Google vs. China: Google draws line at censorship in prize market

A Chinese Google user presents flowers to the Google China headquarters in Beijing on Wednesday.

On January 13, 2010, Dr. Wenran Jiang was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor on Google’s recent dramatic threat to close its business in China unless the authorities allow it to provide uncensored search results throws into stark relief the limits to globalization.

Dr. Jiang notes that China’s leaders use their tight control over information as a key tool with which to shore up their power. They see the Internet as a potentially dangerous conduit of information that “Western subversive forces” use to foment dissatisfaction in restive parts of the country such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

Since ethnic riots in the Xinjiang capital, Urumuqi, killed more than 200 people last June, Internet access has been all but cut off in the region. Social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been blocked throughout the country.

Wenran predicts that while Beijing accepted international trade rules to join the World Trade Organization and a globalized economy, it will not adopt international standards on information freedom any time soon.

“In the long run, they cannot control information, and they will have to find ways to accommodate dissident views,” Wenran says. “But at the moment, they have no other way but censorship."

You can read the whole story here.

Breakdown of Australian natural gas deal shows China becoming more market savvy

On January 6, 2010, Dr. Wenran Jiang was quoted by the Canadian Press on the recent breakdown of PetroChina's deal to invest in a US$40-billion Australian natural gas project and the message it sent to Canada.
For Dr. Jiang, it shows that Chinese national oil companies are getting more sophisticated in dealing with the international market, and resource-rich countries like Canada can't sit idly by and wait for Chinese investment to roll in.

The deal would have seen the Chinese state-owned firm buy up to three million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year from the Australian offshore project for up to two decades.


While PetroChina did not immediately offer an explanation for its move Tuesday, observers said the Australian project likely lost some of its financial appeal since it was first conceived in Sept. 2007.

"You can see that when the market is not that favourable, they just drop it like that," said Dr. Jiang.

You can read the full story here.

PetroChina's $1.9B buy in oilsands approved

The federal government on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for PetroChina to buy a $1.9-billion stake in a pair of oilsands projects in northeast Alberta in what observers are saying herald warming trade ties between the two countries.

Dr. Wenran Jiang said the deal marks a turnaround in policy on the part of the Harper government who had previously been critical of the communist country’s human rights record.

A series of high-profile visits by Canadian officials in recent months, including a state visit by the Prime Minister himself, has rekindled the once-chilly relationship leading to greater confidence on the part of the Chinese to invest in Canada.

“It’s a very small number, but it’s big for Canada,” Wenran said in an interview. “The Chinese recognize there has been a major policy shift. Expect more Chinese investment in the resource and energy sectors ... there will definitely be more.”

ID card proponents push for single system

On December 12, 2008, I was quoted by Ontarion newspaper Business Edge on a proposal calling for the creation of a single identification-card system that can be used by frequent business travellers in both North America and Asia.

I noted that this new system would be a welcome step for travellers as it could reduce the stress associated with customs clearance.

To read the story, click here.

Bosworth in Pyongyang: Mission Impossible?

On December 08, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang was invited by CNN to comment on top U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth's high profile visit to North Korea.

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China expects Harper's visit to renew bilateral relationship

On November 26 and December 1, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang was quoted in sohu.com and the China Daily commenting on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to China. Dr. Jiang says this visit will renew ties between both countries and establish new trade opportunities.

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Canada needs to articulate a clear China strategy

On December 2, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang published a commentary on the Canadian International Council. In the article, Dr Jiang argues, despite Harper's much anticipated visit to China, the Harper cabinet needs to formulate a strategic China policy and improve the bilateral trade and investment relationship.



To read the full story, please click here.

Dr Jiang was also quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press, The Globe and Mail, and The Canadian Press, commenting on the Conservative government's foreign policy towards China since they came to power.

To read the stories in full, please visit the following links:

The costs of a tattered connection

China slap? Turn the other cheek, shake hands and get on with business: experts

Experts urge Harper not to lose focus on Asian opportunity

Obama Wraps up China Visit

On November 18 and 19, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor and the Malaysian Insider commenting on U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to China.

Dr. Jiang commented on China - US relations, particularly the interdependence of the two economies.

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The credit crisis and the world's financial architecture

On October 23, 2008, Dr. Jiang was interviewed in The Agenda program on TVO. The topic was "The credit crisis and the world's financial architecture: Are 20th century institutions up to the task of managing 21st century problems?"

Dr. Jiang stated that developing nations like China should be given an elevated position within the decision-making and agenda-setting structure of World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

To listen to this edition's podcast, please click here.

U. S. Climate debate why America needs more Canada

On September 26, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was quoted in Calgary Herald on Canada-U.S. energy relations.

You can read the article here.

China's Diplomatic Adventure in Israel and Arab Nations

On September 23, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was quoted in BBC Chinese News Service on China's recent diplomatic adventure in Israel and Arab nations.

You can read the article, in Chinese, here.

