December 12:
Throughout 2010, China and Vietnam have been engaged in discreet negotiations over several South China Sea disputes. Beijing is reportedly willing discuss the Spratly islands but not its occupation of the Paracel Islands. “China made its position very clear at the outset; China occupies the Paracels, they belong to China and there is nothing to negotiate,” one Vietnamese official said in comments carried by the South China Morning Post. Four rounds of talks have been held this year to seek agreement on “fundamental guiding principles for addressing issues at sea” and another round was planned later this month Hanoi said. Meanwhile, bilateral negotiations are also under way over the mouth of the Tonkin Gulf. Both navies staged a recent joint patrol in the gulf itself as a confidence-building measure aimed to sooth growing tensions. The 1400 km China-Vietnam land border and the sea borders of the Tonkin Gulf have been agreed upon, leaving only the mouth of the gulf and South China Sea unsettled.
December 13:
A photo of three empty chairs that appeared on the front page of the December 12 edition of Guangzhou Nanfang Dushi Bao drew speculation from online observers and Japan’s Kyodo News Agency, who compared the photo to the empty chair left on stage for Liu Xiaobo during the Noble Award Ceremony in Oslo two days before. According to a report by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao, a staffer at Nanfang Dushi Bao said a reporter covering the opening of the Asian Paralympic Games took the picture and an editor selected it. “This is merely a news photo that has no other meaning, so please do not over speculate,” she said.
December 15:
Hong Kong’s independent newspaper, The Apple Daily (Ping Kuo Jih Pao), reports that officials from the Central People's Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong telephoned the senior management of the four major television stations in Hong Kong -TVB, ATV, Cable TV and NOW on the night of December 9th and pressured them not to transmit the live broadcast of the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony for dissident Liu Xiaobo in Norway. All four TV stations reportedly replied that they would proceed with carrying the live broadcast, but four days later (on December 15), The Apple Daily published an editorial criticizing some of them for not actually doing so and some newspapers for not putting the ceremony on their front pages. The paper urged the Hong Kong media to learn from Guangdong media like Shidai Zhoubao and Nanfang Dushi Bao, “which are brave enough to express their support for civil activists, Liu Xiaobo and the Nobel Peace Prize in a subtle way.”
December 17:
The Beijing municipal government has earmarked 40 million yuan in canteen meal subsidies for up to 100,000 college students from poor families amid rising inflation on the mainland. Xian Lianping, director of the Education Supervisory Office, said the subsidies, which were introduced last month and would last until August, entitled poor students to 40 yuan apiece per month. Xian said the municipal government had also ordered about 30 universities under its charge to make sure enough inexpensive dishes were available for students and promised to help canteens offset losses from rising costs. The municipal government in Chongqing also set aside 73 million yuan this month to subsidize college canteens in an attempt to stabilize prices. Late last month, more than 1000 students at the number two middle school in Liupanshui, Guizhou, stormed their canteen after the cost of dishes rose.
[Editor’s Note: The National Bureau of Statistics said the consumer price index for last month had risen 5.1% year on year, a record in the last 28 months, because of surging food costs. Food prices went up 11.7% year on year last month, the South China Morning Post reports.]
