China has greatly expanded a youth military training program and will provide compulsory training this year to 50 million children as young as 9 years of age, an exclusive USA Today investigation reveals.
The training takes place at camps run by the People’s Liberation Army and is aimed at promoting teamwork and sacrifice in boys and girls from age 9 to 18, who for the most have been growing up without siblings due to China’s one-child limit for couples.
The program is cloaked in secrecy. A military official confiscated a USA Today reporter’s camera when the journalist visited a training camp in the city of Wenzhou. Young people in the camps are taught self-defense and study advanced weaponry, including American Black Hawk helicopters and aircraft carriers, USA Today reports.
College students began receiving mandatory military training in the mid-1980s, and state-run camps for teens and pre-teens were first established in 2001. The program was expanded dramatically this year.
Because of the one-child policy, most Chinese young people have six adults – two parents and two sets of grandparents – doting on them.
The training program is designed not so much to impart military know-how as to provide an experience that “will help prevent these children from being too selfish and conceited as their parents spoil them,” child psychologist Liu Zhe of the Beijing Institute of Medical Psychology told USA Today.
But the expansion of the youth training program is another move that has raised concerns in the U.S. about China’s military and plans for the future:
China’s military spending rose 17.8 percent this year, the largest annual increase in more than a decade.
The budget for China’s 2.3 million-man army – the largest standing army in the world – is officially $45 billion. But in June, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and the Pentagon charged that China was intentionally understating its military spending, and Skelton said the actual figure was between $85 billion and $125 billion.
China only recently agreed to provide basic information about its military budget and weapons purchases to the United Nations after declining to do so for more than a decade.
The Pentagon said this week that computer hackers gained access to an e-mail system in the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The report came after the Financial Times newspaper quoted officials as saying that Chinese army hackers broke into a Defense Department network in June and removed data.
The German magazine Der Spiegel recently reported that Chinese hackers had also invaded computers at four German ministries, infecting them with spy programs. German officials reportedly believed the hackers could be associated with the People’s Liberation Army.
A report from the Defense Intelligence Agency disclosed that the Chinese army was operating more than 2,000 front companies inside the U.S. as of early 2002. One such company, China United Airlines, is actually owned by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
A Pentagon report in 2004 cited China as a major threat to U.S. national security, and noted that China’s growing military capability and predatory economic policy is aimed directly at the U.S.
According to a June report in the Washington Times, China is supplying the Taliban with advanced weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, to be used to kill Americans.
China shuts down 2 radio shows deemed ‘extremely pornographic’ The Associated Press
BEIJING — Chinese authorities said two late-night radio shows that discussed sex and drugs have been banned for damaging young people and being “extremely pornographic.” The latest order from China’s broadcast watchdog follows a ban on television shows about cosmetic surgery and sex changes, and the shutdown of a talent show that regulators deemed coarse. The stations, both in the southwestern province of Sichuan, “aired programs about sex and drugs for two to three hours after 9 p.m. every day,” the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said on its Web site Wednesday. “The programs contained extremely pornographic material, caused great harm to the psychological development of young people, fouled the social air, and damaged the reputation of China’s broadcasting institutions,” the administration said. The two stations were ordered to suspend the shows immediately and punish the producers. The broadcast watchdog statement did not include the titles of the shows. Late-night call-in programs featuring sexually explicit conversations and ads for enhancement drugs are common. Most are advice shows that help callers with issues such as sexual performance or sexually transmitted diseases. They are tame compared to programs in the U.S. and callers generally do not go into explicit detail.
Despite its reputation as an American fish, a third of the U.S. catfish supply comes from overseas. Much of it is from China, where polluted conditions lead many fish farmers to use antibiotics and other drugs and chemicals banned in the U.S. Federal law requires that seafood sold in grocery stores be labeled by its country of origin, but there is no corresponding requirement for fish served in restaurants. Labeling catfish in restaurants will better protect consumers and send a strong signal to fish farmers to clean up their act. Federal agencies need to do a much better job screening seafood and other imports. Meanwhile, consumers need all the tools they can get to protect themselves. --The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel
BEIJING(AP) Chinese authorities ordered the recall of tainted leukemia drugs blamed for leg pains and other problems, state media reported Sunday, the latest crisis to strike the country's embattled food and drug industries.
