China : Xi Jinping Joins the Top Leadership

XI Propelled on Strengthening Power Mode

"Just because Mr. Xi hasn't introduced himself to the western world hardly means he is incapable of leading."

The 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) closed its fifth plenary session Monday evening. The announcement of the governmental People's Daily was made at 17:28 local time: "Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was appointed vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee made the announcement on Monday that the CMC was augmented to include Xi as a vice-chairman in a communique upon the closure of the four-day meeting. Xi is also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee."

CCP Top Leadership: Their pictures here http://bit.ly/bLna6s

Hu Jintao

Wu Bangguo

Wen Jiabao

Jia Qinglin

Li Changchun

Xi Jinping

Li Keqiang

He Guoqiang

Zhou Yongkang

The announcement of Xi's appointment came on the closing day of the ruling Communist Party's annual meeting in Beijing, according to Xinhua. Xi, 57 who had long been tipped for the promotion, becomes the second civilian member of the commission besides Hu, who is expected to step down as head of the Communist Party in 2012 and as president the following year.

Xi was promoted to the powerful nine-member standing committee of the party's political bureau in 2007 and was named China's vice-president the following year. The son of a revolutionary hero and the husband of a famous and beautiful pop singer, Xi has in the past served as the top party official in the eastern provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, and more recently as Shanghai's top leader.

Known as one of the "Chinese princeling" due to his family lineage, at least part of Xi's political ascension is due to his late father, Xi Zhongxun, a communist guerrilla who fought alongside revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. Competition among Princeling will be interesting to monitor before the 12th Congress of 2012. Xi is not thought to be Hu's favourite, but some observers believe that former president Jiang Zemin, who still wields a lot of power even in retirement, and his allies, managed to propel Xi to top leadership. Jiang Zemin leads the party powerful "Shanghai school', as I did write on this web-page on several occasions, so it's a very political and powerful choice, predictable according to my Chinese sources. But is tomorrow's China to be ruled by politics or by strict economical governance? And who else could eventually fit both modernizers policies?

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Xi Jinping was the son of Xi Zhongxun, who once served as deputy prime minister of China but was often out of favour with his party and government, especially after he openly criticized the government’s actions during the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. In 1969, during the Cultural Revolution, the younger Xi, like many of his fellow educated urban youth, was sent to the countryside (he went to the rural Shaanxi province), where he worked for six years as a manual laborer" End of quotes. (Opened sources)

This being written, I do not necessarily agree with this report of the LAT "Xi Jinping on track to become China's next president... the Communist Party official is named to a post that is considered a steppingstone for assuming the leadership. He has a reputation for being tough on corruption and friendly toward business, even foreign companies" as there is no detailed justification except the quote of only one Beijing outcast Chinese watcher Liu Junning.

Looks like this one (a blog on foreign policy usually spreading the Washington viewpoint) reads AG regularly:

"On a tour of Latin America in 2009, Xi seemed to catch a bit of the region's anti-yanqui fervor, telling a gathering of Chinese expats, "There are some foreigners who have eaten their fill and have nothing better to do than point their fingers at our affairs. China does not, first, export revolution; second, export poverty and hunger; or third, cause unnecessary trouble for them. What else is there to say?" Though most analysts think Xi will succeed Hu, the appointment probably won't end the speculation over his putative rival Li Keqiang, a close protégé of Hu's with deep ties to the powerful Communist Youth League. Li's faction doesn't think much of the princelings, though there doesn't appear to be any rift between Xi and Li -- at least not one that has spilled into public view. Li is widely thought to be in line to succeed Wen Jiabao as premier, the No. 2 job in China's political system."

The CPC communique statement on reform does not suggest of course that China is about to drive towards a western style democracy any time soon. It appears, first, it falls short of addressing some of the reform calls made by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in recent speeches, seeking greater openness and accountability, and describing democracy as something we cannot oppose. (Read past posts of AG)

Popular Chinese Folk Singer Peng Liyuan

Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping who is rumored as a presumptive next president, is to become first lady if her husband makes it to the very top after CCP 2012 Congress. Peng was born in Shandong Province, she debuted as a singer at the age of 18 and is now one of the most appreciate Chinese folk singers. Engaged in various social activities, humanitarian, health, social, the 47 year old currently serves as art director of the People's Liberation Army's song and dance troupe. Married in 1987, the couple have a daughter "who was admitted to Harvard University in September this year" according to a Korean press article. She is not anymore a folk singer.

Congratulations to the Shanghaians.

And to be continued...

