From pig-jackings to rice rustling

Not since The Hamburglar do I recall such delicious larceny.
I previously noted the soaring price of rice, which shot up by over 30% late last week, and have also introduced the shocking surge in 'pig-jackings' in China where pork has become an increasingly expensive commodity.
Now, The Guardian reports, Asian farmers must beware of rice rustlers. These sneaky grain thieves tip-toe into paddy fields by night and make of with a bag of carbs which will probably have increased in value by the time they make it home to count the grains.
I would crack some class of joke about The Hamburglar's Asian cousin, but this is serious stuff.
In the wake of Egypt's decision not to export its rice, Cambodia has followed suit and Vietnam is cutting exports by 20%. India, Pakistan and China are also hoarding their stock as the global rice market becomes ever more paranoid.
The impact could be immense. The World Food Programme says the hundreds of millions of people living on $1 a day spend 70% of their income on food. If prices double, that simply means they have to eat less.
Restaurants in the Philippines are already considering serving half portions.
People are protesting on the streets of Jakarta and Thai officials are fearing similar unrest.
Beijing is, as usual, saying very little, but the prospect of protests will become very real if the price hikes are passed on by supermarkets this week.
Gripped by a genuine food shortage, people in Asia must be puzzled by the use of the word 'crisis' to describe the current credit crunch that so upsets Wall Street.
If I may (rather inappropriately) invoke Crocodile Dundee: "That's not a crisis...now THAT'S a crisis!"

Politician Gives Entire Salary to Poor

Warning: This might make politicians across the world feel a little uneasy.
The President of South Korea is to donate his entire salary for the next five years to the underprivileged.
And it's not his first time he's done such a thing. When he was mayor of Seoul from 2002 to 2004, Lee Myung-Bak donated his pay cheque to the children of street cleaners and firefighters.
Irish readers might recall that last autumn our Government tied themselves in knots trying to justify their hefty pay rises at a time when belt-tightening was on the horizon.
In the interest of fairness, it must be noted that Korea's President isn't just a goody-two-shoes determined to show up less charitable politicians - he's a millionaire.
He is the former CEO of a construction company and is considerably wealthier than the average politician (the exceptions being New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the leaders of OPEC nations).
But hang on! There's a better example of ordinary parliamentarians foregoing pay increases. In February, the Labour-led Australian Government announced a self-imposed pay freeze while calling on industry to cool the inflation-stoking salaries of senior management.
Call it a gimmick; call it mere symbolism, they led by example.
With a new round of Social Partnership talks in the offing, could Irish TDs agree to a similar gesture?
If things get tight, I'm sure somebody will give them a 'dig out'...

'Coming to you LIVE from just a few minutes ago...'

China has redefined live television.
The arrival of the Olympic torch to Tiananmen Square - under heavy security - was beamed into Chinese homes this lunchtime by state broadcaster CCTV.
In the corner was a word suggesting that the images we were watching were being transmitted as fast as cables could carry them, directly from Beijing's central landmark: "LIVE"
However, it seems China is uncomfortable with the traditional definition of the live broadcast. AFP reports that the images were transmitted after a one-minute delay, presumably so any unsavory images, like those that interrupted the lighting of the torch in Greece, would not be inflicted on its audience.
Tiananmen's vast square was emptied of traffic, tourists and local residents, to ensure nobody could protest about human rights, or Tibet, or Taiwan, or Darfur, or the price of pigs (see previous postings).
The chances of a security breach looked pretty slim. But is this what we can expect during the 2008 Olympic Games? Delayed transmission? The 100m sprint will have finished before we even see the athletes in the blocks.
That's it. I'm officially outraged. I'm heading down to Tiananmen to protest - in real time.

Corrupt politician sentenced to death

Bribery, favours for real estate developers, political corruption, hundreds of thousands of Euro worth of cash and property. It's a familiar tale.
But for former Beijing politician, Zhou Liangluo, the punishment for lining his own pockets while helping contractors land major development projects will be death.
Zhou accepted cash and a villa with a total value of around €1.4 million while serving as former head of Beijing's Haidian district. He shrugged off the sentence saying he would not appeal because the punishment was 'nothing unexpected'. He is one of 102 bureau head-level officials charged with corruption and bribery in Beijing in the past five years.
Now I'm not in favour of having the Taoiseach taken out and shot but...Bertie Ahern (pictured) might reflect on how things are done in China and be glad he lives in a nation so tolerant of politicians' financial irregularities.

The price of rice

'Call Uncle Ben, we're running out of rice!'
Oh that it were so simple.
The Financial Times is reporting that the price of rice jumped by 30% to an all-time high at the end of this week.
The reason? Global price stocks are at their lowest since 1976 - when the world's population was considerably smaller. On Thursday, Egypt, a leading exporter, imposed a ban on selling rice abroad in a bid to contain soaring local prices.
Rice is the staple diet for 2.5 billion people, mostly in Asia. As noted yesterday, even people not inclined to social protest will take to the streets if they've nothing to eat. You could get thrown in jail, but at least you might get a square meal there from time to time.
It's not beyond the realms of possibility that food security could replace the scramble for oil as the source of underlying tensions between nations in the coming decades.
It could bring new meaning to the term 'food fight'. (Sorry)

Why Chinese inflation is bad news for us, them....and pigs

Who cares about Chinese inflation? Well, I do. But not just because I happen to live in Beijing and bread is becoming a luxury product.
The Consumer Price Index hit a 12-year high of 8.7 last month. Stop yawning. This matters.
It's not just that the cost of living for 1.3 billion people is rising so fast that it could undo some of the dramatic improvements to living standards seen since China's economy took off - although that would be a decent enough reason to worry.
Inflation was one of the key drivers behind the unrest that spilled over into protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Instability in China means instability for the global economy, which would be unwelcome to say the least.
But, if you want a selfish reason to worry about it, think of the impact it would have if all the cheap Chinese goods currently lapped up by Europeans and Americans - clothes, electronics, household stuff - became significantly more expensive. With the Chinese seeking higher wages to keep up with inflation, the cost of exports will rise.
And as if that weren't enough...think of the poor swines. ["Oh won't somebody please think of the pigs!"] Pork prices are rocketing which means millions cannot afford a staple feature of China's typical diet.
All of this has bred a new form of crime: pig-jacking! Yep, that's right. According to Newsweek, people are kidnapping live little piggies en route to market, such is the soaring value of pig meat.
Remember though, we live in a global market so if the price of bread and pork soars here in China, it'll lead to further hikes in the West.
Better get those breakfast rolls while they're going...

Chinese hit back at 'media bias'

The China Daily is reporting that Chinese nationals living overseas are launching campaigns to highlight what they perceive as Western media bias. The West, they say, is distorting the Tibet situation to hurt China.
As well as a letter-writing campaign in Britain aimed at stopping Gordon Brown from meeting the Dalai Lama, new websites and forums have sprung up seeking to turn the spotlight on instances where the media has gotten it wrong.
Among them is www.anti-cnn.com which gives several examples of how websites in the US, Britain, Germany and France have mistakenly identified Nepalese and Indian police as Chinese military. They also provide original photographs which they say were cropped in order to put the worst possible spin on the situation in Tibet.
Interesting stuff. Have a look. It's written in terrible English but I won't hold that against them given how poor my Mandarin is.
Of course, if China would let journalists and international observers into Tibet to see what's happening, they wouldn't face so much ignorance from the media which are forced to write stories about something they can't see.
Bringing a small, hand-picked group of journalists to Tibet to meet Chinese victims of Tibetan rebel violence doesn't count as press freedom.
More about that visit, see here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7315895.stm