Voting with their Feet

Zhao Ziyang in his later years

Yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of purged Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang.

Two years ago I blogged about his thoughts when he was Premier during the 1980s in a book called Prisoner of the State.

The anniversary of his death did not go unnoticed as many people came to his traditional home at No. 6 Fuqiang Hutong near Wangfujing to pay their respects.

It was a way for the crowds to show their frustration that almost after a decade there has been little or no political reform.

This year there were many more mourners than in previous years, said Zhao's son-in-law, Wang Zhihua. "It's related to the current situation, as people seem to see the country moving backwards, rather than forwards as they'd hoped," he said.

Yao Jianfu, a retired official and research fellow with the State Council's Research Centre for Rural Development also visited Zhao's house. He said people hoped leaders would learn from the example of reform pursued by Zhao and Hu Yaobang, a former party chairman and Zhao's predecessor.

Tellingly in the mourning room there is a portrait of Zhao smiling, surrounded by flowers, mostly chrysanthemums. A pair of vertical banners on a side wall reads: "It's our life-long honour to be your children, and we will forever support the decision you made."

Also, Wang said the authorities did not warn the family or try to stop them for receiving mourners. He said flowers already started arriving at 6am and the approximately 30 square metre courtyard was full of people standing and talking to each other for most of the day.

However, the authorities forbade Zhao's former secretary Bao Tong from attending any activities related to his boss for three days.

There are also numerous online tributes on Twitter and Chinese weibo or microblog sites.

When will the government realize more and more of the grassroots want change?

And now with the recent Taiwan elections, many mainlanders watched in envy as people they considered their compatriots were able to choose who they wanted in office.

They don't want the end of the Communist Party, but they do want alternatives. They want accountability.

If the Party doesn't change, the people will find a way to make things change.

The Wukan incident is one example.

You are forewarned.

We Want Clean Air

You thought air in China was bad -- it's pretty atrocious in Hong Kong.

And we're supposed to be a developed society.

Think tank Civic Exchange says Hong Kong is lagging behind the mainland when it comes to tackling air pollution. Last week China's environment minister said it would measure pollutants smaller than PM2.5 (2.5 micrometres) at all its monitoring stations by March, a week after Beijing said it would make similar data publicly available.

Former lawmaker Christine Loh Kung-wai of Civic Exchange said the mainland's recent launch of a consultation to upgrade air quality objectives puts the pressure on the Hong Kong government which has yet to upgrade its 24-year-old objectives despite Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's pledge to do so last year.

Twenty-four-year-old objectives?

The Hong Kong government has done NOTHING for the past 24 years to improve the air quality of this city?

No wonder expatriates and locals who have the means are leaving here in droves.

"The mainland is much more aggressive than Hong Kong in dealing with setting air quality objectives," she said. "This has happened because Hong Kong's senior officials lack the understanding and courage to set demanding [objectives] and to use them as a tool to address the epidemic of public health impacts."

However we must add here that China only started doing this after a long-simmering uproar over the discrepancies between the air quality readings the government was issuing compared to those from the US Embassy in Beijing that are released via Twitter.

Beijing will publish its PM2.5 readings by January 23 Xinhua reported recently. We'll have to see how close they are compared to the US Embassy's data, which could lead to another battle over integrity...

Meanwhile Civic Exchange's head of environmental strategy, Mike Kilburn, said Hong Kong set less stringent targets that were easier to achieve, possibly for political reasons.

Citing figures from the University of Hong Kong's Hedley Environmental Index, Loh said more than 7,200 local deaths had been connected to air pollution in the seven years Tsang has been in office.

Dr Wong Ming-chit of the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, agreed with the group's conclusion that the administration's ability and commitment to air quality  -- roadside and shipping pollution in particular -- was questionable.

"These are problems that haven't been solved for many years," he said. "And these are pressing issues because people's health is at stake. When you think about it, several thousands deaths is a big number. The public panic even when several people die from bird flu."

Last week the Environmental Protection Department revealed roadside air pollution levels last year were the worst on record.

Various studies show these PM2.5 particles enter the lungs and contribute to many health problems including acute respiratory symptoms and child bronchitis, cause premature deaths owing to their toxicity, and cause cardiovascular illnesses.

Sounds like a red alarm problem to me. Why is the Hong Kong government still dragging its feet on this issue? It tries to spread the blame on the Pearl River Delta region, that we are near the factories across the mainland. But seriously, we have our own air pollution issues with amount of cars on the roads these days and heavily polluting vehicles that really should be taken off the roads.

