I just finished watching the documentary Under the Dome considering the crisis facing the Chinese people, and really the entire world which is the wide range of air pollution poisoning the people living in China. China has had the fastest growing economy in the last decade. And with any growing economy comes a great amount of industrialization. For decades, China has increased its production and use of Oil and Coal, and this is on the rise in the form of vehicle usage as well. Why is this a problem? Well, studies have shown a direct correlation between the levels of pollutants found in the air with the amount of hospital visits and deaths related to lung cancer and respiratory problems. This is in part due to the increased amount of what is known as black carbon forming in the air. Attaching themselves to this black carbon is a wide range of highly carcinogenic pollutants that people breath in each and every day.

The creators of such pollutants are from the burning of oil and coal, (65% are from oil and coal).IF these fuels combine, it forms even more dangerous chemicals in the smog flooding the Chinese environment. Over the last few decades, the amount of lung cancer related deaths has increased by 465%, a terrifying statistic to consider when considering the amount of coal and oil burned in china itself. In fact, china burns approximately 50% of the worlds coal and oil, being the leading cause of pollution in the world.

The health concerns are tragic, if china hope to effectively combat the increasing presence of pollutants in their country, they need to take drastic measures that with current technology would both help their economy and save their people from this self-destruction. China ought to learn from their predecessors such as the UK, the United States and the rest of Europe, and do what they can to save their environment and their people by eliminating the sources of these pollutants across their country.

Learned the other day about the inter-country immigration that occurs in china, and how a flawed system tends to inadvertently oppress migrant workers throughout various provinces and cities across china. People born in a city are pretty well set up, they are allowed to use the health systems in city, have their children go to the city schools, and use the government provided services in the city itself. Where you are born is the services you can use, so if you need a major surgical operation, better hope you are not a migrant worker 2000 miles away from your place of birth. This sucks for migrants and their families, because people often marry, then the spouse that works typically leaves the villages to make money in the cities to provide for their family back home. This tends to show the breakdown of familial life in China, the oppression of migrant workers in cities, and the inability of migrants to be given the services they need to flourish in the state by the government. This is the flaw of an authoritarian regime, and it is becoming more of topic of discussion in recent years, with much more reform being discussed by government and party officials.

Recently in class has been an increased discussion on the importance of the environment to the Chinese people and government officials. Reasons vary from simply caring for the environment, to not wanting old people to become sick and then become reliant on a governmental health system that is not necessarily prepared to handle so many patients at once. Because of this, many people are calling for shifts in environmental policy within the Chinese government itself.

The argument made is that because the Chinese government is an authoritarian regime, it is better able to pass and enforce environmental policies on the people. In a way I guess this would make sense, primarily because the people really couldn’t argue with these policies, however the economic ramifications to such policy could be disturbing, which is why you don’t see so much environmental being passed as would be needed to stem the tide of widespread pollution in china.

China and North Korea are traditionally seen together as allies, or at least neightbors that were mutually beneficial for each other over the decades. China has been the primary trading partner with North Korea, and is responsible for upholding the North Korean economy, purchasing a great deal of coal from the North Korean state. North Korea was a benefit to China as it provided a geological and geopolitical barrier between communist China and the US backed South Korean republics and Japan. However recent events have created waves in the diplomacy between the North Korean regime and the central government of China. How is their small traditional ally becoming such a prominent threat? Well, they are threatening the US, and have consistently pursued the means of transforming their threats into realistic possibilities. North Korea over the last several months has pursued nuclear technology, and a missile platform capable of striking Japan at least, the US west coast at most. This has created the necessity of the United states to respond to this threat. Such responses have become prevalent in the form of the THAAD anti ballistic missile defense system, the re-upping of US Naval presence in the South Pacific, and a renewal of support to the Japanese and indirectly to the Taiwanese in general. This goes contrary to what the Chinese need right now, as they desire to expand their influence in the Asia pacific regions. This becomes impossible with US military presence within the region. In order for China to reach its long term goals, they are beginning to realize that they will need to rein n the North Korean regimes, subsequently supporting US interests in the region in order to calm US military presence as well. By so doing, the Chinese will be better able to exert some of their interests in the region under a watchful US eye within the years to come.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/06/chinas-xi-arrives-for-trump-summit-talks-expected-on-n-korea.html

