Canadian International Commercial Network

Chinese president stresses living standards

Chinese President Hu Jintao said Sunday more attention should be paid to raising people's living standards while striving for economic growth. Hu made the remarks at a symposium with non-Communist parties and individuals to mark the Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 3 this year.

Hu urged the parties and social groups to pursue the people-first principle and help the government to better serve the people."We should always make the improvement of people's lives an important starting point in promoting development in a scientific way and enhancing social harmony," Hu said.He said the government would focus on the transformation of its economic development pattern, and try to achieve its economic targets this year, which is also the start of the 12th five-year period (2011-2015).

Hu hoped the non-Communist parties and individuals would concentrate on promoting scientific development and put forward practical suggestions for achieving comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development.This year marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Hu said the past 90 years had proved that unison of ideas, targets and actions in the multi-party cooperation system under CPC leadership guaranteed the country to achieve progress in revolution, development and reform.Hu expressed appreciation for the contributions of non-Communist parties and individuals to social and economic development last year.

"We must rely on all Chinese people, including non-Communist parties, societies, ethnic groups and people from all walks of life and in different strata to achieve this year's goals for economic and social development," said Hu.At the event, Hu also extended New Year's greetings and best wishes to all people from the non-Communist parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and those without party affiliations.

Non-Communist party leaders at the gathering gave opinions on issues such as multi-party cooperation, rural social security system, water conservation, strategic emerging industries, education and cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits.The meeting was chaired by Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang were present at the gathering.

Chinese New Year around the world

The 12-animal zodiac of the Chinese calendar is an enduring symbol of one of the globe's most important annual festivals. Yet, for many families, cultural customs are giving way to modern-day conveniences.

More people in the East and West now choose to hold celebrations and reunion dinners in restaurants, instead of at home. Change is inevitable, however, and as Viroj Tangvarnich, a Bangkok-based expert on Chinese culture, explains: "What really counts are good intentions."

Despite its evolution, the lunar new year - chunjie or Spring Festival in China - is an event that still tugs the heartstrings of Chinese everywhere and is a celebration of thanksgiving.

In homes across China, Australia, the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Britain, the Philippines, Thailand and India, the Year of the Rabbit will be met with parties, feasts and firecrackers. China Daily took a whistle-stop tour to find out more.

Australia

The Year of the Rabbit will be welcomed with a bang and three weeks of celebrations across Australia, as the lunar new year holidays continue to grow in popularity, said Albert Yen, president of the Sydney See Yup Society, the country's oldest Chinese organization, dating back to the 1850s.

"New year is still very important to Chinese whether they were born here or moved here from China," he said. "I can't say how many people come to Sydney's Chinatown or Little Bourke Street in Melbourne, but over the years we've noticed more people are taking part."

Celebrations in Sydney will be "bigger and better" than last year, with lion dances, fireworks, dragon boat races and many other cultural events. In Melbourne, a giant lion made up of more than 200 people will parade through the streets. The cities boast Australia's largest Chinese communities.

"The celebrations remind Chinese of their heritage, and for the non-Chinese is a bridge towards better understanding," said Yen.

Vietnam

Nowhere in the world outside China is the lunar new year celebrated so widely as in Vietnam. Nothing captures the importance of the festival - known locally as Tet - more poetically than great-grandmother Nguyen Thi Ty's epic journey home.

The 70-year-old widow lives with one of her 10 children in the southern city of Vung Tao, but every year travels about 1,500 kilometers alone by bus, train and motorbike to her native village in Nam Dinh province. "Tet is the most important festival for honoring our ancestors," she said on Vietnam's Reunification Express train, three quarters of the way through her marathon 40-hour journey. "I never celebrate Tet anywhere but at home, and I never will."

Lunar new year festivities in Vietnam are similar to Spring Festival in China. Yet, this year there is one crucial difference: in Vietnam they will mark the Year of the Cat, the one animal that differs in the two countries' zodiacs.

The giving of "lucky money" to children and the elderly is also a tradition here. The most auspicious envelopes contain odd numbers of notes to symbolize long life and prosperity.

United Kingdom

Three performances of Peking opera, traditional Chinese songs and dance routines will usher in the new year, with galas scheduled in London's

Trafalgar Square

and Lyceum Theatre on Feb 6 and 7 respectively, and in Edinburgh on Feb 9. Joining the 40-artist Cultural China - Spring in One World troupe on stage will be Chinese soprano Song Zuying and tenor Yan Weiwen.

