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Half-Filled School Bus Crashes in China, Killing 15 Children
BEIJING — A half-filled school bus ferrying students home from a primary school in rural China rolled into an irrigation canal, killing 15 children and injuring 8 others, officials said.

The accident Monday evening in Jiangsu Province has renewed public indignation over school bus safety and, more broadly, complaints about inadequate government spending on education.

It was nearly one month ago that a coal truck in the northwestern province of Gansu slammed into an overloaded minivan that was being used as a school bus, killing 21 kindergartners and 2 adults. The loss of life, and the anger, were compounded by the fact that the nine-seat vehicle was crammed with 64 people.

At the time, many Chinese and a number of media outlets accused the government of miserly spending on school transportation while directing enormous sums toward the purchase of new cars for bureaucrats.

Overcrowding, however, apparently played no role in the latest accident. The vehicle had a capacity of 52 but had only 29 students on board, according to the state-controlled Xinhua news agency. The driver lost control of the bus after he swerved to avoid a pedicab, and it rolled, landing upside down in a canal with less than two feet of water.

“Students became trapped at the bottom of the overturned bus and drowned as water gushed into the wreck,” Zhang Bin, an official in Fengxian County told Xinhua. The news agency said the bus driver was detained for questioning.

The accident occurred one day after the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued proposed regulations on school bus safety. After the accident in Gansu last month, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao promised to address the problem of substandard school transportation. The new rules lay out the safe operation of school buses, including a mandate for local school districts to hire full-time bus maintenance crews and a requirement that buses must be replaced after eight years or about 125,000 miles. They do not indicate how new vehicles and staff will be paid for.

The accident in Jiangsu prompted anger and complaints on microblogs in China. “All the attention the first school bus crash drew cannot keep history from repeating itself,” one comment read. “All we get from the government is lip service. I’m speechless.”

On Tuesday, the state news media reported on another school bus accident, this one involving 59 students in the southern province of Guangdong. The accident, which was also on Monday, injured 37 students, according to Xinhua.

Mia Li contributed research.

之之

China: Naval Ships May Resupply in Seychelles
China is considering an offer from the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles to allow Chinese naval ships to visit for rest and resupply there, China’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The ships would be part of a multinational force conducting anti-piracy patrols off Somalia. China has taken part in the patrols since late 2008, and Chinese ships assigned to patrols in the Gulf of Aden have made similar visits to ports including those in Yemen and Oman on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. Chinese naval activity in the Indian Ocean is of interest to India, which has longstanding border disputes with China and is suspicious of China’s close ties with Pakistan.

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Chinese Fisherman Kills South Korean Coast Guardsman
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean Coast Guard member was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman on Monday during a crackdown on illegal fishing near South Korea, the Coast Guard said.
Nine Chinese crewmen violently resisted South Korean coast guardsmen who were trying to impound their 66-ton boat about 120 miles west of Incheon, near the border with North Korea, according to a Coast Guard statement.  

Another Chinese ship rammed into the boat, and amid the confusion, the Chinese rebelled, said Chi Geun-tae, a Coast Guard spokesman, citing a preliminary report from the scene.

The captain of the Chinese ship was believed to have attacked the South Korean with a piece of glass from a shattered cabin window, Mr. Chi said. A 41-year-old coast guardsman was stabbed in the side and died while a helicopter was taking him to a hospital in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul. The captain, who suffered a minor injury during the clash, was under arrest.

A second South Korean was stabbed in the abdomen, but his condition was not critical.

The Coast Guard was taking the Chinese ship and its crew to Incheon. In Seoul, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Xinsen, to lodge a protest against illegal fishing and the fishermen’s use of violence.

During a regularly scheduled news conference Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the government was looking into the incident and that it would fully cooperate with the South Korean authorities. In response to a reporter’s question about the increasing number of clashes, the spokesman, Liu Weimin, said China was working to reduce illegal fishing by instructing Chinese fishermen about the law and at times physically restricting their boats from crossing into South Korean waters.

