Regional Briefings run every Tuesday & Wednesday. This Regional Briefing focuses on China, courtesy of Hong Kong resident Conrad of The Gweilo Diaries.
Today we cover: the latest financial scandal in the PRC; China's looming AIDS epidemic; Chinese doctors and their ethical dilemmas; will the 3 Gorges Dam collapse?; a lively debate among China bloggers as to whether it's entering a new era of openness and reform; and a very novel Chinese approach to zookeeping...
We begin with the brewing Bank of China, Hong Kong, scandal. Bank of China (HK) the SAR subsidiary of its mainland parent, floated shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange approximately one year ago. The entire offering was very nearly scuttled, and a US tranche had to be abandoned, when massive corruption was discovered in the parent bank's US operations, resulting in a record fine by US regulators. Now a similar loan kick-back scheme has been uncovered in the bank's Hong Kong office which appears to extend to senior management and government advisors. At the time of the hand-over it was widely predicted the Hong Kong's good government and commitment to the rule of law would serve as an positive example to Chinese institutions. Commentators now increasingly worry that Chinese corruption will infect Hong Kong.
Richard the Peking Duck continues his ongoing and heartbreaking coverage of the looming AIDS crises in China and the PRC government's culpability and efforts to sweep it under the carpet. For background, see Richard's widely linked to original post here.
Time Magazine reports on medical ethics in China where physicians do not subscribe to the Hippocratic oath and often find their duty to their patients compromised by the demands of the state. As one mainland doctor who abetted Beijing's SARS cover-up admits "of course it's an ethical problem. We want to be honest, but if we don't go along, we can't exist."
Rantburg is one of many bloggers to take note of the more than 80 cracks appearing in China's massive and environmentally suspect Three Gorges Dam - just days after the sluice gates were closed and the reservoir began to fill. Rantburg distinguishes itself as the only blog so far taking bets on when the entire edifice will collapse. Place your bets in our Comments section.
China based bloggers have lately been engaged in a passionate and at times heated debate regarded China's supposed new openness. Adam Morris at Brainy Smurf, who believes China's reforms are real and significant, has the latest word. I recommend it if you are interested in the subject, despite the fact I am firmly in the other camp for reasons made apparent here. Even so, Charles at "Why Read This?" believes that the comments I cite are evidence of a power-struggle between China's new leaders Hu and Wen on the side of openness, vs. former president Jiang favoring a continued hard line (find the June 14th post... permalink here).
Whatever the reality behind the red curtain, stories like this, this, this, this and this (via Rice Cooker) make plain, the rule of law holds little sway over China's communist mandarins.
Phil Ingram, our resident admirer of actress Joey Yung, reveals a novel Chinese approach to zookeeping... while Preston Whip, whose professed tastes are just a bit more peculiar, asks the question 'Are Hong Kongers the New Yorkers of Asia?' (find the last June 17th entry... permalink here).The Next installment of Gweilo's China Briefing will be July 16th. Meanwhile, you can keep tabs on eastern events and Conrad's wild Asian lifestyle over at The Gweilo Diaries.
According to an article I read in SPIN several years ago, the main dangers posed to TGD are the fact that it's built on an earthquake fault, and the rapidly accumulating silt that jams the sluice gates, relief valves etc.
The second is not a theoretical problem either. As the SPIN article pointed out, it was the clogging silt that was responsible for the breaking of the several dams that were on the Yangtze in 1975. This happened during a rainstorm of several days, and the resulting flooding, disease, and lack of potable water led to tens of thousands of deaths.
So whether or not the cracks make any difference, the dam is a great danger. Maybe the best thing that can happen is that it bursts soon before the resevoir (which will be long enough to stretch from New Orleans to St. Louis) is completely full.
not that I don't welcome a China briefing, but it begs the question of why have an HK blogger do it when there are many excellent bloggers in the PRC? It takes me back to that sentimental time during the GPCR when Westerners couldn't go to China and so all the China Hands congregated in HK wistfully gazing over the border and pontificatting on what they thought was going on over there....