December 2009 Last Updated: 8 December
World Headlines
Chinese college students flocking to U.S. campuses
By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAYLINCOLN, Neb. — Bojaio Sun knew next to nothing about football – or the state of Nebraska, for that matter – until he started looking for U.S. colleges and universities on the Internet. Now, as one of a growing number of Chinese students at the state's flagship university here, he catches every game he can."I am very proud to be a 'Husker," he says.
President Obama announced plans last month to "dramatically expand" to 100,000 the number of U.S. students who study in China over the next four years, calling such exchanges "a clear commitment to build ties among our people in the steady pursuit of cooperation that will serve our nations, and the world." But Sun, who grew up in China's Jiangxi province, is part of a surge already taking place in the other direction. Last year alone, 98,510 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students poured into U.S. colleges and universities, lured by China's emphasis on academic achievement and the prestige of U.S. higher education.
China is second only to India when graduate students and undergrads are counted. But undergraduates such as Sun are the newer phenomenon. Nationally, an 11% growth in undergrad enrollments last year was driven largely by a 60% increase from China, a report by the Institute of International Education says. Grad student enrollments were up 2%.
U.S. colleges and universities have long welcomed students from China, where the higher education system can't meet the demand. Two years ago, a record 10 million students throughout China took the national college entrance test, competing for 5.7 million university slots. Because foreign undergraduates typically aren't eligible for U.S. federal aid, colleges here can provide limited financial help. Now, thanks to China's booming economy in recent years, more Chinese families can afford to pay.
The increase also reflects a "strong dialogue" between the two countries, says U.S. State Department deputy assistant secretary Alina Romanowski. She says the recent growth can't be pinned to specific changes in visa policy, but some U.S. college officials say they detect a friendlier attitude among U.S. embassies and consulates, which review visa applications. One key question for any country is whether visa-seeking students can prove they will return to their home country upon graduating from a U.S. college.
"Because the Chinese economy has improved, students feel there are opportunities there waiting for them," says Gretchen Olson, director of international programs at Drake University in Des Moines, where there are 28 undergraduates from China this fall, up from one in 2003.
Getting noticed on campus
For Sun, 22, whose father is a professor and whose mother is part owner of a beauty salon, the decision to enroll here came after disappointments at home.
When his scores on China's national college entrance exam – the gaokao– fell short of what he needed to pursue a communications degree, Sun enrolled in a computer science program rather than wait a year to retake the exam. After two years at Jiangxi Normal University, he decided that major wasn't for him. So, he reasoned, "since I cannot learn what I want to learn, why don't I go to a better university?"
Sun, now a business major, found Nebraska on his own. But like many U.S. colleges, it is reaching out, too.
Cognizant of a Chinese infatuation with rankings, the university's recruitment brochure boasts a Reader's Digestmention last year identifying it as one of "just 45" colleges to earn an "A" for campus safety, and a mention inU.S. News & World Report in January showing it as the most popular public university in the nation, based on its 71% yield rate – the percentage of admitted applicants who enroll.
In just four years, its Chinese undergraduate population has zoomed from 19 to 171, making Chinese the largest foreign student group on campus this fall for the first time.
They comprise less than 1% of Nebraska's nearly 19,000 undergraduates, but Chinese students do get noticed. Zach Howe, 19, a Nebraskan by birth and one of Sun's roommates, recalls wondering "why there were so many" Chinese on campus and says some classmates found it odd that Chinese women use umbrellas even when it's not raining.
But he says most students have "accepted that they're here for the same reason we are." And, he says, "realistically, we're going to be working with China. The best way to promote that is to learn alongside of them."
That's the main reason college officials give for seeking international students. But such efforts are not universally embraced. When assistant admissions director Carmen Varejcka-McGee tells parents in rural areas that part of her job involves international recruitment, she says she sometimes hears: "Oh, so you're the one who brings those students here? Why do they have to come here?"
She tells them it's "the next best thing" for their children, after studying abroad.
The economic effect
There are also economic benefits to hosting foreign students in the USA.
They contributed nearly $18 billion last year in tuition and living expenses to the U.S. economy, including about $89 million in Nebraska, according to a November report from the Institute of International Education. Though it's costly for colleges to recruit abroad, that population "has the potential to be a significant source of revenue," says University of Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman.
Nearly half (47%) of Chinese undergraduates, and 29% of all foreign undergraduates, receive some discounts on their tuition based on their academic record. But most international students, including Sun, pay the entire non-resident rate for tuition and fees – about $18,000 this year.
That's money the school otherwise might not have seen, because Nebraska's high-school-age population is declining.
A legislative task force in 2003 encouraged its public institutions to "more actively recruit non-Nebraska high school graduates" – but with a caveat: They can't "diminish the state's priority of providing appropriate need-based aid to Nebraska's high school graduates."
