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ONE Liners

one line headlines and analysis by bey critical

Questioning China on Human Rights June 6, 2016. The Chinese foreign minister found himself in hot water lately, as he launched into a tirade against foreign journalists questioning China's human rights record. Wang Yi announced that it was "prejudiced," "arrogant," "irresponsible" and "totally unacceptable" for Canadian journalists to ask Canada's foreign minister, Stéphane Dion, about China's human rights issues. Not a particularly good show of soft power, China. Not good at all.	America Lifts Vietnam Arms Embargo June 6, 2016. The state visit of Obama to Vietnam, and the subsequent lifting of the American arms embargo on the country, has China-bulls arguing that the U.S. is seeking to militarily surround China, much like it aims to surround Russia in Europe. However, Vietnam has expressed willingness to engage China in military training and cooperation, suggesting that the lifting of the arms embargo is not as apocalyptic as the China-bulls may think...	Trying to Outdo the US? June 3, 2016. Many see the New Silk Road policy as a means for China to avoid engaging with the U.S. as a global middle-man for all things trade and power oriented. As the policy develops, however, it seems that Beijing is more interested in building an alternative economic powerhouse across underdeveloped regions, both for the future of its own market needs as well as for the sake of world order. And many countries are scrambling to jump on the economic bandwagon.	Midea to Buy Up KUKA Robots May 18, 2016. Bey Critical has confirmed rumours that Midea Home Appliances is applying for permits to purchase a controlling stake in German robotics producer KUKA. The move could become one of the largest unsolicited approaches of a foreign company by a Chinese buyer, according to the WSJ who first reported the company's plans yesterday.	Market Economy? EU Thinks Not. May 13, 2016. Legislators from the EU have pushed against China's bid to be recognised as a market economy, worrying that the move will weaken EU company claims against Chinese dumping. A main target is the steel industry, which has been collapsing across Europe. Though, interestingly, despite mounting pressure to save the British steel industry, the UK is fully in support of China bid for market economy status.
Domestic Abuse Hits Headlines May 2, 2016. Domestic abuse and the protection of female victims became the centre-point of Xi Jinping's social policy in 2012 -- even passing the nation's first law targeting domestic violence -- but local governments have yet to effectively enforce any policy preventing or punishing the perpetrators.	FT Talks Automation April 28, 2016. With an entire issue of the Financial Times Magazine focusing on the robotics revolution spreading across Asia, the importance of automation cannot be overstated. With many countries skipping straight from Industry 2.0 to the internet-based "smart" manufacturing of Industry 4.0, the world is tuned in to watch as China leads an astonishing market shift.	Hebei River Runs Red With Rust April 15, 2016. Sediments of iron ions lining the bed of Hebei's Zhongting River resurfaced in headlines across China this week, after dyeing the river a suspicious shade of orange. Hopefully, widespread discussions of the event will help raise the profile of China's water pollution issues, which have suffered from an over-emphasis on air quality control.	Underrepresented & Overlooked April 1, 2016. American Asians are dramatically overlooked in the U.S. Presidential Race rhetoric, particularly American-born Chinese who represent an increasingly important strategic voter base. All the anti-China rhetoric being thrown around might not appeal to the estimated 70% of Chinese Americans over 18 who are foreign-born.	Great Firewall Creator Uses VPN April 7, 2016. To the China-watching community's great amusement, Fang Binxing, the creator of the notorious Great Chinese Firewall, needed to use a VPN to access blocked sites while giving a speech at Harbin University! Ten points for hypocrisy!
Panama Papers Censored, Obviously April 6, 2016. Is anyone really surprised that all news, mentions or even hints towards the Panama Papers are being cracked down upon in China? The Papers have led to the the damning of two major world leaders, and the resignation of another, and they mention the immediate relatives of Xi Jinping. This is a regime that censors a little letter of discontent with Xi Dada, of course it will censor the Panama Papers.	Cult of Xi Article Censored April 2, 2016. The Economist has been blocked in China, and some sources are citing this week's satirical Cult of Xi cover as the reason. The Cult of Xi article was no where near significant or penetrating enough to warrant censorship. More likely, the publications discussions of the Panama Papers led to the censorship of all apps and sites in China. The CCP's would not be threatened by this reasonably unimpressive article.	Economists Must Move With the Times March 15, 2016. European economists still place too much emphasis on outdated and irrelevant measures of economic health, when when far broader analyses exist to describe the relationship between a nation's citizens and it's economy. China's leaders have stepped up, defining advancement in terms of infrastructural improvements and moves towards sustainability. Will the rest of the world catch up?	China to Protect the Nu River? March 15, 2016. On the sidelines of the Two Sessions, Li Jiheng, Party Secretary of Yunnan, said that the province had decided to stop building small mines and damns along the beautiful Nu River in a big to revitalise the river's ecosystem. Hopefully this apparent benevolence continues long enough to save South East Asia's last damn-free river.