Celebrations for Spring Festival in the UK date back to 1980, with the first gala in

Trafalgar Square

held in 2002. Every year, the festivities include events in

Leicester Square

and Chinatown, which attract about 300,000 people, said Wu Guoqiang, chairman of the London Chinatown Chinese Association.

A series of activities have also been organized to commemorate the centenary of Cao Yu, the great Chinese playwright and a pioneer of modern Chinese drama in the early 20th century. A photographic exhibition and a film will debut at the Brunei Gallery in the school of Oriental and African Studies on Feb 10.

Malaysia

Food is a massive part of the lunar new year, but traditional reunion dinners are fast becoming a rare sight in homes, albeit for practical reasons.

Freddy Lee, a 30-year-old business development director, said his dinner will be at a restaurant to make the most of the time available to catch up with family. He returns to Kuala Lumpur, the nation's capital, from his home in Singapore every lunar new year.

"With my parents getting older, it makes sense not to spend too much time preparing a meal and spending more time talking," said Lee. "Things have definitely become more commercial and the spirit of the festival is also less important now. The real benefit is being able to see our loved ones."

However, he admitted he misses the lavish spread of home-cooked food of his childhood. "Perhaps when I have my own family, it will revert to the old times," he added.

For Malaysian Chinese, lunar new year has always been about spending time with family. "It's precisely the long duration away from home that for some workers in the city keeps the new year spirit alive," said retiree Edward Yong, 56. Like in China, Malaysians Chinese rush home, causing gridlock on highways out of the capital. It is also a peak time for bus and rail services.

Thailand

For many Thais of Chinese heritage, the lunar new year has become an unabashed public display of identity, as well as a mainstream, commercialized event. Department stores rake in revenue with special promotions, as shoppers splurge with "lucky money". Small to medium-sized businesses owned by Chinese Thais will close for at least three days.

Prasit Ongwatana, chief organizer of this year's Yaowaraj Chinatown's two-day street festival, said that, as in previous years, Princess Chakri Sirindhorn will preside over the Feb 3 ceremony. "Chinese Thais have become so well integrated in society that we no longer feel embarrassed or self-conscious celebrating the new year," he said. "Residents of

Yaowaraj Road

take pride in our strict adherence to the authentic ancient Chinese customs."

However, Viroj Tangvarnich, an expert on Chinese culture, said not every Chinese Thai is staying true to religious and cultural observances. "It's not uncommon to see Chinese new year food offerings that consist of, say, KFC fried chicken or store-bought pork jerky. Whatever today's people like to eat is considered fit for offering."

United States

Spring Festival has become a key time for networking for Asians living and working in the US, according to business leaders. "It's a very unique time. More (Chinese Americans) are celebrating because it's a common bond (China and the US) share. We share the same roots and values and culture and that's really important," said Savvio Chen, northeast regional president for the US Pan-Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Asian American Bar Association in New York organizes a large banquet every year to welcome the new year, which offers a good opportunity to show Asian American lawyers that "they're not alone", said executive director Yang Chen.

"We represent 4,000 Asian attorneys. When you're working at a firm with mostly White lawyers, you might feel somewhat isolated," he said. "Last year, 500 attorneys, judges and prosecutors come to our event. It allows Asian Americans to build a network and exchange ideas. Our dinner is a way to showcase Asian American talent."

Meanwhile, all 65 workers at Suntech Power's factory in Arizona will receive hongbao (lucky money) to mark the holiday. "For most, this will be their first time celebrating the lunar new year," said Walker Frost, a spokesman for the Chinese-owned company.

Singapore

Peter Wee is a fourth generation Peranakan - descendents of 15th and 16th century Chinese immigrants, mostly of Hokkien ancestry, who married Malay and Indonesian spouses in the Nusantara region - and has run the two-story Katong Antique House (part-shop, part-Peranakan museum) for 30 years.

For this 65-year-old, the reunion dinner on lunar new year eve is an elaborate and important tradition. "We set up the ancestral altar and place Peranakan food like fruits and wine on it. This is an act of remembering our past," he said.

The family then eats the same food for their reunion dinner, which Wee insists, "has to be held at home". Having it in a restaurant takes away the meaning of the tradition, he said. "Besides having dinner at home, it is vital that people eat traditional food. Young people these days are losing a sense of history and culture".

