ONTD: Politics

The pledges were made in two days of talks between the world's two biggest economies which ended with both sides hailing progress in their often tense relationship.

The difficulties in relations, particularly in human rights issues, were underscored by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who described Beijing's rights record as "deplorable" in a magazine interview. China's current crackdown on dissent, she said, amounted to "a fool's errand".

But on economic matters, officials were upbeat after talks.

"We are seeing very promising shifts in the direction of Chinese economic policy," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said.

The annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue yielded more results on economic issues than some analysts had expected, although many remained skeptical China's market-opening vows would translate into concrete benefits for U.S. business.

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When I first heard China call the United States out on some of its own problems with human rights and discrimination, I was euphoric. Finally, a superpower who can stand up to the United States! But it's clear to me now that this is the same situation as the Cold War, where both sides go back and forth calling each other names and things progress as usual, if not slower, just so one side doesn't lose face. Case in point, it looks like China's going to stand firm with this yuan reevaluation stuff for a while, because there's no way Xi Jinping is going to "back down" to the US within the first three years of his presidency.

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China on Tuesday urged the United States to terminate as soon as possible its economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba.

Wang Min, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the appeal as he spoke at a UN General Assembly plenary meeting.

Wang said the General Assembly has adopted resolutions by an overwhelming majority for eighteen consecutive years on the necessity of ending the US embargo against Cuba which has been imposed since 1961.

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Translation: China can't really boss the United States around and neither can the UN, but it is fun to pretend that the US will get their heads out of the sand and update their foreign policy from the 1970s.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Lots of midterms.  Hope everyone is excited for the election!

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has a new chairman in Walter Isaacson, and the former CNN and Time magazine chief is calling for even more money for the BBG to combat the public diplomacy efforts of America's "enemies," which he identifies as Iran, Venezuela, Russia, and China.
( Is it any wonder this guy's from CNN? )



Is this the sort of pernicious propaganda that Isaacson wants to protect delicate American sensibilities from?

As an aside, this is the most bizarre piece of propaganda I have seen in some time. It is deceptively shallow. What's going on between Medvedev and Putin here? Who would you say is presented as being in charge? Who comes off as more powerful?

Realizing that he had made an ass of himself in his first speech as chairman, Isaacson backpedaled, later claiming "I of course did not mean to refer to, nor do I consider, that Russia, China, and the other countries or news services are enemies of the U.S., and I'm sorry if I gave that impression."

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BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Top Chinese leaders paid homage to the Chinese soldiers who died fighting Japanese aggression during the Second World War Friday, the 65th anniversary of the Japanese surrender to China.

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treesahquiche made this glorious picture a reality, but we all know what the Central Committee was thinking when they staged this.
Left side (from left to right): Zhou Yongkang, Li Keqiang, Li Changchun, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (Notice that Uncle Wen is the only member not scowling)
Center: Hu Jintao
Right side (from left to right): Wu Bangguo, Jia Qinglin, Xi Jinping, He Guoqiang

As you may or may not have noticed, this article is from the People's Daily, a news source that has been known to fudge historical facts. That said, which historical facts made it to this new weave of the tapestry of Communist Party lore can tell you a lot about the direction of the Party today. The article makes NO specific mention of Mao Zedong, the famous Communist Party leader who was savvy enough to gtfo of urban China and attack the Japanese and the Nationalists with propaganda from the countryside. Communism goes similarly unmentioned.

Instead, we can see that the CCP continues its attempt to source legitimacy from nationalism. The "spirit of the Chinese people" was what ultimately defeated the Japanese, not the Americans or Communism. (note that the Japanese surrendered to China.) Special focus is given to assorted Japanese atrocities: germ warfare, genocide in Dushan County, but significantly, the rape of Nanjing isn't mentioned. Greater political analysts than I can sort that one out. The Japanese occupation of Nanjing and differences between historical accounts of the event by China and Japan has been a major source of anti-Japanese sentiment in China.

Is it possible that the Chinese government wants to transform the "War of Resistance Against Japan" into something analogous with the modern American perception of World War II? In America, there is a celebration of the spirit of the American people and the might of the American military, but the Nazis have been reduced to little more than bogeymen. Nobody set a Volkswagen on fire after seeing Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Maybe China wants its people to hate the historical Japanese who raped their country but move things forward with the modern Japanese who are major economic partners. Trying to reason through doublespeak has given me a headache.

What do you think?

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is probably more embarrassed than anyone to learn of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s unexpected visit to China Thursday.
On a visit to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, Carter had an itinerary that included a meeting and dinner with the North’s No. 2 man Kim Yong Nam. Carter arrived at Sunan Airport in Pyongyang Wednesday afternoon.

Kim Kye Kwan, the North’s chief negotiator to the six-party nuclear talks, received Carter at the airport and accompanied Kim Yong Nam at the dinner held at Baekhwawon State Guest House.

The North’s official news media said Carter did not have the chance to meet Kim Jong Il. The North Korean leader went to China on an exclusive train that crossed the Chinese border on his previous China visits, and will probably return in about a week.

Because of this, it was deemed virtually impossible for Carter to meet Kim Jong Il.

The main purpose of the former U.S. president’s visit was to gain the release of the detained American Aijalon Mahli Gomes. Carter, however, also spoke of a “grand vision” of bringing Pyongyang back to the negotiating table and tackling the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and regional peace through a meeting with Kim Jong Il.

Given the situation, Carter might very well feel embarrassed and disappointed.

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Making fun of Jimmy Carter is about as funny as making fun of Dan Quayle nowadays, but I think it is in rather poor taste for Jimmy Carter to oversee a hostage's return to the United States from an antagonistic country, all things considered.

Whenever North Korea and China's relationship gets brought up, I feel bad for China.  North Korea is like the best friend China had in elementary school who grew up to be the creepiest kid in town and is sort of embarrassing now that China has friends that don't talk about their dead cat collection at parties.

Canadian journalist Mitch Moxley told the BBC World Service he was among a group of white North Americans hired by a Chinese company as "quality control experts".( Read more... )
By Junaid Ahmed
BBC News
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It's a shame that everyone knows about this now.  I think this is the only job that I, as a white male, would be the first choice for an employer.  'John' and 'Ben' sure have changed their tune for the BBC.  The first time I heard about this, they sounded pretty triumphant.