Most of the drugs involved _ methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride _ have been recovered and authorities have traced the remainder, the Xinhua News Agency said. The report did not say if any of the drugs had been exported.
Authorities have banned the sale and distribution of the drugs, produced by the Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co., it said.
China, a major global supplier, has been facing growing international pressure to improve the quality of its exports after dangerous toxins _ from lead to an antifreeze ingredient _ were found in goods including toys and toothpaste.
China has been eager to cast itself as a victim, too, of unsafe imports. Xinhua on Saturday announced that inspectors recently found residue of the banned stimulant ractopamine in frozen pig kidneys imported from the United States and frozen pork spareribs from Canada. The names of the exporting companies were not identified. Ractopamine is forbidden for use as veterinary medicine in China.
Xinhua said the 18.37 tons of frozen pork kidneys and 24 tons of frozen pork had been returned to importers exporters, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).
Ractopamine, a hormone that promotes the growth of lean meat in pigs and cattle, is banned by China and most other countries as a health hazard, although its use in stock animals is permitted in the U.S. and Canada. China has also recently banned imports of U.S. meat contaminated with salmonella, additives, and veterinary drugs.
I received the following e-mail from Toys-R-Us. September 12, 2007
Dear Valued Guest,
As a father of five children, I understand the concerns parents have about product safety. And, as the CEO of the world’s largest toy and baby products retailer, I can assure you that nothing is more important to our company than the safety of children. It is at the heart of who we are as a company.
The issue of product safety goes well beyond business and directly to the well-being of the families we serve. We are wholly committed to our customers’ safety and have reiterated that simple, single fact to our suppliers and business partners. We will not tolerate products that do not meet our rigorous safety standards.
When it comes to the safety of children, the bar can never be too high, and we are constantly looking at ways to build on our already substantial safety efforts. That is why today we are announcing further improvements that will ensure you have access to even more rapid and detailed information on safety issues. These improvements include:
- A new Safety microsite at http://www.Toysrus.com/Safety to help you find all product safety and recall information; - The introduction of an email notification system for product recalls; - The addition of bilingual recall notices should there be future recalls; and - The introduction of new Safety Boards in all of our stores, which will contain important product safety information, including recall notices
As the toy and baby products authority, we understand the unique role we play as the conduit between manufacturers and our customers. It is a role we take very seriously and requires our constant vigilance. On behalf of the entire Toys “R” Us, Inc. family, please know that we will continue to work tirelessly to guarantee we are doing everything we can to provide only the safest shopping environment for all families.
Sincerely,
Gerald L. Storch Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Toys “R” Us, Inc.
Chinese baffled by toy quality concerns in U.S. BY BARBARA DEMICK Los Angeles Times
BEIJING — At the Hongqiao toy market, the name “Barack Obama” doesn’t roll easily off the tongue and few people know who he is. But when they hear what he said, they have choice words for him, some of them unprintable. The Illinois senator suggested a ban on all toy imports from China last week during an economic roundtable in New Hampshire. Although his presidential campaign backpedaled soon afterward, Obama and other Democratic candidates have made similar statements in the past calling for at the very least sharp restrictions on Chinese-made toys. In 2006, China exported $17.8 billion worth of toys, 37 percent of them to the United States, according to the China Toy Association. But in recent months, amid a series of disturbing revelations concerning contaminated Chinese products ranging from pet food to toothpaste, toys have been the subject of safety