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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Thousands riot in China, attack police, smash cars |
| 2007-03-13 |
| Thousands of Chinese farmers and laid-off workers rioted in central China, attacking police and smashing squad cars, a local official said on Monday, the latest in a string of violent demonstrations. Nine police cars were burnt during the riot on Friday in the central province of Hunan in which 20,000 people clashed with about 1,000 police armed with guns and electric cattle prods, a local official told Reuters. “They did it because they were not satisfied with some government behaviour,” the official, surnamed Tan, said by telephone from the district of Lingling, which belongs to the Hunan city of Yongzhou. “They were also unhappy about official corruption,” Tan said without elaborating. The overseas human rights Web site Boxun (www.boxun.com) said the riot was sparked by dissatisfaction with rising public transport costs. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 A: Every now and then, the question needs to be raised, "Can China be governed?" Not a typical question, it is really a problem of efficiency. "Could China evolve into two or three nations which could actually be managed as nations?" Instead of a massive central government, decentralized authority with a confederation organization might present so many benefits to everyone that it comes about, the central government becoming more administrative, and less managerial. China, unlike India, has been a unitary state for the majority of its existence. It's certainly more governable than India. The real question is whether individual Indians, and Chinese, would be better under if their respective countries devolved into new nations comprised of the ancient states that are now in the corrupt and inefficient embrace of the central government. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-13 20:26 |
| #6 P2K: Their first real economic recession is going to fall into that old Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times' theme. That's an American curse. Chinese curses are a little more direct, and tend to refer female members of the family. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-13 20:22 |
| #5 P2K, I agree. A major recession (inevitable) will get very interesting in China (and a few other places as well). |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-03-13 16:57 |
| #4 Only in China, where the police can stick it to their citizens with cattle prods. I wonder what the police are using for ammo. During the Tianamen massacre, the soldiers used bullets that open up when it hits flesh. This is the worst riot in China I have seen in a while. I wonder how it will be before Amnesty Int'l and Human Rights Watch complaints starts showing up on the MSM. Rantburg is the first site mentioning this story. Good job guys. |
| Posted by: delphi2005 2007-03-13 11:03 |
| #3 Just remember, The mountains are tall, and the emperor is far away. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-13 10:52 |
| #2 Every now and then, the question needs to be raised, "Can China be governed?" Not a typical question, it is really a problem of efficiency. "Could China evolve into two or three nations which could actually be managed as nations?" Instead of a massive central government, decentralized authority with a confederation organization might present so many benefits to everyone that it comes about, the central government becoming more administrative, and less managerial. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-13 10:44 |
| #1 Their first real economic recession is going to fall into that old Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times' theme. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-03-13 09:39 |