Schröder will Waffenembargo gegen China unbedingt lockern

Schröder will beim heiklen Thema möglicher Waffenexporte nach China unbedingt mit dem Kopf durch die Wand: Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder tritt vehement für die Aufhebung des EU-Waffenembargos gegen China ein. Er kündigte an, seine Politik notfalls auch gegen den Deutschen Bundestag durchzusetzen. "Ich gehe mit jedem Votum des Parlaments ernsthaft um. Aber die Verfassungslage ist eindeutig", sagte Schröder der Wochenzeitung "Die Zeit". "Natürlich muss ich das zur Kenntnis nehmen, diskutieren und auch in meine Entscheidung einfließen lassen. Aber ich habe Ihnen meine Begründung genannt, und ich habe nicht die Absicht, diese zu ändern. In der Verfassung steht, dass die Außenpolitik von der Bundesregierung gemacht wird", sagte der Kanzler. Schröder hatte ungeachtet des Konflikts zwischen Taiwan und China auch nach dem Gipfeltreffen der EU-Staats- und Regierungschefs vergangene Woche in Brüssel an seiner Forderung nach Aufhebung des Embargos festgehalten. Wie Schröder hatte zuletzt auch der französische Staatspräsident Jacques Chirac am Sonntag bei einem Besuch in Tokio die Pläne für eine Aufhebung verteidigt. Angehörige der Opfer der blutigen Niederschlagung der Demokratiebewegung 1989 kritisierten Chirac und Schröder dafür scharf. Die Drohung Chinas, mit militärischer Gewalt gegen Taiwan vorzugehen falls das Land seine Unabhängigkeit erkläre, hatte Großbritannien und andere EU-Staaten zögerlich werden lassen. Die EU müsste eine Lockerung der bisherigen Politik einstimmig beschließen. Schröder strebt eine Aufhebung des Embargos als symbolischen Schritt an, will zumindest aus Deutschland aber weiterhin keine Waffen liefern. Nach Angaben von Diplomaten dürfte die EU aber die für Juni geplante Beendigung des Embargos verschieben und damit auf Bedenken der US-Regierung reagieren, die nach Chinas militärischer Drohung gegen Taiwan in einem Ende des Embargos ein falsches Signal sieht. Die EU arbeitet an einem Verhaltenskodex, der Lieferungen erschweren und damit scharfe Proteste der USA verhindern soll.

Chinesen produzieren Spielfilm fürs Handy

In China läuft bald der erste Spielfilm für Mobiltelefone an. Diese TV-Art ist so neu, dass sie sogar den Scheren der Zensoren noch entkommt: Ein Medienunternehmen, das bisher Programme für Mobiltelefone erstellte, läßt Chinas ersten Spielfilm drehen, der nur auf Handys gesehen werden kann. Unter dem Serientitel "Das Versprechen" wird eine erste Gruppe von rund 10 000 Handybesitzern die fünfteilige Serie ab Ende April in jeweils fünf Minuten langen Folgen sehen können. Provider ist die Leshi Media, eine Tochtergesellschaft der privaten Pekinger Unternehmensgruppe Xbell-Kommunikation. Die vor zwei Jahren gegründete Mediengruppe ist mit ihrer Premiere auch Chinas Bürokratie eine Nasenlänge voraus. "Für die Produktion unserer Filme gibt es noch keinerlei Bestimmungen in China. Wir wissen also gar nicht, wem wir sie vorlegen sollen" sagt Liu Hong, Chef der Leshi Media. Er braucht daher weder das Drehbuch zu der Dreiecksgeschichte um zwei in dieselbe Frau verliebte Motorradsportler dem Ministerium für Radio und Fernsehen zur Genehmigung einreichen, noch muß er den fertigen Film von der Zensur abnehmen lassen. ... Umgerechnet 300 000 Euro will Leshi Media in die zwei Wochen dauernden Dreharbeiten in Shanghai investieren. Die Länge jeder Folge sei mit fünf Minuten für die Augen einer Zielgruppe von 20 bis 40jährigen Nutzern erträglich. Mit Vordergrundbildern und knappen Dialogen genügt sie auch der niedrigen Bildauflösung chinesischer Netze. Ende des Jahres will China die Weichen für neue Standards in der Mobilfunk-Technologie stellen, die sich dann für alle Arten von Filmübertragungen eignen.

