2010年7月30日 星期五

中日商议东海气田;东京欲建立东亚经济区

中日商议东海气田;东京欲建立东亚经济区

中日两国政府决定,就共同开发东海天然气气田问题重开谈判。这片气田处于双方均声称拥有主权的海域。《新苏黎世报》认为,如果中日就此问题达成协议,就等于“拆除了两国关系中最危险爆炸物之一的引信”:

"中日两国海上经济区的边界走向没有解决,这是两国关系中最危险的爆炸物之一。中国坚持自己拥有开发东海宝藏的权利,其中包括开发经济上重要的天然气气田,开发权一直延伸到大陆架末端,接近日本的冲绳岛。

但日本坚持海上经济区应为二百海里,并按照此原则在中间划界。这样,中国称为'春晓'、日本称为'白桦'的气田,正好处于分界线上。中国目前在自己的一侧开采,日本提出抗议,日本政府担心,日本一侧的天然气也被中国开采。

双方的冲突以激烈的形式表现出来。2005年前后,日本小泉纯一郎执政、两国外交多年处于冰封状况时,中国甚至派遣军舰到春晓海域,向邻国日本挑 衅。2008年,双方虽然试图以首次签订的天然气协议为'战略伙伴关系'奠定基石,但并没有能完全平息海上风波。今年二月,日本政府指称中国违约,并威胁 要在国际海事法庭状告中国。

不过,两国对扩大经济关系都怀有很大兴趣,这使两国政府很快重新回到谈判桌旁。日本想保障自己的企业在兴旺的中国市场上获得良好条件,通过放宽对中国游客的签证规定促进日本旅游业发展。中国则希望能更容易进入日本市场,最近也希望自己的企业在日本的投资条件能得到改善。"

建立东亚三国经济区并非易事

《新苏黎世报》同时注意到,日本内阁周二决定,加速自由贸易区的谈判进程。日本希望以欧盟从能源联合体发展到经济共同体的历史为榜样,建立日中韩东亚三国经济区,《新苏黎世报》认为,"这一计划实现起来没有那么容易":

"中国与日本之间的政治紧张关系一再给共同的经济利益投下阴影。最大的问题之一仍然是日本越来越把中国视为政治竞争对手和军事威胁。这一压力甚至促 使首次执政的日本民主党上台后仅几个月就改变开始时反对与美国结盟的态度,考虑继承前任政府与美国建立军事联盟的立场。日本政府甚至考虑正式抛弃日本在核 武器方面的'三不'外交原则:不拥有 、不生产、不引进核武器。

日本报纸《朝日新闻》一篇未经证实的报道说,日本政府的一个委员会想建议日本放宽武器出口的禁令,此外,还尤其要允许美国核舰艇访问日本。日本新政府承认,过去的一纸秘密条约就曾促成了这样的访问。"

(本文摘自或节译自其它媒体,不代表德国之声观点)

编译:王羊

责编:石涛

谷歌搜索服務在中國大陸被完全封鎖

歌(Google Inc.)說﹐其搜索引擎在中國大陸被“完全封鎖”﹐這是自3月份谷歌停止自我審查搜索結果以來的第一次。

據谷歌在一個介紹中國大陸用戶 對谷歌服務可訪問情況的網頁上說﹐谷歌在線廣告和移動搜索業務也首次被完全封鎖。

過去幾週來﹐谷歌的“Suggest”(建議)搜索功能 被完全封鎖。這一功能可以在用戶開始在搜索框中輸入字母時﹐推薦搜索條目。這一功能在中國很受歡迎﹐因為輸入中文比輸入其他語言花的時間長。

谷 歌發言人暫時沒有置評。谷歌首席執行長施密特(Eric Schmidt)此前曾說﹐谷歌聽任中國政府的擺佈﹐甚至是在本月早些時候中國政府批准谷歌在華運營的許可證續期之後。

施密特本月早些時 候說﹐我們的在華業務完全由中國政府擺佈。我希望大家對此不要有什麼誤解。

在抱怨受到源自中國的網絡攻擊之後﹐谷歌3月份不再去除搜索結 果中政府認為的反對性內容。谷歌之後開始將搜索業務從中國大陸轉到不受審查的香港網站。兩週前﹐中國政府暗示﹐如果谷歌繼續這樣做﹐將不會獲得許可證的續 期﹔之後谷歌停止了自動轉向。

目前﹐谷歌中文網站google.cn要求訪問者點擊一幅圖片後﹐才能跳轉到香港網站進行網絡搜索。

儘管谷歌對其香港網站不進行審查﹐政府會採取措施限制對互聯網上某些內容的訪問。視頻網站YouTube等谷歌其 他服務在中國早就被封了。

這場紛爭導致谷歌將市場份額拱手讓給其主要競爭對手百度。百度長期以來都是中國最大的搜索引擎。據位於北京的研 究公司易觀國際(Analysys International)的數據﹐二季度﹐百度在搜索市場中的份額增長了六個百分點﹐至70%。谷歌的市場份額則大約下滑了同樣的幅度﹐至24%。

Amir Efrati

事故頻發 中國工作場所安全狀況堪憂

Xinhua/ZUMA Press
南京一塑料廠爆炸現場。週三發生的這一爆炸事 件導致至少12人死亡。
三發 生的燃氣爆炸和化工原料泄漏是一連串安全事故中最新的幾起﹐顯示出中國在工業安全方面的問題。

官方媒體報導﹐在南京市人口稠密地段的一家 塑料廠發生了丙烯管道爆炸﹐導致至少12人喪生﹐工廠外數百人受傷﹐說明將生產廠安置在人口稠密地區的風險﹐而這一作法非常普遍。

Reuters
一名在爆炸中受傷的男子指著塑料廠的方向
當 天吉林市附近發生水污染事件﹐化工原料桶流入河內﹐地方當局切斷當地水源﹐而這使人們紛紛湧入超市買水﹐五年前幾乎在同一地點發生了重大化工泄漏事件﹐當 時人們就是這樣做的。

威脅生命和環境的事故每天發生在中國的各種工作場所﹐其中包括煤礦、煙花廠和港口。中國政府本月公佈﹐今年上半年在 工業事故中﹐平均每天死亡187人。儘管這一數據較2009年上半年明顯下降11%﹐但這明顯說明在中國工業擴張之際﹐工作場所的安全令人揪心。

中國幾十年來一直強調經濟發展﹐使確保生產場所安全和環境清潔的措施相形見絀。共產黨單獨制定政策﹐為能起到制衡 作用的“企業牛虻”和積極的新聞媒體等力量留下的空間很有限。腐敗和發生在工廠所有者與地方監察機構之間的勾結限制了工人和環境保護法律的執行力度。

可 能最大的原因是﹐對在全世界人口最多的國家裡的許多人來說﹐即使是危險的工作也是有吸引力的。

這些環境問題因中國今年雨季雨量特別大而複 雜化。吉林市的水污染事件就被歸因於降雨﹐降雨使化工原料桶流入松花江﹐這些化工原料是生產炸藥所需的。

據新華社報導﹐1,000多個總 計裝有160,000公斤三甲基一氯硅烷的原料桶被沖入松花江中。三甲基一氯硅烷是一種無色、可燃、具有刺激性氣味的液體。新華社說﹐三甲基一氯硅烷與水 發生作用後﹐會產生鹽酸。新華社還援引官員的話報導說﹐如果發現有污染現象﹐將進行清理。

本月在福建省﹐紫金礦業說﹐洪水造成其銅礦廠附 近的一個污水池潰塌﹐污水流入江中造成魚類大量死亡。之後﹐該公司承認了自身的責任﹐說公司的失誤也是造成污染的原因之一。

在本月的另外 一起事故中﹐大連的一條輸油管道爆炸後石油發生泄漏﹐一名消防員在清除油污的過程中喪生。

令風險增大的是﹐中國城市實施的雜亂的分區規定 ﹐有時意味著工廠週邊是密集的住宅。週三發生爆炸的南京第四塑料廠有66幢樓﹐位於一個工業住宅區﹐附近有一家家具店和診所﹐距離市區的省政府大樓和南京 市的一個主要公園不遠。

據新華社報導﹐週三上午發生的爆炸造成多達300人受傷入院治療﹐市區的五家大醫院急診室人滿為患﹐血庫告急。死 亡人數可能會上升。中央電視台報導說死亡12人﹐數十人仍傷勢嚴重。

電視畫面顯示﹐最初的爆炸破壞了數百英尺之外的一個地區﹐一輛公共汽 車和轎車被燒得只剩下扭曲變形的骨架﹐磚牆倒塌﹐窗戶破損。身上血跡斑斑的目擊者說﹐這個地區就像發生了地震。消防員花了四個小時試圖封堵輸氣管道﹐橙色 的火球從一幢工廠建築的屋頂中噴出。

中國國家安全生產監督管理總局在一份聲明中說﹐在工人拆除工廠建築時﹐丙烯管道受到破壞。聲明說﹐火 星是一輛轎車的引擎引起的。

中國很多城市計劃將工業區遣址。大部分中國城市被數不清的開發區包圍著﹐城市規劃人士鼓勵公司搬離市區。工廠 廠主常常對此反應積極﹐以便可以享受低價的土地、更好的交通和資金刺激。不過﹐這個過程進展可能會很慢。在一個企業向潛在投資者進行宣傳的地方政府網站上 ﹐一則通知中說﹐第四塑料廠稱工廠是1975年開始投產的。

JAMES T. AREDDY

2010年7月29日 星期四

火光冲天 南京爆炸事件 当地五大报纸集体消声

新闻报道 | 2010.07.29

南京爆炸事件 当地五大报纸集体消声

7月28日,南京一家废弃工厂发生剧烈爆炸。但第二天,当地主要平面媒体的头版却并未出现这则轰动中国的新闻。媒体报道的集体"失声"和关于爆炸事件死伤人数的出入都引起了网民的争论。

周四(7月29日),在南京五大报业集体"失声"的同时,唯有一家名为《现代快报》的当地报纸以"突发爆炸、考验南京"为题对爆炸的救援工 作进行了报道。而如果稍加调查读者就会发现,《现代快报》是新华社江苏分社的直属单位。这家受中国官方媒体统一管辖的报纸将此次爆炸定性为"突发"事件。 但是,这样的"定位"却让网民们产生了抵触情绪。一些网民认为,事故的发生绝非偶然,他们将2010年5月底,发生在南京栖霞区(本次事故发生地)的气体 泄露事件的新闻报道重新公布在网络上。报道中称,当时曾有数千人得到预警,被提前疏散。

死亡人数众说纷纭

发生爆炸事故当天,中国央视《新闻联播》和新华社公布的死亡数字是12人,而在互联网上人们看到的伤亡人数却完全不同。南京电视台生活频道在"推特"上公布的死亡人数为76人,另有数千人受伤。

正当人们都在猜疑官方公布的信息为何有如此出入的时候,网上也流出了一段名为《谁让你们直播》的视频。镜头中一位官员对记者发出了这样的疑问:

"你们是哪里的?

"我们是江苏卫视,省台的。"

"是哪个让你们直播的?"

"您看,新华社的在那边呢,要不您先找他们去...."

随即,这位记者无奈的中断了直播信号。在经过了中国网民强大的人肉搜索之后得知,镜头中阻拦记者的两位官员分别是江苏省宣传部的部长及江苏省办公厅副主任。有网民在观看视频后愤怒的写道:"看你们这些试图一手遮天的共产党官员还能躲到哪里?"