worries, including evidence of lead paint contamination. Yet, anything that threatens both the pocketbook and national pride predictably raises tempers. “Americans are only picking on us because our economy is doing well and we’re getting the Olympics,” complained Chen Xuehua, who was selling toys on Christmas Eve at Hongqiao market. The 35-year-old saleswoman grew up in Guangdong province, which is the toy manufacturing hub of China. Being from a poor, rural family, she had no toys as a child, which may contribute to her mistyeyed view of toys today. She sees Chinese toys as a great boon to all parties concerned, bringing wealth to China and spreading happiness to children around the world. “Chinese children love these toys, foreign children love these toys. What’s the problem?” said Chen, lovingly fingering the “Made in China” label on a blue squishy plastic toy. Although Christmas is not the retailing extravaganza in China that it is in the United States, the market was busy on the eve of the holiday with Chinese shoppers emulating Western traditions. Their view could best be summed up as: If it’s good enough for our children, it should be good enough for yours. “Isn’t it inevitable that there is a trade-off between price and quality?” said Li Chenzi, a 36-year-old U.S.-educated woman who was shopping with her 5-year-old daughter. ”Of course, Chinese toys will not have the same safety standard.” Especially to an older generation of Chinese, who were raised without the privileges of today’s children, the foreign obsession with toy quality is genuinely baffling, if not self-indulgent and arrogant. “Americans are making a big fuss over nothing,” said Jin Jian, 46, who as a boy made his own toys from walnut shells. As for Obama, he said, “[He] … won’t get elected if he tries to ban Chinese toys.” Obama’s remarks about Chinese toys also provoked harsh retorts on Tianya, one of the largest Internet forums in China. “Worse than Bush!” wrote one commentator. “An insult to China,” wrote another. The Chinese foreign ministry was more polite, but no less adamant, calling Obama’s statement about toys “unobjective, unreasonable and unfair.” Obama’s comment was made Wednesday while responding to a New Hampshire voter who said she was afraid she couldn’t fi nd safe Christmas toys for her family. “What I would do right now is I would stop all imports of these toys from China,” he said. His campaign promptly qualified the remark, saying it would apply only to toys containing lead. Other Democratic candidates — Sen. Joseph Biden, Sen. Christopher Dodd and former Sen. John Edwards — have at various times called for a boycott of Chinese toys this Christmas season. In response, the Chinese government is introducing a new system for certifying the quality of toys. In Guangdong, the provincial government has conducted a serious of well-publicized raids on toy factories and revoked more than 700 export licenses for quality problems. Trying to reassure the public, the news media carry almost daily upbeat stories about improvements in the quality and inspection of Chinese toys. “Study: Chinese Toys as Safe as Those Made Elsewhere,” read one recent headline, and another, “Number of Exported Chinese Toys Rebounds.” Figures released by the Ministry of Commerce and quoted in the Chinese media say that toy exports for the first three-quarters of 2007 were up 13 percent from last year. However, there is a long lag between the time orders are placed and the time a customer picks the toy off the shelves. Export orders for this Christmas season were made long before the revelations hit the front pages on a host of Chinese consumer products. During a trade fair in October in Guangzhou, toy manufacturers complained of declining orders for Christmas 2008. China manufactures about 80 percent of the world’s toys.
whatever happened to the giant box...that we would color and make into a car??? or the forts made out of tree branches and leaves??? the only thing that any child probably 'needs' is a lap top....starting at 3years old.....add a book and a music instrument and a chia pet and an ATM card and you have a 'well rounded' kid in America????
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press January 17, 2008
BEIJING -- China's already record-high housing prices jumped 10.5 percent in December despite authorities' efforts to cool the boom, but the growth rate slowed slightly, the government said Thursday.