Neues von Chinas Blasen-Ökonomie

Peking investiert weiter kräftig in gewaltige Infrastrukturprojekte, könnte damit aber nur die Finanzblase weiter aufpusten, fürchtet die New York Times: Nature spent millennia carving the jagged limestone mountains of Guangxi Province into the fanciful forest of stand-alone peaks so prized by ancient painters and modern tourists. Ren Ping and his crew of a few dozen migrant workers have been at their jobs only a few months, but the elevated superhighway they are building has already burrowed a path through the prehistoric crags. "We'll go around this one, but we will have to slice through that one over there," Mr. Ren said over the roar of dump trucks pouring cement. "Drivers on this road will have the most beautiful view in all China." Environmentalists are less enthusiastic. But the highway will link mountainous northern Guangxi to the booming Pearl River delta in the southeast. It is the sort of grand development project that elicits official support and opens checkbooks in China's economy, which some critics say has become dangerously dependent on such state-directed spending. After a road-building campaign unmatched by any country except the United States in the 1950's, China has created an extensive network of multiple-lane highways, complete with landscaped verges and well-equipped rest areas. The Communications Ministry announced in January that it planned to pave a further 53,000 miles of intercity highways and urban ring roads within 30 years at a cost of $250 billion. Total mileage is expected to overtake the American Interstate system, the world's biggest, around 2020. The spending has transformed China's landscape, adding roads, bridges, subways and ports - as well as factories, mines, steel mills and power plants - that could provide the foundation for double-digit growth far into the future. But to an extent that is alarming some Chinese and Western economists, such investment itself is a main driver of China's economy, which grew at a 9.5 percent pace last year. The investment binge, like any bubble, could produce unneeded factories and underused highways and power plants, weakening the country's already shaky financial system. "If China keeps relying on cheap capital to generate growth, sooner or later it will face a major crisis," said Xu Xiaonian, an economist at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. "Right now, the economy is afflicted by the curse of diminishing returns."

China will sich mit elektronischer Aktenfreigabe anfreunden

Peking will mehr Behördeninformationen über das Internet zur Verfügung stellen: The State Council vowed recently to facilitate e-governance, bringing the public and governments closer through the Internet. The move was made following growing complaints and criticisms against governmental websites being user-non-friendly and lacking useful information. Currently, the State Council Informatization Office is working with other central government departments to draft a regulation requiring all governmental organizations to publicize information of concern to the public. The regulation is expected to take effect this year. The office's department director, Zhao Xiaofan, said that people should be able to access information related to administrative affairs on official websites of governmental agencies by then. But in the past, people had no easy access to governmental documents and information because some of them were labelled as classified and hidden in archives. Since China embarked on market-oriented reforms at the end of 1970s, the public has been crying for more government transparency. China's highest leadership has echoed such calls and launched its ambitious e-government initiative in 2000. During previous years, China has made great progress on the initiative and the next step should be focused on enhancing online interactions between the public and government, Hu Xiaoming, vice-president of the National Information Centre told China Daily. Hu said that a law is being drafted to supervise the government's behaviour in the release of information. "If the law is approved by the National People's Congress, government agencies shall be legally bound to publicize information related to government affairs in a timely way," said Hu.

Wie dieser Vorstoß nur wieder mit der verschärften Internet-Regulierung zusammenpassen soll? Alles mal wieder etwas paradox im Umgang mit dem neuen Medium in China: Against the wishes of Tsinghua University, non-students -- even alumni -- will not be able to participate in the campus chat room, as Propaganda Department increases Internet monitoring. ... The mainland's most-popular campus chat room, Beijing's Tsinghua University, has been closed to non-student visitors in the latest move to clamp down on the free exchange of ideas on internet forums. ... Maintained by tech-savvy budding scientists, the chat room has become renowned for its intellectual debate and social commentary, as well as exchanges on the latest information technology, since its launch in 1996. The operators added that non-student visitors had greatly enriched the chat room. "Off-campus visitors have been part of the community and we will not forget them," they said. Many of the chat room's frequent visitors were former students of Tsinghua University. In terms of popularity, the chat room was on a par with Peking University's Yitahutu, which boasted 30,000 users before it was shut in September. The policing of campus-related web sites was stepped up after the Ministry of Information Industry released guidelines on the regulation of non-profit activities on the internet. From Sunday, chat room operators and bloggers will be held liable for any "objectionable content".

China: Supermacht der alternativen Energien?