India

The banners are being fixed, the symbolic red lanterns made ready and the dragon dancer are lining up. Even as their once burgeoning community shrinks in size, Chinese in Kolkata hope the Year of the Rabbit will be a year of revival for them.

This year, the lunar new year will be celebrated with the usual dancing, music and stage performances. Yet, for many, Sunday's celebrations offer a chance for younger generations to get back in touch with their cultural roots.

Kolkata's Chinese community has shrunk from about 50,000 to just 4,000 in the past two decades, although it is still the largest compared with other cities in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.

"I'm Chinese but Indian influence on me and my children is strong," said Paul Lin, 61, a second-generation Indian Chinese who manages the family leather business. "The new year celebration is an opportunity to come together and make the next generation aware of their culture."

The Philippines

There is a Chinese belief with Buddhist origins that lighting incense at new year brings luck and blessings. The Filipino Chinese twist has been to combine Buddhism with the Catholic custom of visiting churches.

"Some Chinese also do a kind of church visit," said Ari Dy, a Catholic priest with the Society of Jesus. "They go to several temples on new year's eve, offer incense and pray for blessings."

Chinese born and raised in the Philippines are locally called Chinoys (a combination of the Tagalog words "Chino" for Chinese and "Pinoy" for Philippine). They celebrate the lunar new year with a big meal, which includes noodles (symbolizing long life) and a whole fish (signifying prosperity). Other traditions include ancestral worship, distribution of red packets filled with cash and the handing out of Tikoy, sweet sticky rice cakes.

As well as dragon dances in Chinatowns nationwide, there is an exhibition on Chinese-Philippine relations at Manila's Bahay Tsinoy Museum and a grand parade planned for the northern city of Baguio. In Tayabas, residents will be able to enjoy a historical talk, language tutorials, fireworks and Chinese movies.

"Things are a lot different from the days when lunar new year was an all-Chinese affair. Chinese new year is now a public celebration," added Dy.

Millions face drought in China

The drought is the worst in six decades, said Yang Zhendong, director of Shandong provincial flood and drought control office. Little rain has fallen in the province since September, with only 12 millimeters since Sept 23, about 15 percent of the normal level, he added.

Officials said some 3.2 million people across the province have been affected by the drought.

Further, provincial authorities raised the drought disaster level on Thursday to the highest level.

Yang said the drought mostly affected rural residents in mountainous areas. People have to travel longer distances to obtain water. Also, the government has organized work crews to drill wells and send fire engines to deliver water to the affected residents.

Shandong is a key wheat-growing province. About 2 million hectares of land used for growing wheat, or 56 percent of the wheat-planting areas in the province, have been hit by drought.

Other major wheat-producing provinces gripped by scarce rainfall since October include Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Anhui and Jiangsu. These provinces contribute more than 80 percent of the country's total wheat output.

The State Council, or the Cabinet, pledged on Thursday to step up efforts to fight the prolonged drought by allocating an additional 2.2 billion yuan ($330 million) for drought-relief equipment, farm irrigation and drought-fighting supplies.

The central government has allocated 4 billion yuan for grain production and rural water conservation projects, according to a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting.

The central government also plans to spend more than 1 billion yuan to subsidize rural residents in drought-hit regions, the statement said.

China introduces first property tax for home buyersLike

all China's main cities, Chongqing has seen major property development

China has introduced its first property tax for home buyers to try to curb record house prices and tame inflation.

The measure, which came into effect on Friday, will apply to those buying second homes in Shanghai and Chongqing.

The tax, paid annually, is between 0.4% and 1.2% of the purchase price, depending on how the price compares with market averages.

Property prices are one of the main drivers of Chinese inflation, which Beijing is keen to keep under control.

China's economy is growing far faster than that of any other major country. Its GDP grew by 10.3% last year - the fastest annual pace since the financial crisis.

But overshadowing the growth is the worry of inflation. Prices rose to push the rate inflation up to 4.6% in December, far higher than the government's target.

'Curb speculation'

The property tax would have "a big psychological effect on potential home buyers," predicted Ge Haifeng, head of research at China Real Estate Index System in Beijing.

"China's housing market may get really quiet in coming months," he added.

In Shanghai, buyers will pay between 0.4% and 0.6% tax on their new second homes.

In the south western city of Chongqing, the tax is more staggered, ranging from 0.5% to 1.2%.

