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| U.S. Asian Policy | ||
| Lee Myung-bak and the Future of Sino-South Korean Relations World leaders, including PRC President Hu Jintao, offered congratulations to Lee Myung-bak following his election as South Korea’s next president on December 19, 2007. Hu’s message stressed his desire to expand “good neighborly and friendly relations” with South Korea and his hope that “strengthen[ed] coordination and cooperation on regional and international affairs” might “upgrade the all-round partnership of cooperation to a higher level and bring more benefits to both peoples and countries” (Xinhua, December 20, 2007). | ||
| Singh's Visit to China: Views from Beijing Singh’s visit marks an important step forward in high-level summitry that may contribute to a gradual détente between the two Asian giants. | ||
| Who's Hu's Successor? The Hong Kong based newspaper Ming Pao learned from sources in Beijing that Xi Jinping—who was only recently elevated by President Hu Jintao to become a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee—may be slated to replace Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan in the position of vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) (Ming Pao, February 11). | ||
| Taiwan's Culture of Food "Have you eaten yet?" (Chih Fan Le Me?") instead of "How are you?" ("Ni Hao Me?") is the way of the Taiwanese. This is part of the Chinese culture—they love to eat. It's as if "no food, no life." Culinary Beginnings Taiwanese food consists of the old and the new, of East and West. The area's diverse cuisine has been contributed to by the various immigrants who settled in the region and, because of historical and political reasons, things borrowed from different regions of mainland China—Beijing, Guangdong, Sichuan and Shanghai. | ||
| Premier Wen's Eurasia Tour On November 2, the sixth annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government began in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The six member states include Kazakhastan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan [1]. India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan attended as observers and Afghanistan as a guest of the host country Uzbekistan. Xinhua News Agency, the mouthpiece of the Chinese [regime], breathlessly reported: “In a friendly, pragmatic, and constructive atmosphere, delegations of the member states held in-depth discussions on a host of pressing issues, including deepening economic trade and cultural cooperation within the SCO as well as safeguarding the region's peace, stability and security”(Xinhua, November 3). | ||
| Scientists One Step Closer to Understanding How Water ‘Lubricates’ Proteins Researchers from Ohio State University have reported using ultra-fast light pulses to reveal how water molecules link up with proteins and enable them to move and function. Researchers said that their findings could one day help them find new treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cataracts, cystic fibrosis, and diabetes. | ||
| Beijing 2008 Excludes Falun Gong On November 8, 2007, the Chinese Beijing2008 Committee announced that it welcomes athletes overseas bringing Bibles or other personal religious objects to China. However, this rule was said explicitly not to apply to the meditation practice Falun Gong. Erping Zhang, spokesperson for Falun Gong, said on November 9 that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has the facts wrong about Falun Gong and has violated the spirit of the Olympic Games, and international and Chinese laws. Zhang calls on the international community and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to condemn and stop the CCP from openly violating human rights. | ||
| China Means Business in Iraq After a few years of practical exclusion dictated by the United States, China is about to resume its economic and perhaps military presence in Iraq. It was reported in mid-October that Baghdad has awarded the Shanghai Heavy Industry Corporation a $940 million contract to build an enormous power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad. If and when completed, the plant would supply 1,300 megawatts of electricity, a major increase of over one quarter to Iraq's existing electricity supply (International Herald Tribune, October 19; New York Times, October 18). | ||
| Towards Realism in Canada-China Relations My respect for the people of China and their country is longstanding. It grew during visits to various centres both as Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), 2002-03, and earlier as a Member of Parliament. Hong Kong, for example, is one of my favourite cities in the world. Shanghai is outstanding, but so are Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, and many others. It is no accident that the more than one million Canadians of origin in the Middle Kingdom are reportedly our best-educated ethno-cultural community. It was an honour to represent some of them in Parliament for about 27 years. | ||
| 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress As expected, no major “policy” surprise came from the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress, particularly towards Taiwan. President Hu Jintao’s political report on Taiwan from now until 2012 will be more of the same. The Anti-Secession Law (fan fenlie guojia fa) provided the legal foundation, and Hu's "four-point” guidelines are directing the policy. Though conciliatory in tone, the policy remains unchanged. | ||
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