Survey: Corruption Threatens China

Chronic corruption in China, Vietnam and India could erode their economic competitiveness if they fail to reduce it, warned a report released Wednesday.

The three countries ranked among those seen as most corrupt in Asia in an annual survey of 1,400 business people by Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd., or PERC.

It warned that foreign companies in those economies will be more sensitive to bribery and other corruption as land and labor prices and other business expenses rise.

“Corruption is yet another cost,” the report said, “and if the governments do not reduce it as an issue, the competitiveness of their environments, at least in terms of producing for export, will be eroded that much faster.”

Throughout the region, those surveyed think governments have made little progress in reining in corruption over the 20 years that the annual survey has been conducted, the report said.

“Even more depressing, in a few cases perceptions today are worse than a decade ago,” it said.

The Philippines was seen as most corrupt among 13 economies, receiving a 9.0 rating on a 0-to-10 scale, followed by Thailand at 8.0 and China and Indonesia at 7.98. Those seen as least corrupt were Singapore at 1.13, Hong Kong at 1.8, Japan at 2.5 and Macau at 3.3.

China’s image will be affected by how it handles any corruption stemming from this summer’s Beijing Olympics, which the authorities are eager to show are graft-free, PERC said.

Read the rest here:

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/ap/2008/03/12/survey-corruption-threatens-china

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W. H. Auden

Print campaign for international red cross

China Out!: Footage from vigil for Tibet

http://www.friction.tv/debate.php?debate_id=2131

‘China cloaking soldiers as monks to incite riots’

New Delhi: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Saturday alleged that Chinese soldiers disguised as monks were instigating riots in his homeland.

 

Dalai Lama joined religious leaders of several faiths at the memorial of Mahatama Gandhi, Rajghat, in New Delhi, to pray for those killed in the unrest in Tibet since March 10.

 

The exiled Tibetan leader told reporters later that he had come to New Delhi to take a course on Buddhist teaching and meditation, but his mind had been much distracted after the Lhasa uprising.

 

“Since March 10 (when riots begin in Lhasa), I am having the same experience that I had in 1959 (the year he fled to India from Tibet),” he said.

 

China was disguising its soldiers as monks to give the impression that Tibetans were instigating the riots, he added.

“In one picture, we see a lama holding a sword, but it is not a traditional Tibetan sword. We know that a few hundred soldiers have been dressed like monks,” said the Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959 and lives in India along with some 100,000 Tibetan exiles.

 

Massive protests engulfed large parts of Lhasa and Tibet earlier this month challenging Beijing’s rule in the region. This also sparked demonstrations by Tibetans in several countries, including India.

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http://www.ibnlive.com/news/china-cloaking-soldiers-as-monks-to-incite-riots/62231-3.html?xml