Mr. Liu, however, also warned Seoul to treat the arrested men judiciously. “South Korea is obligated to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese fishermen and to provide them with due humanitarian treatment,” he said.

In recent years, South Korea has complained about an increasing number of Chinese fishing boats poaching in its fishing grounds. Citing them as a leading cause of depleting fish stocks, it has stepped up patrols. Since 2006, about 2,600 Chinese fishing boats have been seized for illegal fishing near South Korea.

Violent clashes have become common as Chinese fishermen try to escape arrest and thousands of dollars in fines. The Coast Guard has reported Chinese crewmen wielding axes and steel pipes. Last month, South Korean fisheries officials released photographs of a Chinese fishing boat armed with steel fences and spears to deter South Korean officers from boarding. Chinese ships also chain each other together to resist seizure, they said.

During a clash in 2008, a South Korean coast guardsman drowned after he was hit by a Chinese fisherman. A year ago, one Chinese fisherman drowned and another disappeared when their ship sank after ramming into a South Korean patrol boat that was trying to seize it.

之之

Rumor Fever
HONG KONG — China hosts some 300 million microblog accounts (including my own), and officials say that domestic social media put out more than 200 million posts every day. In hopes of getting a handle on this potentially threatening surge of information, the government has started a campaign that aims to quash what it calls “rumors” — statements that it says threaten the public order but that it has not bothered to define. After a series of public opinion disasters this past year, the Communist Party has been pressuring social media providers to weed out allegations it finds threatening, and state media have tried to whip up fear over their malignant social effects.

The party’s fever over rumors began in August, following the July 23 high-speed rail collision in Wenzhou. The government took a public opinion beating over the crash, in large part because social media harnessed anger over the bungled rescue effort, the safety of the high-speed rail network and corruption in the Railways Ministry. Once party leaders wrested back control of the story, they pushed all relevant facts into the darkness, leaving only rumors to sate the public’s appetite for the truth. And this summer two other embarrassing public opinion defeats for China’s leadership originally took off on the Internet: the Guo Meimei affair, which exposed irregularities at the government-run Red Cross Society of China, and the massive and well-organized public demonstrations against a chemical project in Dalian.

In August, bowing to government pressure, social media companies like Sina Weibo, China’s most popular microblog platform, began sending users notices of posts that they claimed were rumors. One of the first notices to flitter across my computer screen announced that another user’s account had been suspended for a post alleging that a murder suspect in Wuhan had been released on bail thanks to his well-connected father. Sina’s rumor-busting notice told users that the police in Wuhan had “confirmed” that “the suspect was still in custody.” End of discussion. “Is this real or fake?” users posted in response. But the case was closed. And the upshot seemed to be that a rumor is what the government says it is, as a matter of political convenience.

The government’s mania has reached new rhetorical heights. At high-level meetings in October, the party decided to “strengthen the control and use of microblogs and other newly emerging media.” But even as it fears the consequences of more open speech, the government understands that actions to control it are deeply unpopular, especially on social media. And so now it is couching its antirumor policy by sugarcoating censorship as a kind of public health measure.

Stricter controls are the prescription for what China’s top Internet control official, Wang Chen, last week called a “healthy and upright online culture.” Get vaccinated, wash your hands, and don’t climb in bed with strangers. Xinhua warned us again on Nov. 28 that “like all forms of vice and iniquity, Internet rumors are extremely infectious” and are capable of “poisoning the social environment and impacting social order.” Once something has been marked as a social disease, it is simple enough to justify its elimination.

But rumors are not confirmed falsehoods; rather, they are unverified statements. The only way to prove them wrong is to create an environment in which information can be freely reported and debated. In other words, government censorship only feeds China’s rumor mill.

