Off to the hospital right NOW, but wanted to ge this last post up. It’s fascinating to see just how determined the CCP is to control the Internet, and how the popular notion that they can’t actually do it may just be a notion.

The Chinese government has become increasingly sophisticated at controlling the Internet, taking a multilayered approach that contributes to precision in blocking political dissent, a report released Thursday finds.

The precision means that China’s filters can block just specific references to Tibetan independence without blocking all references to Tibet. Likewise, the government is effective at limiting discussions about Falun Gong, the Dalai Lama, Tiananmen Square and other topics deemed sensitive, the study from the OpenNet Initiative finds.

Numerous government agencies and thousands of public and private employees are involved at all levels, from the main pipelines, or backbones, hauling data over long distances to the cybercafes where many citizens access the Internet.

That breadth, the study finds, allows the filtering tools to adapt to emerging forms of communications, such as Web journals, or blogs.

“China has been more successful than any other country in the world to manage to filter the Internet despite the fast changes in technology,” said John Palfrey, one of the study’s principal investigators and executive director of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Can they actually tame the world’s most rowdy, individualistic and sprawling medium? I always thought the ultimate answer had to be no. But so far, they are doing a wonderful job.

Not pretty.

Unfortunately, I’ll be going to the hospital tomorrow morning for my third shoulder operation, the result of a fall I took in Beijing two years ago. After two failed operations I’m not very optimistic, but my doctor thinks he can fix it. At this point, there’s almost nothing left to work with, and he’s got to rebuild the disintegrated tendons with some odd material (pig intestine, to be precise).

Okay, sorry to get so graphic. Bottom line is I’ll be out of commission for at least two days, and this may be my last post until the weekend.

Hopefully I’ll be back real soon.

Like kids fighting in the sandbox.

Japan and China intensified yesterday as Tokyo took steps towards granting Japanese companies the right to test-drill for oil and gas in a disputed area of the East China Sea.

China protested furiously. “Japan has come up with a provocation to China’s rights and the norm of international relations,” Qin Gang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said. “China has already made a protest to Japan, and reserves the right to take further reaction,” he added.

….

Defence analysts believe that by giving Japanese companies the right to send in drilling ships, the chances of a clash possibly involving naval patrol boats, are now much higher.

Although the recent deterioration in relations between the two Asian neighbours has been focused on Japan’s perceived lack of remorse for wartime atrocities, analysts believe that the undersea energy battle is the real issue.

I’m going to stay neutral on this one until I understand it better. The one thing I understand is that it’s bad news for everybody, all around.

Read about it here.

It’s certainly a good idea, but I’m not convinced it’s feasible considering how much the Chinese love their cigarettes. We banned it in my office building in Beijing, but that never stopped workers from smoking in the elevators, bathrooms and stairways. (I still remember the a-holes who would get on the elevator with the lit cigarette smoldering in their cupped hand, as if we all didn’t know what was going on as the elevator filled with smoke.)
Via the indispensable CDN.

The China Project includes posts from various bloggers on China. The only problem is, they all appear to be right-wing bloggers intent on making the US look good and China look like it’s falling apart. Now, I admit I’m hard on the CCP, but not like these guys, who are clearly of the old “Red China” line of thinking. Check out some of the links; it won’t take you long to see what I mean.

One of the participants, for example, tells us why China won’t invade Taiwan anytime soon:

The key factor to consider in this equation is the fortitude of American leadership. President Bush’s commitment to freedom and democracy, and his demonstrated willingness to back up his words with actions makes it unlikely any invasion would occur before 2008.

Can you pass the barf bag, please? And can you spell “propaganda”? Yikes.

UPDATE: Please let me add one more comment. Since posting this I’ve traded eemails with the blogger quoted above at 4th Rail and want to say that he’s intelligent, courteous and sincere. We disagree at the most fundamental level about all things domestic. But it’s quite remarkable, the way the blogosphere can bring people of diametrically opposed viewpoints together to at least listen to one another’s points

InstaPuppy himself links to this post at one of his favorite blogs. I find it simplistic and overly optimistic, and maybe just a bit stupid (or at least ignorant). Let me know if you agree:

Thomas Lifson at American Thinker has an important item out about growing unrest in China. Huge riots are occurring, not just in the remote, impoverished west, but now in the wealthier coastal cities. At issue is corruption and impunity. And with the rise of mass communications and Internet connectivity, Chinese expectations about governance are rising. A billion people are getting sick of all the corruption and oppression they see around them.

The root of the problem is this: the government will not renounce unworkable communism as its philosophy. It says communism is its system but capitalism is its policy. That contradiction leaves the worst bureaucratic and political features of communism in place (you can’t get rid of anyone via ballot box, for one thing), while the growing private sector watches the horror from an increasingly capitalist framework. This is big news. Thomas explains that China’s repression is not a sign of its government’s strength, but its weakness. Read it here.

Well, you’d think from reading this that the CCP is on the verge of collapse as 1 billion outraged peasants participate in “huge riots” across the country. I was just there a few weeks ago, and you have my word of honor as a gentleman, and as no friend to the CCP, that China is hardly on the brink of revolution. In fact, I’d venture a guess that with the majority, satisfaction levels with the government are quite high. I realize there are riots and a lot of misery and a lot of anger at the corrupt plutocrats. But there’s more contentment now than there’s been in years, despite the curbs on freedom.

