News From China Volume 2 No. 3
* UNIVERSITY STUDENTS MUST PAY
In two years, the State Education Commission (SEC) will
require students at all 1,065 Chinese universities
to begin paying an annual fee of RMB 1000-1500 (approximately
$120-180) depending on their exam scores. The government
will continue to pay the majority of the current yearly
costs of $1,000-1,200. The move is expected to help
China's colleges out of a serious cash shortage. The
number of university students has tripled since 1978
to 2.5 million, and funding from the government has
not kept pace.
The SEC also announced that college graduates will have more freedom to select their own jobs by the year 2000, although the state will still retain overall responsibility for assigning jobs. The government plans to set up a network of employment centers around the country. (CNCR)
* AT&T INCREASES INVESTMENT IN CHINA
AT&T Corp. said it plans to invest another $150
million in China by 1996 and to double its 1,000-strong
work force within three years. The telephone giant
recently signed contracts worth $150 million to supply
equipment and services to southern Guangdong Province,
the first part of a five-year $500 million agreement
announced last fall. China plans to add 12 million
to 15 million lines of capacity in 1994 and is expected
to quicken the pace, AT&T Chairman Robert Allen
said following a weeklong trip to China.
* SOCIAL UPHEAVAL LEADS TO PROBLEMS
After a massacre by a deranged gunman in Beijing in
which more than 30 people were wounded, a Western diplomat
said, "Social upheaval is leading to this crime
wave." A government official commented, "The
security situation in many rural areas is chaotic.
Crimes committed by gangs in the cities and towns are
serious, and the populace does not feel safe."
* MUSLIM EXPANSION IN XINJIANG
China's government has pacified some Muslims in Xinjiang
Province by subsidizing mosques and clerical salaries.
In the last 20 years, 2,500 mosques have been built
or repaired in Kashgar, home to 9,500 mosques, or about
half of the province's total. About 62 percent of Xinjiang's
16 million people are Muslims. (Wall Street Journal,
Pulse)
* TOP COUNTRY
A group of the world's largest companies recently voted
China the top country for foreign investment. Nine
out of ten firms, however, said possible political
instability is a major deterrent to long-term investment.
(South China Morning Post Weekly)
* MODERNIZING CHINA'S AIR FORCE
U.S. government officials have recently concluded that
China and Israel are collaborating to develop and produce
an improved fighter plane for the Chinese Air Force.
Comparable to an American F-16, the new jet will be
based on the "Lavi," a model that the U.S.
once planned to help Israel build, but dropped because
of mounting costs.
The Chinese plane will incorporate extensive technological innovations derived from the Lavi project. China and Israel have already finished work on a prototype, and production will probably begin soon at a plant in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, according to U.S. officials. The plane's deployment is seen as a major step in Beijing's effort to modernize its air force. Some observers predict it could mean trouble for China's long-standing rival, Taiwan. (Los Angeles Times)
* LAUNCH FAILURE PLAGUES CHINESE
SATELLITE PROGRAM
A telecommunications satellite that would have revolutionized
Asia's television market broke into several huge pieces
a minute after liftoff in late January, according to
the Xinhua new agency. Chinese state television briefly
broadcast live the liftoff of the Long March No. 2
rocket carrying the Apstar-2 satellite from the launch
center in Xichang in southwest Sichuan Province. The
satellite would have enabled broadcasters to reach
two-thirds of the world's population.
The failure was the second serious blow to China's satellite program. Last fall, a communications satellite failed to go into operation because of a fuel leak, according to People's Daily. The leak on board the Dong Fang Hong No. 3 satellite caused it to run out of fuel. (Xinhua, People's Daily)
* MTV'S GLOBAL REACH
Already in 250 million homes, MTV plans to start broadcasting
in Mandarin in China. By the end of last year, MTV
Asia delivered local programming to 18 countries in
Asia. The new expansion will put MTV in more than 500
million homes. MTV already covers Japan, Europe, Brazil,
and several Spanish-speaking countries.
"Kids on the streets in Tokyo have more in common with the kids on the streets in London than they do with their parents," says MTV's owner, Sumner Redstone. "We're catching these kids at a stage in life when all kids are essentially the same, when they virtually have to rebel from their parents." (Pulse)
* CHANGE COMING TO CHINA?
"Change in China will be both explosive and erratic,"
predicted Carol Lee Hamrin, senior U.S. research specialist
on China at the U.S. Department of State and an adjunct
professor at Johns Hopkins University. "Change
in the political system is inevitable. In fact, it's
been dangerously delayed by Deng Xiaoping's longevity."
