Economic and Social Developments

China’s Economic and Social Developments

2005

~ 2004

Chinese Paper Strikes After Editors Ousted
(Agence France Presse, Dec. 30, 2005) One-third of the editorial staff at a popular, outspoken Beijing newspaper have staged an unprecedented strike to protest the ousting of its chief editor and two deputies, reporters said.

China Tries to Fix Growth Problems
(Reuters, Dec. 28, 2005) China will spend 218 billion yuan (S$45 billion) on rural education over the next five years in a drive to improve schooling in the countryside and narrow the gap with the booming coast.

China Plays Down Impact of GDP Revision
(Straits Times, Dec. 21, 2005) Statistics chief took pains to put the upward revision of the Chinese economy in perspective, wary that loud headlines around the world would torpedo Beijing's attempt at cultivating a benign international image.

China's Economy Now 16.8 Pct Bigger Than Thought
(Reuters, Dec. 20, 2005) China's economy is a sixth bigger than previously thought as the country's first nationwide economic census revealed that earlier data-collection methods had failed to capture the size of the service sector.

China Official on Trial for Village Attack
(AP, December 16, 2005) The announcement of the trial came as the government tried to defuse public anger over a separate clash last week in which police opened fire on protesters in southern village northeast of Hong Kong, killing at east three. Villagers said as many as 20 were killed.

China's Imports from Asia up 35 Per Cent
(Bangkok Post, Dec. 12, 2005) "In 2004 China's imports from other Asian countries grew 35 per cent over 2003 figures to 370 billion dollars, accounting for 65 per cent of total imports," Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said.

Rising China Seen Keeping Low Profile at WTO Talks
(Reuters, Dec. 12, 2005) China is a rising trade colossus with more farmers than any other country in the world, but it is expected to keep a low profile at world trade talks as negotiators debate contentious agricultural reforms.

Protesters Say Police in China Killed Up to 20
(NYT, Dec. 10, 2005) Residents of a fishing village near Hong Kong said that as many as 20 people were killed by the paramilitary police this week, in an unusually violent clash that marked an escalation in the widespread social protests roiling the Chinese countryside.

Hong Kong Protesters Want Election Timetable
(New York Times, Dec. 5, 2005) A huge throng of pro-democracy protesters poured through the skyscraper canyons of Hong Kong, defying warnings from senior Chinese officials who refuse to set a timetable for general elections.

Water Crisis Shows China's Pollution Risks
(NYT, Nov. 24, 2005) The Chinese government's decision to cut potentially contaminated supplies of fresh water to a major city has highlighted the threat that industrial pollution poses to public health and economic development across the nation.

IMF Warns on Cost of China's Boom
(BBC, Nov. 22, 2005) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged China to tackle unbalanced growth by freeing up its currency further and rebalancing its economy.

China Faces 'World's Worst Water Crisis'
(Reuters, Nov. 1, 2005) China is struggling to overcome what a minister called the world's worst water crisis caused by widespread drought, pollution, rapid economic growth and waste.

China's Economy to Expand at Slower Rate
(AP, Oct. 25, 2005) China's urban spending on construction, factory equipment and other fixed assets rose at its fastest pace so far this year in September.

China Signals Continued Communist Dominance
(AFP, Oct. 19, 2005) China has issued its first white paper on democracy, indicating that it was not prepared to compromise at all on the Communist Party's dominance over the political system.

China 'To Be World's No. 2 Consumer'
(Financial Times, Oct. 14, 2005) A dramatic consumer boom will take place in China over the next 10 years on the back of rapidly rising urban incomes, according to a new book by economists at Credit Suisse First Boston.

China Summit Targets Poverty Gap
(BBC, Oct. 8, 2005) China's Communist party leaders are beginning a four-day, closed-door meeting in Beijing to map out policy for the next five years.

China Foresees $100B Trade Surplus
(AP, Oct. 7, 2005) China predicts its trade surplus could triple to $100 billion this year, leading to new disputes with its trading partners and added pressure to let its currency appreciate.

