China Reform Monitor: No. 912

July 25:

China has joined Russia and Kazakhstan in providing financial support for candidates in Kyrgyzstan’s upcoming presidential elections. “As a rule, China, like the U.S., used to work with the winners of the election, but given its large investments in transportation infrastructure, energy and mining sectors, Beijing is expected to provide friendly candidates ample financial support,” the private Kyrgyz news agency Vesti reports.

July 27:

In response to reports of violations of Uighurs’ rights in China, about two-dozen protestors from several of Azerbaijan’s opposition political parties have picketed the Chinese embassy in Baku. The protestors approached the embassy chanting “Freedom to Uighurs!” and “Freedom to Turks!” before police dispersed them and arrested at least seven opposition leaders, the private Azerbaijani Turan news agency reports.

[Editor’s Note: In the wake of China’s July 2009 crackdown on rioting Uighurs in Urumqi, Xinjiang awareness of China’s systematic repression of Islam has grown.]

China and South Korea have held their first defense strategic dialogue in Seoul “designed to prepare the two countries for contingencies on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the region,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports. Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Ma Xiaotian and South Korea's vice Defense Minister Lee Yong-gul led the talks, which Lee said “will open a new era of bilateral cooperation between South Korea and China.” On July 15 in Beijing, China’s Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin agreed to open the annual military dialogue, which will also include a working-level meetings in Seoul in mid-September to discuss the development of joint military training and explore opportunities for future military cooperation.

July 28:

Thirty-nine are dead and 178 injured after a high speed train from Beijing to Fuzhou ran into the back of a stationary train in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, forcing four carriages over the edge of a 20 meter viaduct. In response to “perceived bureaucratic indifference” the South China Morning Post reports that 120 victims’ relatives wearing black armbands and carrying victims’ photographs staged a sit-in in the center of the Wenzhou South Railway Station departure hall chanting “Give us the truth, explain yourselves to the dead.” They unfurled two long banners calling for justice and blocked security channels at the entrance of the station for about an hour, preventing passengers from entering until station officials agreed to meet with them. One relative not in attendance was Yang Feng, who lost his pregnant wife, sister-in-law, four-year-old nephew and mother-in-law in the accident. “The authorities have placed indirect pressure on my friends and family,” he said. Premier Wen Jiabao has promised an “open, transparent” investigation to establish the facts of the accident and apportion responsibility. Officials initially blamed the accident on lightning strikes that crippled train, but have since backtracked, stating that the cause remains under investigation. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate has sent a task force to Wenzhou to investigate.

July 30:

A report from Taiwan’s National Audit Office (NAO) revealed that its defense systems are out of date and lack qualified soldiers to operate them and urged the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to take immediate action to improve the self-governing island’s combat readiness. Specifically, the audit unit’s annual report said many of the army and air force’s missiles are already past their expiration dates, and that although the armed forces has 200 CM-24 infantry carrier vehicles, only 50 drivers have been trained to operate them. The NAO blamed the shortage of drivers on “inadequate training.” In response, a MND spokesman said the ministry would speed up specialized military personnel training and upgrade or replace outdated missiles and other equipment, Taiwan’s China Post reports.