Wired sieht China auf dem Weg zur führenden Nation mit alternativer Energieversorgung: In the West, clean cars mostly have been the toys of wealthy worrywarts - too expensive to be economical and too technically challenged to be cool. China's feeling an urgency that slower-growing countries don't face. The demand for oil is skyrocketing, rising even faster than the price. And here's the eye-opening stat: In the absence of new regulations, pollution-related illness will suck up as much as 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product by 2030. China's central planners are throwing everything at the problems of fuel and pollution - hybrids, electric cars, propane taxis - all while building conventional cars and infrastructure at a furious pace. "There's a controversy about 'Green GDP' and how to grow," says He Dongquan, a transportation expert at the Energy Foundation in Beijing. "China's in a transition where everyone's mind is changing." Amid the hurly-burly, the only thing that's clear is the future, where hydrogen beckons. China is already taking bold steps toward an alt-fuel future. In late 2003, Beijing mandated some of the world's toughest fuel-efficiency standards. China is even now one of the largest markets for alternative fuel vehicles, with 200,000 in service. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing officials plan to convert their entire bus fleet of nearly 120,000 vehicles to run on compressed natural gas (CNG).

Chinas angespanntes Verhältnis zu Japan und den USA

Der Economist hat diese Woche mal wieder China auf dem Titel und mehrere Geschichten über Pekings Rolle im asiatischen Raum im Blatt. Online verfügbar ist zum einen ein langer Bericht über das nach wie vor angespannte Verhältnis zu Japan: IF YOU want to think that Asia's two greatest powers are edging closer to one another, you can find plenty of supporting evidence. Last year, China overtook America to become Japan's biggest trading partner. Japan has been China's biggest trading partner in three of the past four years. Trade rows, common in the 1990s as Japanese producers grew afraid of Chinese competition, have virtually disappeared. The two economies are increasingly integrated, with cheap Chinese goods delighting Japanese shoppers and sophisticated Japanese equipment humming away in Chinese factories. ... Yet there has recently been a lot more evidence for the opposite view, namely that tensions are rising again between two of the 20th century's bitterest rivals. Last November, a Chinese submarine sailed into Japanese waters near its southern islands in an apparently deliberate attempt to test its detection systems, a tactic reminiscent of the Soviet navy's during the cold war. Japan, noticeably proud that its surveillance did indeed detect the sub, demanded—and got—an apology. Last month, Japan deliberately made its position on Taiwan less ambiguous by declaring, in a joint statement with its American ally, that Taiwan is a mutual security concern. This not only meddled in China's internal affairs, in China's view, but also took Japan a symbolic step further past its constitutional restrictions on military action. In December, Japan's National Defence Programme Outline had described China itself as a source of “concern” for Japan.

Eine zweite Geschichte blickt auf die nicht weniger spannungsgeladene Beziehung zu den USA insbesondere im Hinblick auf Nordkorea: “CHINA”, wrote Condoleezza Rice when George Bush was first running for the American presidency, “resents the role of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region”. During a visit to China as part of an Asian tour in her new role as secretary of state, she diplomatically avoided such bluntness, remarking instead that America and China shared common interests in regional and global stability. But on two of the region's paramount security issues, North Korea and Taiwan, Ms Rice did not find the Chinese all that helpful. She made clear that America was growing impatient with the lack of progress in the Chinese-hosted six-way dialogue on North Korea's nuclear programme that also includes South Korea, Japan and Russia. On March 21st, at the end of her six-nation trip, she told reporters in Beijing that America remained “committed” to the talks, even though North Korea is now refusing to participate. But she also said that if North Korea remained obdurate, “we will have to look at other options”.

EU will Waffenembargo gegen China doch nicht lockern

Nach Informationen der New York Times bleibt die Europäische Union auf Druck der USA beim Waffenembargo gegen China: Yielding to pressure from President Bush and threats of retaliation from Congress, the European Union has put off plans to lift its arms embargo on China this spring and may not press the issue until next year, American and European officials said Monday. The officials said that in addition to American pressure, European nations have been shaken by the recent adoption of legislation by the Chinese National People's Congress authorizing the use of force to stop Taiwan from seceding. The Chinese action, they said, jolted France and undercut its moves to end the embargo before June. "Europe wants to move forward on the embargo, but the recent actions by China have made things a lot more complex," said a senior European official. "The timeline has become more difficult. The timeline is going to have to slip." The embargo was imposed after China's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and although some countries have eased their restrictions, it has curbed the supply of weapons to China while also becoming a major irritant in China's relations with the West. A senior State Department official said European "signals" of a shift in position had been transmitted in the last few days, most notably by Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, and by a comment from the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, over the weekend. Mr. Straw said in a television interview in Britain on Sunday that the problems of lifting the embargo "have actually got more difficult rather than less difficult," and that the Chinese action on Taiwan had created "a difficult political environment" that had stirred concern by both conservatives and liberals in Europe.

