China Reform Monitor: No. 708

July 23:

Air Zimbabwe’s twice daily flights to Beijing and Guangzhou (via Singapore) are being used to ferry high-ranking military officials and war veterans from Robert Mugabe's repressive regime, as well as tons of illicit goods including ivory, gold, diamonds, and weapons. Zimbabwe aviation sources quoted in Australia’s The Age said a recent flight carried 15 tons of unidentified "palace cargo" to Beijing to be exchanged for weapons and luxury items. "You often see 'war veterans' on these flights, they are being rewarded for their thuggery with free junkets to China," a flight engineer said. "When the flights arrive back in Zimbabwe they are escorted to a secured part of the airport and unloaded by trusted palace staff. They are often crammed with plasma televisions and luxury goods.” In comments carried by the official Xinhua News Agency a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned the story’s “malicious rumors" but did not explicitly deny its accuracy.


July 25:

Taiwan's Central News Agency reports two senior Taiwanese officials have reiterated Taiwan’s solidarity with the United States and their country’s desire to move forward with an $11 billion arms package first offered by the Bush Administration in 2001. In New York and Washington on a goodwill visit, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng quoted President Ma as saying: "Taiwan's purchase of U.S. military weapons should proceed as projected and as quickly as possible." He called Taipei's relations with Beijing and Washington "equidistant" and affirmed his government’s desire for Taiwan to join “the international organizations which require statehood... as an observer."

Meanwhile in Taipei, Jason Yuan - Taiwan’s new “representative” in Washington - rebutted reports that the U.S. government appears to have frozen the arms package which was approved last December by Taiwan's legislative branch. "To me, I don't think it's a big issue. I think by the time I go (to the U.S.) on the 4th, it will be almost a done deal," Yuan said on July 25. The package includes units of the Patriot anti-missile system and attack helicopters. The Bush administration has not yet notified the U.S. Congress of the arms sales, a step required before the weapons can be released to Taiwan. The report was carried by Taipei’s Central News Agency.


July 27:

China’s new $250 million granite and glass embassy to the United States has opened in Washington. The massive 345,500 square foot complex designed by C.C. Pei was built entirely by hundreds of Chinese laborers brought over and housed in an old Day’s Inn, prompting criticism from U.S. labor leaders. ``This is outrageous,'' said Mark Levinson, chief economist at Unite Here, a union representing 450,000 industrial, textile and hotel employees nationwide. ``When the U.S. is in a recession and Chinese imports are flooding into the U.S., the Chinese should be using American workers,” he said in comments carried by Bloomberg. Ashton Carter, a former U.S. assistant defense secretary, explained Beijing’s rationale: ``They think our workers will implant bugs,” and if China isn't careful ``we probably will.”


July 29:

In a snub to its largest patron, the Burmese junta has rejected proposed investment plans by China’s ZTE and Alcatel Shanghai Bell. The Thailand-based Irawaddy website reports that the companies were hoping to cash in on a string of investment openings Burma had announced for its largest IT center, theYadanabon Cyber City. Rangoon ended up granting twelve investment permits to companies ranging from Australia to Russia but, surprisingly, all Chinese bids were denied.