I read another article today about how President Trump and President Xi Jinping will be meeting today to further relations between the two countries. The article highlighted the issues currently between the United States and China, particularly regarding the nuclear threat posed by the North Koreans (more specifically US involvement to counter this threat such as the THAAD system being installed) and the economic relationship between the two states with each being quite interdependent on the other. This article however seemed a little more prone to depict the US as being more reliant on the Chinese than the Chinese are on the US….this seems a bit unfounded to me. True the Chinese are our second most important import/export trade partner (second to Canada as noted in the article), however this would mean the Chinese are equally dependent on the US market to keep up their economy as well. Because of these pressing matters at hand, it would seem that both of these states President’s will need to establish a more workable framework that will allow for compromise between the two states. Maybe the US could take a softer stance against North Korea and its THAAD missile sites if the Chinese were to rein in their annoying little neighbor. Regardless, the US and China need to work together in the future. Our economies are closely knit together, and the better each can work together the stronger each country will be.

Source: http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/trump-meets-xi/

I read an article in the news the other day that emphasized how China’s reusable resources industry was growing exponentially within the last few years. It cited examples of solar farms sprouting up all over the country side, which initially creates the illusion that china must be doing something right in the fight against global warming and their deteriorating environment around them. However, if measured based strictly off utility, these measures are like trying to put out a forest fire with one five gallon bucket of water. Why is this? Well for starters China simply does not have the right infrastructure to support renewable energy, which means that they can have fields full of solar panels and whatnot, however it won’t matter because the surrounding districts will not be able to utilize this potential energy as they don’t have the resources or equipment necessary to harness it. This poses a critical problem for the Chinese central government. They rely on people trusting in the system to take care of their problems. A major concern of the people is their deteriorating environment, the CCP does what they can, but many of these problems need to be taken care of at the local levels, which often don’t run smoothly or efficiently at all. This poor environment is a result of rapid industrialization by the Chinese to compete with other economic super powers across the globe, in order to maintain this economic competitiveness, the Chinese need to be able to continue to produce and out produce its competitors in the global market. This subsequently kills off much of the CCP’s desire to invest in renewable resources as it could potentially harm them economically, which would cause disturbances amongst the local peoples. Finally, the failing environment negatively impacts the peoples health, which creates issues for the central government to provide adequate healthcare for the people. This constant cycle between the environment, economics and health of the people has put China on a path of potential ruin. How the Chinese government acts within the next several years will determine whether China can become the regional/global power they desire to be, or whether they recede into themselves in an attempt to maintain stability within their own state. It goes without saying, but China seems to be between a rock and a hard place.

Source: http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060001765

In class we were given the opportunity to view a documentary of a democratic process conducted in a Chinese elementary school. The purpose of the “election” was to allow students to choose who they wanted as their class monitor. Three students were selected, and were told to campaign against each other. Keep in mind that these students are only around the ages of 9-12, possibly younger. In the beginning these students had a limited or non-existent idea of what democracy actually is or what its purpose was. The young girl selected by the teaching staff was shy, and ultimately didn’t truly want to run, however with her parents goading and support she wound up doing her best, but had a shy, weak and regretful attempts at winning support. The next was a fat, ambitious boy who wanted to control his other classmates. He used his parents too in order to gain approval and a cunning edge over his opponents. He was a stronger speaker, using liberal ideals to persuade his classmates into following him, calling his opponents dictators and weak minded and selfish. He also had a bossier edge to him as well, commanding respect from the rest of the class. The “incumbent”, if you will, was a bit more mild mannered, believed in strict adherence to the rules, a maintenance of the standards, and used rewards to persuade people to vote for him. Ultimately, this documentary shows the nature of Chinese Democracy at work starting in the classroom. The teachers choose who will run for class monitor, the students have the idea that they are choosing who they want, when ultimately they are choosing who will give them a more comfortable, secure life style. In the end, the young child who follows and enforces the rules wins in a landslide, and the documentary cuts out showing him enforcing the rules and standards as they have been prior to the election.