While business rules Hong Kong, what is the point of making people sick? Imagine the health care costs. Wouldn't the city be more productive when people are breathing in relatively cleaner air?

Now that's something for Tsang and the future chief executive to think about.

Huntsman Out of the Race

Jon Huntsman bows out of the Republican race

It's sad to hear Jon Huntsman is ending his bid today to become the Republican challenger against incumbent President Barack Obama for the White House.

Huntsman was a really interesting choice as US Ambassador to China, with his background in Mandarin he learned as a missionary in Taiwan and understanding of China. Adopting a child from the country also helps.

During his time in Beijing he seemed genuinely interested in standing up for human rights and did his best to help out American citizens who were in trouble with Chinese law, such as Wen Ho-lee and openly criticizing the Chinese government in its unfair treatment of Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and artist and activist Ai Weiwei.

While the Arab Spring was trying to spread to China in the form of the Jasmine Revolution, Huntsman was caught on video in the shopping street Wangfujing where some protestors were trying to create their own version of Tahrir Square with jasmine flowers but it never got off the ground. People wondered whether he was making a tacit political endorsement, but Huntsman claimed his presence was "purely coincidental".

Many observers thought Huntsman would defer his presidential hopes until 2016, but he didn't wait any longer and by spring last year he was back in the United States campaigning.

Huntsman seemed like a strong choice, with his recent foreign policy experience particularly in a country that the US is sparring with on many levels from political to economic. He also appeared to be a viable choice for the Republicans after the antics of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party.

However, he didn't perform particularly well against the other Republican candidates so he pulled out one of his last remaining cards -- his ability to speak Mandarin.

But alas this talent which was lavishly praised in China fell on unappreciative ears in the US, possibly because they didn't know what he was talking about.

And the other GOP or "Grand Old Party" candidates jumped on his performing monkey act, deriding him of his cultural skills.

In attack ads online he's been called "China Jon" and the "Manchurian candidate".

Donald Trump, a critic of China also gave Huntsman the thumbs down.

"I didn't think the Mandarin thing worked at all. I thought it was ridiculous," the billionaire said on Fox News. "And frankly, I think Huntsman's stance toward China is -- it's almost like he's an Obama plant."

Perhaps Huntsman would have done better as a Democrat?

In any event, one wonders what's next for the former Utah Governor besides endorsing frontrunner Mitt Romney.

We don't want to see those Mandarin skills to go to waste...

A Brave Face

Dissident writer Yu Jie who has moved to the US

The author of a book criticizing Premier Wen Jiabao has gone into self-imposed exile in the United States and will testify before a congressional panel this week about the abuses he has suffered.

Yu Jie, his wife and three-year-old son arrived in Washington earlier this week and doesn't have plans to go back to China anytime soon.

He is known for writing China's Best Actor: Wen Jiabao in which he claims the Chinese premier is a mediocre technocrat who rose to the top by avoiding political conflicts and by manipulating public sentiment.

The book came out in 2010 and was published in Hong Kong, and banned on the mainland. Before it came out, Yu, 38, received a warning from police in Beijing that he would risk being accused of "endangering national security" and be jailed if the book was published.

Months after the book was released, Yu was detained by police on December 9, 2010, the eve of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony which honoured jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.

"I was kidnapped and several people stripped me and beat me to the point where I collapsed and had to be taken to hospital to be saved," he recalled.

He believes his book and his close ties with Liu have made him a thorn in Beijing's side.

"But I have no regrets over writing that book," he says. "What has happened to me just proves that my judgement about Wen was correct."

Yu is also the leader of an underground Protestant church in China, something officials do not tolerate either.

At next week's congressional hearing, Yu plans to testify in detail about his detention by police and his freedom severely curtailed to the point where he says he was under house arrest.

Yu had wanted to leave China last year, but Chinese officials wouldn't allow him. It was only after negotiating with them several times and promising not to have any friends see him off at the airport was he and his family allowed to leave.

All eyes and ears will be on Yu's congressional testimony this coming week. It will probably further portray China as a terribly insecure country that tolerates no criticism of itself and will add to its already horrific list of human rights abuses. Perpetuating this image will only further frighten most Americans who have never traveled outside their country.

Not to belittle what Yu has experienced, but hopefully he will also shed light on the complex beast that is the Communist Party of China -- that it is so overwhelmed by its domestic problems that it only knows intimidation and violence to maintain control.

We need more constructive observations to help formulate better strategies in dealing with China and make it more accountable for how it treats its own people.