottaway told the Wall Street Journal that the city’s mini-constitution -- or Basic Law – calls for universal suffrage. A Beijing-steered nomination committee could be a violation of such a clause, he said.

In addition to Ambassador Lui's letter, the NPC itself sent a letter to the UK's Foreign Affairs committee. It expressed its “grave concern”, and describes the UK inquiry as “a highly inappropriate act which constitutes an interference in China's internal affairs.”

The NPC communication also warned that the UK inquiry “will have a negative impact on the relations between our two countries.” Both letters were published by the UK parliament earlier this week.

British lawmakers have thus far refused various calls from the China's Communist Party government to call off its enquiry. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a statement Thursday, saying “the UK’s position has always been that the detail of the constitutional package is for the Governments of Hong Kong and China and the people of Hong Kong to decide in line with the Basic Law.”

Blackstone, you know the rules. You have been here far long enough. Warning issued

 

[Blackstone]

Oh come on Stoney, the Russians have a lot to offer, and they have shared their good stuff in the past, as in Mig-21/J-7, Su-27/J-11, and many other weapons systems, submarines, aircraft carriers, etc, etc, and please, please don't make me mention jet aircraft engines.... so lets give evil genius its due, didn't say it comes free or even cheap, but really, they have carried their weight. With BHO on the ropes, this is tag team genius, just like the old WWF.LOL I'm laughing and my tongue is in my cheek, but, oh well?????? lets just say, its a match made in heaven, don't blow it????

Yes, AFB, the Russians still have things to offer China, but that pie is getting smaller all the time. I frankly don't see much Chinese need for Russian gear by the end of the decade, give or take.