| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Chinese call for more Tunisia-inspired 'Jasmine rallies' |
| 2011-02-24 |
| [Al Arabiya] An online campaign has urged people in 13 Chinese cities to rally every Sunday to press for government transparency and free expression, following a call last week for Middle East-style protests. The new call, posted this week on a blog run by overseas-based human rights website Boxun.com, appeared to be from the same group behind a mysterious web campaign for protests last Sunday that echoed those rocking the Arab world. The earlier call sparked a heavy police turnout at designated protest sites in Beijing and other cities. The events appeared lightly attended, however, and free of major incidents. "What we need to do now is to put pressure on the Chinese ruling (Communist) party," said the renewed appeal. "If the party does not conscientiously fight corruption and accept the supervision of the people, then will it please exit the stage of history." Apparently attempting to make a statement without falling foul of China's security forces, participants were urged not to take overt action but to merely show up for the 2:00 pm "strolling" protests. "We invite every participant to stroll, watch, or even just pretend to pass by. As long as you are present, the authoritarian government will be shaking with fear," it said. China's government has indicated growing unease over the unrest in the Arab world, heavily censoring or blocking media reports and online discussion of the upheaval, which has toppled presidents in Tunisia and Egypt. The call for weekly "Jasmine rallies" -- a reference to Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution" -- was labeled as an "open letter" to China's rubber-stamp parliament. The National People's Congress opens its annual session on March 5. The online appeal appeared to set the stage for a protracted but low-pressure bid to push the Chinese Communist Party for change, using the heavily policed Internet and word-of-mouth. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 I suspect he's talking about China. Also, over the past ten years the money supply in _China_ has been expanding greatly. Even more than ours, even considering the "qualitative easing." It's worked for them for the moment because they have the whole world to spread out the inflationary effects, and also because they're a lot better at getting actual stimulus out of their spending than the mandarins in Washington are. (They used it to corner the market on rare earths, among many other things, while the US QE2 just goes to transfer payments and covering various forms of derivative casino). But it's still inflation and it still has deleterious effects, especially when they bet that food will be cheap forever, and it turned out not to be the case. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-02-24 22:52 |
| #8 #7 - was that China or the US (Fed) you're talking about? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-02-24 22:44 |
| #7 Also, the state run banks have huge amounts of debt that the government backing to keep the housing market afloat. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-02-24 22:35 |
| #6 China has issues: Not to mention recent reports of severe water and grain shortages. Grain can be bought, using some of that excess balance of payments money that China's let pile up, but where is the water to come from? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-02-24 21:13 |
#5 China has issues:
Will the government be brought down? I doubt it. Will they be forced to change and bring more reforms and more freedom. I believe so. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-02-24 18:40 |
| #4 Let's see: 1. corrupt, authoritairian gov't 2. decently-to-well-educated populace 3. tech-savy, hardworking 4. overabundance of young, single men As long as they don't buy into the gov't line of "All our troubles are due to |
| Posted by: Pollyandrew 2011-02-24 18:33 |
| #3 The US is being pulled into the conflict. It looks like a set-up, but then again, people have been known to do stupid things/ Video of US Ambassador Jon Huntsman at "Jasmine Revolution" protests in Beijing hits the Chinese interwebs |
| Posted by: tipper 2011-02-24 06:09 |
| #2 The CCP needn't go anywhere in order for change to happen. Chinese history is full of alternating periods of centralized power and decentralization and confusion. While I doubt we are likely to see a return to the fractured state of the Spring and Autumn centuries, my own Chinese friends are quite frank about their anger at local corruption, pollution etc. The impact of the one-child-rule generation, with its massive gender unbalance, has yet to be measured, but will almost certainly include much increased militancy, both political and military, as the authorities seek to divert all that testosterone outward. |
| Posted by: lotp 2011-02-24 05:26 |
| #1 More out-of-touch overseas idiots. The CCP isn't going anywhere because there's no massive discontent. Things are better in China right now than they've ever been in its 5,000 year history and only getting better every day. |
| Posted by: gromky 2011-02-24 03:31 |