China Reform Monitor: No. 991

September 14:

Three people died and four others were hospitalized after a natural gas pipeline explosion in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang. An official investigation is underway into the cause of the blast, the official China Daily reports.

[Editor’s Note: Chinese authorities do not generally cover up explosions, but neither do they release the results of their investigations. As such, it is often difficult to know definitively what and who caused an explosion. The New York Times reports that Uighurs have long been angered by the transfer of oil and gas out of Xinjiang via the East-West pipeline.]

China’s Exim Bank will provide another $240 million in loans to finance the construction of infrastructure in southern Sri Lanka, the official People’s Daily reports. China is already funding a $361 million port, a $209 million airport and several other infrastructure projects in Hambantota. The goal is to turn the area into a transport hub. Sri Lanka cabinet has approved the new loan, which will be completed by China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. Hambantota, the Sri Lankan president’s vote base, has elected several of his family members, including his son, to parliament.

September 16:

Yesterday more than 80,000 Chinese took to the streets in 57 cities to denounce Japan’s purchase of the Diaoyu Islands marking China’s largest anti-Japan demonstrations in 40 years. Today anti-Japan protests in 85 cities were greeted with mixed responses. Protesters in Guangzhou and Beijing faced a strong police presence, while in some smaller cities police did not interfere. Thousands of protesters in Dongguan and Zhuhai in Guangdong burned Japanese flags, vandalized cars and wrecked restaurants and shops. The South China Morning Post reports that some workers were given the day off to protest.

In Shenzhen more then 10,000 people clashed with police as they forced their way into a Japanese department store. Protesters threw rocks and smoking canisters at police while chanting “patriotism is not a crime” and calling authorities “traitors” for suppressing them. The official media has called for “rational expressions of patriotism.” Kyodo reports that in Guangdong protesters carried a banner reading, “Freedom, democracy, human rights and constitutional government.” A researcher at the official Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences said Beijing wants to keep unrest from spiraling out of control. “Authorities across Guangdong have been briefed that the central government does not want protest sentiment to go overboard. The priority is to maintain social stability before the 18th party congress.”

September 20:

Kyodo reports that after six Chinese surveillance ships visited the Japanese-controlled Diaoyu Islands on September 14 Japan’s Embassy in Beijing lodged a “strong protest” with the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanding China stop sending ships into Japanese territorial waters. In response China sent over 700 Chinese boats from coastal provinces such as Zhejiang and Fujian to fish in waters within 100km of the disputed Islands. To pressure Japan and to demonstrate its sovereignty claim China will maintain patrol ships and hundreds of fishing boats in waters just off the islands, the Asahi Shinbum reports.