The city's mayor, Huang Qifan, said that while it was "impossible for housing prices to fall overnight because of the property tax", it would "help to curb speculation in the housing market".

Earlier this week, property development firm Shui On Group said that there was no property bubble in China, and that government curbs on bank lending were making financing more difficult for his industry.

'Change perceptions'

The ultimate aim of the tax was to prevent hoarding of properties, rather than to rein in prices, according to Michael Klibaner, head of China research for property company Jones Lang LaSalle.

"Previously there was very little holding cost for residential property because many people paid 100% cash for these properties. Now the holding cost is no longer zero," Mr Klibaner said.

"When the holding cost is zero, it's very easy to let these homes sit idle. It doesn't cost you anything to let them sit there.

"Now there's a holding cost - the hope is it will change the way people perceive real estate as an asset class."

Schmidt. Google and China

Google: Eric Schmidt hints at China ambitions

Click to play

Click to play

Eric Schmidt of Google: ''I have always been the person who believes the most in expanding into China''

Eric Schmidt - stepping aside as chief executive of Google - has told the BBC he has ambitions to promote the web firm's business in China.

Among other tasks, Mr Schmidt hopes to find a Chinese partner for Google's Android mobile phone operating system.

He noted that he was the most pro-China of Google's triumvirate leadership.

In March last year Google stopped co-operating with China over censorship - a joint decision that Mr Schmidt said he was happy with.

"Over time I would hope - especially in my new role with more of an external focus - that I can try to get more of Google, appropriately and within our policies, into China," he told the BBC's economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Unruffled reshuffle

It was revealed earlier this month that Mr Schmidt, 55, would make way as chief executive for Larry Page, 37, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin.

"Between the three of us, I have always been the person who believes the most in expanding into China," he claimed.

Mr Schmidt will remain as "executive chairman", a role he said would be two-thirds external and one-third internal, with most of his time devoted to customers and partners.

"The general view in Silicon Valley these days is that Google is rather too grown up.”

End Quote

Stephanie Flanders Economics editor, BBC News

---

Referring to the Davos shindig, he said that "the great regret is that there are not more Chinese leaders here - both political leaders as well as business leaders" - in contrast with the number of Indian attendees.

He said Google's leadership reshuffle was a "clarification of roles" intended "simply so that we could make decisions more quickly".

He denied that the change was due to a lack of innovation at the company, although he conceded there had been a sense that decision-making was taking too long.

Cultural sensitivities

Mr Schmidt spoke about the importance to the company of taking into consideration the cultural sensitivities of different countries.

"It makes sense to me that governments will play a role in watching what we do," he said, referring to anti-trust and privacy concerns.

He cited the example of Germany, where there was particular concern about Google's plan to photograph the roadside facade of every house in the country for its Streetview database.

"We have been late at adding social capabilities to our core products”

End Quote Eric Schmidt Google executive chairman

The firm offered German homeowners the right to opt out before the pictures were even taken, and nearly 3% duly did that.

But despite this initial opposition, "Germany is the second-highest user on a percentage basis of Streetview of any country in the world," he said. "We know that German consumers really love our product."

On Wikileaks, Mr Schmidt said the company had decided to make leaked documents searchable via its website, irrespective of the US government's opinion, because they believed there was no legal threat to them under American law.

As for China, he said there were "censorship laws that we simply do not like", causing the company to relocate to Hong Kong last year.

Google is still censored by the Beijing authorities - without Google's co-operation - via the "Great Firewall of China".

But Mr Schmidt said that the arrangement was "stable" for them, and appeared to be the same for China, who recently renewed their licence.

However, he cautioned that China could "arbitrarily cut it off at any point".

Face-off?

The Google executive chairman rejected suggestions that the company had lost its edge.

"We are the innovator and leader at scale," he said, citing among others its maps products and its new Chrome operating system.

But he admitted that social networks like Facebook might have stolen a march on the company.

"We have been late at adding social capabilities to our core products," he said, despite claiming that the search engine was still experiencing high growth precisely because they continued adding innovations to it.

He dismissed Facebook as a threat to the company and was poaching staff: "We hire more people in a week than the total number of people who have left to go to Facebook."

But he criticised social networks for being "walled gardens" - shielding its members' data from search engines like Google's - claiming their consumers would be better off if more information were disclosed.