Peking fürchtet Blogger

Blogger sind der chinesischen Regierung verstärkt ein Dorn im Auge: It's estimated that about a million Chinese are now running blogs (web logs.) This, for Chinese security officials, is worse than chat rooms and bulletin boards. The bloggers have quickly become quite good at saying what the government doesn't want said, but doing it in a way to deceive the software tools the government uses to watch for such misbehavior. Most of the blogs do not cover political issues, but the ones that do are saying things the government doesn't want Chinese people to see. The most worrisome blogging covers government corruption, which officials would rather keep in the shadows while they try to deal with it. Zum Thema Korruption in China siehe auch diesen Eintrag.

China will Todesstrafe enger fassen

Nachdem die Geschichten von den chinesischen Todesbussen in westlichen Medien die Runde machten, will Peking nun etwas gnädiger verfahren: Nach jahrelanger Kritik von Menschenrechtlern will China seine Praxis bei der Verhängung der Todesstrafe und der Verwaltungshaft reformieren. Die entsprechenden Gesetze sollen noch in diesem Jahr geändert werden. Das ging am Mittwoch aus den Berichten von Parlamentspräsident Wu Bangguo und dem obersten Richter Xiao Yang vor dem Volkskongress in Peking hervor. Im Ergebnis könnte die hohe Zahl von Hinrichtungen in China deutlich reduziert werden. Die ohne Gerichtsverfahren angeordnete Lagerhaft würde nicht abgeschafft werden, aber mit strengeren Verfahren von bis zu vier auf eineinhalb Jahre verkürzt. Der Vorsitzende des Obersten Gerichts sagte vor den knapp 3000 Delegierten in der Großen Halle des Volkes, die Berufungsverfahren bei Todesurteilen sollten "weiter verbessert" werden. Xiao Yang bezog sich auf Pläne seines Gerichts, Todesurteile künftig wieder selbst zu überprüfen, statt die Revision den Provinzgerichten zu überlassen. Der Ständige Ausschuss des Volkskongresses wird im Oktober über eine Gesetzesänderung beraten, die den Weg dafür freimachen soll. Parlamentschef Wu Bangguo kündigte ein "Gesetz zur Besserung nach ungesetzlichen Aktivitäten" an. Es soll das bisherige Gesetz zur Umerziehung ersetzen, das ohne Prozess auf dem Verwaltungswege eine Haft von ein bis drei Jahren und eine Verlängerung bis vier Jahre ermöglicht. Wie der Vizedirektor des Forschungsinstituts im Justizministerium, Wang Gongyi, der an dem Entwurf mitgearbeitet hat, der Zeitung "Xinjingbao" erklärte, sollen strengere Verfahren und die Möglichkeit einer Berufung vor Gericht eingeführt werden.

Chinas Design- und Technologieklau geht weiter

Die New York Times widmet sich mal wieder dem laxen Umgang chinesischer Firmen mit dem "geistigen Eigentum" westlicher Entwickler: As China's emerging industrial centers go, Guiyang is an obscure outpost, bearing little resemblance to the booming factory towns of the east coast. And yet, as much as any other place in China this hard drive assembly may be at the front line of an intense global struggle to dominate high-tech manufacturing. The tiny storage device this factory churns out is the heart of one of the world's hottest consumer electronics items, the mini version of Apple Computer's iPod. Sales to Apple represent a huge triumph for GS Magic Stor, an offshoot of a struggling state-owned carmaker that is so obscure that even in China few are familiar with the name. The problem with this ringing success story, according to a better-established rival, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, which has factories in China and also supplies miniaturized drives to Apple, is that the Chinese company stole crucial elements of the design. GS Magic Stor denies this charge, which Hitachi has made in a suit filed in Federal District Court in Northern California. In a recent online forum the company's president ridiculed Hitachi's claim, likening it to someone's asking carmakers to pay design rights to the inventors of the horse and buggy. A Hitachi official, who refused to comment further, said that GS Magic Stor could characterize the Hitachi patents however it wished, "but the plain and simple matter is they haven't expired." Hitachi's highly technical complaint specifies several areas where it says its designs were infringed by Magic Stor. ... For Western companies competing with China as well as those doing business here, the issue goes well beyond the fate of one obscure company or of a single technology, however valuable. In one sector after another, companies warn that China's swift industrial rise is being greased by brazen and increasingly sophisticated theft of intellectual property. ... The Chinese government has recently razed the market, but the counterfeit activity has been moving relentlessly upscale, with General Motors, Cisco, Sony and Pfizer, just to name the most high-profile companies, complaining that their designs or formulas for everything from cars and PlayStations to routers and Viagra, have been violated.