Chinese leaders have been trying for three years to rein in a real estate boom by imposing credit limits and other curbs. They worry that soaring prices could cause a debt crisis or fuel tensions with China's poor majority, who also are enduring a sharp rise in food prices. The boom has widened China's wealth gap, inflating the assets of Chinese who already own property and creating dozens of new billionaires, but straining the ability of ordinary families to buy homes. Housing prices in China's 70 biggest cities rose 10.5 percent in December compared with the same month of 2006, the country's planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, announced. That matched November's rate and was the highest rise on record. In some areas, prices surged as much as 25 percent, data showed. Poor families also are struggling with an inflation spike that pushed up food prices by 18.2 percent in November, driving consumer inflation to 6.9 percent, the highest monthly rate in 11 years. Beijing has tried to cool the boom since early 2005 but has moved gradually to avoid disrupting economic growth. Regulators have tightened lending standards to discourage speculative buying and raised minimum down payments on second homes. They worry that runaway spending could leave banks buried under unpaid loans if developers default. Until the late 1990s, most urban Chinese lived in drab, cramped apartments provided by state companies. But employers began selling off housing a decade ago, and today millions of families live in private properties that they own or rent. Company dormitories have been torn down to make way for luxury apartments. The wealthy live in suburban gated communities. Prices seem to be rising a bit more slowly. Compared with November, prices rose 0.2 percent, less than the 0.8 percent increase in November from October, data showed. The communist government is eager to encourage home ownership but wants to avoid possible political fallout if housing costs rise beyond the reach of poor families. Regulators have tried to shift emphasis away from more profitable luxury housing by ordering developers to make more of their units small and low-cost. Banks have been told to favor first-time buyers and are barred from lending to finance villas and luxury apartments. Among individual cities, prices rose by 17.5 percent in Beijing in December, by 9.3 percent in Shanghai and by 6.1 percent in the southern business center of Guangzhou, according to the NDRC. The fastest rise was 25.3 percent in the northwestern city of Urumqi, while prices rose by 19.3 percent in the southern coastal city of Beihai. The construction boom has fueled social strains as farmers and factory workers are evicted to make way for luxury apartments. Thousands of protests, some of them violent, have been reported in areas throughout China over complaints that displaced villagers receive little or no compensation for seized land.
VIEWPOINT Understanding China makes economic sense BY PETER HUSTON For The Sunday Gazette
Being self-centered, I’ve wondered who noticed my absence the past few years. If anyone is wondering, I’ve been earning a master’s degree in Asian studies with a focus in Chinese history and language from Cornell University. This, plus a combined period of four years living in Asia, made me quite interested in the recent exchanges about job transfer and economic competition involving China. In my opinion, we need to better understand China, the Chinese economy and East Asian cultures. First, let’s look at the nature of the Chinese economy. China is neither capitalist, communist nor Western. It is a living descendant of a non-Western, tradition-bound ancient civilization that has adopted elements of several economic, political and philosophical schools to get where it is today and to overcome what it sees as victimization by the West and Japan during the past 150 years. Before trying to understand China, drop all assumptions. Do not assume the Chinese want what you want or will do things your way. They’re not bad people or good people — they’re just people, but sometimes very different people. And remember, to judge Chinese people by Chinese business practices is a bit like judging America by how our used car salesmen behave. DIFFICULT TO COMPETE The Chinese economy includes elements of communist protectionism, old-fashioned cronyism and favoritism, governmental corruption, large and small scale laissez faire, exploitative capitalism, Third World anti-colonialist ideology, Third World labor costs, modern (frequently pirated) technology and, at times, a tendency to deny problems to avoid embarrassment for the people responsible. These elements have often been consciously combined for best advantage; as a result, it is and will continue to be very difficult to compete with China in business for a long time. And, yes, low wages in China are a problem and, due to poor wealth distribution, will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. A Taiwanese friend of mine opened an auto-parts factory in Texas in the 1990s. It has since been relocated to southern China. He says he has to watch the quality of the parts produced in China carefully, but he can now sell a fi nished part from China for less than it cost him to get raw materials in southern Texas. THREE THINGS TO DO So what can we do? And what can we do locally? First, improve access to knowledge of China by local businesspeople. Recently, I made some calls to see what I could find along these lines locally and wound up disappointed. Although our so-called “World Trade Center” still exists on paper, they did not answer four calls or return a message. Other economic development agencies were more helpful but didn’t seem to have much to work with when asked where a person could go to learn about doing business in China. Second, we need to understand that Chinese business dealings often involve not just a different attitude toward money but a different attitude towards knowledge and education. Traditionally, Americans have a frontier mentality and see wealth as something that can be grown and developed without limit. When acquired, wealth is used to buy luxuries. By contrast, Asians often see wealth as a more limited substance with only so much to go around. Therefore, Asians see themselves competing to guarantee control of enough pre-existing wealth to ensure the people close to them have what they need. Wealth is important because it’s often seen as guaranteeing a buffer against famine and exploitation. Third, in America, education and knowledge are also often seen as something to be developed without limit. Thanks to community colleges, the public library and GEDs, nearly everyone can acquire an education. In Asia, by contrast, education and knowledge are traditionally seen as something handed down from the past, carefully memorized and hoarded with great secrecy, lest you give away your competitive edge. Only a small elite gets the chance to go to the best schools. KNOWLEDGE IS NECESSARY Therefore, when doing business with China, there will often be a hidden agenda to obtain knowledge of manufacturing techniques or other business practices. To many Chinese, the concept of “intellectual property” is literally foreign. Add to that a feeling that richer countries owe them something for years of colonial exploitation (a real event but magnified in the consciousness of many by years of communism). The result is that many Chinese businesspeople see nothing wrong with posing as customers or using other subterfuges to obtain business secrets. To most consumers, it’s nearly unavoidable to buy Chinese-made products. (Probably because that’s where American companies manufacture them.) Yet doing business with China requires knowledge of China. China is part of our modern, economic reality. To plan our economic future, we must understand China, both past and present.
