Politics & Economics

"Beckham!" extolled the driver when I told him I was from the UK. Last year there was even an encased waxwork model of Beckham in Nanjing Road East in downtown Shanghai. I'm not entirely sure who most Chinese will be supporting in the World Cup - but judging by the England track suit tops and T-shirts and the fact that it is the number one selling football strip in China I think England will get strong support.

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Following on from my Blog of 16 February, there is new news on the US-China dispute on revaluing the Chinese Yuan. In March, China posted its first trade deficit for six years: $7.2bn (£4.7bn). And the US Administration has postponed its decision (originally due this month) on whether it would treat China as a "currency manipulator" or not - much to the chagrin of many US Congress members. The March deficit has been very timely from China's point of view (I expect we'll see a large April trade surplus).

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China's one-child policy is bringing its own social consequences: an ageing population and a gender imbalance of 120.56 boys to girls against a world average of 103-107. One of the causes is referred to here as "female feticide" and the result is 32 million more boys than girls. In Shanghai the government has relaxed the law to allow parents who are both an only child to have two children. I had gathered that the stricter penalties imposed on erring couples had been relaxed - but not in Puning City, Guangdong Province it seems.

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Limited Comment: I cannot speak about politically sensitive issues and this is a big one and I want to respect the contract I have at CEIBS. My individual rights to speak, as with Chinese citizens, are subject to the human rights of the society as a whole.

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of the Yuan The grinding message from US and EU politicians and media commentators is that China, by pegging the yuan to the dollar, is putting up a trade barrier. China has the trade surplus, US and the EU have the trade deficit. The US and the EU want China to revalue its currency to make Western imports to China cheaper and Chinese exports to the West more expensive. When the position is stated in such simplistic terms the proposition is laughable.

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In Part One (27 November), I reflected on the Chinese political system and the economic development during the 'openning up' period of the last 30 years inaugurated by Deng Xiaoping covering political, economic, social, and cultural reforms under the achievements made at the Third Plenum of the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee in December 1978.

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The Chinese press are now in overdrive attacking the US administration's support for Google over accusations of cyber attacks and controls on internet freedom. Leader and opinion columns explain that China wanted to keep the dispute as a legal matter but now the US is "damaging" relations between the countries.

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Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, left Shanghai the other day after a visit to China. The FT says that Harper has been a "strong critic of human rights abuses in China and has received a diplomatic scolding during a visit to Beijing." (FT Asia 6 December).

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In my recent Blog, 'Mr Wen wants "mutual trust" with Canada', I quoted a comment in the FT about Stephen Harper's (Canada's Premier) recent visit to China. It said that Chinese leaders resent receiving lectures on their political system or human rights record from western politicians.

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"Execution of drug smuggler 'proper'" (China Daily headline 30 Dec) and "China defends execution - and criticizes Britain" (Shanghai Daily 30 Dec).
Britain rarely gets any press in China so to get such front page story headlines indicates the strength of feeling in China towards the British reaction to the "execution of heroin fiend" (Shanghai Daily) Akmal Shaikh on 29 December.

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