China's Asian neighbors, who are pouring billions into the mainland, worry about an explosion of inflation, joblessness, and social upheaval if things go badly. "China is at a critical stage," says Peter Bottelier of the World Bank's Beijing office. "What happens is important for China and, almost by definition now, the rest of the world." (Pulse)
* U.S. PLANNED TO STRIKE CHINA
U.S. military commanders planned nuclear strikes against
China in 1954 to protect South Korea and French-ruled
Indochina from aggression, according to documents released
last December. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff formulated
their plans in a previously classified April 17, 1954,
memorandum titled "Analysis of Possible Courses
of Actions in Korea."
The memo was written 10 months after a June 26, 1953, truce brought an uneasy halt to the 1950-1953 Korean War in which Chinese and Soviet-backed North Korean forces invaded the south. Warren Cohen, an expert on U.S.-Chinese relations at the University of Maryland, said the Joint Chiefs' memo showed that the U.S. military did not want to fight another Korean-style limited war.
* CHINESE COMPANIES BUILD PLANES FOR U.S. CORPORATION
Chinese aircraft manufacturers are expected to make
20 planes for the U.S. aerospace company McDonnell
Douglas Corp. by the end of the century. Four Chinese
firms will collaborate on the MD-90-30, according to
the China National Aviation Industry Corp. The Chengdu
Aircraft Co. will make the nose, boarding gate, service
gate, and stairs. (Xinhua News Agency)
* DECLARING WAR ON PIRACY
Jason S. Berman, chief executive officer of the Recording
Industry of America, showed pirated compact discs during
talks with Chinese officials in Beijing on intellectual
property rights. Pirated discs and tapes are those
that are illegally copied. Berman bought the pirated
discs for $1.50 each, far below the normal price. He
said the piracy of U.S. goods in China is costing American
companies millions of dollars in lost trade.
* BUSINESS DELEGATION TOURS U.S.
A six-person delegation from the China State Planning
Commission visited eight cities in the U.S. in January
to explore new markets. The Commission, which approves
all major economic projects in the U.S., studied the
American economy looking for ways to promote business
between the two countries, according to Hejin Bai,
deputy secretary general of the Commission.
* INCREASED FINES FOR WORKER
EXPLOITATION
China has introduced tougher fines for employers who
exploit their workers or force them to work overtime
in order to survive in the stiffer competitive environment
spawned by reforms. A code accompanying China's first
labor law allows employers to be fined $12 for each
extra hour an employee is forced to work. They face
a $6,000 fine if industrial safety or hygiene installations
are found below standard. (China Daily)
n1994 FIGURES UP
The Chinese economy remained "buoyant" in
1994, according to The Economist. Industrial output
was up by 5.9 percent in November and by 28.1 percent
throughout 1994. (Economist)
* DISPLACED PEOPLE
The Three Gorges Dam, a project of Premier Li Peng,
costs $35 billion and will displace 1.3 million people.
Observers have expressed serious doubts that the dam
will effectively control flooding on the Yangtze River.
(Far Eastern Economic Review)
* DISNEY IN CHINA?
Walt Disney Co. denied reports that the entertainment
company is planning to build a theme park in China
and said no negotiations are under way. The denial
comes in the face of reports by Japan's Nikkei news
service that Chinese officials visited Disney headquarters
in California last year to discuss the project.
The Nikkei report detailed Disney's plans for a Chinese theme park proposed for Guilin. Nikkei quoted Disney officials saying it could be completed by 1998 and would require an investment of $2 billion. The Nikkei report said negotiations with local authorities are almost complete but the company is waiting for clearance from the central government. It added that the site would occupy more than four square miles and would include an airport. (Orlando Sentinel)
* DENG'S DAUGHTER WRITES BOOK
Xiao Rong, daughter of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping,
has written a book, My Father Deng Xiao-ping. She was
recently in the U.S. promoting sales of the book. (Time)
* BABY GIRLS KILLED
The modern technology of ultrasound, which can determine
the sex of a baby in the womb, is being used indirectly
to kill many baby girls in China. Many families want
only boys, and each year millions of women undergo
abortions to kill baby girls. When abortion fails,
infant girls are sometimes abandoned to die.