Nebraska, which admits any resident or non-resident who meets basic academic requirements, is largely spared the criticism sometimes aimed at more selective institutions.
Among concerns voiced by USA TODAY readers in response to a story last year on the topic was whether American students were being denied entrance to more elite universities because slots were being set aside for students overseas. But Paul Thiboutot, admissions dean at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., which admits about 27% of applicants, says that argument misunderstands one of U.S. higher education's greatest strengths.
Carleton does not set aside slots, he says, though it does spend $2 million of its $28 million financial aid budget on foreign students. And although some American students may be displaced by those students, Thiboutot says it's true "only if you're looking at a single institution. It isn't true when you look across the entire system of higher ed and all the options. There's no one being denied a good college education."
Moreover, it works both ways, he says. Carleton, which enrolled 18 Chinese freshmen this year, admitted no more than 10% of the 300 Chinese who applied.
If some U.S. parents are frustrated by selective admissions policies, so are Chinese parents, who are most familiar with a system in which the gaokao determines their child's future.
"The Chinese cannot believe that test scores alone will not get them into America's top colleges," says Joyce Slayton Mitchell, author of a forthcoming guide for Chinese students to colleges in the USA.
Problems persist
U.S. colleges also face challenges abroad.
Worries about fraud on test scores and transcripts make occasional headlines. And even Chinese students who test high on an English-language proficiency test may not be able to speak or write well enough to stay up to speed in a U.S. classroom, where essay writing and discussions are common, says Mitchell, an admissions counselor who writes a college advice column for the China Daily and Shenzhen Daily.
To address that concern, Nebraska's writing center began offering a one-credit course for Chinese students this fall. The school also is building on longstanding faculty relationships in China to create undergraduate partnerships that have brought 30 Chinese undergraduates to campus and drawn 150 more into the pipeline during the past two years.
Adjustments to be made
Students spend the first two years at their home institutions, where Nebraska faculty lead English classes. Then the students transfer to Nebraska and complete their bachelor's degrees. The relationship enables Nebraska faculty not only to prepare students for their campus but also to evaluate the quality of the students' coursework in China.
Once in Nebraska, "they still have problems (with) speaking and listening," says David Lou, director of the university's Office of China Initiatives.
Tong Chang, 22, an electrical engineering major from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and the first student to participate in the partnership, says he sometimes consults Chinese-language textbooks to help him get through demanding material. Sun, after a "miserable" first semester at Nebraska, decided to take fewer credits this fall.
"I just didn't expect it would be so hard," he says.
There are other adjustments, too. If Husker football was a pleasant surprise for Sun, he says, he also finds it odd that 18-year-olds in Nebraska "can buy a gun but you can't buy alcohol."
And Chang says he knows Chinese students get funny looks when they warm milk in the microwave. "It's not something they say. It's just something you can tell," he says. But he expects that to change in time.
"As long as more (Chinese) students are coming, they'll see us more often and someday they may think, 'Oh, this may not be as weird as I used to think.' "
President Obama announced plans last month to "dramatically expand" to 100,000 the number of U.S. students who study in China over the next four years, calling such exchanges "a clear commitment to build ties among our people in the steady pursuit of cooperation that will serve our nations, and the world." But Sun, who grew up in China's Jiangxi province, is part of a surge already taking place in the other direction. Last year alone, 98,510 Chinese graduate and undergraduate students poured into U.S. colleges and universities, lured by China's emphasis on academic achievement and the prestige of U.S. higher education.
China is second only to India when graduate students and undergrads are counted. But undergraduates such as Sun are the newer phenomenon. Nationally, an 11% growth in undergrad enrollments last year was driven largely by a 60% increase from China, a report by the Institute of International Education says. Grad student enrollments were up 2%.
U.S. colleges and universities have long welcomed students from China, where the higher education system can't meet the demand. Two years ago, a record 10 million students throughout China took the national college entrance test, competing for 5.7 million university slots. Because foreign undergraduates typically aren't eligible for U.S. federal aid, colleges here can provide limited financial help. Now, thanks to China's booming economy in recent years, more Chinese families can afford to pay.
The increase also reflects a "strong dialogue" between the two countries, says U.S. State Department deputy assistant secretary Alina Romanowski. She says the recent growth can't be pinned to specific changes in visa policy, but some U.S. college officials say they detect a friendlier attitude among U.S. embassies and consulates, which review visa applications. One key question for any country is whether visa-seeking students can prove they will return to their home country upon graduating from a U.S. college.
"Because the Chinese economy has improved, students feel there are opportunities there waiting for them," says Gretchen Olson, director of international programs at Drake University in Des Moines, where there are 28 undergraduates from China this fall, up from one in 2003.
Getting noticed on campus
For Sun, 22, whose father is a professor and whose mother is part owner of a beauty salon, the decision to enroll here came after disappointments at home.