China rüstet drastisch auf

Das klingt nicht gerade nach zahmen Riesen: Mit neuen Drohungen gegen Taiwan hat China eine starke Erhöhung seines Militärhaushalts verkündet. Der chinesische Verteidigungsetat wird in diesem Jahr um 12,6 Prozent zulegen und damit deutlich schneller wachsen als Chinas Wirtschaft. Vor Beginn der Plenarsitzung des Volkskongresses am Samstag berichtete Tagungssprecher Jiang Enzhu am Freitag in Peking, der offizielle Militäretat werde 247 Mrd. Yuan (22,7 Mrd. Euro) ausmachen. Nach Schätzungen des US-Verteidigungsministeriums dürfte der wahre Haushalt allerdings etwa doppelt so groß sein. Der Sprecher verteidigte das umstrittene Anti-Abspaltungsgesetz, das auf die Unabhängigkeitskräfte in Taiwan zielt und von den 3000 Delegierten auf ihrer zehntägigen Sitzung angenommen wird. Es sei "auf keinen Fall ein Gesetz zum Einsatz von Gewalt gegen Taiwan oder ein Kriegs-Mobilisierungs-Gesetz". Auch die USA sind aber nach wie vor nicht gerade sparsam bei ihren Militärausgaben.

Chinas Webzensur unter der Lupe

Beim chinesischen Nationalkongress am Wochenende wird auch das Thema Webzensur auf der Tagesordnung stehen, meldet die New York Times: For many China watchers, the holding of a National People's Congress beginning this weekend is an ideal occasion for gleaning the inner workings of this country's closed political system. For specialists in China's Internet controls, though, the gathering of legislators and top political leaders offers a chance to measure the state of the art of Web censorship. The authorities set the tone earlier this week, summoning the managers of the country's main Internet providers, major portals and Internet cafe chains and warning them against allowing "subversive content" to appear online. "Some messages on the Internet are sent by those with ulterior motives," Qin Rui, the deputy director of the Public Information and Internet Security Supervision Bureau, was quoted as saying in The Shanghai Daily. Stern instructions like those are in keeping with a trend aimed at assigning greater responsibility to Internet providers to assist the government and its army of as many as 50,000 Internet police, who enforce limits on what can be seen and said. "If you say something the Web administrator doesn't like, they'll simply block your account," said Bill Xia, a United States-based expert in Chinese Internet censorship, "and if you keep at it, you'll gradually face more and more difficulties and may land in real trouble." According to Amnesty International, arrests for the dissemination of information or beliefs via the Internet have been increasing rapidly in China, snaring students, political dissidents and practitioners of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong, but also many writers, lawyers, teachers and ordinary workers. Already the most sophisticated in the world, China's Internet controls are stout even in the absence of crucial political events. In the last year or so, experts say the country has gone from so-called dumb Internet controls, which involve techniques like the outright blocking of foreign sites containing delicate or critical information and the monitoring of specific e-mail addresses to far more sophisticated measures. Newer technologies allow the authorities to search e-mail messages in real time, trawling through the body of a message for sensitive material and instantaneously blocking delivery or pinpointing the offender. Other technologies sometimes redirect Internet searches from companies like Google to copycat sites operated by the government, serving up sanitized search results. China's latest show of growing prowess in this area came in January after a major political event, the death of the former leader Zhao Zhiyang, who had been held under house arrest since appearing to side with students in 1989 during the Tiananmen demonstrations. When the official New China News Agency put out a laconic bulletin about his death, placing it relatively low in its hierarchy of daily news stories, most of the rest of China's press quickly and safely followed suit. On their Web sites, one newspaper after another ran the news agency's sterile bulletin rather than take risks with commentary of their own. What happened on campuses was far more interesting, though. University bulletin boards lit up with heavy traffic just after Mr. Zhao's death was announced. But for all of the hits on the news item related to his death, virtually no comments were posted, creating a false impression of lack of interest. "Zhao's death was the first big test since the SARS epidemic," said Xiao Qiang, an expert on China's Internet controls at the University of California at Berkeley. But if the government is investing heavily in new Internet control technologies, many experts said the sophistication of Chinese users was also increasing rapidly, as are their overall numbers, leading to a cat-and-mouse game in which, many say, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the censors to prevail.