"These closed systems of information threaten to some degree the... openness and accessibility of the [web]," he said.

China's online crusaders gain ground

Zhong Jizhang became a celebrity in China when he used the Internet to expose safety flaws in the subway of a major city. He is one of a growing number of online crusaders daring to challenge the system.
Nicknamed the "death-defying grandpa" due to the issue's sensitivity, he has lost his job and received death threats since he revealed problems with a metro extension in the southern city of Guangzhou that had passed inspection tests
"There were threatening phone calls, and there were warnings that people were getting ready to cripple me," the 68-year-old engineer told AFP."Someone even told me that to exterminate me, they would run me over with a car, then drink alcohol and wait for the police so they would be done for drink driving but would get out of jail via their contacts."Zhong, whose quality inspection firm has refused to renew his contract since he blew the whistle this summer, said he had tried various avenues to report the problem, including via government departments, but they failed to respond.
So he resorted to the Internet, creating a blog where he wrote about substandard concrete work. As Guangzhou was then about to host the Asian Games, the news found an audience and spread like wildfire.
China has the most internet users in the world at 450 million, so the web presents a golden opportunity for people like Zhong who want to expose problems or incidents, especially as traditional media are strictly censored.
Authorities censor websites they deem unacceptable through a system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China", but users manage to bypass this through proxy servers, and blogs that are shut down quickly spring up again.
Yang Guobin, an associate professor at Columbia University who wrote a book about online activism in China, says the trend is on the rise.
"I covered over 70 major cases in my book which occurred in the span of a decade. Recently, I wrote an afterword... and I counted about 60 notable new cases for the two years of 2009 and 2010," he told AFP.
In the past few months alone, several cases have gained traction thanks to the Internet.

In October, the 22-year-old son of a senior police officer in the northern province of Hebei sparked online outrage when he hit two students while allegedly drink-driving, one of whom died.
When he was blocked from escaping the scene, the driver, Li Qiming, challenged people to sue him, shouting "my father is Li Gang." The incident triggered a huge outcry on the Internet as an example of the brazen high-handedness of top officials and their families, and was picked up by traditional media.
Li was then arrested in an apparent victory for online activism. The English-language Global Times has since reported that he will be tried.

Jiang Huanwen, who runs a whistleblowing website, told AFP he had counted at least 100 such "anti-corruption" sites in China, not including individual bloggers who expose problems.
"Announcing and transmitting information on the Internet puts definite pressure on the government and judicial authorities, forcing them to investigate those who have been exposed," he said.
In the eastern province of Jiangxi, several officials were removed from their posts in September after three residents set themselves on fire in protest at the forced demolition of their home - one of whom later died.
Mainstream media were initially silent on the news. But when the daughters of one of the victims were stopped as they tried to travel to Beijing to petition authorities over the case, they reached out to Chinese journalists for help.
These reporters posted their story on the Internet and soon a huge online campaign for their cause sprang up. A few days later, authorities announced the suspension of the officials, including a local Communist Party chief.
But experts warn the influence of the Internet is still extremely limited.
Hu Yong, a professor at Peking University and a leading Internet scholar, said this was especially true when authorities barred traditional media outlets from reporting incidents.
"Under these circumstances, it's not enough to simply rely on the power of netizens - traditional media still plays a huge role," he said in an interview posted online.
David Bandurski, a researcher at the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong, cautioned that new online features, such as micro-blogs, were always accompanied by more controls.
"If we think that the Internet is going to bring about fundamental change, that's a naive reading of the current situation in China," he said.
Zhong has learned the hard way. Guangzhou authorities have acknowledged the subway flaws but say they pose no safety risk.

From Reactive to Proactive

The eagerly anticipated Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded on Oct 18. Apart from addressing some major domestic issues, the Communique sent a clear message to China watchers that its diplomacy is changing from a reactive approach to a proactive approach.

Chinese foreign policy is an extension of its domestic policy. Depending on the definition of its core national interests and the changing external and internal environment, Beijing adjusts its foreign policy regularly.

In the pre-reform era, the leadership of the PRC focused on breaking the containment by the United States and obtaining international recognition and legitimacy. Before 1971, the PRC was marginalized in international relations due to the obstructive role played by the US. In other words, China was excluded from the US-dominated international stage.

Between 1971 and 2001, Beijing first secured its place in the United Nations, the most important international governmental organization, and then access to the World Trade Organization, the most important international trade body.