Hu Yong, a professor at Peking University and one of China’s leading experts on new media, argues that state controls on public opinion had “nurtured a rich soil for the transmission of rumor” while undermining the credibility of official information. Or as Cheng Yizhong, the founder of Guangzhou’s Southern Metropolitan Daily newspaper, put it in September — on his microblog account, as he could not elsewhere — censorship is a great evil. “Rumors are the penalty for lies,’’ he wrote. ” They are a rebellion of speech by the weak against power, a small ill hoping to overthrow a great evil.”


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David Bandurski is a researcher at the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project and a producer of Chinese independent films through his Hong Kong-based production company, Lantern Films.



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This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: December 13, 2011

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Guo Meimei affair exposed corruption in the Red Cross Society in China. The scandal raised allegations of corruption but they have not been proven. The article also erred in saying that the scandal had not been reported in the Chinese press.

之之

Fine-Tuning the Chinese Economy
BEIJING — China has pledged to guarantee growth in the face of an “extremely grim” outlook for the global economy next year, rounding off its annual economic policy-setting conference Wednesday with a series of commitments to deliver economic stability.

Laying out a blueprint for the year ahead, Beijing promised to keep monetary policy “prudent,” fiscal policy “proactive” and consumer prices stable. The language, from the Central Economic Work conference, was broadly in line with previous commitments.

Economists said the rhetoric suggested that Beijing preferred fine-tuning current economic policies, rather than striving for monetary easing to shore up growth. Many analysts expect growth to slip below 9 percent next year for the first time in over a decade.

The pronouncements doused some investors’ hopes for promises of more explicit measures to lift the economy, pushing the Shanghai Composite index down 0.9 percent Wednesday to close at a 33-month low.

“It seems the government, at least for now, is not ready to conduct a blanket policy relaxation,” said Tang Yunfei, an economist with Founder Securities in Beijing. “But it also made clear that the policies will be flexible, which means the government will react when slowdown trends are clear.”

Indeed, China’s view on the global economic outlook showed the policy challenges that could lie ahead for an economy in which trade plays a critical role.

“Looking into next year, the trend in the global economy on the whole is grim and complicated,” Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said in a statement after the annual conference. “Uncertainties are rising around a recovery in the world economy.”

Beijing’s wish to play down those risks at home was apparent in all the economic plans outlined, which broadly endorsed a decision by China’s top leaders last week to avoid big policy changes before a critical leadership succession in 2012.

The renminbi will be kept “basically stable;” interest rate and exchange rate adjustments will continue; measures seeking to calm the property market will be maintained; exports will be held steady and imports increased to balance trade.

“Stability means to maintain basically steady macroeconomic policy, relatively fast economic growth, stable consumer prices and social stability,” one of several Xinhua statements said.

Economists say that policy fine-tuning is already under way. Data show that Chinese banks made 562 billion renminbi, or $88.2 billion, of new loans in November, a shade more than forecast, as Beijing gently eases tight credit conditions. Bank lending is a focal point in China’s monetary policy because it is controlled by the government to steer economic growth and control inflation.

Economists were sanguine in their initial readings of the summit meeting, the most important annual gathering in China’s economic calendar. They singled out the commitment to domestic economic stability as a sign of consistency in assessing the policies for 2012.

“This year, it’s a lot less drama,” Tim Condon, an economist at ING Bank in Singapore, said of the conference. “The statements are much less thematic than a year ago, when they moved from a moderately loose to a prudent stance. This is the case of an economy where policy does not need fixing, so they are just staying the course.”

The statements did not reveal a clear policy bias between growth and inflation, an ambivalence that some analysts say underscores nagging concerns that inflation in China could rebound.

While noting the global economic malaise, Beijing conceded that China is in a tight spot itself, squeezed by both inflation and a slackening pace of economic activity.

“We will fine-tune monetary policy in an appropriate and timely manner according to the economic situation, and will use various monetary tools to keep a reasonable growth in money and credit,” one statement said.

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A report released by Xinhua in English said that China would “guarantee steady growth of the economy,” while a report by the news agency in Chinese said Beijing aimed to “stabilize” growth. Broadly speaking, China has said it wants its economy to grow by about 7.5 percent each year.

