China Reform Monitor: No. 988

August 28:

Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Gazette has published an editorial entitled “Bosnia Again” calling on China and Russia to support international action on Syria. “It is high time that Moscow and Beijing reviewed their refusal to allow Syria to be called properly to account in the UN Security Council for the crimes its leadership are perpetrating. Their defense of the indefensible Assad regime is engendering worldwide disgust. If they are concerned about another Washington-led intervention, then let them intervene themselves, in the name of common humanity.” In response to accusations of a “Western conspiracy” to destroy Asad the paper wrote: “There is no such conspiracy, but rather utter revulsion by the outside world, that a dictator can be prepared to mow down as many of his people as seems necessary to restore their obedience.”

August 29:

China will take over Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar sea port in Balochistan and invest $10 billion to develop and manage it, reports The Indian Express. The Singapore Port Authority (SPA) and its partners pulled out of a 40-year management contract after the government failed to transfer 584 acres at the mouth of the port controlled by Pakistan’s Navy. “We have not been able to meet contractual obligations and resolve land issues. As a result we issued them a no objection certificate to give up their contract,” said Pakistan’s Ports and Shipping Minister. “Now the Chinese will take over Gwadar Port.” But, he warned, if the navy does not transfer the 584 acre plot at Shamba Ismail to the port, even the Chinese cannot develop Gwadar as a deepwater port.

[Editor’s Note: The Gwadar port project, built by the Chinese government at a cost of $288 million, was championed as a new deep-sea port that would make Gwadar a commercial hub. Proponents claimed that the resulting prosperity would trickle down to the Baloch people and reduce separatist sentiment, Pakistan’s Express Tribune reports. In February 2007 the Chinese turned down a request to bid for a contract to operate Gwadar, which SPA won.] .

September 1:

Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror reports that during a trip to Sri Lanka, China’s Defense Minister, General Liang Guanglie, told his counterpart that China will expand material and training support to the Sri Lankan military. He pledged to continue the flow of military assistance projects, personnel training, expanding maritime security cooperation and expertise in counter terrorism. Gen. Liang also signed a MoU for China to help build Sri Lanka’s Military Academy, according to the Mirror.

September 2:

After the 18th CPC Party Congress this fall, Tibet’s government-in-exile hopes to restart stalled talks with China. The Press Trust of India reports that in December the Tibetan Task Force on Negotiations will meet in Dharamsala, India after China’s new leadership takes office. The dialogue has been stalled since 2010 and in June, two of the Dalai Lama’s special envoys in talks with Beijing since 2002 resigned citing the deteriorating conditions in Tibet and frustration with Beijing. Tibet’s government-in-exile also “welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent call on the Chinese government to resume serious dialogue with the Tibetan leadership.”

September 4:

Deng Yuwen, a deputy editor of the Study Times, the official CPC Central Party School newspaper, has published a critique of China’s leaders, accusing them of stalling political reform and creating a legitimacy crisis. Deng said the Hu-Wen team had “created more problems than achievements” before listing the problems hindering China’s development and fanning public dissatisfaction. He attributed them to “the lack of real political reform.” They included stagnant economic restructuring, pollution, income disparity, outdated family planning and household registration polices, moral degradation and China’s battered international image. “The party and the public have a different understanding about what kind of democracy China should develop. The essence of democracy is how to restrict government power; that’s the most important reason why China needs democracy so badly. Over-concentration of government power without checks and balances is the root cause of so many social problems,” Deng said. “The biggest and the most pressing issue for the party is the crisis over the legitimacy of its rule due to its failure to address the widening wealth gap and worsening corruption, to carry out effective social integration and to meet the public demands for greater democracy.” Government censors have removed the article, which first appeared last week in Caijing Magazine. Excerpts are available at Radio Free Asia and the South China Morning Post.