Those 30 years, mostly in the reform era, are seen as a learning process as Beijing adapted its policy and behavior to conform to internationally accepted rules and norms.

A review of Chinese foreign policy during the past six decades reveals a change as China became increasingly more proactive, rather than reactive, in its diplomacy.

To be reactive in diplomatic relations is to be passive. The Cold War environment and the competition between the US and the Soviet Union did not leave much space for Beijing to initiate its own diplomatic actions. Beijing was frequently obliged to react to the threat posed by one or other of the two superpowers and only in the 1980s could China start to systematically develop its independent foreign policy.

The real opportunity came after the disintegration of the Soviet Union - the collapse of bipolarity brought dramatic change to the international political structure - the Chinese leadership seized the opportunity and started to promote a multi-polar world in which China played an important role. This strategic vision ushered in a new era of Chinese diplomacy.

The adjustment of Chinese foreign policy as a consequence demonstrates China's active participation in international affairs and the transition from rule taking to rule making.

These changes are not only reflected in Beijing's diplomatic practice. Noticeably, for the first time in such an important document, the Communiqu of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee highlights this proactive spirit.

By emphasizing the necessity of strengthening "the awareness of opportunities and potential risks", actively adjusting "to the changes of environment", and effectively solving "various problems", the Chinese government is attempting to be better prepared for both "foreseeable and unforeseeable risks and challenges" in the world.

Such a statement has the following implications: First, Beijing has accumulated rich practical experience and it is now time to act based on what it has learnt over the years. Second, the years of policy practice have given Beijing self-confidence. It believes that only by being more proactive can it be more successful in dealing with challenges. Third, the emphasis on the readiness to adapt to changes and to solve problems indicates the willingness of Beijing to behave as a responsible power.

Needless to say, it is easier to deal with foreseeable risks and challenges than unforeseeable ones. Nevertheless, unforeseeable problems can be triggered by foreseeable ones, and thus, in order to nip in the bud all possible problems, better preparation is necessary.

For example, the 1998 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 world financial crisis were both unforeseeable. However, if appropriate measures had been taken in the financial field and good coordination had been achieved among all the players involved, these crises might have been avoidable.

In the contemporary era, globalization has tremendously increased the interconnectedness between states. Countries have realized, more than ever, that what happens somewhere else may affect them. China, as an important player in world affairs, has no doubts about its responsibility to work together with other countries to maintain healthy international financial order, uphold sustainable economic growth and protect the environment.

In East Asia, good regional relations are crucial for China to focus on its domestic reform and development. From the perspective of economic cooperation and trade relations, China has been very successful, as it has become the largest trading partner of Japan, South Korea and established a free trade area with ASEAN.

Yet, from the security perspective, the territorial disputes in both the East China Sea and the South China Sea between China and its neighbors may trigger problems if they are not handled with caution.

Inside China, domestic challenges may also have external repercussions. Natural disasters, disease epidemics, energy shortages, and the fight against terrorism, for example, will all be watched closely by the world.

All in all, to be able to have an upper hand in dealing with all kinds of challenges, China needs to give full play to its wisdom developed from the knowledge and experience acquired in the past years of policy practice. Furthermore, China needs to possess a long-term vision.

The road taken by China, which features Chinese characteristics, is a unique one. It not only takes into consideration Chinese national interests, but also international responsibility so as to be a reliable stakeholder. In such a way, China's rise will follow a peaceful trajectory and contribute to world stability and development.

The author is the InBev-Baillet Latour Chair of EU-China Relations at the College of Europe.

Additional countries who have China as their largest trading partner

China is also the largest trading partner of many countries, including :

• Angola (in 2008) ^[3]
• Australia (in 2009) ^[4]
• Bangladesh^[5]
• Brazil (in 2009) ^[6]
• India (in 2008) ^[7]
• Iran (in 2008) ^[8]
• Japan (in 2008) ^[9]
• Mongolia (in 2008) ^[10]
• North Korea (in 2008) ^[11]
• South Korea (in 2008) ^[12]
• Sudan (in 2008) ^[13]
• Taiwan (in 2008) ^[14]
• Vietnam (in 2008) ^[15]

China's top 6 trading partners

Its top six trade partners (US, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany) form over 50% of China's total international trade.
For 2010, inbound foreign direct investment into China surpassed $100bn for the first time, and investment overseas by Chinese companies in non-financial sectors totaled $59 billion.^[10]