Sources: Reporter's notes, private sources, Xinhua, Economist, Encyclopaedia Brit', People's daily, agencies.

Breathe! It's Cop-10 on Biodiversity!

COP 10 Nagoya: An epiphany on Biodiversity

and for all forms of biological life?

Some concrete plans this time?

Any expectation of not doing as bad as former

climate change talks held in Copenhagen?

"The Earth's biological resources are vital to humanity's economic and social development. As a result, there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to present and future generations. At the same time, the threat to species and ecosystems has never been so great as it is today. Species extinction caused by human activities continues at an alarming rate."

Japan is the host 18th to 29th of October 2010 in Nagoya, of the Tenth Conference of the Parties (COP10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The tenth Conference of Parties (COP10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity is particularly important during the International Year of Biodiversity. The objectives of the conference in Nagoya are:

- adopting a protocol on access to genetic resources

- sharing the benefits arising from their use

- setting new global targets for the preservation of biodiversity.

For two weeks, delegates at the 10th meeting (COP10) of the Convention on Biological Diversity will work on a 20 items plan for the next decade in Nagoya Japan. The talks are said crucial to sustaining the future of any form of life and nature on Earth. Until now a constant failure of governments and parties which failed to agree with previous targets set out in 2002.

"Nearly a third of the planet's 52,000 species assessed for extinction are under threat due to habitat loss, and a third of the world's 6,285 known amphibians are now in danger of extinction, Japan Times writes in today's edition." http://bit.ly/caTPfW

The U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a legally-binding treaty consisting of 193 members or "Parties" (192 governments plus the European Union). It was set up at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and came into force in December 1993. Its stated aims are to conserve and sustain biodiversity, while trying to promote a "fair and equitable" sharing of benefits made from plant and animal life.

Now what is the target number 1? Nagoya delegates are to agree a new 20-point Strategic Plan for the next decade (2011- 2020) setting new targets for conservation and sustainable uses of Biodiversity.

The European Union and France in Nagoya, what for? Quotes: "The EU and France wish to obtain concrete and visible results that will shape the outline of international action for biodiversity in the coming years. France supports the adoption of a protocol on access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits arising from their use, this is in line with the European Union plan. This protocol, which covers genetic resources but also the knowledge associated with these resources held by indigenous and local communities, would then base the international rules of a market for genetic resources. The benefits of this market should be reinvested in conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. France, as a country providing genetic resources (held in a special status within the European Union), will continue the discussions initiated at national level on the implementation of arrangements overseas and metropolis. For France, finally, the priority will be to secure the establishment of a mechanism for science-policy interface on biodiversity worldwide (IPBES), whose advances are promising."

Needless to see here the considerable impact of all Biodiversity discussions as they are directly commanding or related to international relations as commentator William Pfaff wrote in the International Herald Tribune in the past years.

"It's Government by and for U.S. Corporations and Their Values."

International Herald Tribune 18 January 2001

"The West's Globalization Drive is Proving a Massive Failure."

International Herald Tribune, 29 September 2000

COP 10 is held in the Toyota automobiles manufacturer 'Empire', the Nagoya Aichi prefecture in central Japan. Convention web-page http://www.cbd.int/

Sources: Reporter's Notes, CBD, Japan Times, foncier.mobi, William Pfaff IHT.

The Making of Japan China Crisis: Is Tokyo Beijing relation burning?

Theatrical media manipulation? Attempt to frighten Japanese and Chinese? Well, focussing on reality does not necessarily show the same pictures. Watching the flocks shopping to Ginza, Nanjing Road, Wangfujing, is a way to check a closer look at the factual Asian reality...

Tokyo, 18h59 October 16 2010

Chinese and Philippines group tours shopping on Ginza with local Japanese shoppers

Recently, "headlines" in the Japanese press and in some of the western news agencies catch our attention on what seems to become an alarming violence happening now between China and Japan, in Tokyo and in 3 cities in China, on Saturday October 16th 2010.

Of course it is good to spot on zone and report about a demonstration set in front of a building or in a park, followed by a population of Internet nerds who do not exactly represent the numerous population of the East Asia region concerned. It's also a good thing to watch them freely showing and expressing their disappointments. But the funny" way this "tension" was presented in today's news and papers in Tokyo make like it appears that the Japan China situation is close to chaos, near war, in a climate of hate between Tokyo and Beijing.

In the same time the APEC and COP 10 nations are gathering right now without any disturbance for prep' meetings in Niigata to Nagoya and Tokyo. In other important places, financial gurus and politicians gather and lecture in very posh areas about the Yen about the Renminbi, the $ etc. In Japan and in China. Holly smokes! Where are these pictures and why can't we see them on the front pages?