Oil Exports Leave China Grappling for Fuel at Home By Peter S. Goodman (Washington Post, Sep. 28, 2005) China is grappling with oil shortages of its own making -- a function of its peculiar status as an economy caught between its Communist past and the modern forces of capitalism.

China Tightens Its Restrictions for News Media on the Internet
(New York Times, Sep. 26, 20050 China on Sunday imposed more restrictions intended to limit the news and other information available to Internet users, and it sharply restricted the scope of content permitted on Web sites.

China Will Soon Be World's Biggest Exporter
(The Guardian, Sep. 17, 20050 China's explosive rise to economic superpower status was confirmed by the OECD in a new report predicting that it would leapfrog the United States and Germany within five years to become the world's biggest exporter.

China's State Secrets Agency Will Guard One Less: Death Tolls (New York Times, Sep. 13, 2005) China said Monday that it would no longer treat the death toll in natural disasters as a state secret, a step that could lead to greater transparency.

China Plans To Honor A Reformer
(WP, Sep. 9, 2005) Chinese President Hu Jintao has agreed to restore the standing of the reform-minded Communist leader whose death triggered the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations.

U.N. Official Urges China to Deepen Commitment to Rights
(NYT, Sep. 3, 2005) China must tie its economic growth to faster improvements in the legal and political rights of its citizens, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour.

Beijing Police Raid Rights Group Office
(New York Times, Aug. 30, 2005) The Chinese police raided the office of an American-financed human rights group here shortly before the arrival of the United Nations human rights chief.

China Ups the Ante in Its Bid for Oil
(NYT, Aug. 23, 2005) China's biggest state-owned oil company, the China National Petroleum Corporation, announced that it would pay $4.18 billion for a Canadian oil company with shares traded in New York and substantial reserves in Kazakhstan.

China Trade Surplus Widened, Investment Rose
(Bloomberg, Aug. 9, 2005) China probably had its third-highest monthly trade surplus on record in July because of surging exports of electronics and steel, and shrinking imports of car components.

China Tightens Restrictions on Foreign Broadcasters
(AFX, July 14, 2005) China has tightened control over domestic television and radio stations' cooperation with foreign broadcasters, the country's media industry regulator.

Income Gap in China Widens in First Quarter of 2005
(AFP, June 19, 2004) China's income gap widened in the first quarter of the year, with 10 percent of the nation's richest people enjoying 45 percent of the country's wealth. China's poorest 10 percent had only 1.4 percent of the nation's wealth.

China Faces Coal Shortage by 2010
(AP, May 25, 2005) China is expected to consume 2.2 billion tons of coal a year by 2010, resulting in a shortage of 330 million tons a year, a state-run newspaper reported Wednesday.

China Calls Off Rights Conference
(NYT, May 18, 2005) China canceled an international conference on human rights, the rule of law and democracy days before it was scheduled to convene in Beijing this week.

China Trade Surplus With West Still Rising
(NYT, May 2, 2005) China's global exports soared in the first quarter, allowing the country to rack up huge trade surpluses with the United States and western Europe. Chinese exports in the quarter rose to $155 billion, up 35 percent from about $116 billion a year ago.

China Ranks Third in Global Trade
(CNN.com, Apr. 19, 2005) The relentless growth of China's economy and its extraordinary rise as a supplier to the world's consumers has pushed it to third spot among global traders, behind only the United States and Germany.

China Reports Trade Surplus of $11 Billion in 2 Months
(NYT, Mar. 11, 2005) China's exports swelled to $95 billion in January and February, up 36 percent from the period a year earlier. Imports grew by 8 percent, to $84 billion.

China Surpasses America As World's Biggest Consuming Country (AP, Feb. 17, 2005) China has surpassed the United States in consumption of every basic food, energy and industrial commodity except oil.

One-Third of Capitalists in China Are Communists
(AFP, Feb. 12, 2005) Capitalists were once vilified by China's Communist Party, but now one out of every three private businessmen is a card-carrying member, state media reported.