Crackdown on Chinese TV March 15, 2016. A round of new censorship rules discussed during the Two Sessions bans everything from smoking to violent death from appearing in China's TV dramas. As Gordon Orr asked earlier this morning, "What's left to watch on Chinese TV?"	Destroying Democracy in Chinese Eyes March 14, 2015. Just when you think Trump cannot possibly go further towards destroying the global reputation of America, the Chinese step in to capitalise on the utter democratic farce that is his presidential campaign. There could be no better tonic to cure Chinese dissidents of their democracy fetish, than watching the greatest nation on earth crumble thanks to the power of a few hundred thousand media-managed morons.	Financial Times Foresees Doom March 10, 2016. The Financial Times released a mini-doc entitled "The End of the Chinese [Migrant] Miracle", foretelling the Great Fall of China. Too many publications act as though the economic slowdown and readjustment that China is facing has never happened to any significant world power ever before. Migrant workers moving home to face similar wages but increased standards of living is hardly a bad thing.,nor is allowing ASEAN nations to now take up the Cheap China mantle as China moves on.	US-Japan Training Covers Chinese TV March 10, 2016. The lunchtime news China-side showed a series of graphic videos of submarines decked out in American and Japanese flags in a stunning display of shameless peacocking. The Chinese continue to be unimpressed by America's lack of subtlety.	China's Schoolboys Can't Compete March 10, 2016. Boys should start school two years later than girls if they hope to compete with their superior classmates in the long run. That is the suggestion of Zhu Xiaojin, Vice President of Nanjing Normal University at the Two Sessions this week. Unsurprisingly, this comment has met with criticism online.
	Seoul Rattled by High-Tech Push March 10, 2016. China has been pushing its high-tech industries for years; the announcement that it aims to dominate the markets of so-called "new service industries" should come as a surprise to no one. Least of all one of it's largest high-tech trading partner.	Chinese Consumers Preoccupy America March 10, 2016. Western news outlets are obsessed with the rise of China's middle-class, and the accompanying market opportunities. What many of these outside observers never seem to note, however, is how dynamic and changeable Chinese consumers are. In the time it takes for a company to decide on a China business plan, the Chinese consumers they planned to target have already moved on, using completely different technologies, buying methods and platforms.	China Hikes Defence Budget by 7.6% March 9, 2016. Considering that Chinese soil constituted a large proportion of the Second World War's battlefields, and that its citizens suffered a holocaust of horrific proportions at the hands of the nation's immediate neighbour, and that this neighbour is now supported by the most powerful military force on earth (with a defence budget higher even than China's)... Is it surprising that China continues to develop its military? Really?	Two Sessions: More Criticism March 9, 2016. Despite many of the suggested changes following the lines of other developed nations in response to terrorism, cyber-threats and domestic censorship, the world continues to criticise China's government for its overt authoritarianism. The criticism may be hypocritical, but these suggested laws do little to protect the Party's reform agenda.
Explaining Trump in China March 6, 2016. Trump may or may not turn out to be a disaster for America's domestic ills, but he will definitely destroy the country's fragile relations with a wide variety of major world powers, not least China.	Two Sessions Takes China by Storm March 3, 2016. As the Lianghui open for business, many businesses cannot. The major political event has slammed down on VPN usage across the country, completely wiping out many mainstream programs.		Obama's ASEAN Show February 15, 2016. Obama hosts the first ever ASEAN summit on American soil, in a full-feather display of triumph in the face of an ever-more-powerful China.	119 Polluters Arrested in Hebei February 5, 2016. Despite applaud from the international "green" community, the crackdown in Hebei is representative of nothing other than the central government's failure to curb over-supply.
Deng-Era Reformer Criticises Xi February 4, 2016. Zhou Ruijin argues that Xi's propaganda step-up is working, but the increase in censorship damages the credibility of Xi-era reform.	Economic Slowdown Hits the Stocks January 26, 2016. Last summer, China sneezed and the world sent its stock market crashing. Now, the world is still reeling from the shock, and no one knows which way to run.	Nuclear Agreement? January 24, 2016. It looks as though China may finally act on its irritation with North Korea's nuclear program. Nuclear security may be an area in which the world's two competing superpowers miraculously agree.		Fears Over Reliability of GDP Stats January 21, 2016. The fact that we are still using GDP as a reliable indication of growth is alarming. That the fate of the global stock market relies on an interpretation of growth and stability based on GDP is absurd.
Anti-Terrorism Law: U.S. Cries Wolf January 8, 2016. No more a threat than the Patriot Act to companies or indivisuals, but a valid excuse for the U.S. to push a totally separate agenda.

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