The Accidental Emigrant

Emigration is a major issue as Irish voters go to the polls next week. Thousands of young people are fleeing, others who planned to return are stranded overseas. This is my story.

Lehman Brothers collapsed the week we landed in Brussels.

Two weeks later the Irish government signed a blank cheque guaranteeing the debts of Irish banks. It seemed interesting but incidental to our plans. Bad news for bankers, we thought. Tough times for politicians too.

Good job we’re neither wealthy nor important. “Two coffees, a scone and a brownie please.”

We sat sharing a British broadsheet in a Belgian café staffed by mustachioed middle-aged waiters. The papers spoke of an economic earthquake but we observed it like an audience watching a grand drama unfold in high definition without realizing we were part of the play.

We were Irish expats. We were abroad by choice, having left a booming Dublin in 2007. Lap up a bit of foreign culture and head home when we’d had our fill. That was the plan. Little did we realise that the door leading back to Ireland was closing behind us.

Much has changed in the 30 months that have passed since then. A temporary spell abroad which could be wound up at a time of our choosing has morphed into an enforced economic exile, open-ended if not permanent.

We have emigrated. Accidentally.

Click here to read the rest @thejournal.ie

EU needs single voice on China

EU member states are undermining Europe’s power by pursuing their own interests - and China sees it this way too

The EU’s last-minute decision to scrap plans for an SME Centre in Beijing. The office would have helped European firms to do business in China.

The reasons for the collapse of the initiative are not yet entirely clear, but one thing struck me when talking to sources in Brussels and Beijing: EU member states are uneasy about the prospect of a European enterprise centre which would work with companies trying to crack the Chinese market.

Several member states have set up national business-liaison offices in Beijing’s Chao Yang district which aim to get the biggest slice of the pie possible for their own firms. Looking at the bigger picture, one would be forgiven for wondering whether EU governments are really willing to work as one when it comes to the serious business of making money in emerging markets.

China sees EU as a bloc of three or four big players

Ask a Chinese diplomat how they deal with Europe when a political crisis breaks and you’ll find Beijing calls the embassies of France, Germany and the UK when they want something done. The EU, as an entity, is seen as a sluggish, many-headed beast. The real power is still in London, Berlin and Paris. (We could perhaps add Warsaw and Prague to that list.)

China understandably deals with those it identifies as the real power brokers on issues that matter. And the big European powers are happy enough with this. (It’s a wonder that some in the east would quite like to see an 'Asian EU'.)

Maybe the Lisbon Treaty will change this situation, given that there will be a new European External Action Service (EEAS) but we’ll have to wait and see.

Name recognition

I spent some time in China (here’s the proof) and was (naively) surprised to find that plenty of people had never heard of Ireland (’ai er lan’? Anybody?). But then again I hadn’t heard of Dongguan and its population is bigger than that of my home country.

For smaller European nations, the recognition that goes with the EU brand could be a major help to doing business in China. But that takes committment from all member states - including the big ones.

Will westerners take Chinese swine flu jab?

A Chinese company has become the first to complete trials of a vaccine against the H1N1 virus.
The question is whether the rest of the world will happily inject themselves with a new Chinese-made drug. After years of safety scandals over everything from tainted blood products to lead paint and contaminate milk, Chinese standards have not enjoyed a great reputation.
However, the company in question (predictably called 'Sinovac') stands to make billions of dollars if it can steal a march on its western rivals in a bid to mass produce a swine flu vaccine this autumn.
Meanwhile, China is apparently taking the swine flu pandemic more seriously than European and the US as children prepare to return to school.
While most countries are reluctant to disrupt normal life, Beijing is taking no chances and will delay reopening of schools in some areas. Class sizes will also be cut and any student who has been in contact with someone with swine flu is being told to stay home.
After its shambolic handling of the SARS outbreak, this is clearly seen as a chance for redemption.

The following people are not dead: Rick Astley,...

