CHINESE NEWS SITE SLAPS DOWN uSA MISSILE DEFENCE PLANS IN ASIA

China in no mood for usa war moves against it
Sukant Chandan,
Friends of China

A great and even militant anti-imperialist piece from the official Chinese news site Global Times on the renewed usa plans to encircle China under the pretence of a 'missile defence shield' against north Korea and Iran.

This article pulls few punches. It states clearly that China should assertively oppose these new aggressive plas, and that there will be grim consequences for those the usa and the nations supporting the missile plans.

The piece criticises "the pessimistic view" from those who state that China can do little against usa plans. While it makes clear that China does not want this escalation "but it will have to deal with it if the arms race happens." The kind of self-defensive fighting talk that inspired Malcolm X and the Black Panthers to see socialist China as a vanguard struggle against white supremacy and empire.

One can feel a moment of breathing space for the Global South after the veto at the UNSC by China and Russia on Syria. From the time of the no fly zone resolution against Libya at the UNSC a year ago the Global South has been subject to a massive offensive for recolonisation of the Global South, with provocations across the continents. With China and especially Russia making it clear to the empire that they will not allow Syria to fall, the western war machine has been forced to slow down for a short while.

Russia and China have allowed the Global South, including themselves, a bit of space to develop as fast as they can their defence capabilities against empire's provocations for the defence of themselves and each other. It should always be  remembered that until empire is a museum piece, there is only one language that empire truly understands, and that is force and strategies for defensive liberation war which will defeat it.

It is pieces like this from Global Times that helps to give leadership to oppose the empire's war plans for a major part of the planet. It is this type of open anti-imperialist defence approach which will raise peoples and nations militancy to a more effective strategy of defending them/ourselves. Russia has done relatively well to counter the usa's missile defence plans in europe against it, but all observers no well that it was the 2008 conflict with Georgia that was the most real and meaningful message to nato and the usa that Russia will not be treated like a fool. China is most likely getting lessons from our Russian friends on this score.

Like Russia, China is being forced into this situation also by the usa, and all those who believe in peace for our peoples will stand with China unconditionally in this confrontation.



US missile shield fosters Asian arms race 

Global Times

The US has announced that it is seeking to build a missile defense system in Asia and the Middle East, following a similar step in Europe.

This will no doubt create disturbance and tension in the region, as it has in Europe. Japan, South Korea and Australia, which are invited to join the system, must seriously ponder the consequences.

North Korea and Iran are named by Washington as the targets of the missile defense system, though it is clear the real targets are China and Russia. China should firmly oppose it.

This is not a fresh idea for the White House. The concept was raised during the Clinton administration. The impact it brings today is much worse than back then.

China needs to assess what long-term damage this system will impose on China's strategic security. The system will be deployed on the soil of Japan, South Korea and Australia. It is widely agreed that China has little chance to stop it. The pessimistic view holds that China can do nothing about it.

But China can balance out the system's impact. North Korea's plan to launch a satellite next month has been used by Washington to install a missile defense system. It is a wise move. China can copy it and upgrade its nuclear weapon capability due to the possible threats posed by the US system. Specifically, China can improve its nuclear weapons in both quantity and quality as well as develop offensive nuclear-powered submarines. China's ballistic missiles should be able to break the interception capability of the US system.

Among the nuclear powers, China has the smallest number of nuclear weapons. It is also the only country to make a 'no first use' commitment. Installing a missile defense system in Asia disrespects China's nuclear policy.

The US is seeking to shift the regional balance. A strong response from China should be expected. An overarching missile defense system would force China to change its long-held nuclear policy.

If Japan, South Korea and Australia join the system, a vicious arms race in Asia may follow.

It is not what China wants to see, but it will have to deal with it if the arms race happens.

The US is creating waves in Asia. The region may see more conflicts intensify in the future. China should make utmost efforts to prevent it, but prepare for the worst.

PRC LABOUR LAW PROTECTS WORKERS

Rising costs forcing some South Korean
factory owners to flee China

By Langi Chiang
Reuters/IHT

Sunday, March 23, 2008

QINGDAO, China: Scores of South Korean-owned factories are closing surreptitiously in eastern China as their owners flee rising costs, leaving behind embittered workers like Li Hua.

Li and more than 200 colleagues have been fighting for a year to get the six weeks' wages they were owed when the owner of the toy factory where they worked fled during the 2007 Lunar New Year holidays.

"I went to work on the first day after Spring Festival, only to be told that the Korean boss had run away and the factory had been closed," Li, a 30-year-old mother of a little boy, recalled.

Her case is not a rarity in Qingdao, a major seaport and industrial city in eastern China that sits across the Yellow Sea from South Korea. A two-hour flight from Seoul and home to about 100,000 South Koreans, the city is a hub for South Korean factories benefiting from cheap labor.

But lately, a growing number of South Korean factories have abruptly closed down and the South Korean owners have disappeared as a slew of policies, including rising labor costs and an end to tax breaks, bite into their profit margins.

Many of the factories produce toys, garments and ornaments for export to the United States, Europe and back home to South Korea.

Qingdao mirrors, on a smaller scale, what is happening in the Pearl River Delta near Hong Kong. There, thousands of factories, mostly run by Taiwan and Hong Kong companies, are moving inland or abroad or are simply closing as rising costs undermine the assumption that China is the world's cheapest manufacturing location.

In Qingdao, Sung Jeung Han, manager of the Korean Society and Enterprise Association said 20 percent to 30 percent of the 6,000 South Korean firms in that eastern port city were losing money.

"The wage rise, yuan appreciation and higher input prices are the main reasons," he said by telephone.

The minimum wage in Qingdao has risen 43 percent in the past three years to 760 yuan, or $107, per month.

Other government initiatives to share China's growing wealth more widely and to minimize social tension are also deterring employers who are required to provide more mandated benefits for their workers and are paying higher pollution fees.

Employers are grumbling in particular about a new labor contract law, which went into effect at the beginning of this year, that makes it harder to lay off staff members.

Dang Guoying, a rural economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, said the law did put pressure on companies.

"But eventually it will bring a lot of benefits despite the temporary negative impact," he said.

The Korean news media quoted the Export-Import Bank of Korea as saying that 206 Korean business owners had melted away from Qingdao without going through the proper procedures to shut down a business, like giving workers their back pay, in the eight years up to 2007.

Concerned about its reputation, the South Korean government has sent investigators and held talks with Chinese officials.

"Abandoning a business unlawfully is not good for the development of Sino-Korean relations," Kang Hyung Shik, the South Korean consul in Qingdao, said. "We will work to avoid things like this happening."

The consulate has set up a team to assist South Korean investors to go through liquidation formalities and has asked Beijing to simplify the procedure.

Both Lou and Kang said red tape was one of the reasons for the rising number of stealthy departures.

The Korea Herald quoted Hong Ji In, head of the Commerce Ministry's trade cooperation bureau, as saying that South Korea would penalize firms that leave China against the rules and allow Chinese workers to take their former employers to court in Korea.

For its part, Beijing sent Commerce Ministry officials to Qingdao last month to ask exporters about the impact of higher wage and input costs, the rising yuan and tax rebate cuts.

"There's a small number of firms leaving for various reasons," Commerce Minister Chen Deming said in Beijing on March 10. "We're negotiating with the South Korean government to ensure that companies that are in great difficulties pull out legally."

Most of the Korean companies are still seeking ways to stay in Qingdao by either revamping their product lines or raising their prices, Sung said.

The world may be moving on, but for Li, the ex-toy factory worker, the most important thing is to get her unpaid wages. "It's better to get a penny than nothing," Li said.