China and Proactive stance in Global Health Diplomacy

A More Proactive Stance in Global Health Diplomacy (from PLos Medicine)

At the international level, there have been signs since the SARS outbreak that public health is high on China's foreign policy agenda. First, Beijing has become more proactive in participating in global health governance. China had for a long time played a passive role in the WHO since gaining its membership in the organization more than three decades ago. The SARS outbreak let China experience the power of the WHO, which has become increasingly more influential while other international organizations, such as the United Nations Security Council, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, G8, and the World Trade Organization, are facing legitimacy, accountability, and representativeness challenges. WHO's authority in dealing with disease outbreaks is still widely recognized . Without China's prior consent, the WHO issued a travel advisory against unnecessary travel to Guangdong province, putting China under the global spotlight for spreading infectious disease to other countries. Perhaps this lesson has prompted the Chinese government to realize the political importance of the WHO and to increase its participation in global health governance.

In the WHO Director-General election in 2006, China, for the first time since it gained its membership in UN agencies in 1971, nominated and supported a Chinese national, Margaret Chan, as a candidate for the top post. It is widely believed that Chan's success was a diplomatic triumph both for her and for China. Wang Yizhou, then with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, told one of the authors (LHC) in March 2008 that Margaret Chan's nomination as the Director-General of the WHO was not a fortuitous incident. The health officials we spoke with in Beijing concurred with Wang's view and explained that China has recently realized and valued the increasing importance of the WHO at the world stage. It is also a source of national pride to have a Chinese national at the top post of the global health organization [22]. Chan was the Director of Health of Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak in 2003. Her nomination could be seen as a case of China's smart play and rising clout at the global stage, displaying its confidence in her managing of Hong Kong affairs and the successful implementation of China's “One Country, Two Systems” policy [23].

Furthermore, China's WHO role politically could be regarded as a pre-emptive measure to block Taiwan's attempts to seek WHO membership [23]. On the other hand, with improved relations with the Ma Ying-jeou administration in Taiwan, China has become more flexible in seeking cross-strait cooperation in health. For example, as a consultant for the Chinese Medical Association, Chinese Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu attended a conference on “Cross-Strait Cooperation in Preventing H1N1” in Taiwan in January 2010. During the meeting, Huang emphasized an extensive cross-strait collaboration in the area of public health, including disease notification and food safety [24]. In addition, Beijing dropped in 2009 its objection to Taiwan's application for an observer in the World Health Assembly. That being said, Taiwan's participation is allegedly required to be in line with Beijing's “One China” policy [25].

More Public Health Assistance and Diplomacy 

The second sign that China has put public health high on their foreign policy agenda since SARS is their provision of development assistance and global public goods for health. As such, China is now using public health as a means to strengthen its diplomatic relations with the developing world, including African countries. China began in the 1960s to send “angels in white” and “barefoot doctors” to the sub-Saharan region to provide some of the poorest African countries with medical services. However, as argued by Huang Yanzhong of Seton Hall University, China's health diplomacy was “flimsy, passive, and asymmetric,” at least until the 1980s [3]. After the SARS outbreak, in spite of its own failing health system, the Chinese government reiterated in its China's African Policy, published in early 2006, the nation's commitment to improving Africa's public health service.

To balance the criticisms that its energy and resource extraction in Africa grab the scarce resources there and that it shields disreputable regimes in such countries as Sudan and Zimbabwe from international opprobrium, China has stressed “win-win” relations in its deepening engagement with African countries. In response to the claims of exploitation in the natural resource sectors [26],[27], China emphasizes a no-strings-attached policy in offering financial aid and technical support to less developed countries, including those in the African continent. In contrast, donor countries in the West and international financial institutions often attach conditionalities to their foreign aid programs, which are linked to market and political liberalization and good governance [28]. China has expanded its public health initiatives, such as in infrastructural building and health practitioner training, in Africa in recent years [29], as well as commitment to cooperation with many African countries to help prevent and treat infectious diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS and malaria [30]–[34]. In his African visit in June 2006, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asserted that China would promote sustainable development and help African countries tackle their burning social problems, of which public health was one of the top priorities [35]. Again in November 2009, during the fourth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt, Wen announced eight new measures to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in the following three years, including a 500 million yuan (US$73.2 million) assistance package that allows China to build 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers and to train 3,000 practitioners in the continent [36].