Rick Astley is dead. Or so said CNN's iReport earlier today.
They were followed by a herd of news websites who fell for yet another fake-celebrity-death story. Twitter was briefly offline, such was the strain of traffic and message boards filled up with sympathetic messages.
The rumour went that Astley - who has been the subject of more internet hoaxes than any other human being (1)(2)- was found dead in a Berlin hotel. CNN and its vloggers should have known better.
The episode raises questions over the current fad for news-by-tweet. Now that major news organisations are so desperate to be on top of the rumour mill, it paves the way for media anarchy.
Even the Iranian election has been covered on CNN et al. via unverifiable messages posted on Twitter and Facebook, leaving the gullable networks wide open to manipulation.
Why should we trust CNN and the rest if they are looking to us for their cues? We're totally unreliable!
The media need to pull back from this style of reporting before all credibility is lost.

Western media are abusing Tiananmen legacy

First off, I should say that China's state of denial about the events that took place in June 1989 in Tiananmen Square is equally frightening and hilarious. Check out this ever-so-polite BBC reporter attempting to report from the Square today.

CNN had the same experience, with plain-clothed police using umbrellas to block the camera.

But it has also to be accepted that elements of the media and political aparatus in the West have consistently distorted the Tiananmen incident for their own purposes.

I read a shockingly biased feature in the Sunday Times magazine a few weeks ago in which Tiananmen was weaved into a narrative about how communist nations fell in 1989 and how China would have been next if it hadn't been for the crack down.

It was a neat story but not really true. The story of Tiananmen is much more complex than simply being an uprising against communism.

First of all, the protesters were an assortment of groups - students, unions, farmers - with range of grievences. Some complained of corruption, lack of transparency, inflation, inequality.

There was no single alternative political vision. And if there had been, it probably wouldn't have been "We'd like China to look like the U.S. or Europe."

Indeed, some protesters were concerned that China's policy of 'Opening up' its economy to the global market was not communist enough.

That Sunday Times piece appeared to be wistfully reminiscing about the glorious 1980s when Thatcher and Reagan sowed the seeds for the unregulated financial markets which have brought us to where we stand today. Having read plenty of China newspapers, I've come to recognise blatant propaganda when I see it - and this was blatant propaganda.

It's simplistic and untrue to say China would now be a Western-style democratic state if the students had been given what they wanted.

It's also a bit rich to hear the U.S. saying today that China has to face up to its own history. That's true, China does need to do that. But seriously, the U.S. doesn't exactly have a great record in...South America, Africa, the Middle East, S.E. Asia, slavery...and so on.

China is on a slow road to improved transparency and ending corruption by local officials. Indeed, it seems to take a step backwards ever June 4th when it overreacts by censoring the media and arresting trouble makers.

But, having spoken recently to somebody who was in Tiananmen Square in 1989, and is now part of the Party aparatus, it's clear there is a growing willingness to discuss this subject amongst the political elite.

The bottom line is that China is less likely to face up to what happened in 1989 if we in the West are dishonest about the meaning of those events.

Won't somebody please think of the...pandas?

Pandas are cute. No doubt about it. But kids are surely also worth a story.

Why then are there so many stories about how pandas are faring since the devastating earquake that tore China's Sichuan province apart this time last year?

Even at the time of the quake there were articles about how pandas in Chengdu had to be rescued, along with tourists who were airlifted out of national parks in the wake of the disaster. Thousands of people were buried under collapsed schools and we were reading about bears.

Pandas, a species apparently determined to drive themselves to extinction by refusing to copulate, still seem to attract greater attention than the Chinese children killed in the massive earthquake.

Something like 90,000 people perished on May 12 last year - although the exact figure is impossible to guess at - and the story lasted about a week. Similarly, the tens of thousands of people who died in Mayanmar (Burma) last year are entirely forgotten.

China and (to an even greater extent) Mayanmar have not helped by curtailing media freedom in the area, but if you compare the coverage of the Tiananmen Square anniversary next month to the way the Sichuan earthquake is marked this week, I'm sure the coverage will be wildly disproportionate.

Not to mention the obsession with 9/11 and other atrocities which affected a fraction of the numbers killed and maimed in China on "5/12".

Obvioulsy, it's not a competition and news media are right to attach greater significance to man-made tragedies, but the way the Sichuan earthquake fell out of the news in the Western media is quite shocking.

But whatever about comparing human tragedies, worrying about cuddly-looking bears is simply disrespectful to human life.