Of course we can (sorry, we must!) believe what the media (we) say about things and strictly follow the buzz and the tune of the day.

Of course what we have read, well, we quite have NOT really seen it in the real world of Tokyo and in major Chinese cities, so it's not too bad to rebalance with a few pictures made on Oct 16 which seem to describe how the real world was (is) in Tokyo. Calm and peaceful with lots of Chinese and other Asian nations tourists shopping, smoking, partying, on Ginza, the "Tokyo Champs-Élysées"...

Saying in other words that there is "instrumentalization", an agitation and use of propaganda from some biases watchers, call them the Japanese neo conservative media, and add to the borsch a "touch" of foreign watchers ready to make a quick "buck" or two, to ignite tension and to alarm the opinion. Then indeed (!) there is a construction that a very bad bad relation exists between China and Japan. Problems exist, have they reached such enormity? No.

You know the way we in the TV, we do, focus on a crowd and no large view of the situation, creating an illusion of chaos. Or when we film with sequences edited into progressively shorter shots to create a mood of tension and excitement or even filming with no travelling shot. It scores pretty well with viewers!

Genuinely theatrical!

Actually, I have to confirm that my party and I, we saw uniforms yesterday night in Tokyo, in Ginza, they belong to one of the most formidable Navy in the world and they were dispatched in a group, hiding behind trees, progressing orderly, from street to street, and as soon as we identified them, we had them followed until the main Ginza boulevard where we saw that they were up to making close pictures of... a Louis Vuitton shop and of the near-by illuminated streets while on a touristic day journeying in what some described as a quasi "Tokyo burning" atmosphere.*

We'll be there to report, as we did in the past, when something really serious occurs! Until then, sleep tight.

Tokyo, 18h54 October 16 2010

Navy staff shooting at the illuminated luxurious Ginza streets

Alarming headlines, quotes (En and Fr):

"Deux mille manifestants ont défilé samedi dans les rues de Tokyo pour dénoncer ce qu'ils considèrent comme une invasion par la Chine d'îles revendiquées à la fois par Pékin et le Japon.

A Japanese woman protester wearing a pink kimono and headgear marches down streets in central Tokyo as an estimated 2,500 protesters take to the streets during a protest against China on Saturday Oct. 16, 2010.

A man holds a banner while marching during an anti-Japan protest in downtown Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, Saturday, Oct. 16, 201

Chinese paramilitary police march near the Japanese embassy in Beijing, China on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010. Heavy security was enforced in the areas around the Japanese embassy after thousands of Chinese marched in the other Chinese cities in sometimes violent protests Saturday against Japan and its claim to disputed islands, a show of anger far larger than past protests over the competing territorial claims.

A man holds a banner while marching during an anti-Japan protest in downtown Zhengzhou, in central China's Henan province, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010. Chinese characters on the banner reads, "Down with Japan, Protect Diaoyu Island."

A Japanese protester holding a placard with a message reading, "Free (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Dr. Liu Xiaobo," marches down streets in central Tokyo as an estimated 2,500 protesters take to the streets in a protest against China on Saturday Oct. 16, 2010."

End of alarmed quotes.

* Regarding Tokyo burning, I encourage reading the excellent "I Saw Tokyo Burning" by Robert Guillain with whom I had an informative epistolary correspondence in his last years of a truly fascinating life.

http://amzn.to/a0pOgE

"Please, keep me as a concubine!"

Chinese campaign against students in desperate need of money!

Isnt' it a bit late?

It started with the sending of messages by mobile phone with cute emoticons. It happens on Chinese universities campus and these mails are sent by potential concubines. Imagine, she is 20, gorgeous, and she wants to be a paid date. The Enjo-kosai 援助交際 (compensating date) of Japan of the 1990's. Same thing in Taiwan.

In today's speedy high-growth China, where luxury replaced the old motto of humanistic awareness, (who dares to use the word revolution?) "it is not uncommon to see a long line of luxury cars or limos in front of universities famous for having pretty girls" writes the commentator-writer Xu Ming of The Global Times, a parent company of governmental Chinese People's Daily in "Campus 'concubines' show victory of money over morals."

Within the annual tuition fees hike in recent years, some of China's famous universities, such as Peking University and Tsinghua University, decided to implement a large increase to MBA tuition fees starting next year, from 5,000 to 30,000 US$. People Daily wrote September 19th http://bit.ly/9Wkv8h

Is it the only reason why students are in dire needs of money? I guess not.

