May 25:
Chinese officials have approved Beijing’s controversial Maglev train project, but that has not stopped The Beijing Times from publishing an editorial questioning its value. “Maglev trains have a high energy consumption and high maintenance costs. Residents along the planned line, worrying about the possible harm from radiation and noise, have already lodged a joint protest,” the newspaper reported. “An assessment could not be deemed just and scientific if it fails to answer certain questions. The answers will make clear whether the project is for show or for the welfare of residents.” Among those questions the author posed were: “How big is the impact of Maglev pollution? Is it safe? Can all the technical requirements be guaranteed? What is the budget? How many benefits will it bring to residents? Is the purpose of building a Maglev line to improve traffic or boost domestic consumption? Will the fare be affordable? Is there another choice with lower investment but mature and stable technology?”
[Editor’s Note: The Maglev train in Shanghai, put into operation in 2002, was the world's first Maglev in commercial operation. The 30-km line, costing 10 billion yuan, is now deeply in deficit and because of the high ticket prices, passenger usage is only 20 percent of capacity.]
May 26:
The Zhujiang Evening News reports that local governments are using “maintenance of social stability as a pretext to prevent people from seeking help from the central authorities” and as a result the central government has seen a sharp rise in petitions in recent years. These appeals stress the “underlining intense contradiction between local governments and residents. Many people ask the central government to stop local governments from evicting them from their homes. These local governments force the people to sell their land to them at throwaway prices and local governments resell them to developers at sky-high prices. Local governments are not bothered that such measures are illegal and use maintenance of social stability as an excuse for their actions. This ruse is being used by almost all the local governments to gag protests against forcible acquisition of land and property. Hiding such cases instead of handling them properly at the very beginning is nothing but a stupid expedient measure.”
May 27:
During bilateral meetings with Russia’s drug control chief, Viktor Ivanov China’s Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu and Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping, have expressed “particular concern” about drug trafficking from Afghanistan, which they said “escalates tensions” in Xinjiang. Meng said the amount of Afghan heroin rose from 4.3 metric tons of last year to six metric tons in the first five months of 2010. “Both the Russian and the Chinese side note the extremely low efficiency of anti-drug efforts by the international coalition forces in Afghanistan,” Ivanov said. Russia provided the coalition forces with information on 175 drug labs in Afghanistan, but “they continue to send heroin to our countries, and none of them has been eliminated,” Ivanov told Russia’s RIA Novosti News Agency.
[Editor’s Note: Heroin smugglers have numerous entry points to China. The following day investigators in Hanoi identified another route where African mules carry the drug “by air from India via Ho Chi Minh City to China,” the Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien reports.]
China may back India’s efforts to gain a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for 2010-11. During meetings with India’s President Pratibha Patil, Premier Wen Jiabao called for “a greater role for India in the UN, especially in the Security Council.” Beijing and New Delhi agree on the need for Security Council reform and want greater representation for developing countries. Other topics discussed included efforts to maintain peace and tranquility on the Sino-Indian border and China’s large trade surplus with India, India’s Economic Times reports
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June 1:
France will withdraw its military liaison unit in Taiwan after an international court ordered Paris to compensate Taipei for a frigate sale it reneged on. Three weeks ago Paris was found to have breached a 1991 contract to sell six Lafayette frigates and forced to pay Taipei $830 million in compensation. In response Paris decided to remove its military liaison unit from Taiwan effective next month, the China Post reports. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry says the unit will be removed for budget reasons and France's Foreign Ministry denies it even exists.