When his scores on China's national college entrance exam – the gaokao– fell short of what he needed to pursue a communications degree, Sun enrolled in a computer science program rather than wait a year to retake the exam. After two years at Jiangxi Normal University, he decided that major wasn't for him. So, he reasoned, "since I cannot learn what I want to learn, why don't I go to a better university?"
Sun, now a business major, found Nebraska on his own. But like many U.S. colleges, it is reaching out, too.
Cognizant of a Chinese infatuation with rankings, the university's recruitment brochure boasts a Reader's Digestmention last year identifying it as one of "just 45" colleges to earn an "A" for campus safety, and a mention inU.S. News & World Report in January showing it as the most popular public university in the nation, based on its 71% yield rate – the percentage of admitted applicants who enroll.
In just four years, its Chinese undergraduate population has zoomed from 19 to 171, making Chinese the largest foreign student group on campus this fall for the first time.
They comprise less than 1% of Nebraska's nearly 19,000 undergraduates, but Chinese students do get noticed. Zach Howe, 19, a Nebraskan by birth and one of Sun's roommates, recalls wondering "why there were so many" Chinese on campus and says some classmates found it odd that Chinese women use umbrellas even when it's not raining.
But he says most students have "accepted that they're here for the same reason we are." And, he says, "realistically, we're going to be working with China. The best way to promote that is to learn alongside of them."
That's the main reason college officials give for seeking international students. But such efforts are not universally embraced. When assistant admissions director Carmen Varejcka-McGee tells parents in rural areas that part of her job involves international recruitment, she says she sometimes hears: "Oh, so you're the one who brings those students here? Why do they have to come here?"
She tells them it's "the next best thing" for their children, after studying abroad.
The economic effect
There are also economic benefits to hosting foreign students in the USA.
They contributed nearly $18 billion last year in tuition and living expenses to the U.S. economy, including about $89 million in Nebraska, according to a November report from the Institute of International Education. Though it's costly for colleges to recruit abroad, that population "has the potential to be a significant source of revenue," says University of Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman.
Nearly half (47%) of Chinese undergraduates, and 29% of all foreign undergraduates, receive some discounts on their tuition based on their academic record. But most international students, including Sun, pay the entire non-resident rate for tuition and fees – about $18,000 this year.
That's money the school otherwise might not have seen, because Nebraska's high-school-age population is declining.
A legislative task force in 2003 encouraged its public institutions to "more actively recruit non-Nebraska high school graduates" – but with a caveat: They can't "diminish the state's priority of providing appropriate need-based aid to Nebraska's high school graduates."
Nebraska, which admits any resident or non-resident who meets basic academic requirements, is largely spared the criticism sometimes aimed at more selective institutions.
Among concerns voiced by USA TODAY readers in response to a story last year on the topic was whether American students were being denied entrance to more elite universities because slots were being set aside for students overseas. But Paul Thiboutot, admissions dean at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., which admits about 27% of applicants, says that argument misunderstands one of U.S. higher education's greatest strengths.
Carleton does not set aside slots, he says, though it does spend $2 million of its $28 million financial aid budget on foreign students. And although some American students may be displaced by those students, Thiboutot says it's true "only if you're looking at a single institution. It isn't true when you look across the entire system of higher ed and all the options. There's no one being denied a good college education."
Moreover, it works both ways, he says. Carleton, which enrolled 18 Chinese freshmen this year, admitted no more than 10% of the 300 Chinese who applied.
If some U.S. parents are frustrated by selective admissions policies, so are Chinese parents, who are most familiar with a system in which the gaokao determines their child's future.
"The Chinese cannot believe that test scores alone will not get them into America's top colleges," says Joyce Slayton Mitchell, author of a forthcoming guide for Chinese students to colleges in the USA.
Problems persist
U.S. colleges also face challenges abroad.
Worries about fraud on test scores and transcripts make occasional headlines. And even Chinese students who test high on an English-language proficiency test may not be able to speak or write well enough to stay up to speed in a U.S. classroom, where essay writing and discussions are common, says Mitchell, an admissions counselor who writes a college advice column for the China Daily and Shenzhen Daily.
To address that concern, Nebraska's writing center began offering a one-credit course for Chinese students this fall. The school also is building on longstanding faculty relationships in China to create undergraduate partnerships that have brought 30 Chinese undergraduates to campus and drawn 150 more into the pipeline during the past two years.
Adjustments to be made
Students spend the first two years at their home institutions, where Nebraska faculty lead English classes. Then the students transfer to Nebraska and complete their bachelor's degrees. The relationship enables Nebraska faculty not only to prepare students for their campus but also to evaluate the quality of the students' coursework in China.
Once in Nebraska, "they still have problems (with) speaking and listening," says David Lou, director of the university's Office of China Initiatives.