居民抗议安排不妥

据香港有线台报道,位于南京近郊的这家废弃的塑料厂发生爆炸后,当地大批民众上街游行,出现了封堵附近街道的情况。抗议者认为,官方在事故发生后没有提供安置措施。

截至目前,中国官方公布的死亡人数为13人,另有百余人受伤。但是爆炸令周边很多居民的住所成为了危楼。居民们表示,正等待官方的赔偿方案。

8家医院亟需血源

目前,在离爆炸现场最近的江苏省中西医结合医院等8家南京当地医院收治了大量伤员。据香港媒体报道,仅南京鼓楼医院就接收了因爆炸事故造成的90多 位伤员,其中有14位都是重伤。本周四,这8家医院都表示,由于受伤者大都是爆炸所造成的烧伤和外伤,因此伤者需要大量的输血血浆。

如果未及时提供血源,重伤患者就有生命危险。据一位在当地医院工作的网友在互联网上透露说,"医院院长下达了命令,所有伤员一定要撑过三天才能宣布死亡。"

公民调查促寻找事故的深层原因

此外,一个名为"@Yahoo"的推友在推特上写道:"自己家里三代都是生活在南京的老南京人,个人认为这次事件是官方有意掩盖信息。"这样的发言在互联网上得到了广泛的支持。对此,中国知名艺术家艾未未呼吁,要对整个事件进行公民调查,要查出事件的深层原因。

火光冲天Bildunterschrift: 火光冲天

作者:严严

责编:石涛

2010年7月28日 星期三

Iraq and Afghanistan: electricity

a shot in the arm, a real shot

American troops might have had a real shot at winning hearts and minds if they’d just been able to deliver the basic service in Iraq and Afghanistan: electricity. Instead, they furnished an object lesson in superpower incompetence. More

Motorola Sues China's Huawei

托羅拉(Motorola Inc.)起訴中國電信設備生產商華為技術有限公司﹐稱華為多年參與一項精心策劃的、竊取摩托羅拉最新技術的秘密計劃。


Suit Challenges Huawei's Success
Motorola's lawsuit against Huawei Technologies alleging a plot to steal the U.S. company's trade secrets could complicate years of largely successful efforts by the Chinese telecom-equipment giant to demonstrate itself as an innovator in the industry.


摩托羅拉在提交給伊利諾伊州美國聯邦法院的起訴書中稱﹐過去10年來﹐華為與10多名摩托羅拉員工合謀竊取了其手機網絡設備方面的詳細機密信息。

起 訴書中列出的員工已經不再受雇於摩托羅拉﹐其中包括潘少偉(音)。摩托羅拉稱﹐潘少偉在摩托羅拉工作期間﹐向華為創始人、董事長任正非秘密匯報達數年時 間。位於伊利諾伊州紹姆堡(Schaumburg)的摩托羅拉稱﹐潘少偉之後離開摩托羅拉﹐參與在紹姆堡成立了一家名為Lemko Corp.的公司﹐目的是從摩托羅拉竊取更多的商業秘密。

華為稱摩托羅拉對它的指控毫無根據。

潘少偉的律師們沒有回復記者的置評請求。潘少偉對此前的指控做出回應﹐稱摩托羅拉宣稱他竊取的發明實際上有很多是他自己發明的﹐而且是在他離開摩托羅拉之後發明出來的。

記者暫時無法聯繫到其他被告進行置評。

Lemko公司在提交給法庭的文件中宣稱﹐摩托羅拉對它進行不實指控﹐目的是令其破產﹐並接手它的專利技術﹐其中包括摩托羅拉多年來忽視的一個領域的開發項目。Lemko發言人說﹐不幸的是﹐摩托羅拉繼續用它發起的瑣碎訴訟案數量來定義自己的成功。

摩 托羅拉與通用電氣(General Electric Co.)和西門子(Siemens AG)的首席執行長們抱怨說﹐中國在試圖控制先進技術方面做的太過頭了。今年早些時候﹐谷歌(Google Inc.)稱其電腦系統遭到了源於中國黑客的大規模攻擊﹔中國黑客竊取了其專利電腦程序﹐並試圖攻入人權活動人士的電子郵箱帳戶。

越來越公開的抱怨顯示出﹐高管們對在華的進展和中國公司成為強勁競爭對手感到越來越有挫折感。

華為於1988年由前中國人民解放軍軍官任正非創立。華為使全球電信設備市場發生了巨變﹐利用具有競爭力的價格進入了全球三大供應商之列。

起訴書稱﹐這是一項精心設計的、直接牽涉到華為董事長任正非的秘密計劃。

潘少偉看起來是任正非的主要聯繫人。起訴書中說﹐在法院下令潘少偉於2009年5月底前交出家中電腦里的內容前﹐他試圖用文件破壞軟件將電腦內容毀掉。

據起訴書說﹐不過仍獲得了一些證據﹐幫助瞭解了案情。

據起訴書說﹐2001年潘少偉在北京遇到了任正非。

當時﹐潘少偉是摩托羅拉負責構架的高級工程師。他從1994年開始在摩托羅拉工作。

起訴書中說﹐2002年8月﹐潘少偉向任正非匯報了包括巴西和印度在內的其他市場對摩托羅拉部分最新產品的反應。據起訴書說﹐他還匯報說﹐如果我們的計劃能夠順利進行﹐我們將計劃成立Lemko﹐它將獨立於摩托羅拉。

起訴書說﹐2003年3月﹐潘少偉和摩托羅拉的另外兩位軟件工程師在中國拜訪了華為的高管﹐包括公司負責無線通訊的副總裁侯金龍和任正非。

根據起訴書中聲稱摩托羅拉發現的一份電子郵件﹐2003年3月初潘少偉從中國回到美國後﹐在華為的要求下﹐潘少偉很快通過他的個人電子郵件帳戶﹐將關於摩托羅拉基站的專利信息傳給華為高層人士。基站是摩托羅拉用於“無縫移動”技術的關鍵設備。

在被發現的潘少偉寫給侯金龍的電子郵件中﹐潘少偉寫道﹐隨附你想要的關於SC300 (CDMA 2000 1X)規格的文件﹐他指的就是基站。起訴書中說﹐侯金龍承認收到了這封電子郵件。

根據起訴書﹐發送給華為管理層的基站規格是在潘少偉電腦的一封電子郵件里發現的﹐文件每頁都標有“摩托羅拉保密資產”。

起訴書稱﹐華為知道展示給其管理層看的技術是“摩托羅拉全職員工提供的竊取來的摩托羅拉商業機密和保密信息。”

根據起訴書﹐Lemko和華為正在出售基於盜用技術的設備。

該起訴書是摩托羅拉在兩年的法律糾紛中第一次提及華為。

摩托羅拉已以同樣罪名起訴同一批雇員和Lemko﹐該案還沒有解決。

摩托羅拉在起訴書中指控了一位被告金韓娟(音)。根據起訴書﹐她於1998年作為一名軟件工程師開始為摩托羅拉工作﹐並於2004年左右同時為Lemko工作。在此期間﹐她不斷接入摩托羅拉受保護的電腦﹐將機密信息傳到她的個人電子郵件帳戶。

根據起訴書﹐2007年2月金韓娟企圖登上從芝加哥到北京的單程飛機﹐但被美國海關官員截住。

根據起訴書﹐美國海關官員發現她拿著30,000美元現金﹐以及涉及摩托羅拉商業機密的1,000多份紙質和電子文件。

摩托羅拉週一宣佈﹐已決定將處於爭議中的多數業務﹐即其無線網絡部門以12億美元出售給諾基亞西門子通信公司(Nokia Siemens Networks)。

熟悉情況的一位人士說﹐華為一直在負責運營摩托羅拉的網絡業務﹐摩托羅拉曾承諾﹐如果有可能將網絡業務出售給華為﹐就不再繼續起訴該商業機密案。

這位熟悉情況的人說﹐諾基亞西門子通信公司成為競購中的贏家後﹐摩托羅拉繼續推進針對華為的起訴。

摩托羅拉正在查找損失並尋求找回商業機密。摩托羅拉一位女言人說﹐摩托羅拉將繼續努力保護自己的知識產權。

華為近些年通過迫使競爭對手降低價格而將電訊業進行了重新洗牌﹐目前其已躋身世界三大電訊設備供應商之一。

在不斷在價格方面擊敗競爭對手之外﹐華為還是長期演進項目(Long Term Evolution)主要設備供應商之一。長期演進項目是一種無線標準﹐其速度比舊網絡更快。華為甚至在歐洲競爭對手的本土市場獲取了合同。

這不是華為第一次被美國公司起訴盜竊商業機密罪。

2003年思科系統(Cisco Systems)起訴華為竊取其路由器代碼﹐但在華為決定將其路由器產品撤出市場並進行更改後﹐思科系統撤訴。

2004年在芝加哥舉行的貿易展上﹐一位華為雇員一連幾個小時拍攝競爭產品的照片﹐被抓了現行﹐華為後來解雇了這名雇員。

Christopher Rhoads

Motorola Inc. has sued Huawei Technologies Co., alleging the Chinese telecom equipment maker engaged in an elaborate plot over a number of years to steal its latest technology.

In a complaint filed in U.S. federal court in Illinois, Motorola claims Huawei worked with more than a dozen of its employees during the last decade to secure detailed confidential information about its cellular network equipment.

The employees named in the suit are no longer employed by Motorola. They include Shaowei Pan, who Motorola claims secretly reported to Huawei's founder and chairman, Ren Zhengfei, for years while he worked at the Shaumburg, Ill., company. Motorola claims Mr. Pan then left to help set up a company in Schaumburg called Lemko Corp. with the purpose of stealing more secrets from Motorola.

Huawei called the complaint 'utterly without merit.'

Mr. Pan's lawyers didn't respond to requests for comment. He has responded to earlier complaints, arguing that he, in fact, created a number of the inventions Motorola alleges he stole, and that he created them after leaving the company.

Other defendants couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Lemko has claimed in court filings that Motorola has falsely attacked it in an attempt to put it out of business and take over its proprietary technology, which involves developments in a field Motorola overlooked for years. 'It is unfortunate that Motorola continues to define its success by the number of frivolous lawsuits it commences,' a Lemko spokesman said.

Motorola joins the chief executives of General Electric Co. and Siemens AG in raising complaints that China has been too aggressive in trying to get hold of advanced technology. Earlier this year, Google Inc. claimed its computer systems had suffered a massive attack traced to Chinese hackers, who stole proprietary computer code and tried to break into email accounts of human-rights activists.

The increasingly public complaints show executives' growing frustration with their progress in China and with the emergence of Chinese companies as potent competitors.

Huawei, founded in 1988 by Mr. Ren, a former officer in China's People's Liberation Army, has shaken up the global market for telecom equipment, using aggressive pricing to fight its way into the ranks of the Top 3 suppliers world-wide.

The complaint alleges there was an elaborate scheme directly involving Huawei's chairman, Mr. Ren.

Mr. Pan, who appeared to be the primary contact for Mr. Ren, attempted to destroy the contents of his home computers with file-destruction software before he was ordered by the court to hand them over by the end of May 2009, according to the complaint.

But some evidence was nevertheless retained that helped to detail the operation, according to the complaint.

Mr. Pan met with Mr. Ren in Beijing in 2001, according to the complaint.
At the time, Mr. Pan was a senior engineer responsible for architecture at Motorola, where he had worked since 1994.

In August 2002, Mr. Pan reported to Mr. Ren about the response in other markets, including Brazil and India, to some of the latest Motorola products, according to the complaint. According to the complaint, he also reported, 'If our plan can progress smoothly, Lemko will be the company we are planning to establish, and it will be independent of Motorola Inc.'

