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Peter Herford's China Diary is an occasional series of contributions on public diplomacy and soft power issues in the Peoples Republic of China.

CHINA TAPS NEWS MEDIA, RESTRICTS INTERNET AS P.D. TOOLS DURING DISPUTE WITH JAPAN
APR 27, 2005 - 1:29PM PDT
SHANTOU, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, CHINA
by Peter Herford

Two recent developments in China point to the tools of media and public opinion control available to the Chinese government and how they are used.

Most recently, Japan-China relations have deteriorated on the heels of an old dilemma: How Japan handles history.

In 1937-38 during the war between China and Japan, Nanjing was the scene of a genocidal slaughter of about 300,000 Chinese. It was hardly a secret. Many nations condemned the event. The Japanese, hardly beloved after their invasion of Manchuria in 1931, were reviled. What has come to be known as the Rape of Nanjing has never been... FULL TEXT
 
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FOLLOW THE MONEY: IS TAIWAN ALREADY THE NEW HONG KONG?
APR 19, 2005 - 12:27PM PDT
SHANTOU, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, CHINA
by Peter Herford

In China there’s been a year’s worth of growth in the few months since my last dispatch.

You name it, and it has grown in China. Some examples: the Chinese trade surplus, the Chinese trade surplus with the U.S., and the Chinese trade balance with the rest of Asia, which has gone from deficit to surplus.

The numbers are staggering. Just a few months ago I wrote, “China herself is a debtor in much of the rest of the world. Particularly in Asia.” True then. Wrong now. About the only deficit remaining for the Chinese is with their Middle Eastern... FULL TEXT
 
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PRC LESS CRITICAL OF US THAN MANY COUNTRIES; IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ALMIGHTY YUAN
JAN 14, 2005 - 3:56PM PDT
SHANTOU, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, CHINA
by Peter Herford

China, is an excellent example of the complexity of the American image abroad. U.S. China relations are intertwined at every level of politics, economics, and society and becoming more so daily.

Let me put this in a factual context.

China is now the seventh largest economy in the world. Within five years it is likely to be the fourth largest.

China is already the third largest automobile market in the world behind the U.S. and Japan, having just passed Germany. But most important, and likely what you read about most is the debtor-creditor relationship between the U.S. and China. A... FULL TEXT
 
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