Tong Chang, 22, an electrical engineering major from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and the first student to participate in the partnership, says he sometimes consults Chinese-language textbooks to help him get through demanding material. Sun, after a "miserable" first semester at Nebraska, decided to take fewer credits this fall.
"I just didn't expect it would be so hard," he says.
There are other adjustments, too. If Husker football was a pleasant surprise for Sun, he says, he also finds it odd that 18-year-olds in Nebraska "can buy a gun but you can't buy alcohol."
And Chang says he knows Chinese students get funny looks when they warm milk in the microwave. "It's not something they say. It's just something you can tell," he says. But he expects that to change in time.
"As long as more (Chinese) students are coming, they'll see us more often and someday they may think, 'Oh, this may not be as weird as I used to think.' "
U.S. President Obama arrives in China for state visit
2009-11-15 23:36:32 Xinhua
SHANGHAI, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in China's economic hub Shanghai on Sunday night, starting a state visit to China.
Air Force One touched down at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport in heavy rain at about 23:10.
This is Obama's first state visit to China since he assumed the presidency in January. He is also the first U.S. president who paid a state visit to China within one year in office.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the People's Republic of China and the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice and National Security Advisor James Jones also arrived in Shanghai Sunday night.
Air Force One touched down at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport in heavy rain at about 23:10.
This is Obama's first state visit to China since he assumed the presidency in January. He is also the first U.S. president who paid a state visit to China within one year in office.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the People's Republic of China and the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Susan Rice and National Security Advisor James Jones also arrived in Shanghai Sunday night.
President Obama will meet with local officials on Monday and have a dialogue with Chinese youth, during which he is supposed to answer questions from netizens via Xinhuanet, a news website of the Xinhua News Agency on Monday.
He will leave Shanghai Monday afternoon for Beijing, where he will hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and meet with other Chinese leaders.
Leaders of the two countries are expected to discuss bilateral ties and major international and regional issues of common concern, according to diplomatic sources.
He will leave Shanghai Monday afternoon for Beijing, where he will hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and meet with other Chinese leaders.
Leaders of the two countries are expected to discuss bilateral ties and major international and regional issues of common concern, according to diplomatic sources.
Presidents of the two countries have met several times since Obama took office.
They agreed to forge positive, cooperative and comprehensive ties in the 21st century during their first meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 financial summit in London in April and pledged to further such relations in another meeting five months later in New York.
Obama's visit to China will be of great significance for the development of Sino-U.S. ties in the new era, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday.
They agreed to forge positive, cooperative and comprehensive ties in the 21st century during their first meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 financial summit in London in April and pledged to further such relations in another meeting five months later in New York.
Obama's visit to China will be of great significance for the development of Sino-U.S. ties in the new era, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday.
Chinese netizens welcome Obama's visit with thousands of questions
2009-11-13
23:04:27
2009-11-13
23:04:27
BEIJING, Nov.13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese netizens have prepared thousands of questions for US President Barack Obama during his Nov. 15-18 visit to China, covering a wide range of topics from Sino-U.S. relations to U.S. first lady Michelle Obama.
A special forum of collecting questions from Chinese netizens to ask Obama was opened Friday morning by Xinhuanet, the online news service of Xinhua News Agency.
Obama is scheduled to have an exchange activity with Chinese youth on Nov. 16 in Shanghai, during which he will pick up some of the netizens' questions to answer, according to Xinhuanet authorities.
"Why does U.S. always ask for appreciation of the Renminbi?" one netizen asked.
Chinese netizens showed their concerns over Sino-U.S. relations by asking hundreds of relative and serious questions, such as "how Obama thinks of Sino-US cooperation in combating global financial crisis; why U.S. keeps imposing high import duties on some products from China; will you sell weapons to Taiwan?"
Chinese netizens seemed quite interested in Obama's personal and family life, raising questions such as how Obama keeps fit and whether Obama allows his children to play games.
"Do you have a Facebook account? May I add you as a friend?" a netizen asked.
Mrs Obama was also targeted. One netizen called "Women love perfection" said, "The first lady has so many beautiful clothes, including those she wore during the president's inauguration ceremony and visits to foreign countries. Are they paid by the U.S. government or by yourself?"
Whether Obama likes the well-known Chinese dish Kung Pao Chicken and whether he can use chopsticks are also on the question list.
"How much wine can you drink for once? Will you play the Truth or Dare game after drinking?" another netizen asked.
More than 2,000 questions have been raised by Chinese netizens in the first 13 opening hours of the forum. It would be closed on Saturday noon.
A special forum of collecting questions from Chinese netizens to ask Obama was opened Friday morning by Xinhuanet, the online news service of Xinhua News Agency.