In March 2003, Mr. Pan, along with two Motorola software engineers, visited with Huawei executives in China, including the company's vice president of wireless communications, JinLong Hou and Mr. Ren, according to the complaint.

Immediately after his return to the U.S. from the China trip in early March 2003, Mr. Pan, at Huawei's request, transferred proprietary information to the Huawei executives about a Motorola base station -- a critical piece of equipment used in Motorola's 'seamless mobility' initiative -- using his personal email account, according to an email the complaint claims Motorola recovered.

'Attached please find those document about SC300 (CDMA 2000 1X) specification you asked,' wrote Mr. Pan in the recovered email to Mr. Hou, referring to the base station. Mr. Hou acknowledged receipt of the email, according to the complaint.

The specifications about the base station sent to the Huawei executive, with each page marked 'Motorola Confidential Property, were found in an email on Mr. Pan's computer, according to the complaint.

Huawei knew that the technology shown to its executives was 'derived from misappropriated Motorola trade secrets and confidential information by full-time Motorola employees,' the complaint said.

Lemko and Huawei are now selling equipment based on that stolen technology, according to the complaint.

The filing was the first time Motorola has named Huawei in the two-year-old legal proceedings.

Motorola has sued the same group of employees and Lemko on the same charges, and the case hasn't been settled.

Motorola alleged in the complaint that one defendant, Hanjuan Jin, who went to work for Motorola as a software engineer in 1998, began working simultaneously for Lemko around 2004. She continued to access Motorola's protected computers during this time, transferring confidential information to her personal email account, according to the complaint.

In February 2007, Ms. Jin was attempting to board a one-way flight to Beijing from Chicago when she was stopped by U.S. Customs officials, according to the complaint.

They found she was carrying $30,000 in cash and more than 1,000 paper and electronic documents concerning Motorola trade secrets, according to the complaint.

Motorola announced Monday that it had agreed to sell most of the business at issue -- its wireless networks unit -- to Nokia Siemens Networks for $1.2 billion.

Huawei had been in the running for Motorola's networks business, and the U.S. company had promised not to proceed with the trade secrets case as long as a sale to the Chinese company was possible, a person familiar with the matter said.

When Nokia Siemens emerged as the winner, Motorola proceeded with the legal case against Huawei, the person familiar said.

Motorola is seeking damages and the return of its trade secrets. 'Motorola will continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property,' a Motorola spokeswoman said.

Huawei has reshaped the telecommunications industry in recent years by forcing competitors to lower prices and risen to become one of the top three telecommunications equipment vendors in the world.

In addition to continuing to beat competitors on price, Huawei is one of the leading vendors of equipment for Long Term Evolution, or LTE, a wireless standard that allows higher traffic speeds than older networks. It has snapped up contracts even in the home markets of its European competitors.

This isn't the first time Huawei has been accused of stealing trade secrets from a U.S. company.

In 2003, Cisco Systems Inc. alleged the company stole its router code, but it dropped the suit after Huawei agreed to remove its router products from the market and change them.

At a trade show in Chicago in 2004, a Huawei employee was caught after hours taking pictures of competing products. Huawei subsequently fired the employee.

Christopher Rhoads

China Pushes to End Public Shaming

我在1991年成都-眉山途中
見過遊街示眾
China Daily, via Reuters

Police officers watched over prostitutes during a public parade in 2006 in Shenzhen, in Guangdong Province in southern China.


BEIJING — The Chinese government has called for an end to the public shaming of criminal suspects, a time-honored cudgel of Chinese law enforcement but one that has increasingly rattled the public.

Related

Guo Quan/FEATURECHINA, via European Pressphoto Agency

A robbery suspect after a public parade this month in Hunan Province.

Readers' Comments

According to the state-run media, the Ministry of Public Security has ordered the police to stop parading suspects in public and has called on local departments to enforce laws in a “rational, calm and civilized manner.”

The new regulations are thought to be a response to the public outcry over a recent spate of “shame parades,” in which those suspected of being prostitutes are shackled and forced to walk in public.

Last October, the police in Henan Province took to the Internet, posting photographs of women suspected of being prostitutes. Other cities have been publishing the names and addresses of convicted sex workers and those of their clients. The most widely circulated images, taken this month in the southern city of Dongguan, included young women roped together and paraded barefoot through crowded city streets.

The police later said they were not punishing the women, but only seeking their help in the pursuit of an investigation.

The public response, at least on the Internet, has tended toward outrage, with many postings expressing sympathy for the women. “Why aren’t corrupt officials dragged through the streets?” read one posting. “These women are only trying to feed themselves.”

But much of the anger has been directed at the police, who are a focus of growing public mistrust. Although corruption among the police is rife in China, the disdain has been further heightened by a series of widely publicized episodes involving the torture of detainees, suspects who mysteriously died in custody and innocent people jailed on trumped-up evidence.

One man spent 10 years in prison for murder after the police extracted his confession — only to be freed when his supposed victim turned out to be alive.

Mao Shoulong, a professor of public policy at People’s University in Beijing, said the new regulations were necessary to rein in the worst impulses of the police.

“There are more modern tools for law enforcement,” he said. “Besides, if these kinds of tactics are allowed, the police will get used to dealing with problems outside of the law.”

The most recent wave of prostitution arrests involving thousands of suspects is part of a seven-month “strike hard” campaign aimed at gambling, drug use and violent crime. As part of the increased law enforcement efforts, judicial authorities have been encouraged to mete out swifter, and harsher, punishment. It is the fourth such campaign since 1983.

Public shaming of the accused and the condemned has been a long tradition in China — one that the Communist Party embraced with zeal during episodes of class struggle and anticrime crusades. Although public executions have been discontinued, provincial cities still hold mass sentencing rallies, during which convicts wearing confessional placards are driven though the streets in open trucks.

The practice has also taken hold in some Chinese neighborhoods of New York, with some supermarket owners threatening to post photographs of shoplifters and call the police unless the suspects hand over cash, sometimes demanding hundreds of dollars. The legality of the practice, however, remains in question.

It is unclear whether the directive against the humiliation of suspects will have the desired effect. Similar rules and regulations have been passed down through the years, beginning in 1988, when the Supreme People’s Court ordered prosecutors and the police to protect the identities of the accused. In 2007, the country’s top judicial and law enforcement bodies issued a similar notice that forbade the parading of convicts.

Even if such directives must be issued repeatedly, Joshua Rosenzweig of the Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group, said he was somewhat encouraged that the government recognized the need to abolish such practices.

“Repetition can increase pressure and help force change, but ultimately it will take a great deal of political will to implement these kinds of changes,” he said.

Li Bibo contributed research.

2010年7月27日 星期二

"撑粤语"抗议集会

中国 | 2010.07.27

"撑粤派"计划在香港举行"撑粤行动"

继上周日(7月25日)广州近千人自发举行"撑粤语"抗议集会之后,又有网民在社交网站Facebook上发起"省港齐撑粤大行动",号召"撑粤语"支持者们8月1日在香港湾仔修顿球场参加保护粤语的抗议集会。

广州的一场"普粤之争"可谓是愈发汹涌,网上网下一片"撑粤"之声。上周日更 是有大量广州市民聚集在海珠区唱粤语歌,打出标语口号,并不断高叫"广州人撑广州话"。据称,集会现场因所处繁华商业区,因此很难区分主动参与集会的示威 者和过往路人。香港《苹果日报》报道当天参与"撑粤"的集会参与者有近10000人,香港《文汇报》则报道数百人参加,德国之声采访的现场参与者则称大约 有2000多人。

本周在社交网站Facebook上有网民号召"撑粤"派参与计划于本周日在香港举行的"省港齐撑粤大行动",呼吁粤语为母语的民众"提升捍卫粤语的意识,以具体行动保护粤语"。

"""上星"建议

这场浩浩荡荡"撑粤运动""祸"起于7月初广州政协提案委副主任纪可光向广州市政府提 交的一份《关于进一步加强亚运会软环境建设的建议》。在这份《建议》中纪可光提出,"将广州电视台的综合频道或新闻频道改为主要使用普通话广播,或是在两 者的主时段使用普通话广播"。广州政协解释这项提议说,"改用普通话,最主要是为了'上星'"。

纪可光在接受《南方都市报》采访时提到说,中国目前5个中心城市中4个市的电视台都上 了卫星,只有广州是副省级,也只有广州的市台没有上星。"上星"需要广电总局批准,而批准的其中一个条件就是要用普通话。《南方都市报》在相关报道中还写 道:"广州市政协认为,上星才能与广州作为国家中心城市的地位相匹配,也便于使更多的人了解广州。"

"粤普之争"被比《最后一课》

广州政协的这份《建议》彻彻底底地引发了"粤普之争"。《南方都市报》上登载的一篇题为《当粤语遇上网络》的文章中甚至写道:"当大家开始把《最后一课》跟此次'粤普之争'相提并论的时候,你就知道这股捍卫母语的热潮有多热。"

7月19日,广州市委副书记苏志佳向媒体表示,粤语是岭南文化的重要组成部分,"推普废粤"的情况不存在,广州市委、市政府从来不曾有过"废除粤语"、"弱化粤语"的想法。

根据维基百科"汉语方言"词条的解释,汉语各方言组合成汉语族。重语音分析的语言学家认为,汉语语族包含闽语、粤语、客语、吴语、赣语、官话、湘语、晋语等八种语言,"因为它们之间同源词的发音差异不小于同属日耳曼语族的英语和德语之间同源词的发音差异"。

针对今次"撑粤运动"不少认为,广州人的行动"唤起全国人民对母语的保护心理,使各地方言能够更好的传承下去"。

法新社报道称,一名广州青年在Facebook写道:"我们会试着在7月31日在广州举行新的抗议集会,如果集会再次遭到警察的阻拦,我们希望你们都可以去香港省港齐撑粤大行动。"

综合报道:洪沙

责编:石涛

环境灾难困扰中国

新闻报道 | 2010.07.27

环境灾难困扰中国

接连不断的环境灾难困扰着中国。在北方,大连新港430平方公里海域受到原油污染,在中部和南部,洪灾威胁着许多省市。在福建和广东,铜矿泄漏造成河流受到污染,渔业遭受重创。

大海捞油比大海捞针还难

在大连新港,渔民、士兵和专业清污人员仍在430平方公里受污染海域继续奋战。新港输油管道发生爆炸事故11天后,大连市长李万才在该市网页上呼吁 广泛动员社会各界力量,开展大规模清除油污行动。尽管按照官方说法,没有更多原油渗入海水中,但是,没有人知道受污染海域以及海岸线上的油污何时才能完全 清除。中国显然没有对应付这样的灾难做好准备。据官方媒体报道,许多渔民甚至用草席治污。目前,大连三大养殖海域已经受到严重威胁,旅游业遭受重创。大连 市副市长戴玉林本周一也坦言,尽管实现了不让油污进入公海和渤海的两大目标,但是"彻底清除残余很不容易,因为大海捞油比大海捞针还难。"

三峡大坝将迎来第二次洪峰

而在中国中部和南部许多地区,洪水泛滥,灾情危急。中国国家防总办公室周一宣布,截至7月26日9时,中国已有28个省(区、市)遭受洪涝灾害,受 灾人口1.24亿,因灾死亡823人,失踪437人。目前,长江上游水位继续上涨,三峡水库入库流量也继续上涨。中国长江三峡集团公司周一发布消息称,三 峡大坝预计将在7月28日8时迎来7月20日来的第二次洪峰。"九朝古都"河南洛阳近日遭遇50年一遇的强降雨。当地著名的世界文化遗产龙门石窟已被迫关 闭。

福建南平遭受洪灾Bildunterschrift: 福建南平遭受洪灾

2010年6月21日摄于广东佛山Bildunterschrift: 2010年6月21日摄于广东佛山

汀江污染威胁渔业

此外,福建紫金山铜矿的环境污染事故不仅使当地的河流被污染,污水也沿中国东南部主要航道汀江而下,对邻省广东的渔业造成极大威胁。极为恶劣的是,紫金山铜矿的有毒污水泄漏事件发生于7月3日,而紫金山矿业直到9天以后才发布公告。

本周一,中国环境部公布了2010年上半年全国环境质量状况。报告显示,全国地表水总体中度污染,四分之一的地表水甚至不能达到工业用水标准。不过,报告称,达到饮用水标准的河流和湖泊中,有接近一半的水质指标略好于2009年。

作者:乐然

责编:石涛

2010年7月26日 星期一

China braces for more flooding

China: Floods Kill Hundreds
New York Times
By EDWARD WONG At least 273 people have died and 218 have been reported missing from recent flooding along the Yangtze River and other bodies of water, ...