How to pass the Lisbon referendum in Ireland

Now this might seem like a risky strategy but...
It's time to go for broke if the Irish political class really wants to pass the Lisbon Treaty.
There is understandable discomfort with being asked to vote on the same thing twice (even though we did it for Nice and divorce and abortion).
So let's put two separate questions on the ballot next October.

Question 1: Ireland should ratify the Lisbon Treaty [Yes] [No]
Question 2: Ireland should withdraw from the European Union [Yes] [No]

This will focus minds on whether we really want to be in the EU and steer the debate towards the value of Europe to Ireland.
Even the anti-Lisbon groups who say they are pro-Europe (Sinn Fein, Libertas and some Green-tinged independents) will have to acknowledge that Europe has been great for Ireland. They will spend the debate trying to explain the apparent inconsistency in asking for a No vote on Q1 and a Yes vote on Q2.
The Yes side will have an easier ride because they'll be able to spend time pointing out what happened to Iceland over the past 12 months (it could have been us) and note that Sweden and Denmark are considering Euro membership in the interest of stabilizing their currency.

The number of genuinely anti-Europe people in Ireland is small. Farmers, trade unions, and probably the Church, will rally around Ireland committing to the EU and Q1 would pass by 70% while Q2 gets around 90%.

There are risks, of course. The first being that people will say the Government is trying to be too cute and that it's insulting to try to marry rejecting Lisbon to all-out withdrawal. But given how disingenuous some of the No campaigners were last time ("It'll legalize cocaine, prostitution and abortion") it's clear you can't expect every citizen to read and digest the whole document.

Oh and the other risk...well, we could find ourselves having to ask Brussels to leave the European Union at the end of October 2009.

But fear not - there is currently no legal provision for member states exiting the EU! The Reform Treaty (or 'Lisbon Treaty' to give it its common name) does contain such a clause. So if the only way we could actually have to walk away would be if we passed Lisbon but voted to withdraw...

Protests bubbling over in Chinese countryside

As China gears up for the greatest show on earth in Beijing next month, tensions are boiling over in rural areas and 'small' cities.
Far from the Chinese capital, scores of major protests have erupted over local political and social issues and the government is now openly expressing its concern through official media.

Chinese newspapers are reporting that local officials will be held responsible for failure to deal with public grievances in their counties.
The latest in the series of incidents was recorded in the affluent coastal province of Zhejiang. Hundreds of migrant workers attacked and injured three policemen after an argument over registration of a migrant as a temporary resident turned violent.

Separately, in Guizhou, 30,000 people took to the streets to protest at what they claimed was a cover-up by officials after the death of a 17 year-old-girl. Her family believe she had been raped by the son of a Communist Party official but the pathology report recorded no evidence of sexual assault.
The truth is impossible to guess at but a senior official dispatched by the central government to investigate pointed the finger at local government for failing to address a series of other grievances. It was suggested that the family's outrage gathered such momentum because the public was already angry over mining disputes and cases of communities being forced to move from their town to make way for new developments.

A Professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, quoted in China Daily, said: "Infringement of legal rights of the public is still common ... at the grassroots level. That's why the county Party chiefs are the protagonists of this campaign."
Illegal land seizures, non-payment of salary and village officials' corruption are all cited in Chinese media as having contributed to pockets of protesters taking to the streets.
Even this admission is a sign of some progress from central government.
Of course, as Huang Qingping, a resident of Huaining county in Anhui province, is quoted as saying, the move should not be "another temporary image-projecting act".

A friend of a friend (I realize that's a rather loose secondary source!) employed by the U.S. State Department says around 10,000 'incidents' of public unrest were recorded across China last year.
The definition of 'incident' is likely to be rather broad but it surely indicates that President Hu Jintao's harmonious society is facing serious challenges as China attempts to balance rapid economic progress with growing pressure to respect human rights.

It should be stressed that these do not seem to be pro-democracy protests - at least not in any philosophical sense. People are not demanding regime change or free elections. They just want local officials to stop shitting on them.

A lid will surely be kept on such problems throughout the Olympics but there is clear evidence that Beijing will need to get a grip on problems which have erupted across its territories while central government was focussed on macrcoeconomics and China's image abroad.
If they can't continue rapid progress without trampling on their people, the harmonious society will begin to look a little precarious.

