Buddhism thrives as China relaxes religious policy

Agence France-Presse
Jul. 07, 2009. 02:05 AM EST

China Riots Signal Democratic Deficit

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, July 07, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Democracy: Riots exploded in China's western Xinjiang province this week, in what authorities alternatively call criminal acts or global terrorism. In reality, it's neither: it's the pent-up fury of people who live without freedom.

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Related Topics: East Asia & Pacific

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Sunday's riot in Urumqi, where ethnic Uighurs battled Chinese police, ended with 159 dead, 1,000 injured and 1,400 arrested, according to official sources. Unofficially, the death toll has been estimated as high as 400.

International response has been muted, but shouldn't be. The scale of deaths and the increasing frequency of such upheavals across the country raises red flags about China's prized "stability."

It's curious, but places that justify repression in the name of stability always seem to end in turmoil. Official Chinese sources offer two explanations, each containing a bit of truth, but all skirting the real issue, which is China's growing need for democratic accountability.

Uighur women protest China’s detention of 1,400 men in Urumqi on Tuesday after Sunday’s riot. Uighurs also held sympathy protests globally.

State media claimed the riots were a law-enforcement matter, describing Uighur ruffians coming armed and ready to rumble at last weekend's demonstration in Urumqi. But that doesn't quite work.

China's other version of events contradicts the law-enforcement thesis and called it essentially the work of outside agitators.

The riots were also said to be an orchestrated effort from abroad to break up the country with terrorism. One official version holds that Uighur rioters are al-Qaida-inspired troublemakers.

There's some truth to this, given rising Islamic fundamentalism in Xinjiang. Other versions insist the unrest was masterminded from America by exile leader Rebiya Khadeer, a 62-year-old businesswoman who leads the Uighur National Congress. Khadeer denies this, and it's impossible to see how much influence she has, anyway.

All these explanations ignore that these riots and demonstrations are getting bigger, more frequent, and more lethal.

They're not just in Urumqi, but in Lhasa, Tibet, and in China's central industrial cities, with some sources estimating them at 80,000 per year now.

That signals this isn't about the extremes of crime or terrorism, but rather the absence of democracy and accountability.

China remains a communist country, with most freedoms absent. Citizens cannot express themselves to government, or even get their attention through civil means. Writing a letter to a congressman and getting a result is out of the question in China.

Redress for grievances doesn't happen, and booting corrupt officials is out of the question. For minorities, it's especially tough: "Uighurs get two choices: They are terrorists if they voice concerns or else good Uighurs if they assimilate," said Alim Seytoff, spokesman for the World Uighur Congress in Washington.

That leaves the only outlet for pent-up anger in demonstrations and riots. It's human nature, and likely to grow unless Beijing gets serious about giving citizens a voice.

The democratic deficit is growing increasingly obvious as China's cities — even remote Urumqi — grow more prosperous and Internet communication, including Facebook and Twitter, expand.

Xinjiang is remote, but it's no backwater. It's part of China's economic success story, with its vast oil and mineral resources.

All that economic prosperity logically leads to one place: Democracy. Right now, what's happening in Urumqi is a hunger for freedom.

Is China As Suicidal As We Are?

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Energy Policy: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes to China seeking help in fighting climate change. It's doubtful the world's No. 1 polluter will agree to follow us over the economic cliff.

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Read More: Energy | East Asia & Pacific

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In the summer of 2007, a report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency announced that China had officially become the world's biggest polluter after its CO2 emissions rose an astounding 9% the year before. Since then, China has shown no signs of slowing down in its commitment to both economic and energy growth.

Between 1980 and 2006, China increased its carbon emissions by 321%. China is adding 100 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity capacity annually. That's like adding the entire capacity of the United States every three years. The irony is that this powers Chinese factories that export goods to the energy-starving and economically beleaguered U.S.

This isn't all China exports. As Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation reports, , sulfur from China alone reaches 10% to 15% of the EPA's allowable levels in California, Oregon and Washington. Estimates are that a third of California's air pollution and a fifth of Oregon's come from China. Sensors in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have identified huge Chinese pollution clouds that traverse the Pacific.