Obama is scheduled to have an exchange activity with Chinese youth on Nov. 16 in Shanghai, during which he will pick up some of the netizens' questions to answer, according to Xinhuanet authorities.
"Why does U.S. always ask for appreciation of the Renminbi?" one netizen asked.
Chinese netizens showed their concerns over Sino-U.S. relations by asking hundreds of relative and serious questions, such as "how Obama thinks of Sino-US cooperation in combating global financial crisis; why U.S. keeps imposing high import duties on some products from China; will you sell weapons to Taiwan?"
Chinese netizens seemed quite interested in Obama's personal and family life, raising questions such as how Obama keeps fit and whether Obama allows his children to play games.
"Do you have a Facebook account? May I add you as a friend?" a netizen asked.
Mrs Obama was also targeted. One netizen called "Women love perfection" said, "The first lady has so many beautiful clothes, including those she wore during the president's inauguration ceremony and visits to foreign countries. Are they paid by the U.S. government or by yourself?"
Whether Obama likes the well-known Chinese dish Kung Pao Chicken and whether he can use chopsticks are also on the question list.
"How much wine can you drink for once? Will you play the Truth or Dare game after drinking?" another netizen asked.
More than 2,000 questions have been raised by Chinese netizens in the first 13 opening hours of the forum. It would be closed on Saturday noon.
China pledges $10bn concessional loans to Africa.
Premier Wen Jiabao promises increased investment while rejecting 'neocolonialism' accusations
Premier Wen Jiabao promises increased investment while rejecting 'neocolonialism' accusations
- Associated Press
- Sunday 8 November 2009 22.54 GMT
China's premier pledged $10bn (£6bn) in low-interest loans to African nations over three years, offering the continent sorely-needed cash while dismissing criticism that Beijing's motives in Africa are far from altruistic.
Wen Jiabao's promise at the start of a China-Africa summit was warmly received by African leaders and officials, most of whose nations have been hit badly by the global financial crisis.
"The Chinese people cherish sincere friendship toward the African people, and China's support to Africa's development is concrete and real," Wen said at a forum that attracted leaders such as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir – who has an international arrest warrant issued against him – and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. Wen said China wants to help Africa build its financing capacity and would provide the concessional loans with generous terms. China would also forgive government debt of the poorest African nations, would build 100 new clean energy projects for the continent and institute a zero-tariff policy on 95% of goods from some of the poorest countries, all over the next three years.
The offer is double the $5bn loan pledge China made in 2006 to African nations, a promise that most at the summit said China has upheld. Over the past eight years, trade between the two regions has surged tenfold to almost $107bn in 2008, and Wen said despite the financial crisis Chinese investments in Africa was up 77% in the first three quarters of 2009.
But some in the west have accused China of ignoring Africa's needs and the dismal rights records of some nations while looking to sap the continent of the resources it needs to fuel its bustling economy. China has been a key force in developing Sudan's oil sector even as Khartoum was accused of atrocities in the Darfur region. More recently, a $7bn mining deal was signed between a little-known Chinese company and Guinea's government – an agreement that came weeks after soldiers there opened fire on demonstrators and allegedly raped women in the streets.
The Chinese premier said he took issue with claims that "China has come to Africa to plunder its resources and practice neocolonialism. This allegation, in my view, is totally untenable," Wen told reporters.
"Any person who is familiar with China-Africa interaction knows that relations between the two sides did not begin yesterday."China has been active in Africa for decades, working on infrastructure projects and supporting African nations in their fight against colonial powers in the early 1950s and 60s. He said that at that time, China did not take a "single drop of oil or a single ton of minerals."
Wen said China's imports of African mineral resources and energy account for only 13 percent of the continent's total exports and its investments in Africa's oil and gas sector were only one-sixteenth of the total investments in the continent.
"So, why do some people only criticize China?" Wen asked.
Earlier, the Chinese premier invited others in the international community to step up and do their part to support Africa. The comments appeared to be a subtle nudge at Western nations with a checkered colonial past on the continent.
Zimbabwe's Mugabe – blamed by many in the West for driving his country's economy into the ground – praised China's growth as a model.
"Over the past 60 years, China has achieved phenomenal economic growth and development, purely from its own efforts without having to resort to the colonization and economic plunder of other nations," Mugabe said. "Its economic miracle is indeed a source of pride and inspiration to all of us."
Other leaders, like Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, expressed frustration with fallout from the global economic crisis that she said has "eroded benefits accumulated over years of reform."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the summit's host, said participants should seize the opportunity to press developed nations, "given their responsibility in the financial and economic crisis," to live up to their obligations in helping developing nations cope with the fallout.
Wen Jiabao's promise at the start of a China-Africa summit was warmly received by African leaders and officials, most of whose nations have been hit badly by the global financial crisis.