[The pic is of the Goddess of Democracy, a statue made by students during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. Those demonstrations were fueled not just by a demand from some for democracy, but also by rising inflation and frustration at the pace of social and economic reforms.]

€50,000 for terror whistle-blowers

Here's a handy way to make 50k - devise a plot to attack the Olympics, pay €1,000 to the family of a poverty-stricken farmer in China's Muslim province of Xinjiang to take the fall, and pocket the juicy reward on offer from the Beijing government.
Anyone providing Chinese police with evidence of a major security threat to the Beijing Olympics could stand to receive up to 500,000 (€46,179.35 to be exact).
A 'threat' can be anything from a bomb, kidnapping or murder of foreigners, or 'sabotage by illegal organization such as the Falun Gong'.
The news came as police in Xingjiang claimed they had cracked five terrorism groups this year to date and ocked up 82 'suspected terrorists'.
The offer is for a limited time only so get your terror threats in by October 31.
Naturally, my plan above has its flaws - particularly the fact that it's morally abhorrent - but what will be the impact of the freakonomic incentive promised by the government?
At the very least, it will stoke up fear among the public. It may also encourage a barrage of paranoia-fueled false alarms.
I had lunch with a bunch of students this week who said they were keen to get out of Beijing and were no longer comfortable with taking the subway for fear of terrorist attacks.
Falun Gong was mentioned as a particular threat and 'could bomb or set people on fire'. I was trying to stress that that bunch of loons have no record of suicide bombings or setting others alight (as was being alleged) but there seemed little point. (FG have set themselves on fire in protest at alleged mistreatment.)
I hope I'm right in predicting that there will be no terrorist attacks in Beijing this August.
The benefits in stoking this up are:
- When nothing happens (touch wood) the government can claim great success in keeping everyone safe. Pats on back all round.
- If there are protests by pro-Tibet supporters, campaigners for rights for Muslim people in Xingjiang, or bloody foreigners harping on about China's support for Sudan's leadership, police can lock 'em up and call them a threat to Olympic security.
€50k well spent.

Beijing unleashes entire album of Olympic songs

China has released not one, not two, but 30 official Olympic songs!
Apparently unwilling to opt for a single anthem, organisers have chosen a double-album worth of tunes for Olympic enthusiasts to enjoy - and the rest of us to endure.
Choosing a song is serious business. The selection process started five years ago and judges had to wade through 'tens of thousands' of entries, according to Chinese media.
I had thought 'We Are Ready' was the official Beijing Olympic theme tune but that was just a warmer-upper.
Among the other favourites are "Light the Passion, Share the Dream", "I Am a Superstar", "Forever Friends", "Beijing Welcomes You", "China See", and "China Story" and many, many more.
Anyone who wants me to pick up a copy of the album should send me $1,000 dollars and their entire record collection now...

Mao, megaphones and the mausoleum

We took a trip to 'Chairman' Mao Zedong's mausoleum today in Beijing.
The deceased founder of the People's Republic of China lies in a glass box in a grandiose building in the centre of Tiananmen Square.
Literally thousands of Chinese citizens - and a handful of bemused foreigners - join long, winding queues to see Mao's body every morning (they for the day at noon).
The fact that it's free means every Chinese who visits the capital takes in the mausoleum. Many buy fake flowers from vendors inside the compound to lay near the Chairman's body.
Security is tight (you can't bring in bags or cameras) but the line moves along remarkably swiftly thanks to the seemingly endless number of officials and policemen with megaphones and an inflated sense of self-importance.
Some are uniformed, some are not. All use their megaphones even when standing two feet away from the person they are addressing.
In our case, of course, it didn't matter how loud they barked orders, we still hadn't a clue what was being said - so we just followed the crowd.
In the awe-hushed room where Mao's body lies, the queue moves faster than ever. For some reason they're not keen to allow you dawdle through or to get in any way close to the somewhat misty glass case housing the great man's body.
To my eye it was a waxwork so shoddy that Madame Toussaud's would reject it as below par and unrealistic. But nobody else seemed to care a damn...

Is China ready to say Ciao to Mao?