World Bank Sees China Growth Risks
(Reuters, Feb. 6, 2005) China's economy is showing signs of cooling, but acceleration risks remain and the government should be ready to raise interest rates again if needed, the World Bank says.

Russian Oil Pipeline to Japan will Branch out to China
(AFP, January 28, 2005) Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft said it has started to plan the construction of a vital pipeline from Siberian oil fields to the Sea of Japan, with another branch leading to China.

China 4th - Quarter GDP Up 9.5 Pct, Exceeds Forecasts
(Reuters, Jan. 25, 2005) China's economy accelerated to 9.5 percent growth in the year through the fourth quarter, exceeding forecasts and raising the risk of another interest rate increase to avoid overheating.

China Becomes No 3 Trading Nation
(Asia Pulse, Jan. 12, 2005) China has become the world's third-largest trading nation, following the United States and Germany, as its foreign trade value expected to reach US$1.1 trillion.

EU Becomes China's Largest Trade Partner
(Xinhua, Jan. 10, 2005) From January to November 2004, the trade volume between China and Europe had reached US$ 159.3 bln, 34.7 percent higher as against the same period in 2003.

China Courts Turn Deaf Ear to Peasants' Cases By Joseph Kahn (New York Times, Dec. 27, 2005) Private citizens and businesses now often resolve civil disputes in court. But the third and most sensitive use of the judicial system, a 1989 statute that entitles people to sue the state, remains a beguiling fiction, scholars say.

China's Rise, Revised By Philip Bowring
(IHT, Dec. 26, 2005) The bigger GDP numbers have both good and bad implications for China. On the positive side, investment and foreign trade are both relatively smaller, but the new numbers suggest that income distribution is even worse than already assumed.

China Economic Growth Comes at a Price
(AFP, Dec. 23, 2005) China's breakneck economic growth once more dominated global headlines this year but so did its tragic industrial accidents, fatal riots, protests and disastrous environmental pollution.

Two Sides of the Coin to China's Hot Economy By Chua Chin Hon (Straits Times, Dec. 22, 2005) China's rise as an economic power is a story in two parts. First, the heady projections and impressive headline figures. But the impressive growth figures say nothing about inefficiencies and inequalities.

That Blur? It's China, Moving Up in the Pack
(New York Times, Dec. 21, 2005) With China's announcement that its economy was considerably bigger than previously estimated, economists and financial prognosticators are scrambling to rethink their assessment of China's rise and its role on the world stage.

China Officials Take Low-Key Role at WTO Talks in Hong Kong By David Lague and Donald Greenlees
(International Herald Tribune, Dec. 15, 2005) China might be the third-ranked trading nation in the world and a superpower in the making, but when it comes to the international trade talks taking place here on Chinese soil, Beijing's representatives are all but invisible.

China's Growth Requires Structure By Zhang Jun
(Taipei Times, Dec. 7, 2005) China's explosive economic growth hinges on the rest of the world, radically changing the global production chain and challenging the global trading system.

China's Far West: Under the Thumb
(Economist, Dec. 1, 2005) China's goal is not just to replicate the boom of its coastal areas. It is shorthand for a policy of tightening central control over remote, far-flung territories and assimilating them into China proper.

China Trips Up Its Barefoot Lawyers By Jerome Alan Cohen
(Far Eastern Economic Review, November 2005) China’s Minister of Public Security, Zhou Yongkang, is a very powerful man. Mr. Zhou, who has never studied law, is the PRC’s only law-related government official to take part in the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution By Howard W. French
(New York Times, Nov. 24, 2005) On her fourth day of keeping a Web log, she introduced herself to the world with these striking words: "I am a dance girl, and I am a party member."

To People in China, Future Looks Bright By Donald Greenlees
(International Herald Tribune, Nov. 15, 2005) China's surging economy has had one unsurprising by-product: The Chinese people are feeling good about themselves and the world, according to an opinion survey.