Canadian government slow to woo Asia's giants

On September 18, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was quoted in Ottawa Citizen on Canada's Conservative government's attempts to thaw relations with China, after a chilly start.

You can read the article here.

China's move into oil sands irks the U.S.

On September 01, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was quoted in the Globe and Mail commenting on the news that PetroChina Co. Ltd.'s $1.9-billion investment in Alberta's oil sands venture is raising alarms in Washington.

You can read the article here.

Stern Hu knows the stakes at play

On July 18, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was interviewed by the Australian on the detention of four Rio Tinto executives last week in Shanghai, China, on charges of bribing staff of Chinese steel companies during iron ore negotiations this year.

In the interview, Wenran recalls Stern Hu, one of the detained Rio Tinto executives, from their days together at Beijing University. They were both studying in the history department there 30 years ago. He noted that it's unfortunate to see what's happening to him. In the world of commercial negotiations, the borderline between what is public information and what is a state secret may be easily crossed or blurred in China.

Now, Jiang says, because of China's desire to re-regulate the industry and the resulting media insistence that Chinese businesses that have acted detrimentally to that goal must pay a price, many of Hu's Chinese customers will be shaking, wondering when the police will knock on their door.

You can read the article here.

Chinese buying spree bypasses Canada

On July 17, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was interviewed by Calgary Herald on China's growing need for energy and its continued quest to shore up supply through overseas buying spree in Brazil, Central Asia, Venezuela, and Russia. What's curious, however, is that none of those deals has taken place in Canada.

In the paper, Dr. Jiang lists a number of reasons for this apparent lack of activity. One of those factors is the lack of pipeline infrastructure to the west coast that could facilitate the export of oilsands production to China and other countries in the Far East. Jiang makes reference to the memorandum of understanding signed with Enbridge back in 2005 in connection with the Gateway Pipeline, but it's been almost four years since that time and the pipeline has yet to be built.

You can read the article here.

Is China Really a Melting Pot?

Banner image: Ethnic Uighurs go about their daily lives in Xinjiang's famed Silk Road city of Kashgar in China's far northwestern, mainly Muslim Xinjiang region.
Photo: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

On July 14, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was interviewed by KCRW Radio on the July 6 Uyghur riots occurred in the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

First the Tibetans, now the Uighurs, are challenging China's central authority. Can 56 very different cultural and linguistic groups continue to get along?

During the interview, Dr. Jiang said that Han population in the Xinjiang Region has grown from 6 percent to over 40 percent now, but the current migration trend is motivated more by economic opportunism of the "outsiders". Nevertheless, many Uyghurs view this as an infringement over their lives and interests. The tension is on the rise and it threatens stability in the region.

You can listen to the entire audio clip available on the KCRW website. Wenran's comment starts around at 31:00 minutes from the beginning.

Uighur Unrest Seen Highighting China's Ethnic Tensions

On July 13, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was interivewed by the AFP, commenting on the July 6 Uyghur riots occurred in the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

In the article, Dr. Jiang urges Beijing to squarely face the reality about how minorities are being treated by Hans, not only in Xinjiang, but in the rest of the country.

Even though China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported following the unrest that Xinjiang's economy quadrupled to 400 billion yuan ($60 billion) in 2008 compared with how it stood in 1997, Wenran noted that this has not produced the intended consequences of uplifting the local people as much as the Hans.

You can read the article here.

During the past few days, Wenran also did several interviews with OMNI TV, CBC National Radio News national security reporter Bill Gillespie, and CBC Radio Active Hop Spot host Peter Brown on the same topics, providing his comments, the background of the Xinjing riot, and its latest development.

Resource-rich Xinjiang crucial to China

On July 12, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was interviewed by the AFP on the July 6 Uyghur riots occurred in the capital of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Wenran noted that the strategic importance of Xinjiang - it takes up one sixth of China's land mass and borders Central Asia - meant any long-term unrest would not be tolerated. He told the AFP during the interview that Xinjing is China's northwest frontier, and like Tibet, is absolutely vital to the country's security. Beijing will not compromise in any way on these regions.

You can read the article here.

West Coast oilsands exports at record, Shipments open new markets for Alberta crude

On July 09, 2009, Dr. Wenran Jiang, Mactaggart Research Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta, was interviewed by the Calgary Herald on Canada's record high oil shipment in spring 2009 through the Port of Vancouver bounding for Asian markets. It was the first time tanker shipments have exceeded the 100,000 bpd threshold. The prospect of Canadian crude exports to China has also increased in proportion to China's growing oil consumption.

Wenran Jiang said China has made major acquisitions of Canadian companies such as Petro-Kazakhstan and, more recently, the $8.27-billion purchase of Addax Petroleum. However, he noted a reluctance on the part of the Chinese authorities to do deals in Canada itself. China will hold off on major investments in Canada until Canadian producers take concrete steps to provide long-term stable supplies, he said.

You can read the article here.