Now, that doesn’t excuse the CCP’s sins, which are bountiful. But come on — let’s be real. And once again, the Nutty Professor has sent gazillions of his readers to a post that leaves an incorrect impression of China. Pity.

Update: Speaking of idiocy, be sure to check out the American Thinker article he links to! Simplicity and ignorance soar to new and breathtaking heights. Should we be surprised? Here’s the Thinker’s blogroll:

Daniel Pipes
Hugh Hewitt
Instapundit
Kausfiles
Lileks
Little Green Footballs
Pejmanesque
Powerline
Professor Bainbridge
Roger L. Simon

Round up the usual suspects….

Now, I believe rebellion at some point might be possible — but certainly not now when coniditions are better than ever. There has to be a major catalyst (and I mean major), like the collapse of the banking system or catastrophic devaluation of the currency. Paranoid and insecure as the leaders are, they’re not going to be overthrown anytime soon.

One of my very favorite expat bloggers, who doesn’t blog nearly enough nowadays, has written a poetic, cynical, insightful, heartfelt and detailed account of the anti-Japanese movement in China, what’s behind it and what it means. It is a characteristically long post, and here’s an excerpt.

I don’t think it’s entirely accurate to say that protests that attract a few thousand people in China are meaningless simply because that’s small change in a country of over 1.3 billion. Do you remember the protests this spring when Zhao Ziyang died? Or the ones last summer commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre? Or how about the ones complaining about Beijing’s handling of SARS a few years back? Or the fierce campaigning on the streets and in the media for the presidency in 2002 and 2003? Remember those events? What? You don’t? Odd that.

Without resorting to the mistaken trope that the CCP controls everything in this country, let’s just say I find it doubtful that the recent protests could have happened without either the help of the government (as in Beijing where city buses helpfully brought students back to their campuses after they shook their fists and threw bottles and rocks at the Japanese Embassy) or the tacit acceptance of them (as in Chengdu’s first riot where the police were, shall we say, less than enthusiastic about preventing the destruction of private property). Somewhere between organization and acceptance probably best describes the CCP’s role in the riots and it was probably a slightly different mix in each city. Such is life in a soft authoritarian state.

And that’s just for starters. It looks at riots in general in China, at Japan’s apologies, at how the Nanjing Massacre is perceived in Japan, at the CCP propaganda machine and more. His logic is crushing, and his points are well documentd. I want to urge every reader to go there now. If only more blogs were this good….

UPDATE: Another excellent post on the subject of honesty in Chinese textbooks. Those last two paragraphs – ouch.

This is a blogger in China who works in the world’s lowliest profession, public relations. Despite his vocation, he makes some brilliant observations about the China-Japan imbroglio.

First, angry nationalism is a fickle political tool. Demonstrations can often be switched on and off, but the sentiments kindled tend to smolder beneath the surface like peat fires and then burst to the surface at unfortunate times.

Second, Japan and China, Asia’s leading and fastest rising economy respectively, seem determined to goad each other in a slow spiral of increasing extremism. If I were the rest of Asia, I would worry about this.

Third, Japan is not the only nation to revise its official histories to minimize atrocities committed against the Chinese people in the 20th century. Quiz: Name another one.

That final point is the one my Chinese friends here tend to avoid the most. If a big part of this is the revision of history, there’s a group of self-serving, duplicitous revisionists way closer to home they should be pointing fingers at.

The Chinese aren’t the only ones protesting the possibility of Japan serving on the UN Security Council. Several Dutch organizations representing citizens who suffered atrocities under the Japanese during WWII have launched the following petition.

The Hague, April 6th, 2005.

Statement by 87 NGO’s and 12 individuals:

Japan is unfit to become a Permanent Member of the Security Council of the United Nations.

Your Excellency, Madame

In an unprecedented cooperation 87 organizations, many of them NGO’s, and 12 individuals around the world have combined in condemning Japan’s efforts in becoming a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, this as long as Japan does not make a proper apology and pay just compensation to the victims of Japans war crimes during World War Two.

The organizations represent millions of people around the world who suffered in one way or another from the brutality and misconduct by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War Two, and consequently were robbed of their future.

Having found commonality between us we are determined to make use of all proper channels and institutions to broadcast that Japan, its people and its industry are unfit to become a permanent member of the Security Council.

We have been requested by the supporting organizations and individuals to present to you the Statement. We do this with great honor and respect for all the millions who died at the hands of the Japanese soldiers and their servants and for all those who survived the Japanese brutality seeking a proper apology and payment of a just compensation.

On behalf of the supporting organizations and individuals

J.F. van Wagtendonk
Dr. A de Pijper
President
Secretary

Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts

This was emailed to me so I can’t provide a link. Anyone who’s read about how the Japanese treated Dutch POWs (and probably all POWs)during WWII knows where these guys are coming from.

The Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts was founded in 1990 by war casualties who suffered at Japanese hands in former Dutch East India during World War II. Since that time the groups has asked the Japanese for an official apology and reparations.

Update: See the comments for this group’s URL.