China to Drop Urbanite-Peasant Legal Differences By Joseph Khan
(New York Times, Nov. 3, 2005) China plans to abolish legal distinctions between urban residents and peasants in 11 provinces as the government tries to slow the country's surging wealth gap and reduce social unrest.

No Changing Colors in China By Frank Ching
(Japan Times, Nov. 2, 2004) Two weeks ago, China issued a 23,000-word white paper on democracy, the first time the Communist government had ever done so. However, the white paper turned out to be a defense of the perpetuation of the monopoly of power by the Communist Party.

China Luring Foreign Scholars to Make Its Universities Great By Howard W. French (New York Times, Oct. 28, 2005) China wants to transform its top universities into the world's best within a decade, and it is spending billions of dollars to woo big-name scholars and build first-class research laboratories. The effort is China's latest bid to raise its profile as a great power.

Building of Political Democracy in China
(State Council of the PRC, Oct. 2005) Socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics is being constantly improved and developed. The people are exercising fully their right to be masters of the state. The building of political democracy with Chinese characteristics is progressing with the times, exhibiting great vigor and vitality.

China Builds Its Dreams, and Some Fear a Bubble By David Barroza (New York Times, Oct. 18, 2005) Move over, New York. This year alone, Shanghai will complete towers with more space for living and working than there is in all the office buildings in New York City.

China's Shenzhou VI: A Misplaced Priority
(Editorial, China Post, Oct. 16, 2005) It seems an irony that right after the top leadership vowed to reduce the gap between rich and poor. It blasted two astronauts into space, at a cost estimated at 19 billion yuan.

Letter from China: A Scholar's Prescription for Getting to Next Level By Howard W. French (International Herald Tribune, Oct., 14, 2005) "What China has not realized, if it truly wants to go to the next level, is that numbers are not enough," Xu said. "You must reward innovation, and reward scholarly work."

Political Reforms in China Suffering Problems By Richard McGregor (Financial Times, Oct. 11, 2005) The severe beating and possible murder of a grassroots activist in southern China has highlighted the deep-seated problems in implementing the limited democratic reforms allowed at the local level by the central government in Beijing.

China Village Democracy Skin Deep By Tim Luard
(BBC, Oct. 10, 2005) China's tough handling of recent protests by villagers in Taishi, southern Guangdong province, has thrown into fresh doubt its claims to be introducing genuine democracy "from the bottom up".

The Barbarians Learn How to Lobby at the Gates of Industry By Scott Kennedy (Financial Times, Oct. 5, 2005) Although the Chinese regime is still authoritarian and supports domestic industry, the business of lobbying is alive and well, to the benefit of Chinese and foreigners alike.

China's Energy: Continuous Struggle with Shortage
(Shanghai Daily, Oct. 3, 20050 The Yangtze River Delta is one of the richest areas in China. But the region is poor in energy resources and in the last couple of years this economic engine house of the country was strangled by repeated power cuts.

China Is Simply Too Busy Getting Rich to Worry about Democracy By Niall Ferguson (Telegraph, Oct. 2, 2005) China's economic and political fate will be decided by two key institutions. Both are networks. The first is the country's financial system - the credit network. The second is the global information network known as the internet.

China's Modern Power House By Rupert Wingfield Hayes
(BBC, Oct. 2, 2005) Who runs the lives of China's 1.3 billion people? In Mao's day the answer was the same: the Communist Party. Today, China is a very different place. The Party has withdrawn from people's heads, from their homes, and by and large from their work places.

Gap Between China's Rich, Poor Alarming By Elaine Kurtenbach
(Associated Press, Sep. 21, 2005) The gap between China's richest and poorest citizens is approaching a dangerous level and could lead to social unrest, state media reported Wednesday, citing a government study.

Capitalist-Roaders Flourish in China
(Editorial, Financial Times, Sep. 19, 2005) Exactly how much of China's booming output is generated by the private sector has been a matter of some heated debate, the more so because the country's Communist rulers have not been keen to shed light on it.

