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1 Talking Point 5 The Week in 60 Seconds 6 Energy and Resources Week in China 7 Internet and Tech 8 Economy 10 China Consumer 11 Media 12 Auto Industry 14 Banking and Finance 4 March 2011 15 Society and Culture Issue 97 19 And Finally www.weekinchina.com 20 The Back Page Gaddafi’s latest shock m o c . n i e t s p e a t i n e b . w w w y b g u in Surprise as Beijing votes for sanctions in unanimous vote by UN Security Council o k y n o a t B s t l t h a e g b k u o r o l a r G M B C d B n S a H Week in China Talking Point 4 March 2011 Beijing’s bold vote Why China broke with foreign policy tradition at the UN last weekend Gaddafi: he must have realised he was in serious trouble when Beijing joined unanimous Security Council vote he last time Tobruk and Beng- That’s because they have be- lutions too. As China-watchers are Thazi hit world headlines was in come the focal point of opposition keenly aware, this marked a major the 1940s when the Libyan cities re- to Libyan dictator Muammar break with the country’s foreign peatedly changed hands in the Gaddafi, in the two-week-old revolt policy traditions. Desert War. First the Italian army against his rule. Gaddafi’s military surrendered them to the British. response to the crisis has seen him Why was it so significant? Then they fell to Rommel’s Panzers, condemned by America and Eu- For the past 30 years or so a funda- before being recaptured from the rope, and the UN Security Council mental principle has underpinned Germans by Montgomery’s Allied voted unanimously last Saturday China’s dealings with other coun- forces. As Winston Churchill made for sanctions against his regime, tries. Partly because of its own sen- clear in his history of the Second including an arms embargo and a sitivities related to Taiwan, China has World War, the two locations had freeze of his overseas assets. And refused to support UN resolutions critical strategic importance in the for the first time, the UN referred that it regards as interfering in the North African campaign. a case of state violence to the In- domestic affairs of sovereign states. Now they are back in the global ternational Criminal Court. A similar approach has guided its Photo Source: Reuters Source: Photo spotlight – and like Churchill, But what made the decision all foreign policy principles in general. China’s leaders have quickly dis- the more noteworthy: rather than WiC has discussed this approach at covered they are strategically im- abstaining (as was expected), the length and some of its consequences portant too. Chinese voted in favour of the reso- in Africa (see issue 91). 1 Week in China Talking Point 4 March 2011 The principle was forged by Deng Xiaoping around 1978 (and ran counter to Chairman Mao’s approach – he, after all, liked to disrupt the domestic affairs of foreign lands with revolutions). But for Deng, and all his successors, the new approach fitted well with China’s narrative on its own “peaceful rise” onto the in- ternational stage. Hence the signifi- cance of Saturday’s vote: by raising its hand in favour of the measures against Gaddafi , the non-interference doctrine was breached. Indeed, bloggers in China were quick to point out this was a big deal. A writer with the pseudonym Flying Horse wrote of his own shock on his weibo (a local Twitter-like service): he wittily said he’d envisaged that China would vote with other Secu- rity Council members on these types of issues “only when mankind faced the invasion of aliens!” Another blogger, with the moniker Citizen Xu Fan, pointed to the TV footage from the UN in New York, noting the body language of China’s ambassador, who seemed to raise his hand in “a very reluctant and heavy manner” – the weight of history appeared al- most palpably on his shoulders. So the decision was a surprise? Yes, and state media was very careful in covering it. For example, the Shanghai Daily managed to run an entire story on the resolution vote without mentioning China or how it voted. None of the newspaper edito- rials seemed keen to comment di- rectly on China’s apparent about-face on sovereign non-intervention either. In fact, Beijing has backed the UN on sanctions before (those that re- late to nuclear proliferation) – but to the point where China has wa- tered-down measures to ensure they don’t violate the sovereignty of Iran and North Korea. On no occa- sion has its vote – like that on Satur- day – been tantamount to a call for regime change. 