China braces for more flooding as rains continue
Washington Post
AP BEIJING -- Troops sandbagged swollen rivers Monday and storm-battered regions across China prepared for more floods and potential landslides as ...
See all stories on this topic »

美国 Offering to Aid Talks, U.S. Challenges China on Disputed Islands

新闻报道 | 2010.07.27

美国关注南海问题 中国强调'核心利益'

美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿最近的东南亚之行拉近了美国和越南的关系,似乎是向中国在该地区的外交政策发出警告。

此次中美争论的焦点在于南海问题。中国南海处于太平洋到印度洋的中枢位置,自然资源丰富且战略地位重要。

围绕着南海海域的国家和地区主要有越南、菲律宾、马来西亚、文莱、台湾和中国大陆。据报道,该海域丰富的油气储备使得南海周边各方就该地区的归属和海域划分存有争端,尤其是在南沙群岛和西沙群岛。

目前中国的戍边部队主要驻守着南沙群岛的美济礁、渚碧礁、南薰礁、永暑礁、赤瓜礁、东门礁和华阳礁。台湾的武装部队主要在太平岛,其余主要被越南、菲律宾、马来西亚占据。

东盟轮值主席国越南政府总理阮晋勇Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 东盟轮值主席国越南政府总理阮晋勇

东盟峰会关注南海问题

上周在越南河内举行的东盟峰会上,越南政府多次在部长级安全会议上提到南海问题。出席此次年度峰会的除了东盟10个成员国以外,还有中国、美国、俄罗斯、日本以及韩国。

在7月23日的闭门会议上,除了越南以外,文莱、缅甸、柬埔寨、印度尼西亚、老挝、马来西亚、菲律宾、新加坡和泰国也纷纷就棘手的南海问题展开讨论。

美国介入 力挺越南

此外,美国国务卿希拉里也在出席此次东盟峰会时出人意料的介入南海问题。在会议发言中,希拉里表示美国对南沙群岛和西沙群岛的争端表示关切,并支持越南的观点称,该地区的长期争端必须通过多边谈判来解决。

希拉里表示,"美国支持所有提出主权要求的各国合作和协商解决南海问题",并主张形成一个解决南海问题的国际机制。她在发言中说:"在南海自由航行、亚洲海上事务保持开放状态、在南海地区尊重国际法,这些关乎美国的国家利益"

美国表明立场后,据日本共同社报道,日本外相冈田克也于27日下午在记者会上就南海的领土争端强调,除当事国外,应该促进包括东盟各国、日本、美国等在内的国际框架下的对话。

美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿(左)和中国外交部长杨洁篪(右)Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿(左)和中国外交部长杨洁篪(右)

中国反应强烈

而中国在此次会议上也并未沉默。"中国外交部长杨洁篪(在闭门会议上)就南海问题十分强烈地表达了北京的立场",一名不愿意透露姓名的东南亚官员告诉国际新闻社(IPS)。

"北京不希望南海问题国际化",泰国英文杂志《国家》(The Nation)的评论员卡文(Kavi Chongkittavorn)发表评论写道,"如今的东盟轮值主席国越南也是在走钢丝,因为越南自己也是冲突中的一方"。

"河内政府没有直接触及问题,而是比较谨慎的提醒了涉及南海问题的各方来关注此问题",卡文解释说,"最近一次中越双方就该问题展开的工作小组会议并未取得进展。"

美国东盟政策转变

希拉里所表明的这一立场反映出了美国政府对待东盟的政策转变。此前的布什政府较少干涉这一地区,而如今的奥巴马政府则希望在东南亚一带加强多边合作。

"很清楚的是,奥巴马政府在执政初期时就环顾了世界,然后意识到(过去政府的政策)过于注重在反恐和双边关系上",曾在东南亚三个国家驻守过的前美 国外交官菲茨(Robert Fitts)向国际新闻社表示,"东盟提供了这样一个多边合作的机会,这正是奥巴马政府如今积极追寻的。"

美国政府对于中国南海问题的关注就体现了这一点,但美国的关注和介入也引起了中国方面的强烈反应。菲茨说,"北京在去年10月就向华盛顿表示,南海问题是中国的'核心利益'区域。"

此前,中国政府也曾将'核心利益'这一描述用于台湾问题和西藏问题来应对外界的批评。

消息来源:国际新闻通讯社

综合报道:月洋

责编: 石涛

Pool photo by Hoang Dinh Nam

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Asean Regional Forum in Hanoi on Friday.


HANOI, Vietnam — Opening a new source of potential friction with China, the Obama administration said Friday that it would step into a tangled dispute between China and its smaller Asian neighbors over a string of strategically significant islands in the South China Sea.

The New York Times

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking at an Asian regional security meeting in Vietnam, stressed that the United States remained neutral on which regional countries had stronger territorial claims to the islands. But she said that the United States had an interest in preserving free shipping in the area and that it would be willing to facilitate multilateral talks on the issue.

Though presented as an offer to help ease tensions, the stance amounts to a sharp rebuke to China. Beijing has insisted for years that all the islands belong to China and that any disputes should be resolved by China. In March, senior Chinese officials pointedly warned their American counterparts that they would brook no interference in the South China Sea, which they called part of the “core interest” of sovereignty.

Many of the islands are just rocks or spits of sand, but they are rich in oil and natural gas deposits, and China views them as important outposts that extend its territorial waters far into the busy shipping lanes in the sea.

“The United States has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia’s maritime commons and respect for international law in the South China Sea,” Mrs. Clinton said.

The announcement was a significant victory for the Vietnamese, who have had deadly clashes in past decades with China over some of the islands. Vietnam’s strategy has been to try to “internationalize” the disputes by bringing in other players for multilateral negotiations.

The administration’s decision to get involved appeared to catch China flat-footed and angered its foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, at a time when the country is already on edge over naval exercises the United States and South Korea will hold starting this weekend off the Korean Peninsula.

Twelve of the 27 countries at the security meeting spoke out in favor of a new approach to the South China Sea, prompting Mr. Yang to observe that the American effort seemed orchestrated.

International concern has been deepening about China’s maritime ambitions, which have expanded with its economic and military muscle. China raised tensions with Vietnam this year with plans to develop tourism in one of the island groups, the Paracels, which the two nations fought over in 1974 before China assumed full control. They had another lethal clash in 1988 over the Spratly island group.

In recent months, administration officials said, China has harassed fishing boats and leaned on energy companies that have tried to make offshore deals with other countries.

Although American relations with China on political and economic matters are regarded as stable, military ties have become strained over United States arms sales to Taiwan and American concerns about China’s growing naval ambitions. In June, China withdrew an invitation to host a visit by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, and the two have largely suspended regular military-to-military talks.

This week, China was already bristling over the joint American-South Korean naval exercises because some drills are to take place in the Yellow Sea, which China claims as a military operation zone.

At the security meeting, other tensions flared on the familiar front of North Korea, with a North Korean official threatening a “physical response” to the naval exercises. The United States made no secret that it intended the drills to be a deterrent to North Korean aggression. It announced them after an investigation led by South Korea found the North responsible for torpedoing a South Korean ship, the Cheonan, in March.

The North Korean official, Ri Tong-il, said, “This is not defensive training,” noting that the United States was deploying one of its most formidable nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the George Washington, in the exercises. “It is a grave threat to the Korean Peninsula and also to the region of Asia as a whole.”

But North Korea has opened a small window of engagement on the issue. Military officers from North Korea and the United Nations Command met on the inter-Korean border on Friday for the second time this month to discuss the sinking. Meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, colonels from both sides “exchanged ideas and further details for convening a joint assessment group” to investigate “the cause of the armistice violations that led to the sinking,” the American-led United Nations Command said.

It remained unclear whether North Korea accepted the proposal. North Korea has so far insisted that it conduct its own investigation by sending a team of “inspectors” to South Korea.

On Friday, the United Nations Command notified North Korea of plans to hold another joint America and South Korean military exercise: an annual drill from Aug. 16 to Aug. 26. As is normal for the annual drill, no location was announced.

Mrs. Clinton’s stop in Hanoi wrapped up a grueling trip that amounted to a tour of American wars, past and present: from Afghanistan to the demilitarized zone in South Korea, and finally to Vietnam, where, in a sunset ceremony, she watched the remains of three American soldiers killed in the war placed on an Air Force transport plane to be returned to the United States.

Mrs. Clinton sought to apply lessons from the American experience in the Korean War to Afghanistan. “We saw South Korea struggle to become a functioning democracy — huge amounts of instability, coups, corruption, scandal, you name it,” she said. “It’s good to remind ourselves: the United States has stood with countries that went through a lot of ups and downs for a lot longer than eight years.”

Choe Sang-hun contributed reporting from Seoul, South Korea, and Edward Wong from Beijing.

Khmer Rouge Figure Found Guilty of War Crimes赤柬S21監獄頭子康克由遭判35年徒刑

轉型正義週訊 No.100 (2010/7/30)

赤柬S21監獄頭子康克由遭判35年徒刑

聯 合國柬埔寨法院特別法庭在726,判處前S21監獄獄長康克由(Kaing Guek Eav,又稱Duch)35年有期徒刑。他被控犯下戰爭罪、違反人道罪、酷刑等罪名。他是赤柬政權高層領導人中,首 位被定罪者。

康克由承認在負責S21監獄期間,多達1.5萬人被其虐待折磨致死,據信生還者只有14人,目前僅餘3人在世。檢察官原先求處40年徒刑。由五名法官組成的合議庭在判決書上,痛指他的罪行「讓人震驚且可憎」。大 批民眾湧入位於首都金邊市郊的特別法庭大樓旁聽這樁歷史性判決

由於康克由曾被軍方非法拘 禁多年,加上他在審判過程中,態度合作,因此扣除他已遭拘禁的時間,他可能僅需坐牢19年。許多受害者及家屬對此大表不滿,認為處罰過輕。

這場舉世矚目的大 審中,許多當年的相關角色如獄卒、倖存的囚犯、女兵等都一一站上法庭,他們的證詞為外界拼湊赤柬的恐怖統治面貌提供豐富資訊。此外,這 場審判也被預期發揮撫慰受害者創傷的功能。畢竟在短短四年的赤柬統治下,將近兩百萬人死於飢荒、強迫遷徙、非法拘禁、處決與凌虐,柬 埔寨幾乎每家每戶都有親人是受害者。但赤柬倒台後,卻也從沒有大小官員負過責任。直到30年 後,才在聯合國的斡旋下,成立特別法庭要追究幾名最高領導人的責任。外界普遍預期,受害者與家屬內心的陳年創傷,應該可以 在這次大審中得到療癒。

但 根據心理學專家的觀察,不少受害者在觀看審訊後卻有受到二度傷害的感覺,尤其是當年的官員或第一線執行者,為了逃避刑責,大 力撇清自己在暴行中所應負起的責任,這可能為生還者帶來更多痛苦與憤怒。因此心理學家呼籲法庭,要克服柬埔寨人心中深刻傷痕的最好解 藥,是公正地進行審判,讓加害者得到懲罰,還給受害者與家屬正義。

如今判決結果出爐,雖然國際輿論多表肯定,但 是否真能還給受難者正義,接下來即將陸續登場的其他四名赤柬高層領袖審判,將繼續成為觀察的重要指標。


Khmer Rouge Figure Found Guilty of War Crimes


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A United Nations-backed tribunal on Monday found a 67-year-old former prison warden of the Khmer Rouge guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes for overseeing the torture and killing of more than 14,000 prisoners. He was the first major figure to be tried in the murderous regime since it was toppled 30 years ago.