"The Chinese people cherish sincere friendship toward the African people, and China's support to Africa's development is concrete and real," Wen said at a forum that attracted leaders such as Sudan's Omar al-Bashir – who has an international arrest warrant issued against him – and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. Wen said China wants to help Africa build its financing capacity and would provide the concessional loans with generous terms. China would also forgive government debt of the poorest African nations, would build 100 new clean energy projects for the continent and institute a zero-tariff policy on 95% of goods from some of the poorest countries, all over the next three years.
The offer is double the $5bn loan pledge China made in 2006 to African nations, a promise that most at the summit said China has upheld. Over the past eight years, trade between the two regions has surged tenfold to almost $107bn in 2008, and Wen said despite the financial crisis Chinese investments in Africa was up 77% in the first three quarters of 2009.
But some in the west have accused China of ignoring Africa's needs and the dismal rights records of some nations while looking to sap the continent of the resources it needs to fuel its bustling economy. China has been a key force in developing Sudan's oil sector even as Khartoum was accused of atrocities in the Darfur region. More recently, a $7bn mining deal was signed between a little-known Chinese company and Guinea's government – an agreement that came weeks after soldiers there opened fire on demonstrators and allegedly raped women in the streets.
The Chinese premier said he took issue with claims that "China has come to Africa to plunder its resources and practice neocolonialism. This allegation, in my view, is totally untenable," Wen told reporters.
"Any person who is familiar with China-Africa interaction knows that relations between the two sides did not begin yesterday."China has been active in Africa for decades, working on infrastructure projects and supporting African nations in their fight against colonial powers in the early 1950s and 60s. He said that at that time, China did not take a "single drop of oil or a single ton of minerals."
Wen said China's imports of African mineral resources and energy account for only 13 percent of the continent's total exports and its investments in Africa's oil and gas sector were only one-sixteenth of the total investments in the continent.
"So, why do some people only criticize China?" Wen asked.
Earlier, the Chinese premier invited others in the international community to step up and do their part to support Africa. The comments appeared to be a subtle nudge at Western nations with a checkered colonial past on the continent.
Zimbabwe's Mugabe – blamed by many in the West for driving his country's economy into the ground – praised China's growth as a model.
"Over the past 60 years, China has achieved phenomenal economic growth and development, purely from its own efforts without having to resort to the colonization and economic plunder of other nations," Mugabe said. "Its economic miracle is indeed a source of pride and inspiration to all of us."
Other leaders, like Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, expressed frustration with fallout from the global economic crisis that she said has "eroded benefits accumulated over years of reform."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the summit's host, said participants should seize the opportunity to press developed nations, "given their responsibility in the financial and economic crisis," to live up to their obligations in helping developing nations cope with the fallout.
- guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
Algae may be secret weapon in climate change war
By Ruth Morris – Thu Oct 22, 2:56 am ETMIAMI (AFP) – Driven by fluctuations in oil prices, and seduced by the prospect of easing climate change, experts are ramping up efforts to squeeze fuel out of a promising new organism: pond scum.AFP/File – Children are seen playing on a beach covered with algae in Qingdao, China. It has turned out that algae …
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As it turns out, algae -- slimy, fast-growing and full of fat -- is gaining ground as a potential renewable energy source.
Experts say it is intriguing for its ability to gobble up carbon dioxide, agreenhouse gas, while living happily in places that aren't needed for food crops.
Algae likes mosquito-infested swamps, for example, filthy pools, and even waste water. And while no one has found a way to mass produce cheap fuel from algae yet, the race is on.
University labs and start-up companies across the country are getting involved. Over the summer, the first mega-corporation joined in, whenExxonMobil said it would sink 600 million dollars into algae research in a partnership with a California biotechnology company.
If the research pans out, scientists say they will eventually find a cost-effective way to convert lipids from algae ponds into fuel, then pump it into cars, trucks and jets.
"I think it's very realistic. I don't think it's going to take 20 years. It's going to take a few years," said chemical engineer George Philippidis, director of applied research at Florida International University in Miami.
One of the factors fueling enthusiasm is algae's big appetite for carbon dioxide -- a by-product of burning fossil fuels.
"We could hook up to the exhaust of polluting industries," Philippidis said. "We could capture it and feed it to algae and prevent that CO2 from contributing to further climate change."
California company Sapphire Energy has already fueled a cross-country road trip with algae-tinged gasoline.
The trip, meant to raise awareness, prompted the headline, "Coast to Coast on Slime". Another California company is looking at fattening fish on algae and then processing the fish for oil.
"Where algae is very nice is, it's prolific. It's everywhere... and you don't have to do much. Mother Nature has kind of figured it out," said Roy Swiger, a molecular geneticist and director of the Florida division of the non-profit Midwest Research Institute.
