Ambassador Jon Huntsman
Don’t miss this year’s “China Town Hall” sponsored by the National Committee on US-China Relations on Monday, October 18 starting at 7 pm. The China Town Hall is a night of China events, with the keynote address live from Ambassador Jon Huntsman (via webcast). In its fourth year, this year’s event will likely prove to be the most interesting. China has become a major campaign issue in the U.S.’ mid-term elections, the trade imbalance does not seem to be improving, currency is still pegged, and China doesn’t seem keen on allowing for greater freedom in the wake of the Nobel Peace Prize award to Liu Xiaobo. To be sure Ambassador Huntsman will likely address some, if not all, of these issues.
While you can watch the event on your own over the web (here: http://www.ncuscr.org/programs/cth), life is always more fun when you do things with others! The National Committee is sponsoring various educational institutions across the country to host events and this year, Prof. Maggie Lewis of Seton Hall University School of Law will be hosting a China Town Hall, with Prof. Carl Minzner of Washington University in St. Louis School of Law providing comments and context to what will sure to be an exciting night. RSVP is required for this event: http://law.shu.edu/About/News_Events/china-town-hall-rsvp.cfm
China Town Hall
Monday, October 18, 2010
7 p.m. – Discussion with Prof. Carl Minzner
8 p.m. – Live webcast featuring Amb. Jon Huntsman
Seton Hall University School of Law
One Newark Center
Newark, NJ
(Directions: http://law.shu.edu/About/Directions.cfm – literally a hop skip & jump from midtown – 15 minutes on NJ Transit)
RSVP here: http://law.shu.edu/About/News_Events/china-town-hall-rsvp.cfm
For those not in the NYC-area, check out the listings of Town Hall events in your location: http://www.ncuscr.org/programs/cth
With the remaining three weeks of summer, China Law & Policy will be hitting the beach, so blogging might be less than regular. Do not be alarmed. We anticipate returning to regular blogging post-Labor Day. There might be a few articles here and there before that – who knows what China-related things might be happening at the beach and China thoughts we might have will sipping mai tais in the sun. But we will be actively back starting Sept. 7.
Thank you for your continued readership!
Will China allow its currency to float?
As Marcy Nicks Moody pointed out in her article, “A Dusty Springfield Approach to the Chinese Exchange Rate,” the Treasury Department was to release its report on international economic and exchange rate policies on April 15. But last week, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced that he would delay the release of the report noting that key meetings with world leaders in the upcoming months necessitated the delay. Many saw this as a sign that the U.S. was in dialogue with the Chinese about the exchange rate with the real possibility that China would give its currency some freedom.
But in today’s New York Times, Michael Wines reports that perhaps we shouldn’t be so sure. Domestic fiscal and monetary policy issues are pushing Chinese leaders not to float the yuan, Chinese currency (a.k.a. the renminbi or RMB). Interestingly, the online version of this article has the title “China’s Recovery Keeps Focus on Interest Rates and Currency” while the title in today’s paper version is the more explosive “China Move on Currency Not at Hand.”
So will China succumb to foreign pressure or will it remain focused on its own recovery and not look to change its currency policy just yet? You decide. Take our poll on this issue listed on the left hand side of the website. Results will be posted next Friday, April 23.
Welcome to the Year of the Tiger! February 14 marks the start of the new year for China as well as most other East Asian countries. Tiger years are never dull and are often marked by huge and dramatic changes, both for individuals and for the world-at-large. So if you thought 2009 was a bit of a roller coaster, you haven’t seen anything yet. It’s generally not a year to be asleep at the wheel and you should seek to take advantage of every opportunity.
But to know what is really in store for you, you need to first know your own Chinese zodiac sign. Each animal in the zodiac fares differently in the Year of the Tiger. Click here to learn your sign and learn your fortune for 2010.
The Lunar New Year, also known as Chun Jie (the Spring Festival) in China is a 15-day holiday, when Chinese from the cities will return to their parents’ homes in the countryside and families spend the most of that time together. The New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese calander.
To all of our Chinese and East Asian friends, Gong Xi Fa Cai (pronounced Gong See Fa Tsai)! May your new year be filled with family, fortune and luck!
Curling – a.k.a. shuffle board on ice – is a sport long dominated by Canadians. But in next week’s Olympic Games, 
Canada might cede its Olympic dominance to….China? Yes, to China. In fact, some would argue it already has – in women’s curling, China currently holds the world title. So it will be interesting to see China attempt to topple Canada while in Vancouver. On top of that, China’s curling coach, Dan Rafael, hails from Canada. Expect the Canadians to fight back with a vengeance.
The Chinese government puts a lot of stock in its athletes’ performances at the Olympics. During Beijing’s 2008 summer games, China won a total of 51 medals, with the U.S. in second place with less than 35. China will come nowhere near such numbers in the winter games, but it expects to take home more than the 11 medals it did after the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. In addition to potentially winning gold in curling, China is expected to medal in freestyle skiing, snowboarding halfpipe, speed skating and pairs figure skating.
In the past 10 years, China has put a lot of capital – both financial and human – into its Olympic training programs. Chinese athletes are able to excel because all they do is practice; Olympic training is 100% subsidized by the government with the athletes receiving salaries from the state. Athletes are chosen at a young age and come of age in the countries sporting training centers. Usually, their education takes a back seat to their training.
Why? Why should a country that still has a large number of people living in poverty, put so much money into Olympic sports? It’s a way for China to prove that it has “made it.” China’s rise does not come without baggage. After ruling Asia, if not the world, for much of its 2,000 year history, starting in 1800, China was brought to its knees by the Western powers, first with the British after the Opium Wars and then other foreign powers when China was divided in various spheres of influences. China has not forgotten this history and often brings it up – Chinese news reports about its Olympics exploits will mention that China is no longer the “sick man of Asia.” The Chinese government also uses this history to increasing nationalist pride among its people. It’s this nationalism that helps the Chinese Communist Party stay in power.
While some may be unsettled by China’s Olympic ambitions, others say, bring it on. Really, the Olympics has not been nearly as interesting in our post-Cold War world. Who can forget the sight of huge East German female swimmers? Or judges from Soviet-bloc nations voting against Western athletes? And the U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. hockey game? It was a time when people actually watched the Olympics and when medals won was more than a victory in a sport, it was a triumph of an ideology. Without the drama, intrigue and flaming of nationalist passions, what’s the point? Maybe now NBC will be able to turn a profit on its Olympic coverage.
Just for Fun, Uncategorized
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Beijing Olympics, China, China medal count, curling, Dan Rafael, figure skating, freestyle skiing, Olympic training in China, snowboarding halfpipe, speedskating, Vancouver, winter Olympics
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