Some observers fear a massive shortage of wives for a hundred million Chinese men within the next few years. Abortion is also unsafe for women. A Chinese physician who opposes abortion for medical reasons said, "The government is injuring millions of women this way." (Sing Tao Jih Pao, Rutherford Institute)
* LAW TO "IMPROVE" BABIES
The Chinese legislature has passed a controversial new
law to control marriage and births. It was originally
proposed in 1993 and caused widespread international
criticism and comparison to policies pursued by Adolf
Hitler in Nazi Germany. The new law aims to prevent
those with serious mental disabilities or contagious
diseases from marrying or having children, and states
that "abnormal" fetuses and those carrying
hereditary diseases should be aborted. Xinhua commented
that China has more than 10 million disabled people
"whose births could have been prevented if such
a law had been in effect when their parents were marrying
or having children." (CNCR)
* TOBACCO ADS BANNED
Beijing has announced a broad ban on cigarette advertising,
which will affect television, radio, newspapers, magazine,
and cinema. International tobacco companies say they
can still make money in this lucrative market by sponsoring
special events and broadcasts. Marlboro, for example,
sponsors the 12 teams of China's national soccer league
as well as music programs on radio and TV. Britain's
B.A.T Industries, whose 555 brand cigarette is perhaps
the best-known foreign brand in China, sponsors sporting
events such as the Hong Kong-to-Beijing Motor Rally
and also gives money to schools through an education
foundation.
The ban, which was to go into effect in February, also requires tobacco companies to put health warnings on advertisements. An estimated 500,000 people a year die of smoking-related illness in China, and the Chinese Academy for Preventive Medicine estimates health costs related to smoking were $3.3 billion in 1989. China's 300 million smokers consume 1.8 trillion cigarettes a year. (Wall Street Journal)
* EXPEDITION CROSSES GOBI DESERT
A German expedition team has become the first to ever
cross the center of the Gobi Desert. Previous teams
have gone only to the edge of the desert. Leader Bruno
Baumann said the 15-member team encountered sand mountains
as high as 1,320 feet. The 21-day expedition, which
cost $35,000, included five other Europeans, four Chinese
guides, five camel drivers, and 30 camels.
* POPULATION GROWING FASTER
THAN EXPECTED
China's population was predicted to reach 1.2 billion
by the end of last year, earlier than expected. By
2000, it may top 1.3 billion, with 1 billion in rural
and farming areas. By then, the number of unemployed
or not fully employed could reach 20%. (Ming Pao)
* CRIMINAL GANGS
Chinese authorities broke up more than 150,000 criminal
gangs during 1993, and will soon target organized crime
with national anti-Triad laws. (South China Morning
Post Weekly)
* EXHIBIT OF CHINESE TREASURES TOURS UNITED STATES
"Imperial Tombs of China," a massive exhibition
featuring 250 artifacts spanning 24 centuries of China's
history, will debut in April in Memphis, Tennessee.
The treasures will then tour U.S. cities including
Provo, Utah; Portland, Oregon, and Denver, Colorado.
Other cities, including Orlando, Florida, are currently
negotiating to have the exhibition displayed at their
museums.
Among the artifacts in the exhibition are a crown fitted with 100 jewels and 2,000 pearls, a burial shroud made of 2,000 pieces of jade, and a complete throne room from a palace. Approximately 65 percent of the exhibition's pieces are rated by the Chinese government as national treasures.
* MORALS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
The first research institute devoted to issues of morality
and culture has been set up in Beijing. The Beijing
Eastern Morality Research Institute, which is headquartered
at the Beijing Youth Politics College, will explore
how to educate the nation's youth in traditional Chinese
morality. (Ming Pao)
* GLOBAL PARTY, SOBER THOUGHTS
Even as the West revels in the spread of market economics
worldwide, some geopolitical analysts see trouble ahead.
Vast job dislocations, including in China, threaten
stability and economic growth. Environmental stresses
are expected to become acute in China, India, and southeast
Asia. In China, for example, the city of Tianjin is
sinking 2.5 meters a year as its groundwater is depleted.
Due to smog, Benxi is invisible to satellite cameras.
(Pulse)
* YEAR OF REFORM
1995 is the year of state-enterprise reform in China.
The designation is intended, among other goals, to
stop inflation, which is China's biggest economic and
social worry. "We are not going to waste scarce
resources on the production of useless goods,"
said Wang Youwei, deputy mayor of Dalian, after sending
home 50,000 workers because production at their factories
was suspended. The Economist predicts 1995 will also
"be the year of trouble in the state sector."
(Economist)
* DIVORCE INCREASES
In 1993, a record 909,000 couples in China obtained
divorces -- three times more than in 1991. (CATW)
* DANGEROUS GROWTH?
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew nearly 12
percent in 1994 to $509 billion. According to Time,
the economy has become dangerously overheated, despite
admission by Marxist stalwarts that economic liberalization
has saved China from the fate of the defunct Soviet
bloc. (Time)
* LOTS OF CHICKEN
Kentucky Fried Chicken, which opened its first restaurant
in China in 1987, believes that China will be one of
its 10 largest markets within ten years. In 20 years,
it could be the largest market. The company currently
operates in 71 countries. (Rutherford Institute)
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