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, via Associated Press

Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known as Duch.

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Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Relatives of Khmer Rouge victims prayed Sunday at Tuol Sleng, now a museum, in Phnom Penh.

But in a sentence that was likely to be considered shockingly lenient here, the court sentenced him to serve 19 years in prison — 35 years minus 16 years for time already served. Prosecutors had sought 40 years. There is no death penalty in Cambodia.

The defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, commonly known as Duch, had admitted in an eight-month trial to many of the accusations against him. He oversaw a system that came to symbolize a regime responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979.

Dressed in a blue button-down shirt, sipping sometimes from a glass of water and carrying what appeared to be a Bible, he listened impassively as a judge read out the charges and verdict against him. The packed courtroom included some survivors of the prison he ran — three of whom had testified about the torture inflicted upon them.

The tribunal, which began work in 2006, now moves to “Case Two,” for which four high-ranking Khmer Rouge officials are in custody awaiting trial sometime next year. The Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

Duch’s own plea was unclear. On the final day of the trial, in November, he unexpectedly asked to be set free, seeming to contradict a carefully constructed defense in which his lawyers sought to minimize his sentence through admissions of guilt mixed with assertions that he was just one link in a hierarchy of killing.

“I am accountable to the entire Cambodian population for the souls that perished,” he said at one point. “I am deeply remorseful and regret such a mind-boggling scale of death.”

But he added: “I ended up serving a criminal organization. I could not withdraw from it. I was like a cog in a machine. I regret and humbly apologize to the dead souls.”

Many of his victims, along with outside observers, questioned the sincerity of his remorse, particularly as it was coupled with a sometimes aggressive and arrogant demeanor in the courtroom and evasiveness regarding many specific allegations.

Despite those doubts, David Chandler, a historian of Cambodia, noted that Duch was the only one of the five defendants to have admitted guilt.

“He’s a guy who’s thought about it, faced up to some stuff,” said Mr. Chandler, the author of “Voices From S-21,” a book about the prison, known as S-21 or Tuol Sleng. “Duch is the only human on trial. The others are monsters.”

A former schoolteacher, Duch took obvious pride in the efficiency of his operation, where confessions — some of them running to hundreds of typed pages — were extracted by torture before the prisoners were sent in trucks to the killing fields.

He disappeared after the Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion and was discovered in 1999 by an Irish journalist, Nic Dunlop, living quietly in a small Cambodian town, where he said he had converted to Christianity.

At one point in his testimony, in an extravagant display of contrition, Duch appeared to compare himself with Christ.

“The tears that run from my eyes are the tears of those innocent people,” he said. “It matters little if they condemn me, even to the heaviest sentence. As for Christ’s death, Cambodians can inflict that fate on me. I will accept it.”

It is more common among Cambodians — most of whom are Buddhists — to believe in spirits. Tuol Sleng is now a museum, and when part of its roof collapsed last week during a storm, some people said the ghosts of the dead were crying out for justice.

Running parallel with courtroom testimony, the tribunal has faced criticism as it tries to apply international standards of justice within a flawed Cambodian court system.

“The court has struggled to deal with allegations of kickbacks involving national staff, heavy-handed political interference from the Cambodian government, bureaucratic inefficiency and incompetence, and disturbing levels of conflict between international and national staff,” said John A. Hall, a professor at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif., who has been monitoring the trials.

“Indeed, perhaps one of the most surprising things so far is that the tribunal has not collapsed,” he said.

In an innovation, the trial made room for about 90 “civil parties,” who registered to apply for reparations and were represented in court by lawyers who acted as additional prosecutors.

“For 30 years, the victims of the Khmer Rouge waited while a civil war raged, international actors bickered and the leaders of the Khmer Rouge walked free,” said Alex Hinton, director of the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “Now, for the first time, one of them has been held accountable. The importance of this moment can’t be underestimated.”

But over the years, Cambodia has moved on, with new generations, new concerns and new horizons. Many young people know little about the Khmer Rouge era, and many older people have chosen to forget.

“I go around the country and not a lot of people ask about the trial,” said Ou Virak, president of the independent Cambodian Center for Human Rights, which holds forums on issues of concern to the public. “Not even my mom — and my dad was killed by the Khmer Rouge.”

As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language

As English Spreads, Indonesians Fear for Their Language

Kemal Jufri for The New York Times

Children learning to prepare coffee at Kidzania, an amusement park in Jakarta that lets children try out jobs; both Indonesian and English are used there.


JAKARTA, Indonesia — Paulina Sugiarto’s three children played together at a mall here the other day, chattering not in Indonesia’s national language, but English. Their fluency often draws admiring questions from other Indonesian parents Ms. Sugiarto encounters in this city’s upscale malls.

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Kemal Jufri for The New York Times

At a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, Paulina Sugiarto and her three children, who speak fluent English, looked over comic books in Indonesian.

But the children’s ability in English obscured the fact that, though born and raised in Indonesia, they were struggling with the Indonesian language, known as Bahasa Indonesia. Their parents, who grew up speaking the Indonesian language but went to college in the United States and Australia, talk to their children in English. And the children attend a private school where English is the main language of instruction.

“They know they’re Indonesian,” Ms. Sugiarto, 34, said. “They love Indonesia. They just can’t speak Bahasa Indonesia. It’s tragic.”

Indonesia’s linguistic legacy is increasingly under threat as growing numbers of wealthy and upper-middle-class families shun public schools where Indonesian remains the main language but English is often taught poorly. They are turning, instead, to private schools that focus on English and devote little time, if any, to Indonesian.

For some Indonesians, as mastery of English has become increasingly tied to social standing, Indonesian has been relegated to second-class status. In extreme cases, people take pride in speaking Indonesian poorly.

The global spread of English, with its sometimes corrosive effects on local languages, has caused much hand-wringing in many non-English-speaking corners of the world. But the implications may be more far-reaching in Indonesia, where generations of political leaders promoted Indonesian to unite the nation and forge a national identity out of countless ethnic groups, ancient cultures and disparate dialects.

The government recently announced that it would require all private schools to teach the nation’s official language to its Indonesian students by 2013. Details remain sketchy, though.

“These schools operate here, but don’t offer Bahasa to our citizens,” said Suyanto, who oversees primary and secondary education at the Education Ministry.

“If we don’t regulate them, in the long run this could be dangerous for the continuity of our language,” said Mr. Suyanto, who like many Indonesians uses one name. “If this big country doesn’t have a strong language to unite it, it could be dangerous.”

The seemingly reflexive preference for English has begun to attract criticism in the popular culture. Last year, a woman, whose father is Indonesian and her mother American, was crowned Miss Indonesia despite her poor command of Indonesian. The judges were later denounced in the news media and in the blogosphere for being impressed by her English fluency and for disregarding the fact that, despite growing up here, she needed interpreters to translate the judges’ questions.

In 1928, nationalists seeking independence from Dutch rule chose Indonesian, a form of Malay, as the language of civic unity. While a small percentage of educated Indonesians spoke Dutch, Indonesian became the preferred language of intellectuals.

Each language had a social rank, said Arief Rachman, an education expert. “If you spoke Javanese, you were below,” he said, referring to the main language on the island of Java. “If you spoke Indonesian, you were a bit above. If you spoke Dutch, you were at the top.”

Leaders, especially Suharto, the general who ruled Indonesia until 1998, enforced teaching of Indonesian and curbed use of English.

“During the Suharto era, Bahasa Indonesia was the only language that we could see or read. English was at the bottom of the rung,” said Aimee Dawis, who teaches communications at Universitas Indonesia. “It was used to create a national identity, and it worked, because all of us spoke Bahasa Indonesia. Now the dilution of Bahasa Indonesia is not the result of a deliberate government policy. It’s just occurring naturally.”

With Indonesia’s democratization in the past decade, experts say, English became the new Dutch. Regulations were loosened, allowing Indonesian children to attend private schools that did not follow the national curriculum, but offered English. The more expensive ones, with tuition costing several thousand dollars a year, usually employ native speakers of English, said Elena Racho, vice chairwoman of the Association of National Plus Schools, an umbrella organization for private schools.

But with the popularity of private schools booming, hundreds have opened in recent years, Ms. Racho said. The less expensive ones, unable to hire foreigners, are often staffed with Indonesians teaching all subjects in English, if often imperfect English, she added.

Many children attending those schools end up speaking Indonesian poorly, experts said. Uchu Riza — who owns a private school that teaches both languages and also owns the local franchise of Kidzania, an amusement park where children can try out different professions — said some Indonesians were willing to sacrifice Indonesian for a language with perceived higher status.

“Sometimes they look down on people who don’t speak English,” she said.

She added: “In some families, the grandchildren cannot speak with the grandmother because they don’t speak Bahasa Indonesia. That’s sad.”

Anna Surti Ariani, a psychologist who provides counseling at private schools and in her own practice, said some parents even displayed “a negative pride” that their children spoke poor Indonesian. Schools typically advise the parents to speak to their children in English at home even though the parents may be far from fluent in the language.

“Sometimes the parents even ask the baby sitters not to speak in Indonesian but in English,” Ms. Ariani said.

It is a sight often seen in this city’s malls on weekends: Indonesian parents addressing their children in sometimes halting English, followed by nannies using what English words they know.

But Della Raymena Jovanka, 30, a mother of two preschoolers, has developed misgivings. Her son Fathiy, 4, attended an English play group and was enrolled in a kindergarten focusing on English; Ms. Jovanka allowed him to watch only English TV programs.

The result was that her son responded to his parents only in English and had difficulties with Indonesian. Ms. Jovanka was considering sending her son to a regular public school next year. But friends and relatives were pressing her to choose a private school so that her son could become fluent in English.

Asked whether she would rather have her son become fluent in English or Indonesian, Ms. Jovanka said, “To be honest, English. But this can become a big problem in his socialization. He’s Indonesian. He lives in Indonesia. If he can’t communicate with people, it’ll be a big problem.”