China has issued a new 10 Yuan note to commemorate this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.
This may prove to be a masterstroke by progressive elements within the Communist Party of China who would like to begin to move 'Chairman' Mao Zedong off stage.
Despite ascending to Dictator Heaven over 30 years ago, Mao's legacy and his position as the Father of Modern China has seemed unshakable.
However, forward-thinking Chinese are acutely aware that outside China Mao is viewed as a villain rather than a hero.
Dismantling a personality cult is a tricky business though so it may be a while before Mao's portrait is removed from its perch overlooking Tiananmen Square.
Perhaps the launch of a new note is the first step to toning down the euphoric worship of Mao and revising the conventional wisdom on his impact on the People's Republic of China.
His image can be found on every other Yuan note. Issuing a new note with, say, Deng Xiaoping on the front would incite outrage among traditionalists in China. But nobody can argue with a new note marking what Beijing hopes will be the People's Republic's finest hour.

Beijing steps up security on subway system

Having rolled out its shiny new automatic ticket- checking system last month, the Beijing subway underwent a face-lift.
Signs were replaced, staff got new uniformed and chair lifts were installed to help improve accessibility to underground stations.
Next on the list: tighter security.
Since last week, passengers have been met by uniformed young guards with hand-held metal detectors and several central stations now have x-ray machines for scanning luggage.
Anyone dashing for the subway must now factor in airport-like levels of security as travellers are asked to open - and sometimes empty - the contents of their bags.
The new measures have been met with mixed reactions with some welcoming the heightened pre-Olympic security.
Others, including some local newspapers, have expressed concern that the checks slow down the transport system and that dissidents bent on making a scene at the Beijing Olympic Games will just find another way to attack the system.
The authorities say the new system is to combat terrorism and the government has already claimed that a plan by Muslim extremists from the Xinjiang Province has been thwarted.
However, given China's tendency to create jobs out of nothing for its bulging, young workforce, my guess is that this is just another way for the government to keep unemployment down and to look like they are in total control.

Welcome to paradise - beware 'lots of thieves'

We arrived in Hainan full of holiday spirit and ready to explore the area.
It was after dark but we ventured outside the confines of our hotel resort in the direction of the beach, only to be met by aggressive 'drivers' keen to ferry us God-knows-where in exchange for 1 Yuan (about 10c).
A woman driving a motorbike-with-sidecar contraption screeched to a halt in front of us shouting 'yi kuai, yi kuai' (1 Yuan). As she pulled in, her two accomplices jumped out of the sidecar, ostensibly to make room for us but serving to make us a little uneasy.
Failing to shake them off our tail, and reluctant to venture into the dark isolation of the secluded seafront, we retreated to the safety of our hotel.
Back in the room, after dining in the hotel restaurant, we notice a sign on the door which reads:
"The Public Safety Bureau [police] has warned that there are lots of of bag-snatch, robbery, muggings in Sanya Bay. Please be careful."
'Lots of' them? I love when the police think warning people about these things is helpful. Could they not just police a bit better?
As it turned out, we had no further trouble but we didn't venture very far beyond the resort and never ate outside the hotel (primarily due to the lack of dining options).
The island is very much under construction and will probably be entirely different in five years' time.
However, Hainan is an island of 6 million people experiencing a rapid property boom - apparently that doesn't always go well in the long term...(ask Ireland)

'Sleigh bells ring, are ye listenin'
In the lane, snow is glistenin'
A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.
Walkin' in a winter wonderland.'

It was 30 degrees Celsius in Hainan - known as 'China's Hawaii', so it was a little odd to be subjected to a tape of All Time Christmas Hits playing on loop in our hotel.
The resort - which was generally empty of shops, restaurants, life - has a handful of top-notch hotels catering to international travelers.
We checked into the Holiday Inn at Sanya Bay which is spotless and situated just one minute from a quiet, clean beach.
It felt like a summer holiday, until the Christmas songs started.
The very many staff at the hotel are falling over themselves to figure out what 'foreign' guests might like, but they don't always get it quite right.
On this occasion, they presumably reckoned that foreigners like Christmas, therefore they'll appreciate a bit of Santa Claus is Coming to Town - even in July!

