China Watch: Magical New Maglev, Fire the Ambassador?
A list of what the Wall Street Journal’s reporters in China are reading and watching online, periodically updated throughout the day. (NOTE: WSJ has not verified items in the ‘News’ section and does not vouch for their accuracy.) Last updated: 7:22 pm Beijing time.
NEWS:
- Chinese scientists at Southwest Jiaotong University have developed a model maglev train that runs in a vacuum tube and can travel as fast as an airplane, the Global Times reports. Whether it will ever be put to use is another question, with one expert quoted in the story calling the train “complete scientific fantasy.”
- The first of two planes sent to retrieve up 480 Chinese nationals stranded in Egypt has landed in Beijing, Xinhua reports. Meanwhile, Hainan Airlines today dispatched another plane to pick up some of the 300 or so who remain in Egypt. It’s not clear from the reports if all of them will fit on the third plane.
- CNET interviews theater/tech geek Mike Daisey, creator of “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,” about his faith-testing visit to Shenzhen in search of the truth about how Apple products are made in China.
ANALYSIS:
- Remember when Americans actually wanted China to prosper? China politics guru Jeff Wasserstrom explains in an essay for Time how he thinks the U.S.-China relationship needs to change.
- We noted earlier on China Watch how some had praised Chinese president Hu Jintao for giving ground on human rights during his visit to the White House last month. Writing for The China Beat, Alice Miller of the Hoover Institution weighs how much of a concession Hu really offered.
- The Atlantic’s James Fallows wonders why Jon Huntsman, U.S. China envoy (and future 2012 GOP presidential candidate?), would be allowed to hang around in Beijing after reportedly submitting his resignation. (China watcher Bill Bishop also thinks Barack Obama should pull a Donald Trump on Mr. Huntsman.)
- Environmental policy doctoral student Angel Hsu does a fine job partially translating and explaining China’s new air quality transparency index.
JUST BECAUSE:
- Want to learn the art of bribery in China? The Sydney Morning Herald offers lessons courtesy of graft master Hu Gang.
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