2010年7月25日 星期日

鴻海精密和中國政府妥善解決了該公司的勞資問題

國 人力資源和社會保障部發言人尹成基週五表示﹐鴻海精密工業股份有限公司(Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., 簡稱:鴻海精密)和中國政府妥善解決了該公司的勞資問題﹐並表示﹐在中國出現了一系列勞資糾紛後﹐企業需要在適當範圍內繼續增加工人薪資。

尹成基在新聞發佈會上稱﹐中國政府對鴻海精密的事件進展予以高度關注。他表示﹐在中央政府和地方政府相關部門、工會組織和公司對潛在問題進行徹底清查後﹐鴻海精密事件得到了妥善解決。

尹成基稱﹐為刺激內需並建立和諧的勞資關繫﹐企業有必要給員工加薪﹐但強調稱﹐加薪速度不應過快﹐不應超過企業可承受的範圍。他說﹐企業必須在合適的時間、以適當的幅度加薪。

尹成基稱﹐政府面臨著穩定就業的巨大壓力﹐部分原因在於﹐在中國調整經濟結構的過程中﹐減少過剩產能將對超過20個行業的數百萬個職位產生影響。他同時表示﹐中國勞動力市場存在結構性問題﹐無論是外來務工人員還是大學畢業生都很難找到一份稱心的工作。

尹成基稱﹐中國政府將發佈薪資指導意見﹐並公佈各個行業的勞動力成本信息﹐但他並未提供具體的時間表。

中国须反思自然灾害

中国须反思自然灾害

美韩军演与南海争端:中国面临难题

S Korea-US military exercise begins in the Sea of Japan
BBC News
The US and South Korea have begun a major military exercise in the Sea of Japan, despite threats of retaliation from North Korea. ...



新闻报道 | 2010.07.25

美韩军演与南海争端:中国面临难题

美韩在日本海开始大规模军演,朝鲜外长与美国外长在河内针锋相对;而东盟又提出了北京很想回避的南中国海海路安全问题。亚洲这一南一北的两件事之间,有什么地缘上的联系,会对美国乃至北约产生什么影响?

华盛顿PK平壤:中国难以置身事外

据来自不同西方通讯社的消息,本周五,美国外长希拉里-克林顿(Hillary Clinton)在本届东盟区域安全论坛上发言,严厉谴责在"天安号"问题上,朝鲜"好战"。这时,会议现场的朝鲜代表团发言人、外务省裁军事务部门负责 人李东一立即起身离开会场,以示抗议。之后不久,朝鲜国防委员会即以"核威慑"的辞令,表达了平壤对美国与韩国在日本海展开大规模海上军事演习的愤怒。

在德国特里尔大学政治学教授马丁·瓦格纳(Prof. Martin Wagener)看来,真正让远在千里之外东盟各国尴尬的,与其说是美国与朝鲜外长的对抗,莫如说是在场的另外一个区域地缘政治大国 - 中国。北京不仅在美韩军事演习问题上,一直在提出明确抗议,而且对于美韩对手的平壤,中国也自有一番良苦的用心:

"北京不能再提高对朝鲜的压力,以免促成朝鲜体制的崩溃。因为一旦朝鲜韩国统一,朝鲜半岛势必会进入美国势力范围,对中国极为不利。与此同时,维护住朝鲜不倒,也可以阻止美国军队紧逼中国。在这一层意义上,北京对现在韩国领导人李明博所持的强硬立场,感到很失望。"美军核动力航空母舰“乔治华盛顿号”Bildunterschrift: 美军核动力航空母舰“乔治华盛顿号”

东盟与美国:华盛顿亚洲结盟政策的新契机?

本来,东盟在东北亚安全问题上,向来能不作声就保持缄默。但周五结束的东盟区域安全会议上,东南亚这个最大的国家联盟几乎一反常态,提出南海问题,其中不仅包括了南海航运安全问题,涉及中国在这一海域加强自己的海军力量存在;而且也直接涉及了南海的所谓南沙群岛问题。

来自路透社的消息称:东盟提出这些问题之后,中国外长杨洁篪发表了据称是非常激烈和情绪化的发言。尽管北京官方媒体本周末令人瞩目地对于中国参与此 次东盟区域安全论坛讳莫如深,但在瓦格纳教授看来,北面的美韩联合军演和南面的美国与东盟联手讨论南中国海问题,都体现了远东地缘政治推手的一个新维度。 瓦格纳教授虽然不同意中国有些战略学者如中国人民解放军的大校戴旭提出的,美国正在致力打造所谓"亚洲北约",制衡中国的说法。但他提醒人们注意美国结盟 政策在远东的变化:

"北约经历了现代化过程。同样,美国也在致力于自己在亚洲的联盟政策的革新。意味深长的是:朝鲜在一系列问题上,促成了东亚的军事化进程,促成了美国密切了它和韩国与日本的盟友关系,而这一点恰恰是北京非常不愿意看到的。中国外交始终在力图软化美国在远东的各种结盟。"

欧洲看亚洲:能够隔岸观火吗?

值得玩味的是:在东南亚区域安全论坛上,欧盟也派出了代表与会。截至到发稿,布鲁塞尔方面还没有关于美国与朝鲜,东盟与中国之间争论的表态。但瓦格纳教授认为:这并不意味着北约欧洲伙伴真的就可以完全置身事外,不介入远东地缘政治可能发生的大变局:

"让我们设想一下:假如因为天安号事件,朝鲜半岛冲突升级,美国必须履行对韩国的防卫义务;让我们设想一下:假如美国现在驻扎在韩国的28000名 士兵不能满足需要,增援部队会从日本本土和关岛赶赴半岛;假如美国在这种情况下,不得不面对亚洲第三处战争,它未必不会考虑撤出自己在阿富汗的驻军,要求 北约其他伙伴增加自己在阿富汗战场的部队,以便华盛顿能够全神贯注地对付朝鲜半岛局势。"

2010年7月22日 星期四

“严打”中国性服务业: 中国的银行面临信贷风险



媒体看中国 | 2010.07.22

中国的银行面临信贷风险

世界著名评级机构、美国惠誉国际评级公司本周发表报告指出,中国各银行去年大量发放贷款刺激经济发展,埋下隐患。

报告说,为减少风险,今年以来贷款虽有所减少,但大多数银行隐瞒真实贷款数额,很大一部分贷款以非正式证券的形式存在于银行结算之外,所以 中国的银行面临信贷风险。《新苏黎世报》进一步分析了中国潜在的信贷危机:

"惠誉公司的报告说,大多数银行并没有像官方所说,大力限制贷款。相反,银行越来越多地推销以贷款为基础的结构型产品,这样就可以把贷款从自己的结 算中剔除出来。惠誉评级公司估计,今年上半年实际发放的贷款比官方公布的数额要多出28%。此外,惠誉的报告还批评说,非正式证券的做法变得越来越不透 明。

由于信贷政策具有很强的扩张性,中国的主要银行不得不重组资本,这里也同样潜伏着风险。中国国家投资基金下属的汇金公司掌握着国家重要银行的多数产 权,据通讯社报道,汇金想通过发行债券提高自己的资本数额,这些债券的主要买主很可能是想以此增加自身资本的国家银行。

尽管如此,这一奇特的体制几乎不会崩溃,这是因为银行和投资基金的背后站着中国的中央银行和国家。央行和国家已多次证明,出现问题时,它们会快速援 助陷入困境的银行。中国的大部分金融系统实际上享受内在的国家保障。"

中国向国际资信评估公司挑战

标准普尔、穆迪和惠誉这全球三大评级机构受到中国民营评级机构、大公国际资信评估公司的挑战。《南德意志报》报道说,大公作为第一家非西方的评级机 构评估了五十个国家的债务后,认为中国债券的可靠性超过美国,与德国相同:

"这一切是有政治动机的行为吗?中国政府想以此提升自己在全球的权力要求吗?在一个没有政府同意什么事都做不成的国家,几乎无法想象,如果没有政府 批准,这个评级机构会敢于采取这一行动。

尽管我们对国家控制的评级持怀疑态度,但我们必须说,大公公司也引用了一些令人信服的论点。例如,分析家们把一个国家的经济增长和外汇储备视为金融 可信的重要因素,这一标准当然适用于中国。

不过,想把大公公司的评级作为有别于评级三巨头的另一种选择的话,需要仔细看一看大公公司的标准。例如,北京的分析家批评三巨头的评级使用了与经济 政策和金融可信度毫无关系的'法制和新闻自由等西方理念'。短期来看,大公公司的评级还不会对市场产生大的作用,但中国大多从长远出发采取行动。"

编译:王羊

责编:潇阳

(本文摘自或节译自其它媒体,不代表德国之声观点)


-----

新闻报道 | 2010.07.22

中国性服务业:“严打”之下艰难生存

最近,中国接连传出两起与“性服务业”有关的新闻,引起舆论高度关注。武汉警方公布“小姐”身份,东莞警察则用手铐铐住被抓获的妓女“指认现场”。在性服 务仍然非法的中国,性工作者的生存状态究竟如何?

有关当局执法粗暴 尺度随意

由于中国大陆的性服务业仍处于地下性质,因此具体从业人数始终没有一个精确的统计。但综合各方说法,这一数字应在500万人以上,甚至还有报道称, 与"性产业"直接和间接相关的经济产值竟然高达中国国内生产总值的12%左右。面对这样一个事实存在、规模庞大的"非法产业",中国官方始终采取无视现 实、坚决抵制的态度。尽管近年来不断有意见提出,应该将性服务业至少部分合法化,但始终未能得到官方的回应。在这样的背景下,保护性服务业者"合法权益" 就根本无从谈起。这次武汉和东莞爆发的事件由于得到了网络的扩大宣传,因此才引起人们的重视,其实,警方在对待性工作者时采取违法行动绝非个别现象。来自 武汉当地的性工作者叶海燕这样描述警方执法的情景,"电视机、冰箱、玻璃门什么的都会砸,这是法律允许的吗?我觉得这个太可怕了。"

按照中国 《治安处罚管理条例》第三十条规定,从事卖淫者可"处十五日以下拘留、警告、责令具结悔过或者依照规定实行劳动教养,可以并处五千元以下罚款;构成犯罪 的,依法追究刑事责任"。尽管法律规定明确,但在具体执行过程中的尺度却是可松可紧,叶海燕对此深有感触,

"最近就是因为'严打'的行动,我们的很多姐妹受到了不公平的待遇。因为'严打',所以(执法)就变得非常有弹性了。我们认为法律是严谨的,不能警 察想严就严,想松就送。0443就像我的一个姐妹最近在严打期间被抓进去,本来按照法规规定是最高罚款5000元,拘留15天,结果她被判了半年。原因就 是那个(派出)所非常严,谁进去了就送劳教半年。"

严打无法压制"性产业"

官方实行"严打"无法是为了压制性产业,但事实证明,尽管各地警方经常采取类似的行动,但中国的性产业却并未受到影响,依然"蓬勃发展"。而且," 严打"非但无法收到预期效果,却可能带来负面效应,这可能是官方所料想不到的,0859"通过'扫黄严打'之后,很多姐妹们根本不敢把安全套带在身上了, 不想让人怀疑。"

同样由于性产业的地下性质,因此针对该行业人员的法律医疗等相关信息非常缺乏,也没有一个媒体平台能够让他们发出声音。为了改变这一状况,叶海燕开 设了一个名为"红尘网"的网站,收集相关信息,并为各地性工作者提供咨询交流的机会。此外,玉树地震之后,该网还号召性工作者为灾区捐款。2009年,同 样由叶海燕组织成立的中国民间女权工作室将8月3日定为性工作者节,现在他们正在为本年度的性工作者节征集宣传海报。

作者:石涛

责编:潇阳

2010年7月21日 星期三

《廣東省企業民主管理條例(草案修改稿)》OMRON HIT BY CHINA LABOUR UNREST

新華社週三報導﹐廣東省週三已對《廣東省企業民主管理條例(草案修改稿)》進行審議﹐這是全國第一個對工資集體協商制度和爭議的協調處理機制進行規定的條例﹐以期緩解雇佣雙方之間的矛盾。廣東省此前出現一系列 工人罷工及數起工人自殺事件。

據新華社報導﹐起草該條例的主要目的之一是為了建立一個 合法的工資集體協商機制。該條例的83項條款中有25項與工資協商問題有關。

該條例草案稱﹐如果企業中有五分之一的員工要求加薪﹐那麼相 關機構應組織職工協商代表和企業就工資問題進行協商。

報導稱﹐如果企業拒絕召開或不參加工資集體協商﹐那麼工人有權停工﹐而企業不得因此 與職工解除勞動合同。

據報導﹐廣東省人大常委會一位委員表示﹐該條例是當前全國最全面的勞動法規﹐將建立一個職工可以依法提出加薪訴求的 新機制。


欧姆龙在华工厂发生罢工
OMRON HIT BY CHINA LABOUR UNREST




Another Japanese manufacturer has been hit by labour strife in Guangdong province as a wave of Chinese strikes that began in May refuses to subside.