Read an article by the Washington Post that stated Chinese annoyance with the North Korean regime is increasing following more tests of ICBM’s in the small communist state. Reasons for this annoyance? Probably that is gives the United States and Seoul a valid excuse for positioning THAAD anti-missile systems operated by US troops in South Korea. China sees these installations as a threat to their military influence within the region, looking at the United States actions as imprudent. In fact, the Chinese state run media has latched on to the Chinese regimes sentiment, stating that Seoul will need to be dealt with in the long run. However, because of North Korean ICBM testing, it foils the Chinese argument that the THAAD system is irrelevant, thus granting legitimacy to US and South Korean officials behind its installation.

In short, China has a historic alliance with the North Koreans, but in recent years North Korea is creating more issues for China than helping them out. In my opinion China had better distance themselves from the North Korean regime, or reign them in tight. Otherwise there is a potential for there to begin a miniature arms race within the region between South Korea and China.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/analysis-north-korea-tests-four-more-missiles-%E2%80%94-and-china%E2%80%99s-patience/ar-AAnRVAP?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Propaganda in china is rather complex, there are many departments and strategies involved in how China uses propaganda to influence it population and its views towards the regime and towards the rest of the world. Departments involved include some for literature, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, electronic communication, fiber optic cables that transmit communication, satellites, Television, Art, Military Propaganda for internal affairs, publishing, amongst other departments.

All of these work together to spread the regimes intent. However, it isn’t done in such a way as the regime says “this is what you’ll report/publish etc.” but more along the lines of the regime dropping hints on what might need to be emphasized in the media.

This doesn’t always work quite well though, as the media might hear one thing from the government, think its actually what needs to be reported on more, and then potentially make a bigger deal out of it than was previously thought necessary by the government. For example, a government official might state something about how they are expanding a bit of control over the south china sea, but then the news outlet might report it as China is maintaining control of the South China Sea and will valiantly defend its territorial rights from imposters (the USA to name one). This then can overly publicize or incentivize a government in the wrong direction, so in short, the Chinese government has to be careful not to allow an overzealous media take what the government says, and say what they think the government would like even more.

Its all very complex, but media and constant control in propaganda is crucial to the Chinese central government and CCP maintaining control within the country.

Reading about disguised collective action in china, I began to learn in a bit more detail the individualization of protests in China…a term known as atomization. This is not a traditional idea of group protests per se, but a method of protest that does not draw attention to an organized group with a resulting repression by the state government. In essence, the idea is that people secretly form groups, but instead of publicly declaring their offenses to the world/central government, train each individual member to complain to the state officials in different, individualized manners. This in theory allows the group to get their opinions about various policies across to the Chinese political leadership without the group painting a target on their backs. Frankly speaking, it is not a nationalistic protest that is aiming at dismantling the government, but in pushing their complaints through the current regime.

Another idea that has been discussed in class was the idea of “rightful resistance” , where the goal is to use the current system in a collective action to relay the greater peoples complaints/issues. Basically, a group needs to form, the people come together, and gain the attention of the central government by declaring the central governments sovereignty and asking for them to right the wrongs of lesser government officials (i.e. central government counteract a local governments policy decisions).

In short, protest still does occur in China, just not in the way that western states conduct protests. It needs to be disguised, decentralized, atomized….or a group coming up to the central government while showing deference for the current regime in power. Either method is made in order to limit the potential repressiveness of the central government.