How do you stop a problem like Piracy?
Could it be that members of the American Congress believe that China’s internet censorship is now a good thing? Is it even possible that just a few years after coming down harshly on China for controlling her media, that America a nation who has prided herself for enforcing the freedom of expression is thinking twice?
With the recent reversal from legitimizing SOPA or the Stop Online Piracy Act, after websites and Internet Service Providers went into a virtual blackout, Chinese citizens are actually wondering if Beijing was ahead of its time in banning online content that was not in good taste. In fact more recently too, China also took stringent action towards protecting and further developing patented products. Further, with India taking severe action against 21 websites, including facebook and twitter for allowing users to post anti-governmental and fractionist views, Chinese citizen’s seem to believe that curbing or controlling the internet might not be such a bad idea if it is done for public good.
“The Great Firewall turns out to be a visionary product; the American government is trying to copy us,” one commentator wrote. A Chinese message making the rounds on Thursday said: “At last, the planet is becoming unified: We are ahead of the whole world, and the ‘American imperialists’ are racing to catch up.”
India, China threaten to raise trade barriers against each other
As the world gets set to meet in Davos to iron out strategic international issues, three separate news stories explain how policy wheels are in action in both India and China to up trade barriers against each other. The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported how China has banned imports of oilmeal from India saying it has found traces of a hazardous chemical in some rapeseed meal shipments. Meanwhile, Mint reported that India’s ministries of heavy industry and power seem to have arrived at a consensus on the contentious issue of levying an import duty on power generation equipment, a move that may specifically affect Chinese manufacturers of such machinery and Indian power companies that are looking to place orders with them. Also, The Times of India wrote – The government is ready with a plan to act against countries that provide subsidy to local producers and make exports more competitive. – a move that if proved and subsequently implemented will hurt China the most.
As European markets sink, and the US contemplates a recovery, Asia is left to fend for herself. More importantly, as trade dries up, Asia’s largest economies are looking inward, boosting domestic demand is now prime as countries realize that value has t be riven from within. As a result, in order to protect their domestic industries, both India and China are raising import duties, taxing subsidized items and banning imports.
Bridging Nations launches in India
“We live in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world and bridging differences and creating a better understanding among all nations is crucial.”
- Dr Prakash Ambegaonkar, founder, Bridging Nations
Bridging Nations, a non- profit organisation based in Washington, D.C. aimed at promoting healthy relations between nations in a highly globalised economy, is inaugurating its India- China center on the 25th of January, in Pune.
Despite their growing power and significance in the world economy, there are several issues that need to be addressed. To address any issue it is imperative to get to the crux of the matter; demonstrating exactly this, Bridging Nations attempts at understanding the ideologies behind either country’s political agenda and culture and tradition, pomoting this understanding among the other country’s citizens. The organisation is looking at resolving concerns such as energy distribution, environment issues and boundary strifes.
The year of the dragon roars in
As the year of the water dragon sweeps in on Monday the 23rd of January, 2012, Inchin Closer wonders what the new year will bring. Feng Shui experts, financial gurus and stock market soothsayers predict a year with major upheavals, with the first six months of the year being slow and melancholy and the pace picking up only post summer.
The year of the dragon, the Chinese zodiac’s most powerful and only mythical creature symbolizes international conflicts and earth related disasters – such as tsunamis and earthquakes, while its element, water also depicts fear in the economy (2008 was also a water year), also a strong contrast against fire, the element which is usually associated as a driving force behind the economy.
In terms of personal matters, the Year of the Dragon will be a good time for people to get married, have children or begin a business venture as the year tends to bring good fortune and happiness. Business should go well and people will make money more easily this year.
Further, the industries that will perform well in the year of the Dragon will be industries related to Wood and Earth elements. Wood industries are textile, fashion, consumer products, paper, books, environment industry, forestry, furniture etc. Earth industries include mining, construction and natural resources.
For politics, its predicted to be another year of upheaval with elections taking place in the United States, Russia, Taiwan, France and India. Such elections also provide drive for progress, changes and courageous reforms. Additionally, In autumn 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will elect the new Central Committee and Politburo Standing Committee members. The current President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are due to step down from the Standing Committee to make way for the next generation of leaders from whom the new Chinese president and premier will be appointed in March 2013.
India extends duty on four imported items from China for 5 years
India has an easy way out, every time the trade deficit with China pertaining to a particular product seems excessively high, the South Asian nation imposes a duty to maintain the balance of trade. The trade barrier, often disguised as a bid to protect the ailing domestic industry and keep fake Chinese goods out, has once again been extended on four Chinese products including silk and a sweetener. It is already imposed on iron ore, China’s largest import from India and power equipment, of which the latter is in dire need.
Import of certain type of silk fabrics from China will attract anti-dumping duty of US$1.82 to US$7.59 per metre, a notification of the Revenue Department said. The duty was first imposed on the fabrics in December 2006 till December 2011. Five years ago, raw silk from China used to cost Rs. 1,400 a kg; now it costs Rs. 2,299 a kg—a result of the mismatch between demand and supply of silk yarn in terms of quantity and quality. India had a trade deficit of USD 16 billion against China during 2010-11. It has already crossed US$20 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal.
When it comes to India matching China this is where the country lags behind. As in iron ore, so in silk, the raw material that India produces cannot be processed on the machines that the nation has. In iron ore, the filaments are of poor quality and only once they are processed in China are they imported into India and can be made into steel, similarly the quality of Indian silk has deteriorated and isn’t of uniform thickness, which means it cannot be used on a power-loom, a mechanization most silk weavers have moved to. This means that raw silk from India cannot necessarily be processed in India, however China makes life easier for the Indian weavers as it takes the low quality, uneven silk and reels it into a uniform quality using automatic machines which can then be used in Indian power looms. Therefore, exporting back to India, the raw material from where it began. If only Indian weavers and farmers could work together, to bridge this gap between the raw material and the process used to create the final product, could the nation be independently sustainable and not have to create barriers to trade, which inadvertently have repercussions.