CAPITAL REGION Sold on China Companies take advantage of huge market, weak dollar to increase exports BY JASON SUBIK Gazette Reporter
When Citizens Bank first began hosting China trade forums, such as one held in Albany late last year, the major goal was to help inform local businesses how to acquire capital in China, partner with Chinese companies to set up manufacturing operations in China, and produce goods that would often be imported back into the U.S. Recently, however, a growing number of Citizens’ clients in New York state have been inquiring how best to export products made here to China and other foreign markets, said Jim Gaspo, executive vice president of the Providence, R.I.-based bank. “We are putting forth enormous effort, which quite honestly we hadn’t been doing, working with our domestic manufacturers to assist them with various global trade financing alternatives. Domestic manufacturing hasn’t been competitive, so many companies have gotten out of the habit of selling overseas and are not as in tune with [foreign exchange rate] risks and how to mitigate those risks,” Gaspo said. “It has been intensified over the past 90 days, but we’ve seen a growing trend of this over the last year.” According to the latest available data on the U.S. Dept. of Commerce Web site, the United States exported $75.9 billion worth of goods and raw materials in January, up 16.6 percent from January 2007. New York state had $3.9 billion worth of exports in January, up 11.9 percent from last year. The rise in exports has coincided with 12-year lows in the value of the U.S. dollar against the European Union’s euro and the Japanese yen. Capital Region World Trade Center President Bill Hooton said lately he has seen an increased desire on the part of local companies to export products. “The additional interest is the fact that everyone is well aware that the dollar has devalued and that the Chinese have more money than they used to, which makes our exports more competitive,” Hooton said. China has allowed the yuan to rise about 16 percent against the value of the dollar since mid-2005. The U.S. and the European Union have long pressured the People’s Republic of China to ease controls they say artificially restrict the value of the yuan, because its low value gives goods produced in China a price advantage. China’s exports to the U.S. fell 5 percent in February to $16.4 billion, while imports of American goods jumped 33 percent to $6.1 billion, according to China’s customs bureau. New York exported $2.5 billion worth of goods and materials to China in 2007, up $326 million from 2006, according to the Department of Commerce. Federal statistics indicate New York’s export business to China has grown 222 percent since 2000, while its exports to the rest of the world have grown 59 percent. LOCAL EXPORTERS GE Energy manufactures steam turbines at its Erie Boulevard campus in Schenectady and exports them to China as well as 13 other foreign countries, according to company officials. GE is probably the largest exporter in the Capital Region, but many smaller companies are benefitting from increased export business. East Greenbush manufacturer XRay Optical Systems recently began selling its Sulfur in Diesel Analyzer, called the SINDIE, in China to take advantage of China’s growing air pollution problem caused by hyper economic growth over the last decade. The SINDIE helps pipeline and refinery companies detect very tiny amounts of sulfur in petroleum, which contributes to air pollution. X-Ray Optical Systems President David Gibson said the falling dollar has helped his company’s export business to the EU but the rise of the yuan against the dollar has not yet been significant enough to help his Chinese exports. “I think it’s pretty clear the Chinese are maintaining that exchange rate because if the dollar drops very much against the yuan it will hurt their exports to the U.S.,” Gibson said. Precision Valve and Automation, a 75-employee manufacturer located in Halfmoon, started selling its adhesive dispensing systems to manufacturers in China two years ago. According to company officials, about 40 percent of PVA’s sales now originate in China. But PVA’s growth in China has little to do with the decline in the dollar. PVA Asia President and CEO Jayson Moy said most of PVA’s customers in China are Chinese subcontractors of U.S. Fortune 500 companies, such as Motorola, Apple and Texas