As a developing country, China can sign Kyoto, but it doesn’t have to obey it. So ithe treaty is about as much use a pre owned toilet paper.

I keep noticing that every right wing politition in the US says that global warming is a myth so the US isn’t goign to sign, but they all forget that the same have been linked to adult lung desease and childhood asthma, which I think are good enough reasons to cut down on them in themselves.

Sod global warming, protect your kids lungs America.

February 17, 2005 @ 12:18 am | Comment

So has China really gone green?

The answer is YES. At least they painted the lawn green in Beijing when OIC delegation was touring that candidate city. Beijing won the bid.

February 17, 2005 @ 5:47 am | Comment

Angry Chinese Blogger (ACB) takes positive pleasure in attacking the United States in every discussion — even when it’s not the point of the matter. Richard’s post, I think, was less about the overall effect of the treatyand more about whether China is serious in enforcing it. ACB’s reflexive anti-Americanism gets a bit old after a few posts.

February 17, 2005 @ 7:28 am | Comment

Orson, you sort of get used to it. He’s a smart guy, but I do think he’s sometimes too quick to condemn America.

February 17, 2005 @ 7:31 am | Comment

China is slowly waking up to green issues, one cadre at a time. The SEPA recently ordered thirty environmentally damaging projects stopped. Some of the bigger ones took some convincing…. funnily enough they were run by the Three Gorges Project… but for the time being they are officially stopped. There are many motivations for China to clean up, and many in society and the government are trying to make it happen, but meeting the obvious resistance. And then there’s the possible PR debacle of thousands of journalists turning up to cover the Olympics and instead reporting on stinking rivers and choking smog. Still, doesn’t really matter what the motivation is, so long as they get the job done.

And as for that article, I saw the name Antoaneta Bezlova and immediately closed that tab. I’ve seen her work before and she seems determined to paint China in the worst light possible. She lost all credibility with me with a piece on Asia Times in which she grossly distorted Chinese history and current policies and made some utterly ridiculous comparisons all in a rather clumsy, childish effort to demonise the Chinese government. Now, I’m not trying to defend the Chinese government at all, no, I’m just saying what I’ve seen of her ‘journalism’ is the kind that belongs in the tabloid press.

February 17, 2005 @ 7:52 pm | Comment

Orson

America is the global comon denominator, I could compare events and trends in many other countries to China, but since I can’t be sure that other readers know enough about international events in far flung places to know what I’m talking about, it is best to stick with somewhere that everybody knows.

It’s also easy to find examples relating to the US because the US has a large audience that reports on everything that it does.

I could have said, that Germany’s efforts to cut greenhouse emisions are being shot in the foot by the Green party, which pledged to close down all of the contry’s nuclear reactors, a move would force the country to burn more fossil fuels in conventional power power plants while it waits for green solutions to be found and constructed.

I could equally have said that Britain’s efforts to generate power from wind turbines, the countries only viable green alternative, given its lack of sufficent daylight for solar power and lack of suitable sites for hydro electric power, were being hampered by constant planning rows because nobody wants a wind turdine in their backyard, and that there are actually environmental groups in Britain that are protesting against the government’s plans to build more wind turbines on the grounds that they will be flight hazards to the countries indiginous bird population and they will be an ugly blot on the landscape.

Though, how many people have actually heard of any of these arguments.

America is an easy example to give, everybody knows what’s going on there.

Chris

Do you have a link to that article by Antoaneta Bezlova that twisted Chinese history, I’m interested to see how people twist Chinese histroy against China so that I can compre it to how the the Chinese government twists it in its favor.

Progaganda help you to get inside somebody’s head and see how they think.

It’s a very useful tool to study social attitudes.

February 17, 2005 @ 9:15 pm | Comment

Chris,

I have no desire to take anything away from the often very informative posts on your blog — sometimes tremendously useful for people such as myself who know very little about China.

However, let me just quote from the self-introduction on your web site:

“I have my pet hate that I occasionally drop into in the middle of a blog, as you may notice, pet hates that include hegemonistic countries who think the world would be a better place if everybody was just like them, cultural chauvinism, or my culture is superior and I’m going to attack or denigrate anybody who is different, and people who destroy tradition simply because its old, and most of these pet hates are directed squarely at a process known as westernization, or as I tend to think of it, countries by the hundred chanting “lets all become Americans and throw away our heritage and our dignity”. From this you can probably put together that I’m not American, ethnically or nationally.

I come from a nation that since the close of World War Two has been steadily influenced to the point of subversion by America and American ideals, where people have started to forget that we have over a thousand years of unique heritage and culture and where we have let our morals slide to the level of America, particularly concerning a few notable incidents in recent year.”

I think that pretty much speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

Again, if we can filter out the “pet hate” that appears in some of your comments, I think you post some very valuable opinions, including those I read this morning on freedom of speech in China.

However, I suspect the mentions of America that appear in some of your posts have do to with more than the desire to create convenience for your readers by referring to easily recognizable examples and situations.

Just my thoughts.

Orson

February 18, 2005 @ 7:05 am | Comment

Orson, was that directed at me or ACB?

ACB, the link is buried somewhere in the deep, dark depths of my blog, and the article was published many months ago, but I’ll go looking for it…. Found it, eventually: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FE08Ad01.html

You’re probably right about propaganda being useful for studying social attitudes. Bezlova is a very slavonic looking name. If she is from Eastern Europe, one could understand her hatred of Communist parties. However, I don’t think that’s an excuse for passing poorly written propaganda off as journalism. Journalists are supposed to at least attempt balance and objectivity, even if it’s not possible to achieve an absolutely objective view.

February 18, 2005 @ 9:20 pm | Comment

Chris,

it was indeed directed at ACB. My bad.

R.

February 19, 2005 @ 11:38 am | Comment

Chris
I don’t get your blast at Beslova and her artile on AIDS in China. I don’t read any major distortions, although the comparison to Mao’s program is probably not necessary. Will you state your case against the article in specifics? I think some of the criticism of the Chinese government is deserved and people need to be reminded in China, if the article finds its way there, and in the wide world that governments don’t always act for the best interests of all the people.

February 19, 2005 @ 7:16 pm | Comment