又一家日本制造企业受到了广东省劳资纠纷的冲击,中国从5月开始的罢工潮似乎没有消退 的迹象。

The unrest is putting increasing pressure on Japanese managers to review the way they run plants in China.

这场骚动正给日本企业的管理者施加越来越大的压力,迫使他们重新审视在华工厂的经营方 式。

Several hundred workers walked off the job at an Omron factory in Guangzhou, which supplies electronic components to carmakers in the region.

在欧姆龙(Omron)位于广州市的一家工厂,数百名工人离开了工作岗位。该厂为广州 地区的汽车制造商提供电子元器件。

These include Honda, whose assembly plants in southern China suffered sporadic closures in May and June when they ran short of parts due to strikes at affiliated component makers.

其中包括本田公司(Honda)。今年5月和6月,本田位于华南的整车装配厂曾被迫短 暂停产,原因是附属部件制造商发生的罢工导致部件短缺。

Industrial unrest has hit a range of foreign companies in China this year as the rising cost of housing and other items has fuelled resentment among a new and more outspoken generation of migrant workers.

今年一系列在华外资企业遭到了工潮冲击,房价和其他商品价格的不断上涨,在更加敢言的 新一代农民工群体中引发了不满。

But Japanese companies, particularly in the automobile industry, have suffered the most frequent and serious labour problems, with workers at eight Honda and Toyota suppliers in China striking in May and June.

但日本公司,特别是汽车行业的日本公司,遭遇最频繁和严重的劳资问题。5月和6月,有 八家本田与丰田(Toyota)的在华供应商发生工人罢工。

Several of those disputes remain unresolved, though the workers have mostly returned to their jobs.

其中多起纠纷仍未得到化解,尽管工人们大多已经恢复工作。

The Omron strike came after what appeared to be several weeks of improved labour relations in the area.

欧姆龙罢工事件发生之前的几周,该地区的劳资关系似乎有改善的迹象。

It also came a day after Takanobu Ito, Honda's president, defended the carmaker's global practices, blaming errors at its Chinese subsidiary for the strikes.

而前一天,本田总裁伊东孝绅(Takanobu Ito)为公司的全球管理执行方式辩护,称罢工事件应归咎于其在华子公司的错误。

Mr Ito said Honda had “taken steps” to remedy its problems in China, but did not give details.

伊东孝绅表示,本田已经“采取了措施”纠正其在中国的问题,但没有透露详情。

Some analysts have blamed the relatively closed corporate culture of Honda and other Japan carmakers.

一些分析师认为,问题的责任在于本田及其它日本汽车制造商相对封闭的企业文化。

Japanese companies' tight keiretsu relationships – traditional cross-shareholdings and interlocking business relationships – make them over-reliant on a small number of suppliers, analysts say.

分析师们表示,日本公司有着紧密的“系列”(keiretsu)企业关系——即交叉持 股和联锁的传统商业联系,这使他们过于依赖少数供应商。

Japanese companies have also been accused of being reluctant to promote Chinese employees to management positions.

分析师们还指责日本企业不愿意擢升中国员工担任管理层职位。

Omron officials in Tokyo confirmed that a strike had begun at the plant yesterday morning, but declined to give further details.

欧姆龙的东京管理人员确认了罢工从昨天早上开始,但拒绝提供更多详情。

They said the manager of its striking Guangzhou plant was a Japanese expatriate.

他们称,发生罢工的广州工厂经理是一位日本人。

Honda representatives in Tokyo said they were unaware of any disruption at Chinese Honda production sites arising from the Omron strike.

本田公司在东京的代表表示,他们并未获悉本田在华生产基地有因欧姆龙罢工事件引发的生 产中断。

Omron is an independent maker of electronic control systems used in everything from cash machines to railway turnstiles. Its Guang-zhou factory supplies other car groups including Ford.

欧姆龙是一家电子控制系统的独立制造商,产品类型丰富,从收银机到铁路闸门验票系统。 其位于广州的工厂也为包括福特(Ford)在内的其他汽车企业供应零件。

According to Reuters, more than half of the 700-800 workers at the Omron plant walked off the job, demanding a 40 per cent rise in their monthly wage of 1,270rmb ($187).

据路透社(Reuters)报道,欧姆龙工厂700多名工人中超过半数参加了罢工,要 求在当前月薪1270元人民币(合187美元)的基础上加薪40%。

“We are not satisfied with the current salary,” one worker was quoted as saying. “We talked to management before but got no reply. That's why we are on strike.”

“我们对目前的工资不满意,”一名工人说道。“我们向管理层进行了反映,但没有得到答 复。所以我们才会举行罢工。”

One woman who has been working at Omron for two years said: “The cost of living in Guangzhou is rising, but our wages from the factory aren't increasing at the same pace.”

一名在欧姆龙工作了两年的女工表示:“广州的生活成本正在上升,但我们从厂里拿到的工 资没有以同样的速度增加。”


译者/何黎

台灣二不當產

大埔農地不加徵 府院列選項

能平息農民之怒?答案今揭曉

〔記 者彭顯鈞、李信宏、王珮華/綜合報導〕苗栗縣政府強徵竹南大埔農地,引發農民怒火抗議一個多月,行政院昨晚表示,徵地事件可望獲得解決,「結論會往比較符 合社會大眾期待的發展」,今天上午十時苗栗縣長劉政鴻將與行政院長吳敦義共同召開記者會,公布解套方案。

苗栗竹南大埔自救會發言人葉秀桃昨 晚則明確回應,自救會立場非常明確,就是強烈反對農地被徵收,並要求苗栗縣府將毀損的農田恢復原狀,同時拿出誠意給予精神補償。

馬英九總統 昨天下午在國民黨中常會表達設法保留農地,事件盼能圓滿落幕的看法;據轉述,行政院秘書長林中森表示,大埔地區廿四戶、五公頃農地若不願被徵收,「保留為 農地」是選項之一,目前正在協調中。

行政院官員昨晚進一步透露,政府會回應農民訴求,也會充分尊重這廿四戶的意願,「有人想繼續耕田的,縣 政府會提出處理方案予以尊重;若有人當初是因程序已走完而不能再行使選擇的,將會啟動行政院的補救機制予以救濟」。

怪手剷再生稻?農民憤批馬污衊

大埔農地遭強行徵收,稻子遭怪手剷除畫面一再透過媒體傳 送,引起多位國民黨中常委的關切,昨天紛紛當面向馬英九提出建言。有中常委指出,稻子活生生被剷除,畫面一再傳送,不僅一般農民「感受很不好」,社會觀感 也很負面,「就像糟蹋一碗白米飯」。

據轉述,馬英九在國民黨中常會解釋,被剷除的是收成完畢的「再生稻」。所謂再生稻,指的是留下「宿根」 再栽培,不必重新插秧的稻子。

對於馬英九指被摧毀的是再生稻說法,農民聽了很生氣,竹南大埔自救會發言人葉秀桃氣憤地表示:「第一期稻作怎 麼可能會有再生稻?請政府不要再污衊辛苦耕作的農民!」

據了解,有中常委認為,工業區所需要的土地,以價購取代徵收,或許較為周延;也有中 常委認為,大埔事件已傷害政府愛農的形象,建議此事審慎處理,「甚至應該考慮不要徵收」。馬英九則回應,農村再生條例與大埔事件無關,農再條例不會有圈地 的問題。

至於如何讓事件落幕?馬英九在會中指示,該土地面積不是很大,應尊重地方意願,相關程序應該完備,研究看看是否有可能以行政手段予 以保留。

吳揆:後龍案不恰當 有討論空間

行政院長吳敦義也 表示,當初苗栗縣府承諾,加徵土地若補償款不足,會向企業募款,企業募款無著,就不應加徵,他已經指示內政部都委會與苗栗縣政府再行溝通,找出能夠兼顧的 做法。

至於近期傳出政府也將徵收苗栗後龍土地,吳揆表示,大埔農地徵收案大致底定,後龍案則還沒完全確定,還有討論空間。後龍案包括若干特 定農業區,並不恰當,內政部也不會完全同意,應會排除一些土地。

苗栗縣長劉政鴻表示,百分之二地主的權利當然要尊重,但百分之九十八的多數 地主權益也要維護,中央和地方政府已達成共識,基於尊重吳揆,他不能先透露「解套」方案內容。


****

不當黨產 中廣敗訴 八里土地須歸還

〔記者楊國文、王寓中、林美芬、李文儀、陳珮伶/台北報導〕從民進黨政府時代即展開的追 討國民黨不當黨產訴訟,昨出現重大進展。民進黨執政時,交通部在九十三年提告,訴請中廣返還其名下北縣八里鄉中山路面積二.六二公頃的十六筆土地,士林地 方法院判交通部「部份勝訴」,土地為國有,但中廣將該批土地登記為所有權人,不妨害國有狀態,此部份判中廣勝訴,不必塗銷所有權登記。台灣高等法院昨天改 判交通部全部勝訴,中廣應塗銷土地所有權登記,並返還土地。

國民黨曾承諾 敗訴就不上訴

本 案還可上訴,交通部指出,未來若法院判決確定勝訴,將收回產權交國有財產局處理;國民黨行管會主委林永瑞昨晚只表示,等看到法院判決書後再研究如何處理。 國民黨是否履行去年「敗訴即放棄上訴、還地」的承諾,引發關注。

原為國民黨黨營的中廣,雖已在九十六年出售給趙少康,但國民黨秘書長金溥聰 去年十二月卅日曾宣示,仍在訴訟中的黨產爭議案件,未來只要法院判國民黨敗訴,國民黨就放棄上訴。當時黨內普遍認知,金所指的黨產爭議案件,主要就是中廣 訴訟中的三件土地案,包括昨天宣判的八里段十六筆土地在內。

中廣法務劉盟幸未接聽電話,無法得知該公司對判決看法及是否上訴。

這 塊土地的市價,房仲業者以國產局去年九月標出同樣位於八里鄉中山路的一塊一千多坪住宅區土地來推估,標價每坪約十三.一萬元,約是公告現值每坪八萬元的 一.六倍。中廣這塊地共二.六二公頃,公告現值每坪約九.五四萬元,也以一.六倍換算每坪約十五萬元,這塊中廣土地總價約十二億元左右。

交 通部在訴狀中指出,中廣是國民黨黨營事業,依法不能徵收土地,政院因委任中廣處理國內外政令宣導,因此編列預算,於五十五年間依電信法徵收八里十六筆土 地,供中廣建台使用,但並無移轉所有權意思,中廣卻在該批土地登記為國有前,竟分別於六十年、六十四年間,先做所有權及「分割轉載」登記,故訴請法院判決 中廣返還該十六筆土地,並塗銷所有權登記。

中廣則認為,中廣為在八里建發射站台,五十二年向地主買地,但未談成才聲請政院代為徵收土地,雙 方已成立公法的委任關係,且徵收補償費、移轉所須契稅均由中廣支付,故交通部徵收土地後再移轉給中廣使用,已屬「非公用財產」,中廣做所有權登記無違誤。

一 審時士林地院認定,交通部於徵收及發放補償費完成後,依土地法第二百三十五條規定,已取得土地所有權,此部份判交通部勝訴,但交通部、中廣兩造間已存在公 法上委任關係,因此交通部有移轉土地所有權給中廣的義務,中廣將該批土地登記為所有權人,不妨害國有狀態,此部份中廣勝訴,不必塗銷所有權登記。

高院認定 交部中廣無委任關係

交通部上訴高院後,高院合議庭認定,國家在土地完成徵 收後即取得土地所有權,屬於「原始取得」,不必經登記手續,且交通部基於監督中廣經營電信事業地位,而准予中廣聲請徵收土地,並非受中廣委任,雙方無委任 關係。

至於中廣在該十六筆土地登記為國有前,以徵收名義逕行登記中廣為所有權人,違反修正前的民法第七百五十九條規定,無法律效力,判決交 通部全部勝訴,中廣應塗銷土地所有權登記。

China's Renminbi Revaluation: Small Step, Big Impact?

