Archive for February 16th, 2006
China Revises Economic Growth Upward
In January, China’s National Statistic Bureau released a report revising its GDP growth for the past several years upward significantly.
The NSB reviseed upward GDP growht estimates for every year from 1993 to 2004 except for 1998. Based on the new figures, China’s economy grew an average of 9.9 percent annually from 1993-2004.
And these new figures may still understimate the growth of China’s GDP since it is so difficult to accurately measure much of China’s economic activity which occurs in cash transactions.
Despite all this growth, China has maintained a very low inflation rate.
After decades of mismanagement under Communist management, China’s economy today is the sixth largest in the world. Despite the huge population it has, however, its economy is still only about half the size of the United States.
Source:
China lifts annual growth figures. BBC, January 9, 2006.
Tags: China
The Horrors of Rising Out of Poverty
At one time, organizations like WorldWatch said that countries such as China and India were doomed to poverty and starvation unless drastic action was taken to reduce the population of such countries. Instead, what has happened is that China and India are gradually pulling themselves out of poverty. Rather than be glad their doomsaying predictions did not come true, however, now WorldWatch and other warn that a wealthy China or India is even worse than poverty and hunger.
In a press release announcing publication of its 2006 State of the World, WorldWatch said,
“Rising demand for energy, food, and raw materials by 2.5 billion Chinese and Indians is already having ripple effects worldwide,” says WorldWatch President Christopher Flavin. “Meanwhile, record-shattering consumption levels in the U.S. and Europe leave little room for this projected Asian growth.” The resulting global resource squeeze is already evident in riots over rising oil prices in Indonesia, growing pressure on Brazil’s forests and fisheries, and the loss of manufacturing jobs in Central America.
Typical WorldWatch nonsense. Consider the Indonesian oil price riots. Presumably, WorldWatch is referring to disturbance that occurred in October 2005 when the government announced fuel price increases of 87 percent to 186 percent depending on the type of fuel.
But Indonesia’s fuel price problems have less to do with a global resource squeeze than a local excess of corruption and poor investment in that nation’s oil resources. Southeast Asia’s only OPEC member, Indonesia is forced to import oil because of the government’s longstanding mismanagement of its petroleum resources.
Those policies (or lack thereof) are then compounded by Indonesia’s tremendous outlay for fuel subsidies which artificially lowered the price of fuel for Indonesians. Indonesia spends up to 1/3rd of its total government budget on fuel subsidies.
Indonesia’s problem — like much of the poor in the Third World — is endemic mismanagement and corruption, not its increase in population and/or wealth.
Sources:
Indonesia clashes over fuel hike. The BBC, October 1, 2005.
Tags: Indonesia
China Releases Imprisoned Journalist After 5 Years
In early January, Chian released journalist Jiang Weiping after he served five years of a six year sentence for daring to publish details about official corruption in China.
In 2001, Jiang was sentenced to six years in jail for publishing details about alleged corruption by Liaoning provincial governor Bo Xilai as well as details of corruption by other officials. Bo, meanwhile, was promoted to commerce minister.
For his efforts, Jiang was charged with revealing state secrets and sentenced to eight years in jail, which was later reduced to six years.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, China currently imprisons more journalists than any other country in the world, with 32 journalists in jail in 2005.
Sources:
China frees corruption journalist. The BBC, January 4, 2006.
The Price of Integrity. Press Release, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2001.
Journalists In Prison. Committee to Protect Journalists, 2006.
Tags: China