Apparently tired of breathing exported Chinese pollution in her San Francisco district, Speaker Pelosi found herself on Tuesday attending the U.S.-China Clean Energy Forum.

She brought along other members of Congress, including Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-author of an economy-killing cap-and-tax bill that just passed a key House committee.

This is the latest effort trying to persuade the Chinese to adopt the U.S. policy of restricting economic growth by accepting draconian caps on carbon emissions with no scientific evidence that it will measurably affect global temperatures. So far the Chinese aren't buying it.

As Fareed Zakaria notes in his book "The Post-American World": "The combined carbon dioxide emissions from the 850 new coal-fired plants that China and India are building between now and 2012 are five times the total savings of the Kyoto accords."

So why are we sacrificing our economic growth to fight their pollution?

China is exempt from Kyoto as a "developing" nation, which is one of the reasons the U.S. Senate once voted 97-0 not to consider it for ratification. China doesn't mind seeing the U.S. economy handcuffed as it races to make this century a Chinese century. As it is, our states and taxpayers struggle to clean up imported Chinese pollution.

In fairness, China is pursuing other, cleaner forms of energy. It has 11 nuclear power plants on line. Another 22 are under construction. Fu Manchang, the secretary-general of the Chinese Nuclear Society, says: "We have the ability to raise our nuclear power capacity to at least 60 or 70 gigawatts."

China's all-of-the-above energy approach to exploiting all its resources is part of its commitment to both economic and energy growth and stands in stark contrast to our none-of-the-above approach to proven energy sources. We are committed to pricing coal and other fossil fuels out of existence with no feasible substitute.

We are reminded of Vice President Joe Biden's comment in a rope line during the campaign:

"We're not supporting 'clean coal.' Guess what. China's building two every week. Two dirty coal plants. And it's polluting the United States. It's causing people to die." He went on to say, "No coal plants in America. Build them, if they're going to build them, over there. Make them clean."

They are building them over there and not here. That's not an energy policy. That's economic suicide. Clean energy and economic growth are not incompatible.

We should be trying to get China to reduce its pollution. But we should also be expanding our own domestic energy resources, including building at least as many nuclear power plants as China is.

China is unwilling to commit economic suicide. Why are we?

Is China As Suicidal As We Are?

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, May 27, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Energy Policy: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes to China seeking help in fighting climate change. It's doubtful the world's No. 1 polluter will agree to follow us over the economic cliff.

---

Read More: Energy | East Asia & Pacific

---

In the summer of 2007, a report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency announced that China had officially become the world's biggest polluter after its CO2 emissions rose an astounding 9% the year before. Since then, China has shown no signs of slowing down in its commitment to both economic and energy growth.

Between 1980 and 2006, China increased its carbon emissions by 321%. China is adding 100 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity capacity annually. That's like adding the entire capacity of the United States every three years. The irony is that this powers Chinese factories that export goods to the energy-starving and economically beleaguered U.S.

This isn't all China exports. As Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation reports, , sulfur from China alone reaches 10% to 15% of the EPA's allowable levels in California, Oregon and Washington. Estimates are that a third of California's air pollution and a fifth of Oregon's come from China. Sensors in the Sierra Nevada Mountains have identified huge Chinese pollution clouds that traverse the Pacific.

Apparently tired of breathing exported Chinese>>>

CAN CHINA CLEAN UP ITS ACT?

May-21-09 12:25pm

China's unprecedented growth in recent years has come at a terrible price. Two-thirds of its rivers and lakes are too polluted for industrial use, let alone agriculture or drinking. Just 1 in 100 of China's nearly 600 million city dwellers breathes air that would be considered safe in Europe. At a time when arable land is in short supply, poisoned floodwaters have ruined many productive fields. And last year, ahead of most forecasts, China passed the U.S. to become the world's largest source of greenhouse gases.