Undoubtedly China has been learning from itself as well as from other developed countries the importance of providing sustainable development and global public goods for improving one's reputation on the world stage. At the “First International Roundtable on China-African Health Collaboration – New Health Initiative” in December 2009 in Beijing, one of us (LC) observed representatives from the WHO, World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation praising China's development packages for their positive contributions to African development.

In addition, China's State Council has established in recent years a coordinating mechanism to facilitate cross-ministry dialogues and cooperation in global health and foreign aid initiatives. Chinese scholars have noted that a State Council “Global Health Diplomatic Coordination Office” (quanqiu weisheng waijiao xietiao bangongshi, ), led by a senior official at vice-Premier level, is crucial to effectively coordinating and developing policies of health diplomacy [37]. In order to increase the capacity of China's health diplomats to deal with global health challenges, a training course, the first in a series, for Chinese officials, including officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Health, was held in August 2009 in the Institute for Global Health at Peking University [38].

Was SARS a Watershed?

Following the Chinese government's acknowledgement of a SARS outbreak in the country, it began to acknowledge the importance of public health to national development and to accordingly strengthen its multilateral cooperation in combating contagious diseases inside and beyond its borders. For example, in the midst of the recent global economic downturn, the Chinese government announced in 2009 an injection of 850 billion yuan (US$125 billion) into its health care system to improve its operation. Since the SARS outbreak, it has not only deepened its engagement with other nations and international organizations, and cooperated with a variety of actors in dealing with its own fledgling health care system including the problem of HIV/AIDS, but China has also developed a vision for global health diplomacy. A ground-breaking implication of the SARS outbreak for China is that it was struck to realize that public health is not simply a domestic, social issue that can be isolated from foreign-policy and security concerns. In a globalizing world, the Chinese government appears to have learned that its health policy will be scrutinized by the world, and hence, it has become more open to and actively participates in global health governance. The government is now learning from such European countries as the UK, France, and Switzerland in the provision of the global public goods for health. Its substantial health assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in building hospitals and training health practitioners forms part of its health diplomacy and contribution to global health governance. It has also been proactively engaging with both regional and global health institutions since 2003 and set up different health surveillance networks with its ASEAN partners as well as other intergovernmental organizations, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum [12].

Despite its increasing engagement with global health governance since the SARS outbreak, China's approach remains, however, fundamentally state-centric, contrary to the essence of global health diplomacy and governance. With grave concern about the loss of national sovereignty to external or nongovernmental actors, Chinese senior leaders have therefore attached primary significance to intergovernmental organizations, particularly the UN agencies. In evaluating the impact of SARS, Andrew Price-Smith has put the same point succinctly: “while the SARS epidemic may have generated moderate institutional change at the domestic level …, it resulted in only ephemeral change at the level of global governance” [2]. In other words, national sovereignty is still of paramount importance for the Chinese leadership. Because of its sensitivity to foreign interference into its internal affairs, the Chinese government has not yet formally or officially endorsed the notion of “human security.” Under the umbrella concept of national security, “human safety,” instead of “human security,” is discussed throughout all of China's five white papers on national defense since 2000 (i.e., 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008). Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly is predicated on the condition that it is considered part of China, not an independent entity. Having no tolerance in ceding its supreme authority, the central government has adopted a multi-faceted attitude towards its civil society organizations. While Beijing shows its willingness to cooperate with a wide array of actors inside China, it refuses to let its domestic NGOs and activists establish direct links with their counterparts overseas.

It is still uncertain whether this sovereign concern will trump the provision of global public good for health. Nevertheless, in a highly globalizing world, infectious diseases know no border. While China is seeking to adhere as much as possible to the underlying norms and rules of global health governance (and sometimes even applies them to their extremes), as evidenced by its handling of the recent swine flu outbreak, the major step forward is perhaps to reframe health as a global public good that is available to each and every individual of the world, rather than merely as an issue of concern to nation-states.

Acknowledgments 

We are grateful to Dr. Pak K. Lee for his perceptive comments on earlier drafts of this article. Our thanks also go to Richard Scott Hutchinson for his technical support in producing the figure. We are, however, solely responsible for any remaining errors.

Author Contributions 

ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: LHC LC JX. Wrote the first draft of the paper: LHC. Contributed to the writing of the paper: LHC LC JX. Enrolled interviewees: JX.

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