Fish food

It has been quite a year.
Over the weekend we were pondering whether we'd changed much in the year since we came to China but it's always tricky to notice gradual changes.
Then yesterday we found ourselves picking up the tread while sitting in a pool of fish which were nibbling dead skin from our bodies.
This time last year, I for one would probably not have voluntarily offered myself up as food for a hundred little fishies.
But in Hainan this weekend, that's exactly what we did. It's supposed to be a specialist spa treatment but could just be a hilariously cheap way of feeding fish by serving up mumbo jumbo to foreign guests.
Hainan is famed for these 'doctor fish' so we had to give it a try.
While I was game enough to have the 'treatment', I can't say I enjoyed it at all.
It's like having pins and needles on your whole body, but when you look down and see fish nibbling your entire body it's a little worse.
We'd paid for half an hour but I only lasted 10 minutes.

The Ultimate Warriors

"The warriors were found in 1974 by a farmer digging a well. Nobody knew they were there and we now know the first Emperor of China had 8,000 terracotta soldiers buried with him so that he would have an army in the after life..."
The tour guide rattled off her spiel like a school kid reciting poetry which has been so well learned that their off-by-heart delivery betrays their lack of interest and understanding of what is being said.
Like an irritating child, I quizzed the guide with persist 'Why' questions:
"If nobody knew they ever existed, how can we be so sure about who built them and why?"
"We know from research."
"But how? Were there documents or diaries found with them?"
"Researchers tell us. Okay, let's move on..."
"Instead of being an army for the afterlife could they have been used to trick an enemy into thinking the Emperor had more troops than he really had?"
"No."
I initially had no doubt as to the authenticity of the warriors, but somehow the official guide managed to sow seeds of suspicion in my mind.
Regardless of who made them or why, the Terracotta Warriors are stunning. The most remarkable thing is that they are all different: different heights, weights, clothes, rank - each solider is a one off.
Also noteworthy is that the Emperor didn't just want an army in the afterlife, he also had scores of acrobats and musicians made from clay.
Odd that he didn't have a few fair maidens constructed to amuse the troops...

Facebook the latest victim of Chinese censor

When this blog began last year it kicked off with a string of stories on censorship.
I was, back then, shocked to find so many websites blocked by the Great Firewall of China. Naive, I know.
Equally naive was my expectation that net censors would take a more liberal attitude as the Olympics approached, probably followed by a return to form once the global media moves on at the end of August.
Alas, the censors are still meddling with my quality off life.
Last week they blacklisted the Huffingtonpost. Today, I find Facebook is the latest victim of the faceless censors.
As usual, there's no explanation from the government as to why this has happened or how long it will last.
This is a particularly unusual case given that Chinese Preimer Wen Jiabao last month launched his own Facebook page which now has tens of thousands of 'supporters'.
Maybe he'll order its unblocking when he gets pissed about not being able to read his 'Funwall'.

Huffington Post blocked in China

Internet news superblog the Huffington Post has been blacklisted in mainland China.
The self-styled 'internet newspaper' is no longer available and there's no telling when, if ever, it will be back.
The site was one of the few western blogs to lead with the Chinese earthquake recovery efforts, long after cable news had moved on to newer news.
However, it may have fallen foul of censors for its recent coverage of claims by U.S. politicians that their computers had been accessed by hackers in China.
Huffpost gave the issue significant coverage, also highlighting claims that U.S. officials' were concerned that the contents of a laptop may have been copied during a trip to Beijing.
As far as China is concerned, apparently the best way to respond to claims of cyberespionage is cybercensorship.

Last-minute dash to prepare for paralympics

A couple of months ago I posted a piece mocking Beijing's lack of preparations for this autumn's paralympic games.
It's rare, I said, to see people in wheelchairs in Beijing and even rarer to see them catered for by wheelchair accessible ramps etc.
Since that post (but obviously not because of it), I've witnessed nothing short of a Herculean effort to make Beijing wheelchair friendly.
At the Summer Palace a few weeks back they were installing ramps and lifts to help mobility impaired patrons navigate the tourist-thronged step-fest.
Better still, this week I notice they have installed a motorized chairlift at the subway stop and built a small ramp at the entrance. The new automated ticket-checking system also features an extra-wide lane for wheelchairs.
All over the city they are getting their act together to be ready. The only wonder is what took them so long.