The immensity of these troubles has produced a result that may surprise many outside China: The nation has emerged as an incubator for clean technology, vaulting to the forefront in several categories. Among all countries, China is now the largest producer of photovoltaic solar panels, thanks to such homegrown manufacturers as Suntech Power. The country is the world's second-largest market for wind turbines, gaining rapidly on the U.S. In carmaking, China's BYD Auto has leapfrogged global giants, launching the first mass-produced hybrid that plugs into an electrical outlet. "China is a very fast follower," said Alex Westlake, a director of investment group ClearWorld Now, at a recent conference in Beijing.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

Understanding they are in a global race, China's leaders are supporting green businesses with policies and incentives. Beijing recently hiked China's auto mileage standards to a level the U.S. is not expected to reach until 2020. Beijing also says it will boost the country's share of electricity created from renewable sources to 23% by 2020, from 16% today, on par with similar targets in Europe. The U.S. has no such national goal.

While most environmentalists applaud these developments, China watchers are voicing two very different sets of concerns. Some question whether China will really stand by its ambitious targets and are worried by signs of backsliding as the recession in China's key export markets drags down economic growth. Another group, interested mainly in America's own industrial future, fears that China's growing dominance in certain green technologies will harm budding cleantech industries in the U.S. After all, China's emergence comes just as the Obama Administration is trying to nurture these same types of ventures, hoping to generate millions of green jobs. Many of these U.S. businesses will have trouble holding their own against low-price competitors from China.

Beijing's green intentions will soon be put to the test.>>>

World Bank Upgrades Growth Outlook for China

• JUNE 19, 2009

BEIJING -- The World Bank raised its forecast for China's economic growth this year to 7.2% from 6.5%, acknowledging the boost that Beijing's stimulus plan is giving the economy. But the bank cautioned that "it is too early to say a robust sustained recovery is on the way."

Trading on Chinese Exchanges Tops Japan's

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China has surpassed Japan to become the third-most-active stock market in the world, after New York and London. But it's remarkably difficult for foreign investors to trade the most appealing Chinese stocks.

Strong government investment will support growth of China's economy, the world's third-largest, in 2009, but private investment is likely to continue to lag, the bank said Thursday in its latest quarterly update on China.

In March, the bank had lowered its forecast for China's growth to 6.5% from 7.5%. Its improved outlook follows several major indicators that have fueled hopes of a tentative economic recovery in the country, largely driven by the stimulus spending.

"The current surge in government-influenced investment is welcome, and more domestic demand in China is helpful for the world economy," the bank said. "However, it is unlikely to lead to a rapid, broad-based recovery in China, given the current global environment and the subdued short-term prospects for market-based investment."

World Bank senior economist Louis Kuijs said at a briefing that the stimulus is likely to have a smaller effect on the economy next year.

The bank also indicated that the stimulus spending,>>>

It's Cold Cash, Not Cold Feet, Motivating Runaway Brides in China

• JUNE 5, 2009

By MEI FONG

XIN'AN VILLAGE, HANZHONG, China -- With no eligible women in his village, Zhou Pin, 27 years old, thought he was lucky to find a pretty bride whom he met and married within a week, following the custom in rural China.

Ten days later, Cai Niucuo vanished, leaving behind her clothes and identity papers. She did not, however, leave behind her bride price: 38,000 yuan, or about $5,500, which Mr. Zhou and his family had scrimped and borrowed to put together.

When Mr. Zhou reported his missing spouse to authorities, he found his situation wasn't unique. In the first two months of this year, Hanzhong town saw a record number of scams designed to extract high bride prices in a region with an oversupply of bachelors.

The fleeing Mrs. Zhou was one of 11 runaway brides -- hardly the isolated case or two that the town had seen in years past. The local phenomenon has fueled broader speculation among officials that the fast-footed wives may be part of a larger criminal ring.

"She called me soon after she left," says Mr. Zhou, a slight man with a tentative smile. He says she asked how he was doing, and apologized for the hardship she had caused. "I told her, 'I will see you again one day.' "

Thanks to its 30-year-old population-planning policy and customary preference for boys, China has one of the largest male-to-female ratios in the world. Using data from the 2005 China census -- the most recent -- a study published in last month's British Journal of Medicine estimates there was a surplus of 32 million males under the age of 20 at the time the census was taken. That's roughly the size of Canada's population.

Now some of these men have reached>>>