The War of "Nail Household" Against the Eviction Team

Thousands of kids today are fans of online games, but you may not know about one popular online game in China that is based on 'eviction,' a subject that I have explained in my previous blog. After 1949 when Chinese Communist Party got power, they confiscated all lands. Today, whenever Chinese government wants your land, you have to give it up by law. Numerous conflicts have occurred and several people have died over this issue of land ownership.

Now, this new game uses 'eviction' as backdrop. In this game, the offender is the eviction team. They use light weapons to destroy a house. The family living in the house can use household items to defend themselves. If the family should win, they will be awarded with a certificate stating that they are the most intrepid hero against the eviction teams. If they lose, they will be encouraged with the statement that although the house falls, people not, and wishing them to fight again.

Online Protest in China

Protests are illegal in China, but Chinese government can hardly prevent Internet users from holding virtual protests. This time, they're support a 'nail household' in Jiangxi Province.

All land in China is controlled by the government. Due to urban expansion, the country needs land. Sales of land by different levels of governments to development companies also have become their major incomes, as high as 50% annually. One problem facing the government is the eviction of the residents. Many families have refused to move even though the foundation has already been dug.

(http://www.ybtv.cc/bbs/attachments/month_0712/20071229_c0496bb73f12f016b39aLyHSo5gRfY2q.jpg) Chinese called these families 'nail household' or 'Dingzi Hu'.

On 10th of September, 3 members of Zhong's family burned themselves to resist the eviction. One died and two seriously injured. Mr. Zhong's daughter decided to find support in Beijing. They were intercepted in the airport by a team of 40 led by the county party secretary. Ms. Zhong sneakedinto a restroom and used her cellular phone to call a journalist. Two days later, she was kidnapped by the party. Although she asked for help from the police, the police refused . The journalist then put this incident on a microblog and soon got attention of many Internet users. Although the netters cannot help Ms. Zhong against the Chinese authoritative power, they formed a 'virtual protest'. Ms. Zhong eventually was able to petition her case in Beijing, but we do not know how government will handle the case.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010: Liu Xiaobo & How China Should React

As most experts predicted, China’s LIU Xiaobo (劉曉波) received the Nobel Peace Prize 2010.

Dr. Liu is no ordinary dissident. He was a professor at Beijing Normal University and a popular literature and philosophy critic. His book once was sold several times higher than the listed price and was used by book sellers to sell additional unpopular books with it as a bundle.

In 1989, Liu was in the U.S. to solicit support for democratization. After learning the student protests for democracy in Beijing, he decided to go back to China. He told his friend that “this is the moment we have been expecting and we cannot be absent.” He joined the hunger strike in the Tian’anmen square and negotiated with the government for peaceful retreat of the students. In the night of June 4^th, PRC soldiers opened fire. Estimations show a death toll ranging 200 according to the Beijing mayor to 3,000 according to the Soviet archive. Dr. Liu then refused supporters’ assistance to go into exile. He waited and was arrested by PRC government.

Dr. Liu was released in 1991 but then became a frequent prisoner. He was convicted of subversion in 2009 for his major role of Charter 08 - a document that thoroughly lists the fundamental institutional arrangement for a modern democratic country including separation of power, legislative democracy, independent judiciary, public control of public servants, and election of public officials.

As expected, PRC official propaganda said the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision “blasphemes Alfred Nobel's purpose of creating this prize” and "may harm China-Norway relations". Some scholars have even regarded this event as some Western governments’ conspiracy. In such a totalitarian country, government officers and even civilians cannot understand that the Nobel committee is independent from Norwegian government.

Inside China, all reports related to Dr. Liu and even this year’s Nobel prizes were banned. Searching “Liu Xiaobo” on Google generates a blank page. When NHK, the Japanese premier TV news company, announced the Nobel peace winner, the TV screen went black. Rumors in China say Barrack Obama is the peace prize winner again.

Chinese government should have a positive view on the decision. After successfully ensuring that“hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty,” the PRC government is indeed looking for political reform, led by the country’s Chairman HU Jintao and Prime Minister WEN Jiabao themselves. They understand it very well that the reason they launched the political reform was not just because of foreign governments’ pressure but because it was the only solution to domestic problems including corruption. So far, no one knows how they will lead the country into a new era, but the Nobel Committee’s decision may tell them where to go.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2010/press.html

The Impact of Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands Dispute on East Asian Power Balance

On 7 September 2010, a Chinese fishing trawler collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats in disputed waters near the Diaoyu (Senkaku) islands. After the collisions, Japanese sailors boarded the Chinese vessel and arrested the captain Zhan Qixiong. Mr. Zhan was then formally charged under Japanese law.