China's Renminbi Revaluation: Small Step, Big Impact?

In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives in March, C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, blamed the "severe" undervaluation of China's currency -- by as much as 40% against the dollar -- for major job losses in the U.S. and global trade imbalances. He also laid out an action plan, including enlisting a multilateral coalition of countries for help or even slapping tariffs on Chinese goods, if China did not relax its tight currency control and allow the renminbi (RMB) to gain strength. "The case for a substantial increase in the value of the renminbi is thus clear and overwhelming," he said. "An appreciation of 25% to 40% is needed to cut China's global [account] surplus even to 3% to 4% of its GDP. This realignment would produce a reduction of $100 billion to $150 billion in the annual U.S. current account deficit."

On June 19, the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, obliged -- at least in part. It announced that it will indeed abandon the two-year-old peg that has kept the RMB tied to the dollar and allow the RMB to respond more naturally to supply-and-demand forces. Effective immediately, it said the country would begin moving to a floating exchange rate regime, although a very tightly managed one, similar to what it used between 2005 and 2008, basing the RMB's value on a basket of currencies, rather than just the dollar, within a very narrow band upward or downward.

But then came the news the next day that dashed the hopes of many China watchers: Its policy makers have insisted that any appreciation they allow to the RMB, which has been pegged at 6.83 to the dollar since July 2008, will be "gradual." Analysts have interpreted that as only a few percentage points a year.

Relaxing its RMB policy "is kind of a convenience for China," says Kent Smetters, a Wharton professor of insurance and risk management. "It's not going to make that much of a difference for them right now. The demand for dollars is still going to be high and they can come across as being the good guys, but it's not really costing them that much right now."

Unveiled a week before the G20 meeting in Toronto and amid campaigning for various state elections in the U.S., the decision was indeed a nod to China's global trading partners. International pressure had been intensifying to get policy makers to address what China-policy critics call "currency manipulation" -- unacceptable to the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral organizations -- as well as China's seemingly unending appetite to buy U.S. dollars with cheap RMB for its stockpile of foreign reserves.

Yet regardless of the amount that the RMB appreciates -- or depreciates -- China's decision is important, not only in debates about the future clout of the dollar and the RMB in global trade and politics, but also for correcting global economic imbalances, experts say.

No Shock Therapy

Against this backdrop, "it is quite understandable why [China is] returning to this managed floating exchange system," says Wang Jianmao, economics professor and associate dean at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. "We will try some small steps and wait to see what the outcome will be. I'm not expecting any [sort of] shock therapy or that kind of thing in China, no matter what the external pressure is."

According to Wang, lessons from the past at home and elsewhere explain why China is taking this approach. Consider the Japanese yen. With a long undervalued currency and an export-dependent economy that boomed through the 1970s and mid-1980s -- much like present day China -- "the Japanese tried to delay the appreciation of their currency, and in the end they had to adjust the exchange rate under U.S. pressure too quickly," he says. After Japan agreed to the Plaza Accord of 1985, which depreciated the dollar against the yen and Germany's deutsche mark, the yen surged ahead, eventually leaving the country to face an asset price bubble that was bound to burst dramatically.

Then there are the lessons at home. "Since 2005, we've accumulated a lot of knowledge about our own experiences with currency revaluations," says Wang. "We realize that in the later years -- 2007 and 2008 -- the speed of the [RMB's] depreciation may have been a little too fast." A gradual appreciation "does not necessarily mean a slow one-way movement," he adds. "There will be ups and downs, yet the overall trend will be upwards." A "one-way bet" on RMB appreciation may have a downside as well as an upside if investors (including speculators) rush into China, but Wang predicts that any flow of hot money would be "manageable," particularly if a capital gains tax is introduced. Furthermore, "it may be the case that gradual appreciation makes the holding of RMB as a reserve currency attractive, even though the investment opportunities of RMB are still very limited."

The latter is a scenario that Franklin Allen, a Wharton finance professor, welcomes. "In the next 10 to 15 years, China needs to make the RMB fully convertible and have it become a reserve currency," he says. "The real problem in the international architecture, since all the problems with the euro began, is that the dollar has become the only reserve currency, when we need three [currencies] to represent three regions. It may be better to have more, but three would be a good start."

However, there's a more pressing issue for China's government: The impact of the revaluation on its vast foreign exchange reserves, 70% of which are said to be in dollars. "Much of these reserves are financed with debt in RMB. So if the RMB appreciates, they are effectively losing out," says Allen. Any movement -- even a gradual one -- causes a significant change in the value of its reserves, which reached $2.5 trillion in March, roughly half of its GDP. "If they have a 10% revaluation against the dollar, that's the equivalent of 5% of GDP, which is a big amount to lose. They need to think very carefully about their long-term strategy for that."

Where does this leave the dollar? "For China, saying they're going to let go of the peg really means they're going to let go of trying to buy enough U.S. debt in order to maintain [the new] exchange rate," notes Smetters. "The problem is, the U.S. is still going to try to sell a bunch of debt over the next few years, and that will create a demand for dollars. Demand for dollars is still going to be pretty strong because [the dollar] is a safe haven."

Exporting Unemployment

All this raises questions about whether the RMB revaluation matters to the person on the street. Many observers in the U.S. say it does. According to them, the weak-currency policy has meant China is giving its firms an unfair competitive advantage over their counterparts in other countries by making Made-in-China products cheaper. As a result, "[China] is exporting very large doses of unemployment to the rest of the world -- including the United States, but also to Europe and to many emerging market economies, including Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa," noted PIIE's Bergsten in his testimony on Capitol Hill. In a blog published in January, New York Times columnist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman wrote that "Chinese mercantilism" has cost the U.S. 1.4 million jobs.

Krugman, Bergsten and a host of other China-policy critics say that while letting the value of the RMB rise might leave consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere paying higher prices for formerly cheap Chinese goods, it will help make America's goods more attractive both at home and abroad, which in turn will give employment levels a big boost. Bergsten reported in his testimony that "every $1 billion of exports supports about 6,000 to 8,000 [mainly high-paying manufacturing] jobs in the U.S. economy."

But not everyone is as certain about how large a role the RMB's value played during the global economic downturn, or is as optimistic about the effects of China's new policy. "America needed a whipping boy to blame for the crisis," says Simon J. Evenett, professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He predicts that the exchange-rate debate is far from over. "It has all the ingredients of a long-running drama." Meanwhile, he says that China Inc.'s competitive advantages could very well strengthen, rather than weaken, over time. "If an increase in the RMB value is gradual, it will just encourage a lot of Chinese companies to upgrade their products, not knock them out [of business], as some Americans hope. The principal losers would be U.S. firms."

As for workers in the U.S., Evenett predicts that a revalued RMB won't lead to the rosy scenario which many people say higher exports and lower imports would bring. He cites recent research on U.S. output and employment that he conducted earlier this year with Joseph Francois, professor of economics at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. For example, their research found that the majority of China's exports to the U.S. are not destined for American consumers, but for firms in the form of components and other unfinished goods. "This is not just true for imports from China, but for all imports," the two professors wrote in an article about their findings, published in April on Voxeu.org, a policy-analysis web site. "Consequently, imports from China and elsewhere feed into the overall cost structure of the U.S. economy and thus influence the global competitiveness of U.S. firms."

Moreover, they observed, "in a world where only finished goods were sold -- where the principal effect of revaluations is on export prices -- then it might have been sensible to link revaluation, current account improvements and job creation. However, this is not the world we live in." Evenett and Francois calculate that roughly 420,000 U.S. jobs could be lost if the RMB is revalued by 10%.

A Turning Point

In terms of what the Chinese should expect from the revaluation, Wang of CEIBS underscores the importance of looking at it alongside another big change: The rise of Chinese wages. "China is at a turning point," he says. "For the past 25 years, wages have been growing slower than GDP. That caused a bigger problem in China" than the currency policy. The country's current account surplus of about 15% of GDP -- caused by chronic savings-consumption imbalances -- has had a negative impact on the health of its economy. "Unless wages grow faster than GDP, I don't think we can achieve an internal rebalancing," he notes. "And it was internal imbalances that caused external imbalances."

Marshall W. Meyer, Wharton professor of management, agrees that rising wages have a key role to play. "The wage increases are a 'backdoor' RMB revaluation. I'm sure prices will go up with wages, which will have to be passed on to consumers -- which is pretty much what the effect of a RMB revaluation is. Unless, of course, [Chinese companies] nail down some efficiency in productivity or distribution processes, which means prices [for consumers] won't go up as much."

But as both Wang and Meyer note, the government has been in a corner when it comes to wages. "The government can't avoid wage increases. It's very conscious of its role of being 'on the side of the people,'" says Meyer. And though still wanting to hang on to maintain the GDP's growth trajectory, the only way the government can pursue a strategy to reduce its dependency on exports while increasing domestic consumption is to encourage higher salaries, he adds.

As Wang observes, "They really have to control the speed of change, which means they can't let the exchange rate rise too fast. It would backfire and many people would lose their jobs. So a mild increase in wages -- just a little bit faster than GDP growth -- would solve the problem."

In terms of whether a stronger RMB could lead to Chinese exporters losing business in key international markets and forcing layoffs at home, Wang believes it is unlikely, given China's strong foothold in the U.S. and elsewhere. "You have to realize that with Chinese imports, there are no substitutes in the short term. Maybe in 10 years, importers will have a choice, but right now they will just have to pay more," he says. "No other country can step in on a big scale. Some countries will try, [but] to build a manufacturing base and all the infrastructure that you need -- transportation, energy, the entire value chain to the final good -- takes many years."

Certainly, currency revaluations alone can't address the bigger global challenge, experts note. According to Bergsten, "Successful international adjustment ... requires corrective action by the United States, particularly with respect to its budget deficit and low national saving rate, and other countries as well as by China. But it is impossible for deficit countries to reduce their imbalances unless surplus countries reduce theirs."


Published : 2010.07.07