Beijing-Vatican Deal Seen as Possibility
(Agence France Presse, Sep. 13, 2005) China could still accept an olive branch extended by Pope Benedict XVI in inviting pro-regime clergymen to the Vatican next month despite an initially cool reaction.

Private Sector In Control of China Economy, Survey Says
(Financial Times, Sep. 13, 2005) The private sector in China is now responsible for about three-quarters of economic output and employment, according to a new survey.

China Has to Develop "Soft Power": World Economic Forum Chief (Asia Pulse, Sep. 9, 2005) To project a positive image of itself, the country needs to make efforts in developing "soft power" - the power of generating new ideas, of being able to look at the future and communicate with others about its vision.

China: Is It a Threat, or an Opportunity?
(People’s Daily, Aug. 23, 2005) Prof. Joseph Nye: Since ancient times, whenever there is the rise of a new big power, it will arouse worries and misgivings among the existing big powers. China is no exception.

China Risks Social Unrest as Income Gap Widens
(Straits Times, Aug. 23, 2005) The growing income gap in China could trigger social instability if government efforts at reining in the problem prove unsuccessful by 2010, an official study has warned.

China - An Open Economy, A Closed Society By Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and George W. Downs (International Herald Tribune, Aug. 17, 2005) A new and more sophisticated breed of autocrat has discovered a strategy that permits them to enjoy the benefits of economic growth while postponing the emergence of authentic competitive democracy.

Beijing and the Vatican Edge Closer By Ramón Pedrosa
(International Herald Tribune, Aug. 18, 2005) In recent months, the Vatican has been engaged in negotiations with Beijing that, if successful, could substantially improve religious freedom in China.

China's Leaders Begin a Crucial Debate By Eric Teo Chu Cheow (International Herald Tribune, Aug. 17, 2005) Authorities no longer refuse to discuss China's growing social instability in public. Key officials in the Chinese government have lately expressed their concern about this instability.

China Grows More Wary Over Rash Of Protests By Edward Cody (Washington Post, Aug. 10, 2005) Facing a steady rhythm of violent protests, the Chinese government is showing increased concern about stability, using caution in putting down riots around the country but warning people that violence will not be tolerated.

Electrical Inefficiency A Dark Spot for China By Peter S. Goodman (Washington Post, Aug. 9, 2005) China has become among the world's most wasteful users of power, its growth in demand exacerbated by its striking inefficiency, say energy analysts and economists.

Big Shift in China's Oil Policy By Peter S. Goodman
(Washington Post, July 13, 2005) Until recently, China's view of the global energy map focused narrowly on the Middle East, which holds roughly two-thirds of the world's oil. Special attention was directed toward one well-supplied country: Iraq.

China Oil Giants Crave Respectability and Power By Keith Bradsher and Jad Mouawad (New York Times, July 9, 2005) Cnooc is endeavoring to help transform China from a marginal player in the energy markets to a powerful force in a better position to tap the world's natural resources.

China's Oil Diplomacy By Goh Sui Noi
(Straits Times, July 1, 2005) China's worldwide scramble for energy resources to fuel its booming economy has become so intense that observers are beginning to talk about its 'oil diplomacy'.

Behind China's Bid for Unocal: A Costly Quest for Energy Control By Joseph Kahn (New York Times, June 27, 2005) From the dusty plains of East Africa to the shores of the Caspian Sea, China is seeking to loosen the grip of the United States on world energy resources and secure the fuel it needs to keep its economy in overdrive.

China Decides to Show It Can Buy as Well as Sell By Mark A. Stein (New York Times, June 25, 2005) After years of aggressively selling things to America, China is now starting to buy just as aggressively.

China's New Frontiers: Tests of Democracy and Dissent By Howard W. French (New York Times, June 19, 2005) Township of 110,000 people recently embarked on a novel experiment in governance, allowing citizens' preferences to determine, after detailed consultations over the pros and cons, which major projects will go ahead, and how their money will be spent.