The uninhabited Diaoyu islands (Senkaku islands in Japan and Diaoyutai in Taiwan) are located 170 kilometers northeast of Taiwan and 410 km west of Okinawa. According to Nicholas D. Kristof, a senior New York Times journalist, “Chinese navigational records show the islands as Chinese for many centuries, and a 1783 Japanese map shows them as Chinese as well.” In 1894, Japan occupied the islands during the First Sino-Japanese War. The Qing Dynasty of China ceded Taiwan and surrounding islands to Japan after losing the war. After World War II, Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Ally and Taiwan was handed back to China. When Japan’s Okinawa was then administered by the U.S. In 1949, the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan. In 1972, the U.S. handed Okinawa and Diaoyu Islands back to Japan. The handover triggered major protests in Taiwan and its oversea citizens. One of the protesters is the current ROC President Ma Ying-jeou, whose doctoral dissertation at Harvard is a study on the ownership of Diaoyu Islands. The People’s Republic of China was in the chaotic Cultural Revolution that time and had no ability to deal with the US or Japan. Today, China, Taiwan, and Japan all claim the ownership of Diaoyu Islands but Japan in actuality controls the area.

Although China and Taiwan do not fight with Japan for the ownership of the islands, they certainly do not want to see Japan using domestic law to charge Mr. Zhan. If Mr. Zhan is really charged under Japanese law, China and Taiwan silently consent to Japan’s claim over the islands. It is not difficult to understand China’s strong reactions.

In spite of China’s strong reactions, Japan did not succumb, at least until China made some effective actions. First, China decided to discontinue the negotiation with Japan about the joint exploration of the oil field in East China Sea. Then, it decided to dig Chunxiao (literally Spring Dawn) oil field independently. The field is located in the overlapped claimed sea territories by China and Japan. But most effectively, China secretly disallowed export of rare earth to Japan. Rare earth, which contains different kinds of chemicals such as lanthanum, promethium, gadolinium, is essential to nuclear weapons, superconductors, hybrid cars and so on, and China produces 95% or even more rare earths in the world today. Although Japan has enough reserve to support a couple of years’ consumption, the U.S. does not. The U.S. was shocked by China’s action. According to some Taiwanese newspapers, it was the U.S. who convinced Japan to release the captain.

East Asian Power Balance and the Sinking of Cheonan

“The Cheonan, a South Korean warship, exploded, broke in half and sank near a disputed sea border with North Korea on March 26, 2010, killing 46 of the 104 sailors aboard.” said New York Times. While South Korea is mourning the dead, the US has taken the initiative to exercise its influence in this area. On July 20, the US and South Korea announced a naval exercise with unprecedented scale, “including an American aircraft carrier — the nuclear-powered George Washington, one of the largest warships in the world — 20 other ships and submarines, and 100 aircraft. It will involve 8,000 men and women from the American and South Korean armed services,” said New York Times. Although, the two countries claimed that “The exercises…are meant as a show of force and a “first step” in trying to deter North Korea from acts of aggression in the region,” analysts believe that their real aim is China. Taiwan has coastal guards and residents in Dongsha and the largest islands of Spratlys, and China in Paracel islands. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton voiced, while attending the ASEAN regional forum in Hanoi, that the territorial disputes in South China Sea are a leading diplomatic priority and the United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation there.

After the collapse of Soviet Union, the United States found China to be potential threat. A series of disputes between the two countries in 90s – the U.S. bombing China’s embassy in Yugoslavia, the collision of a Chinese jet fighter and U.S. spy plane, Bill Clinton’s accusations on China’s human rights policies, massive Chinese refugees moving to the U.S. coasts and the like, occurred, but none of these has affected China’s steady and significant economic development.

The two nations’ dispute stopped when the terrorist attack happened on September 11, 2001. Since then, dealing with terrorism has become the highest priority of George W. Bush administration as well as the Chinese government.

Now, soldiers have been called back from Iraq, the U.S. seems to refocus on China. The U.S. policy on China is clear – encircling China so that it has to pay huge bills to obtain the resources it needs: Afghanistan is occupied by U.S. military force. Uzbekistan and Pakistan are allied. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand have been in the anti-communist camp with the U.S. for 60 years. The border crossfire between India and China has never fallen. China may well realize the U.S. intention but it does not have the power and excuse to stop them.