2 Week in China Talking Point 4 March 2011 The bit of Libya that China cares about most? China’s buys 10% of Libya’s oil output... Indeed – historically – Beijing mented (its own ambassador to the one of the first to begin evacuating hasn’t thought human rights viola- UN endorsed the sanctions), mak- its citizens. tions justified interfering in another ing Beijing’s decision slightly less Once again the Chinese were state’s internal affairs: witness uncomfortable. shown to be adept at crisis man- China using its veto to block action agement (some of its nationals in against Zimbabwe, Myanmar and What’s at stake, business-wise? Libya had posted messages like Sudan. Why the policy shift now? A lot. According to Reuters, China is “Motherland, please save us” on Back to the blogs for one interpreta- working on 50 multi-million dollar the web, adding to the patriotic tion: “China has finally cast an affir- projects in Libya. These include $10 mood) and for the first time, Bei- mative vote, making so many people billion worth of rail lines being jing sent a navy vessel to take part rejoice,” wrote Tong Zongjin. “But I built by China Communication in the civilian rescue. With char- think the meaning may be over-ex- Construction and China Railway tered ships and aircraft, more than aggerated. The vote is more based on Construction Corp; a $4 billion irri- 20,000 Chinese citizens had been consideration of practical interests, gation project undertaken by China evacuated by last Sunday. It was all and this time China basically felt Civil Engineering Construction; something of a contrast, thought that when a wall is about to collapse, plus millions of dollars worth of the UK media, to its own govern- everybody should give it a push.” housing projects, mobile phone ment’s shambolic response to res- That’s to say, the leaders in Bei- networks and the like. cuing its nationals. (The Guardian jing may have concluded that Then there’s the oil. China buys described a “haphazard rescue Gaddafi’s days are numbered – and 10% of Libya’s oil exports, reports mission” and reported that Prime therefore its own economic inter- Foreign Policy, and CNPC, China’s Minister David Cameron had made ests would be better served by vot- biggest oil firm, is active in Libya an “unequivocal apology for the ing at the UN in a way that didn’t too, exploring for oil off its north- failings that left British citizens alienate it from a successor govern- west coast. stranded in Libya”.) ment. (Whether this was the right Thousands of Chinese nationals calculation remains in the balance – are associated with these projects. Signs of a new foreign policy era? six days after the vote the BBC was Xinhua reported that more than Not so, according to a Chinese for- reporting that a “military stale- 36,000 Chinese were working in eign ministry spokesman, who in- mate” between Gaddafi and the Libya when the unrest began sisted that the non-interference Photo Source: Reuters Source: Photo rebels looked increasingly likely.) (they’re employed at 75 different principle remains “one of the pillars Perhaps it helped too, the Wall firms). So when it got violent – of China’s foreign policy”. Street Journal argues, that Libya’s CNPC says its own sites were at- Of course, with its thirst for nat- government appears so frag- tacked, for instance – China was ural resources, China has often 3 Week in China Talking Point 4 March 2011 been willing to invest in states that the US and Europe have categorised as authoritarian or corrupt. Critics Planet China claim that guaranteed access to oil Strange but true stories from the new China or ores trumps other concerns. But perhaps that guarantee will FLUSH WITH CASH. Chinese public lavatories are among the most be looked on a little differently now. unpleasant in the world, a fact that WiC may have mentioned before. But a The Libyan revolt has already led to new shopping mall in Chongqing has got internet users talking with the economic losses for 27 Chinese unveiling of a loo that is super clean – but not exactly public. According to firms, reports Xinhua, with facilities Xinhua, the Xingguang 68 luxury mall has a locked toilet that requires a swipe card for entry. But in order to use the VIP facilities, guests must ransacked or damaged. spend over Rmb5,000 (and on one item, no less). Mall executives reckon it This has led some to debate the is a first for the Chinese retail environment, although netizens have labelled merits of the erstwhile ‘no- it “the toilet you cannot afford to use”. In an online poll, 89% expressed strings-attached’ approach.

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