China’s Energy Woes: Running on Empty By Philip Andrews-Speed (Far Eastern Economic Review, June 2005) China faces two pressing sets of energy policy challenges. The first relates to the immediate need to improve management and coordination of the nation’s energy supply.

Communists as Creditors: China and the U.S. Worker By Roger Cohen (New York Times, May 22, 2005) It is President Hu Jintao's policy of using what is widely regarded as an undervalued Chinese yuan to buy United States Treasury securities and so help keep American interest rates down.

China, the World's Capital By Nicholas D. Kristof
(New York Times, May 22, 2005) As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China.

China Cracks Rights Window By Frank Ching
(Japan Times, May 13, 2005) Last month, China issued a white paper that purported to show progress it had made on the human-rights front in 2004. It was immediately dismissed by human-rights organizations as little more than propaganda.

Issue in China: Many in Jails Without Trial By Jim Yardly
(New York Times, May 10, 2005) For a Chinese government that regularly promises its citizens a society governed by the rule of law, the case of a neatly dressed man named Li is a reminder of what still remains outside the law.

China Is a Global Economic Opportunity -- and Possible Problem By Simon Tysdall (Taipei Times, Apr. 25, 2005) The recent surge in violent anti-Japanese protests in China has sent a shiver of alarm across East Asia -- and not least in Taiwan, the country with most to lose if rising Chinese nationalist sentiment translates into future military aggression.

By Playing at 'Rage,' China Dramatizes Its Rise By Howard W. French (New York Times, Apr. 21, 2005)A huge anti-Japanese demonstration here that flirted with turning into a riot over the weekend, for many it bore echoes of the mass manipulation of students of another era, the Cultural Revolution.

Economic Growth in China Is Stronger Than Expected By Keith Bradsher (New York Times, Apr. 21, 2005) A soaring trade surplus and strong investment in new apartment buildings and office towers helped lift the Chinese economy to 9.5 percent growth in the first quarter.

Made in China. Bought Everywhere By Keith Bradsher and David Barboza (New York Times, Apr. 9, 2005) After years of running large trade surpluses mainly with the United States, China is now exporting around the world at such a rapid rate that other countries find themselves racking up large bills to China as well.

The Silent Majority: A Rare Look Inside a Chinese Village
(Economist, Apr. 7, 2005) IN A country where 800m people, about 60% of the population, live in the countryside on an average income of less than a dollar a day, rural backwardness weighs heavily on the minds of China's leaders.

In China, Two Books but One Party By Philip P. Pan
(Washington Post, March 12, 2005) Officials Ban Party Veteran's Work, Endorse Biography by U.S. Businessman. The different responses highlight the party's struggle to control its image.

China Worries About Economic Surge That Skips the Poor By Joseph Kahn (New York Times, Mar. 4, 2005) Chinese leaders open their annual legislative session trying to resolve a vexing pair of problems: the economy is growing too fast, and most people feel left out of the boom.

China's Oil Diplomacy in Latin America By Juan Forero
(New York Times, Mar. 1, 2005) Latin America is becoming a rich destination for China in its global quest for energy, with the Chinese quickly signing accords with Venezuela, investing in largely untapped markets like Peru and exploring possibilities in Bolivia and Colombia.

Slowdown Indicated for China's Economy By Peter S. Goodman (Washington Post, Feb. 22, 2005) China's producer prices last month climbed by the smallest margin in almost a year, adding to the widespread view that the nation's campaign to rein in economic growth by limiting investment is gradually working and will avert a crash.

China’s Looming Labor Shortage By Dali L. Yang
(Far Eastern Economic Review, Feb. 2005) a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, points to demographic trends to show why China’s labor market and political structure could soon change in unexpected ways.

System No Help to China's Laid-Off Workers By Edward Cody
(Washington Post, Jan. 24, 2005) An ailing unemployed worker in this frigid northeastern city, having exhausted all other options, made one final appeal last month, to President Hu Jintao.