Pidgin Uyghur Highway Signs and Tragedy of Han Ignorance

I strongly recommend these two articles on Xinjiang:

1. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/09/how_china_wins_and_loses_xinjiang

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/asia/11xinjiang.html


While I don't see any simple solution to the problem of incompatible competing ethnic nationalisms, it seems to me that the Government in Beijing could do much better in extending Uyghurs genuine respect and dignity.  This could ease the anger and resentment that many Uyghurs feel.  The current bungling heavy handed and ignorant Chinese Government policies in Xinjiang clearly only exacerbate deeply held sensitivities on both sides.  I thank God that in Canada our major ethnic cleavage between anglophones and francophones is managed by Governments in such a way that today we see little violent expression of historical resentments.

Fragment from Report on Arrests of Rio Tinto Execs in China

"Chinese authorities on Sunday arrested four Rio Tinto employees, including the group's top iron ore salesman in China, Australian Stern Hu, alleging they were involved in stealing state secrets. The affair has cast a shadow over Australia-China relations.
Australian papers were critical of Rudd on Friday, with most calling it a crisis for his center-left government and pointing to a serious deterioration in Canberra's relationship with its second largest export market.
"There is an air of contempt in the way the Chinese authorities have failed to respond to Australian government requests for information and for consular access to Mr Hu until today," wrote the Australian newspaper's foreign editor, Greg Sheridan.
"What does the much touted Australia-China relationship add up to if Beijing treats Canberra with such conspicuous discourtesy and indifference?" Sheridan wrote.
Rudd said Australian diplomats had made "strong" representations to Chinese officials and diplomats from the Beijing embassy were expected to gain consular access to Hu later on Friday."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090709/wl_nm/us_australia_china_rudd

Tragedy in Xinjiang

Similar to the situation in Tibet, the source of the ongoing conflict in Xinjiang is that the Han and the Uyghurs have incompatible interpretations of the history of the same territory.  The Han are passionate that Xinjiang is an integral part of their sacred Chinese Motherland.  The Uyghurs with equal passion see their East Turkestan homeland as illegitimately colonized by a foreign power.  This is a question of recognition of identity, the stuff of men's souls.  People are irrationally ready to sacrifice their lives for genuine recognition of their religious and cultural ethnicity and to assert the political destiny of their national identity.

China's policy has been to engender economic development in Xinjiang as a means to bring the Uyghurs into the great project of China's Han-led rise.  But exactly contrary to the Chinese Communist Party's expectations, the more Uyghurs achieve middle class standards of living, the more Uyghur nationalistic they are likely to become.

In the meantime the level of anger reaches a fever pitch and violence ensues and there is terribly bloody death and destruction.

Comment on Chinese FM Visit to Ottawa

I am interested by the Canada-China Business Council's assertion that Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi is making a "sudden visit" to Canada and the CCBC's indication that the Government of China and not the Government of Canada has asked the CCBC to make arrangements for Mr. Yang in Canada:
"The Canadian business community has an unexpected but very welcome opportunity to stand behind our frequently-voiced and strongly-held beliefs that China is critical to our future. Following recent successful visits of Ministers Day and Cannon, China's Foreign Minister, YANG Jiechi, will make a sudden trip to Canada next week, and the Government of China has contacted us and requested an opportunity to connect with CCBC members over lunch on Tuesday, June 23, in Ottawa.
The foreign minister's invitation is a clear response to the business community's ongoing efforts and strong voice for renewal of the Canada-China relationship and the importance of close diplomatic relations at all levels to business success in China. The Canadian business community has this opportunity, despite very short notice, to demonstrate to the government of Canada and, of equal importance, to the government of China, our support for the efforts from both governments to accelerate a renewal of deep ties.
We are inviting the premiers who accompanied us on our visit to China last November, plus Canada's most senior political figures, and this letter is a call to action to Canada's most senior business leaders to be present and visible at this very important event. Our honorary chair, Mr. Andre Desmarais, will be present, and we expect excellent representation from Canada's senior executives.
We acknowledge that time is tight and schedules are busy, but please make every effort to attend this luncheon. It will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase your company's support for the re-energizing of the Canada-China relationship over the past few months."
An account of Mr. Yang's speech at the luncheon can be found here:  http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/worldnextdoor/archive/2009/06/23/lunch-with-yang-jiechi-china-s-foreign-minister.aspx and here: http://www.canada.com/Canada+China+relations+upswing+Chinese+foreign+minister/1727279/story.html and here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/friendlier-china-shows-willingness-to-embrace-canadas-new-tone/article1194343/

DFAIT's announcement of a photo opportunity with Mr. Cannon and Mr. Yang at 6:15pm on the 22nd prior to their scheduled bilateral meeting at the Pearson Building includes the observation:
"China is the world's fastest-growing major economy and is playing an increasingly important role on the global stage, making the Canada-China bilateral relationship more important than ever." I very much endorse this notion.

Nevertheless, Mr. Cannon has indicated that he is not willing to resume a government to government "bilateral human rights dialogue" with China as such. This could be causing tension with the Government of China as other nations may follow Canada's lead and refuse to participate in this format of engagement with the Chinese authorities on human rights. This would be on the basis that after more than 10 years of dialoguing this format of engagement has proven to be ineffective in promoting social justice in China. This is quite strongly supported by China's flat rejection (as articulated quite bluntly by the Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong) of most of the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council following the HRC review of China's human rights record earlier this year.

David Shambaugh on Role of the Central Party School

In a recently published article David Shambaugh writes of the Central Party School as follows: "In additional to teaching courses in each of these subject areas and conducting their own research, the CPS faculty has long performed the important role as a think tank (zhineng ku
智能库) for the Central Committee and high Party organs."  Later on he refers to "the key role played by the CPS as the Party's primary think tank for generating new ideas and policies concerning political and ideological reform."  Shambaugh gives much detail on this point in the latter part of the article.


"Training China's Political Elite: The Party School System," The China Quarterly, 197, December 2008, pp. 827-844.



(http://charlesburton.blogspot.com/2009/06/david-shambaugh-on-role-of-chinese.html)

Two Extracts from Calgary Herald on Canadian Foreign Policy

"The Harper government has consistently argued that its foreign policy positions are driven by principle. On China, in particular, one Tory insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government’s criticism of Beijing has been driven by the personal convictions of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, rather than any political calculation.

A government spokeswoman echoed the argument that Harper’s policy is driven by political principles, not pandering.

'We make foreign policy decisions based on all Canadians’ interests, supporting our common values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,' Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, wrote in an e-mailed statement.

. . .

The Harper government’s criticism of China on human rights, which has been toned down after ongoing objections from both big business and the Chinese-Canadian community, doesn’t qualify as an example of pandering, said the Tory insider.

He said Kenney has made clear to party members he has pushed an outspoken position based on personal principles even though many Chinese-Canadians, regardless of their views on communism, have resented the public criticism of their “mother country” — especially during the 2008 Olympics that Harper refused to attend."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Catering%20minorities%20puts%20pressure%20foreign%20policy/1695307/story.html

Nancy Pelosi defends human rights advocacy

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she strongly challenged Chinese leaders on human rights abuses during her trip to the country last week, pushing back on the notion that she has been less aggressive about the issue since she became speaker.

“We were very frank about human rights,” Pelosi told a Brookings Institution luncheon Friday afternoon. “They knew who they were meeting with.”

“There was no way that we would go to China and not talk about human rights,” she said.

Pelosi has come under criticism over reports that she ducked the human rights issue during her trip to China.


Full text at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23407.html