"Unlike ancient concubines who shared a household with the family, ernai (Chinese term used here for Chinese new concubines) is often used to refer to the kept women of older yet rich and powerful married men, their relationship usually kept secret. The women tend to be what you'd expect; young, beautiful gold-diggers. By being "employed" by their sugar daddies, they manage to live a carefree life of luxury. And some of them are college students which are often a favored variety.

There was a time when such things would have ended in jail or in reeducation camp as I saw in the neighborhood of Beijing which gathered prostitutes, petty thieves, drug-addicts and youth without "guanxi" (personal or professional connection).

"Once "hired," these girls tend to be-have rather differently. They are suddenly keen on dressing up and don't care about studying any more."

Description of a process, without much concerns, the paper adds: "While there is nothing illegal about keeping a "concubine" in China, such behavior goes against basic social morals".

We were wondering when the "social pudibonderie" wall would be raised. And now the moral Confucian education knocks at the door of the campus with some reminders: "Money may help them get beauty, but they may be at risk of losing their families, which, unlike the young girls they sleep with, can't be bought with cash."

Although they're still young, the lost time during their golden years is a huge price to pay, the paper carries on with the good question: how to grow the "cultivation of a sense of independence to help students better weigh their life choices?"

Read the story of the Global Times here http://bit.ly/amdyL4

According to China watchers and digging into my memory, I think the free way to look at the Chinese garden of pleasure started rather free in 1983 1984. Money had then become the first ideological reference of rising China to the displeasure of the rulers. Well not to all of them.

Now the irony of the story is that the so called "serious" Chinese press such as the Global Times or other Chinese papers entered into a new strategy to get readers on line: They brand lots of pictures of young ladies from China, Asia and the western nations.

Clicking the image may certainly adds the number of pages read but does not really bring here the confirmation of a newspaper editorial quality. Numbers: I was not yet media-born to witness but I remember following stories about this Mao Era bureaucratic passion for erroneous statistics and for "numbers" which drove the country to the great famine of the Great Leap Forward early 60's!

This article-opinion of the GT is not without a political significance, Global Times always produce in-depth analyses of the society and it shows the beginning of a "social campaign" that starts like everything else in China. When it is too late to reverse the trend and might end very very bad.

Maybe not?

Maybe this is an issue that the China's Communist Party is expected to talk about in the 'social affairs' chapter, as we are aware of seeing constant warning campaigns on strangely labeled "moral health" trends. (cash, paid dating, moral stuff?)

Occasion here to remind that today Friday October 15th starts the party annual meeting and on top of the agenda the country's five-year economic plan for 2011 to 2015 and not to forget the political reform calls asked by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, a topic I talked about a few days ago on this blog following the announcement of the Peace Nobel price to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Xinwei First Levi's Cup Beijing Girl Print Models Contest Finals sponsored by Xinwei magazine was held at Costa Cruises in Shanghai. (Sources: Chinanews)

Sources: Reporter's notes and:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

http://www.globaltimes.cn/

http://en.youth.cn/

Is Yoshito Sengoku the Japan's Real Prime Minister?

Yoshito Sengoku, Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary (Deputy Prime Minister)

Watching Japanese politics for quite sometime here, this is the question I wanted to ask to Mr. Sengoku when he gave a press conference early July 2010 in Tokyo. Unfortunately, in spite of being recognized by the Chief Cabinet secretary (photo), of raising my arm and hands for... ~50 minutes, standing in front of the moderator at the Foreign Correspondents club head table -- something that of course was object of comments of many of my supporting friends and colleagues who sent me their support by emails etc-- I was harshly and unexpectedly censored on this day of July 7th in my own press club, and, therefore I could not ask this very same intriguing question!

Customary in Japan, how unfortunate if the foreign media sometimes play the same devious hypocritical things as some of their Japanese kisha club counterparts! Something that I, as a Co Chair of the Fccj Freedom of the Press Committee, would have never tolerated even though I know there are important assignments when you moderate an event with a VIP, something I did professionally for the last decade.

Needless to add that regarding the big picture here, Mr Sengoku real function in Japan's democracy, I have not seen much discussions and debate sent in the media abroad about this [crucial] same question following the repeated errors made by current Prime Minister such as in the Senkaku Daioyu islands territorial disputes, the Yen or the Okinawa Futenma issue.

I admit I am very pleased that the Asahi shimbun group today raises the issue in the current daily in English, months after I tried to ask this same question to this powerful power player; especially I quite know of his up and down political career and the relations between Mr Sengoku and former socialists MPs including Mrs. Takako Doi, Mr. Tomiichi Murayama and others.