Economic growth in China has slowed for three consecutive quarters, and many forecasts see it dipping in 2012 below 9 percent for the first time since 2001.

Inflation appears to be coming down, having fallen from a three-year high of 6.5 percent in July to 4.2 percent in November, but Beijing is wary of any policy that might fire up prices again.

Beijing promised to keep a tight policy leash on property. To ensure property prices “return to a reasonable level,” China said it would uphold measures aimed at cooling housing prices, which are still near record highs, and increase the supply of housing.

The Central Economic Work conference brings together China’s top leadership, provincial government leaders, ministers, the heads of the biggest state companies and the generals from the People’s Liberation Army.

Despite the statements issued Wednesday, many private-sector economists believe China’s decision on Dec. 5 to cut bank reserve requirements for the first time in three years was a tacit shift to a pro-growth policy stance.

A Reuters poll last week showed a consensus view that China was primed to roll back much of the monetary tightening it had used to tame inflation over the past year and cut bank reserves further.

No aggressive policies were forecast to be used to stimulate the economy unless growth in gross domestic product dropped below 8 percent.

“We should not read too much into what the government has said, but pay more attention to what it will do,” said Zhou Hao, an economist in Shanghai for Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. “Basically, Beijing is expected to lean more towards an easing stance in monetary policy by mainly using quantitative tools such as cutting reserve requirements next year.”




Duties on U.S. car imports

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Wednesday that it would impose anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties on imports of some U.S. automobiles, Reuters reported from Beijing.

The duties, to affect the major U.S. automakers — General Motors, Chrysler and Ford Motor — as well as cars made by companies from other countries, will begin Thursday and last two years, a statement on the ministry Web site said. The import duties will range from 2 percent to 21.5 percent of the value of the cars.

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China Imposes New Tariffs on U.S. Vehicles
GUANGZHOU, China — The Chinese government increased trade tensions with the Obama administration Wednesday evening by unexpectedly imposing antidumping and antisubsidy tariffs on imports of sport utility vehicles and midsize and large cars from the United States.

The new tariffs, totaling up to nearly 22 percent of the import prices, will probably have a mainly symbolic function, rather than reducing the already skimpy sales of such vehicles in China. Other tariffs and taxes already in place have limited sales of American imports by helping raise their retail prices by about three times what the same cars and S.U.V.’s sell for in the United States.

Still, firing a trade volley at American exports of automobiles, one of the most politically sensitive industries in international trade, can only escalate trade hostilities between China and the United States.

China’s move drew immediate criticism from the Obama administration.

“We are very disappointed in this action by China,” said Carol Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. “We will be discussing this latest action with both our stakeholders and Congress to determine the best course going forward.”

The Commerce Ministry of China, which has conducted a two-year trade investigation of the American imports, gave no explanation for its decision to impose the duties. Ministry officials could not be reached for elaboration Wednesday evening.

The duties would mainly affect General Motors, which exports Cadillac S.U.V.’s and cars to China; Chrysler, which exports Jeeps; the BMW Group of Germany, which exports BMW S.U.V.’s from South Carolina; and Daimler of Germany, which exports Mercedes S.U.V.’s from a factory in Alabama.

Because of the high Chinese tariffs and taxes already in place, the vehicles are sold only in the thousands or even hundreds in China, and only to the most affluent. (A Jeep Grand Cherokee that begins at $27,490 at dealerships in the United States costs $85,000 or more in China.)

The White House announced last week that it would ask the World Trade Organization next Monday to open an inquiry into Chinese restrictions on imports of American broiler chickens.

More significantly, Chinese government agencies and companies have been furious about a current American investigation into whether Chinese solar panels exported to the United States might have received illegal subsidies or been dumped in the American market at prices below the cost of manufacturing them.

American officials have previously examined the methodology of China’s two-year-old antidumping and antisubsidy investigation of American-made automobiles and have found “significant problems,” said Ms. Guthrie, the United States trade spokeswoman.