Instruments, and pay in dollars. “Demand for our machines is really consumer-driven rather than foreign exchange rate-driven,” Moy said. Nutrient premix manufacturer Fortitech, headquartered in Schenectady, expects to end 2008 with about $150 million in revenues, up from $130 million in 2007, but not because of exports or the weaker dollar. Fortitech spokesman Patrick Morris said most of the premix material Fortitech sells to the growing Asian market are manufactured at its foreign plants. He said Fortitech’s manufacturing operation in Schenectady formulates premixes almost exclusively for the U.S. market. Manufacturers that don’t export may be facing difficult times, as the U.S. economy teeters on recession. Nancy Gold, the president of Schenectady baggage manufacturer Tough Traveler Ltd., said sales to companies in Japan and individual foreign customers via Tough Traveler’s Web site have gone up in recent months. “That part of our business seems to be at a higher point right now,” Gold said. Tough Traveler also reported increased sales of some of its products to domestic manufacturers, which Gold said she views as an indicator of growing strength among U.S. businesses. Schenectady-based Accumetrics Associates President John Reschovsky said there is no question that the fall of the dollar relative to the euro has helped stimulate the European sales of his company’s electronic measurement instruments for large rotating machines. “We do a modest but growing portion of our business overseas. Products made in the U.S. are cheap, particularly with European customers,” he said. “The fact that our product is less expensive now, and it’s offered as an option for our customers’ customer, their price for that option is cheaper and I think that drives our volume to some extent.” EMERGING EXPORTERS Officials with Schenectady-based SuperPower, manufacturer of superconducting electrical wires, said the Chinese market should play an important role in the company’s commercialization of its product because China is robustly expanding its infrastructure. SuperPower’s superconducting wire enables much more efficient transmission of electricity than traditional copper wires and can carry far greater electrical loads. The process used to create the wires is very expensive, but the decline in the dollar has helped make the wires more affordable overseas. “The euro to the dollar, the yen to the dollar, are both very favorable to us at this point, and we speak to those favorable exchange rates in our sales presentations. The value of the dollar around the world is weak and that’s good for us,” SuperPower General Manager Arthur Kazanjian said. SuperPower Director of Asian sales Jorge Jimenez said another advantage SuperPower has in China is there is no Chinese supplier of the raw materials for SuperPower’s superconducting wire. Although there are benefits to exports, putting too much faith in overseas markets can pose dangers, as CardioMag Imaging, a Schenectady-based manufacturer of diagnostic heart-imaging machines, discovered in 2007. Halfway through last year CardioMag told its investors it expected to begin sales in China but was ultimately unable to secure distribution agreements. Doing business in China often requires repeated visits by corporate executives, a much longer process than American commerce. Moy said the concept of “face” is vastly important to the Chinese and he once personally visited a Chinese manufacturing client to apologize for a faulty adhesive dispenser in order to maintain PVA’s business with them. “After that everything was OK and they ordered four more machines,” Moy said. After CardioMag admitted its hangup to investors, everything was not OK and its stock lost more than 90 percent of its value on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. Ultimately the company’s shareholders voted to take the company private. CardioMag officials have since focused on establishing its product in the United States, seen as key to its worldwide acceptance. CardioMag President Tush Nikollaj said it remains to be seen whether the weaker dollar will help CardioMag. PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER At Precision Valve and Automation in Halfmoon, Kevin Ficarelli installs wiring underneath an automated adhesive dispensing machine. About 40 percent of the company’s sales now originate in China.
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