So, Is current Japanese Prime Minster Naoto Kan a 'lame duck' Prime Minister and is Japan under the thumb of Japan political greatest figure today, the "Number 2", Mr Sengoku? Well... then, this is the question asked today by the influential and demonstrative weekly Aera of the Asahi shimbun media group, and I am most willing to share it with you on this blog because contrary to what happened to me, here are some elements of the answer.

Starter:

"In a nation desperate for a strong leader, one politician has recently emerged who has demonstrated crisis-management abilities, gained the trust of Cabinet members and now has an effective grip over government. However, that individual is not Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Instead, it was Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku who played the key role in thawing relations with China over the collision between a Chinese trawler and two Japan Coast Guard vessels near the Senkaku Islands..."

Even more:

..."Originally a Diet member from the former Japan Socialist Party, Sengoku chose four former JSP members for Cabinet posts. Other younger appointees were those Sengoku has advised for many years."...

End of quotes. The Susumu Okamoto story in the Asahi Shimbun Weekly AERA story is here: http://bit.ly/d2IBtG

Supplementary information deals with the same topic in my older posts on this blog. In the 'China Japan territorial dispute', and in 'Asean +3' issues related posts.

Sources: Reporter's notes, Asahi Shimbun

Bretton woods vs 2010 Paper Tigers 纸老虎

Max Gallo, de l'Académie Française (Chair of JF Revel) is a well-known French commentator and the "Immortel" author spills the beans

Few quotes

"We are aiming at the end of a great historical long cycle that started in 1820 after 200 years of western domination. We cannot see, as in the past, if western nations would control the world. [Economical facts do not reflect political reality. Notes of AG]

The IMF chairs of Benelux (Belgium Holland Luxembourg) have more power than China and more than India today in spite of their both impressive weight in international trade and the political affairs. Will the soon coming G-20 Seoul Summit be able to re-balance the chairs of international organizations and global realism according to today reality instead of the 1950's order?

Not that easy to pressure China on the Yuan Renminbi, (after Japan' Yen in the 80's) especially this happens with an EU without diplomacy who just appears as an unbuilt EU conglomerate of non-united countries... and while 4 trillion of $ are traded each day. Will the $ remain as an international currency, what if an international crisis was to happen to the US economy?"

"The youth is courageous and generous to struggle for their future."

End of quotes

To listen to this most informative show with Max gallo as the star of the day http://bit.ly/do0xFj

Sources: France Culture, "Esprit Public" 10-10-2010.

65th Anniversary of Pyongyang's Party! Military parades with Young General Kim Jong Un

North Korean Military Fantasia

Screen picture of Kim Jong Un (L) and Kim Jong Il (R) Kim Jong Un

the DPRK heir joined his father for his first wide public appearance

since announced as North Korea's next leader

Jong Un surrounded by DPRK top military chiefs and his father

Redoubtable DPRK army conduct military parades for celebrations

North Korea is holding an imposing military parade in Pyongyang Square on Sunday morning 10.10.10 for the 65th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, with the 4 stars General leader-in-waiting Kim Jong Un appearing on the square top building VIPs' balcony dressed in plain clothes and not in uniform. The military parade, believed to be the biggest of its kind in the country, is intended to show the continuation of "Songun," the military-first policy advocated by Kim Jong Il beyond generations and a single-minded unity under the leader.

DPRK Missiles

The parade was said to be the nation's largest ever with thousands of troops from every field of North Korea's 1.2 million military forces. Air, Ground, Sea, Hospitals' nurses and heavy equipments, missiles. A parade for the 65th foundation of the DPRK Workers' party showed that Kim Jong Un is surrounded by military heavyweights and introduced for a diplomatic debut. Tonight for the 3rd continuous day, the North Korea capital will proceed with fireworks. North Korea images celebrating 65 years of communist regime rule as follow.

Also an interesting report with Al Jazeera in English aired yesterday:

http://bit.ly/bOaR7u

China's former Public Security Minister 'iron-hand in a velvet glove's Zhou Yongkang attended North Korea Parade on Sunday morning. Zhou is native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and will stay in Pyongyang until Monday. He spent most of his career in the oil sector (Liaoning province, Ministry of Petroleum Industry, currently rising star of the party) and replaced Luo Gan, a close to Li Peng, as Minister of Public Security in 2007 as secretary of the CPC Central Commission of Political and Legal Affairs. (AG informed sources)

Zhou Yongkang

Sources: Reporter's Notes, Nkradio, Kyodo, KCNA, Xinhua, Al Jazeera, Youtube