MRI began studying algae as an energy source three years ago. Swiger warned that algal fuels are not ready for prime time yet. Even though algae grows like gangbusters, it currently costs up to 100 dollars to make a gallon of algal fuel-- hardly a savings.
The rub is bringing cost down, and production up. To do this, scientists must find cheap ways to dry algae and extract the lipids, where energy is stored.
Swiger noted that it would not make sense to spend five dollars of electricity to run a centrifuge to dry out algae, that in turn would only produce one dollar of fuel.
If research goes well, Swiger thinks it will take five years to bring down production costs to 40 dollars per gallon.
But taking even a tiny chunk out of the energy market -- ethanol has eked out a 4.0 percent share, for example -- can shift the energy mix.
"Four percent is not a lot, and yet everywhere you look there's a pump," Swiger said. "So four percent of a gigantic number is a lot."
Some start-ups are more optimistic. Paul Woods, chief executive of Florida-based Algenol Biofuels, says his company will beat others to market.
He has patented a technology for "sweating" ethanol from algae, without drying it first.
"We see ourselves as a very cheap way to supplement (energy supply)," said Woods, "and the more cheap ethanol we have, the more we're winning in efforts to have independence from foreign fuel."
Woods announced a partnership with Dow Chemical in July to build a demonstration plant, and expects to launch commercial production by 2011.
Experts don't see algal fuel replacing fossil fuels completely, and some have become leery of hype.
The idea of harnessing algae for fuel has been around for decades, they say. Still, no one has been able to make it financially feasible.
"Any fantastic claims will eventually discredit the field if given much credence," said algae expert John Benemann.
Instead, he sees algae as a good source for animal feeds, chemicals and fertilizer.
Back at FIU, Philippidis agreed "there is no silver bullet" to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.
But he saw promise on the horizon, especially as larger companies become involved in algae research. "We are still at an early stage... but as we scale up (production) I think costs will come down very, very quickly," he said.
And if that works, he added, "there is a small Greek island I would like to buy."
China Vows to Rescue 25 Crew Aboard Hijacked Merchant Ship
(CNN) -- China plans to make "every effort to rescue" a merchant ship and crew hijacked in the Indian Ocean, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, speaking to reporters, said the government was monitoring developments and has developed an emergency response procedure, the news agency Xinhua reported. Monday's hijacking is the first of a Chinese ship this year, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau.
Ma said the ministry warned ships and citizens to avoid traveling along waters where the incident occurred, an area not far from the Somalia coast where pirates have seized many vessels."We will watch closely developments in the incident and make every effort to rescue the hijacked crew and carrier," Ma said. There are 25 crew members aboard and they are all Chinese nationals. A European Union official Monday incorrectly said the total of crew members was 146.
The bulk carrier De Xin Hai was hijacked Monday about 550 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles off Somalia's eastern coast. The European Union Naval Force said Tuesday the ship was 650 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia and appears to be headed toward there. John Harbour, a commander with the British Royal Navy who serves with the EU Naval Force, said the UK Maritime Trade Organization in Bahrain called the ship but received no response. An EU force aircraft is monitoring the ship and reported seeing four pirates on deck.
The De Xin Hai is owned by the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company and was carrying coal from India to South Africa when it was seized.The ship had been dragging two skiffs behind it, much like the kind of skiffs that pirates have been known to use to hijack ships in the waters off Somalia.
So far in 2009, 14 ships have been hijacked in the ocean off Somalia's coast, and 33 have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, the body of water that lies between Yemen and Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau said. Most of Somalia's coastline is on the Indian Ocean. At present, the bureau knows of four ships that are being held.
Ma said the ministry warned ships and citizens to avoid traveling along waters where the incident occurred, an area not far from the Somalia coast where pirates have seized many vessels."We will watch closely developments in the incident and make every effort to rescue the hijacked crew and carrier," Ma said. There are 25 crew members aboard and they are all Chinese nationals. A European Union official Monday incorrectly said the total of crew members was 146.
The bulk carrier De Xin Hai was hijacked Monday about 550 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles off Somalia's eastern coast. The European Union Naval Force said Tuesday the ship was 650 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia and appears to be headed toward there. John Harbour, a commander with the British Royal Navy who serves with the EU Naval Force, said the UK Maritime Trade Organization in Bahrain called the ship but received no response. An EU force aircraft is monitoring the ship and reported seeing four pirates on deck.
The De Xin Hai is owned by the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company and was carrying coal from India to South Africa when it was seized.The ship had been dragging two skiffs behind it, much like the kind of skiffs that pirates have been known to use to hijack ships in the waters off Somalia.
So far in 2009, 14 ships have been hijacked in the ocean off Somalia's coast, and 33 have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, the body of water that lies between Yemen and Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau said. Most of Somalia's coastline is on the Indian Ocean. At present, the bureau knows of four ships that are being held.