One challenge for China, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary as a member of the World Trade Organization, is whether Wednesday’s action will be allowed under W.T.O. rules.

The trade organization places many limits on a member nation’s ability to impose antidumping and antisubsidy measures, particularly on goods from countries that the W.T.O. has declared as having market economies, like the United States.

“Dumping” might be hard to demonstrate, given that the prices of the American vehicles — even before China’s tariff and tax markups — tend to be higher than in the United States.

The Chinese accusation of subsidies may be linked to previous comments by Chinese officials questioning whether the Obama administration provided too much federal assistance to G.M. and Chrysler two years ago during the global financial crisis.

China started the automotive trade case two days after President Obama imposed steep tariffs on surging imports of Chinese tires in September 2009. After an inquiry, the W.T.O. ruled this autumn that the American tariffs on tire imports had complied with international trade rules.

The new tariffs China imposed Wednesday will be antidumping duties of 8.9 percent for G.M. vehicles, 8.8 percent for Chrysler, 2.7 percent for Daimler and 2 percent for BMW.

The ministry separately imposed additional antisubsidy duties of 12.9 percent for G.M. and 6.2 percent for Chrysler.

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The ministry’s statement said that all of the new duties would be calculated on vehicle prices that include China’s existing 25 percent import tariff for all family vehicles. So buyers will effectively pay the new antidumping and antisubsidy taxes on other Chinese taxes in addition to paying the new taxes on the value of the car.

China’s import tariff is much higher than those of other big auto manufacturing nations. The United States, for example, assesses a tariff of 2.5 percent on imported cars, minivans and S.U.V.’s.

The new Chinese duties will apply to sport utility vehicles and cars with engines of 2.5 liters or greater that are imported from the United States. The duties will be in place for two years, through Dec. 14, 2013, according to the ministry’s announcement.

BMW said that it anticipated little effect from the duties, Daimler said that it was studying them, and Chrysler had no immediate comment.

General Motors said in a statement that it was “working with relevant authorities to understand the impact of the Chinese government’s decision.” G.M. added that it would “seek a solution consistent with a constructive global trade environment, which we believe is important to both China and the U.S.”

G.M. is a leading producer of automobiles in China, through a series of joint ventures with Chinese partners. The company’s statement said that imports from the United States represented “less than half of 1 percent of its domestic production in China.”

By contrast, Chrysler’s sales in China are solely imports. The company was not allocated any factories in China when Daimler dissolved its merger with Chrysler in 2007.

As a result, Chrysler’s sales in China are tiny — only 13,686 Jeeps, 10,970 Dodges and 284 Chryslers in the first 10 months of this year, according to LMC Automotive, a British consulting firm.

Bill Russo, a former Chrysler executive who oversaw the company’s operations in China until 2008 and is now an industry consultant in Beijing, said in a telephone interview Wednesday evening that while some Chinese trade actions might benefit Chinese industries, it was unlikely that the latest move was done to help Chinese automakers.

Imported S.U.V.’s and cars cost so much more than Chinese models that “people are not shopping these on price,” Mr. Russo said. “No local company makes a product even close.”

Imported models already cost much more in China compared with their home markets because of steep Chinese tariffs, value-added taxes and a system of sales taxes that range from 1 percent on fuel-sipping subcompacts to 40 percent on large sport utility vehicles and sports cars.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry’s announcement on Wednesday was the latest in a series of zigzags on trade policy this autumn, as Chinese officials have struggled over how confrontational a stance to take now that the Obama administration has begun to challenge Chinese trade policies more aggressively.

Just three days ago, President Hu Jintao gave a conciliatory speech to observe China’s W.T.O. anniversary. Mr. Hu said that China would further open up its international trade.

But last week, the Commerce Ministry strongly criticized a recent preliminary decision by the United States International Trade Commission, which concluded that imports of Chinese solar panels had hurt American solar panel manufacturers. That decision moves the United States one step closer to imposing antidumping and antisubsidy duties on Chinese solar panels early next year.