Eight Ideas Behind China's Success
By ZHANG WEI-WEI Published: September 30, 2009 -New York Times
BEIJING — Beijing is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic on Thursday, and the fanfare will undoubtedly irk those whose ideological inclinations do not tolerate a “Communist country” being so self-righteous.
Yet it is worthwhile to look at China objectively, to see what has enabled it to change within one generation from a poverty-stricken country to one of the world’s largest economies.
Critics of China like to claim that despite its economic success, the country has no “big ideas” to offer. But to this author, it is precisely big ideas that have shaped China’s dramatic rise. Here are eight such ideas:
1. Seeking truth from facts. This is an ancient Chinese concept, as well as the credo of the late Deng Xiaoping, who believed that facts rather than ideological dogmas — whether from East or West — should serve as the ultimate criterion for identifying truth. Beijing concluded from examining facts that neither the Soviet Communist model nor the Western democracy model really worked for a developing country in terms of achieving modernization, and that democratization usually follows modernization rather than precedes it. Hence Beijing decided in 1978 to explore its own path of development and to adopt a pragmatic, trial-and-error approach for its massive modernization program.
2. Primacy of people’s livelihood. Beijing has embraced this old Chinese governance concept by highlighting poverty eradication as the most fundamental human right. This idea has paved way for China’s enormous success in lifting nearly 400 million individuals out of abject poverty within one generation, an unprecedented success in human history.
China has arguably corrected a historical neglect in the range of human rights advocated by the West, which since the Enlightenment have focused almost exclusively on civil and political rights. This idea may have lasting implications for the world’s poor.
3. The importance of holistic thinking. Influenced by its philosophical tradition, China has pursued a holistic strategy for modernization from the early 1980s to this day. This has enabled Beijing to establish a clear pattern of priorities and sequences at different stages of transformation, with easy reforms usually followed by more determined and difficult reforms — in contrast to the populist, short-term politics so prevalent in much of the world today.
4. Government as a necessary virtue. In China’s long history, prosperous times were all associated with an enlightened, strong state. Contrary to the American view of state as a necessary evil, China’s transformation has been led by an enlightened developmental state. And contrary to Mikhail Gorbachev, who abandoned his old state and then found his empire shattered, Deng Xiaoping reoriented China’s old state from pursuing the Maoist utopia to promoting modernization.
The Chinese state, however flawed, is capable of shaping national consensus on modernization and pursuing hard strategic objectives, such as enforcing banking sector reforms, developing renewable energies and stimulating China’s economy against the global downturn.
5. Good governance matters more than democratization. China rejects the stereotypical dichotomy of democracy vs. autocracy and holds that the nature of a state, including its legitimacy, has to be defined by its substance, i.e. by good governance, and tested by what it can deliver.
Notwithstanding its deficiencies in transparency and legal institutions, the Chinese state has presided over the world’s fastest growing economy, vastly improved living standards for its people. Seventy six percent of Chinese surveyed in 2008 felt optimistic about their future, topping the 17 major countries surveyed by Pew, a Washington-based research center.
6. Performance legitimacy. Inspired by the Confucian tradition of meritocracy, Beijing practices, though not always successfully, performance legitimacy across the whole political stratum. Criteria such as performance in poverty eradication and, increasingly, cleaner environment are key factors in the promotion of officials. China’s leaders are competent, sophisticated and well-tested at different levels of responsibility.
7. Selective learning and adaptation.China represents a secular culture where learning from others is prized. The Chinese have developed a remarkable capacity for selective learning and adaptation to new challenges, as shown by how quickly China has embraced the IT revolution and then excelled in it.
8. Harmony in diversity. Beijing has revived this old Confucian ideal for a large and complex society. Rejecting Western-style adversary politics, Beijing has worked hard to emphasize commonality of different group interests, to defuse social tensions associated with rapid change and to establish as fast as it can a social safety net for all.
China is still faced with serious challenges such as fighting corruption and reducing regional gaps. But China is likely to continue to evolve on the basis of these ideas, rather than by embracing Western liberal democracy, because these ideas have apparently worked and have blended reasonably well with common sense and China’s unique political culture, the product of several millenia — including 20 or so dynasties, seven of which lasted longer than the whole of U.S. history.
While China will continue to learn from the West for its own benefit, it may be time now for the West, to use Deng’s famous phrase, to “emancipate the mind” and learn a bit more about or even from China’s big ideas, however extraneous they may appear, for its own benefit.
This is not only to avoid further ideology-driven misreading of this hugely important nation, a civilization in itself, but also to enrich the world’s collective wisdom in tackling challenges ranging from poverty eradication to climate change and the clash of civilizations.
Zhang Wei-Wei is a professor at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations and visiting professor at Tsinghua and Fudan Universities in China. He was a senior English interpreter for Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese leaders in the mid-1980s.