Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan

The staging of the Second General Assembly of the World Uyghyr Congress in Geneva last month gave the German secret service an opportunity to do so spying of their own. No, not on the ‘evil separatists’ but on the Chinese secret service Guoanbu. Very clever, Chinese spying on Uyghyrs, so the Germans can spy on the Chinese.

Or are the Germans really after Jack Bauer? Is this a case of the Germans getting their own back? Just kidding of course. Did a google image search for pictures of the Guoanbu and could only find a picture of a couple of shady Russians. A search for “Chinese secret service” brought up this enticing picture of Chiling Lin on Onemanbandwidth. Not sure of the connection, but I am sure there is a conspiracy theory to be found buried there if one cares to delve deep enough. I don’t.

The story of Identifying Chinese Secret Agents was posted on Intelligence Summit.

Identifying Chinese Agents

German intelligence agencies seized the occasion of the second World Uighur Congress (WUC) in Munich in late November to identify Guoanbu agents.

In seeing to the security WUC, the world movement of Moslem resistance in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, Germany’s Bundesverfassungschutz (BfV) and Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) identified new covers used by “fish in deep water” as the Chinese term their covert agents.

[Read more]

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My hometown paper, The Press has an interesting story running this morning on increased cultural diversity in Christchurch and in New Zealand as a whole.

People who identify as being of Asian origin now make up 7.9% of census respondents in Christchurch up from 4.4% in 1996. This means that Asians now outnumber Maori in Christchurch by 0.3%.

These statistics raise again the debate of biculturalism and multiculturalism. This debate raises a number of issues concerning the power structures in a society, as they fall along racial lines. For example in New Zealand you have the case of the Maori who were colonised by the British - a bicultural relationship, legitimated by The Treaty of Waitangi on which the country as we know it was created. In recognising a multicultural state the efficacy of both parties in bicultural terms is diluted.

Personally, living in Japan, I don’t have much at stake in such discussions. What does interest me is how, in the case of the United States, a diverse group of nationalites were able to combine to create “the American people” - and whether this experience is even possible today.

Asians outnumber Maori in city

There are now more Asians than Maori living in Christchurch, according to new Census results.

Figures for the 2006 Census show that 26,631 people – or 7.9 per cent of total respondents in Christchurch city – identified themselves as Asian, up from 4.4% in 1996. [Read more]

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There is a warning flashing on all of the tv channels we get, as well up on the yahoo.co.jp website of a tsunami approaching Northern Japan.

It seems to be heading to north-eastern Japan, especially the World Heritage wildlife reserve of Shiretoko. The t.v. is forecasting waves of 2 meters in that area. Down the eastern-honshuu coast waves of 0.5 meters are expected.

We are along way from the coast here in Tsukuba, so no worries there. The warning system seems extensive, as one would expect from Japan. It is amazing how quickly they get the warnings out there on television. I wonder what will happen in the future though, if we move to an internet based information system where everyone is watching one of a million different channels.

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Playing around with the site again. The design will change a bit over the next couple of weeks. My blog is still up and I look forward to your comments and feedback.

The next couple of weeks will be a bit flat out, so I don’t expect to be writing too much.

In the meantime you may want to check out some recent posts:

• Review: Randy Taguchi’s Outlet
• JAXA and a trip to Tsukuba Public Library
• Why deleting 30,000 youtube videos was wrong.
• Pythagorean Honda
• youtube deletes 30,000 Japanese vids
• More…

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Another positive note on the environmental front from Xinjiang - the glaciers in the Tangri Tagh mountains which supply the region with valuable drinking water have been closed to tourists.

BEIJING (Reuters): China has closed melting glaciers in its northwestern Xinjiang region to tourists who littered, polluted and even drove across the ice that provides water to millions, the official Xinhua agency said yesterday.

The glaciers in the Tianshan, or heavenly mountains, supply 2.3mn people in the regional capital Urumqi with drinking water but are shrinking by around 8m a year due to global warming and human activity.

Travel agencies had been offering unauthorised tours that drew around 2,000 visitors each year for as little as 20 yuan ($2.53) per person. As well as driving across the ice, careless tourists had damaged research equipment on one of the country’s most closely studied glaciers, the report added.

Glaciers covering China’s Qinghai-Tibet plateau, known as the “roof of the world”, are also shrinking by 7% a year.

Photo credit: A scan from a 35mm transparency which Simon Garbutt took on the South Inylchek Glacier in the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan in July 2002. The mountain is Pik Gorkogo (Gorkiy Peak) (6050 m) on the north side of the glacier, opposite the Inylchek base camp.

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In a bit of a Korla mash-up - a story from China Business Blog about the news that Xinjiang’s delicious fragrant pears will, after 13 years of negotiations be accepted for export to the United States of America.

China is to export fragrant pears specially grown in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the United State — after 13 years of negotiations.

More on the decision to export fragrant pears on the China Business blog.

And on another note, Michael, of The Opposite End of China fame has made it back safely from the Mt. Everest base camp. He has some beautiful pictures of the worlds highest mountain kingdom up on his blog with hopefully more coming soon.

On the subject of photos, this photo was stolen from Michaels blog by your truly and show my former Uyghur teacher in his family’s pear orchard. A great guy, and I am sure he is over the moon that his family’s produce can now be exported.

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Links between Pakistan and China are continuing to grow, with a visit from China Xinjiang Petroleum and Allied Services headed by General Manager Youting Kou to Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Amanaullah Khan Jadoon Tuesday. It is hoped that such exchanges will continue to promote the strong relationship the two countries have in the region.
From the People’s Daily Online:

Pakistan-China oil, gas cooperation rapidly growing: official

Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources of Pakistan Amanaullah Khan Jadoon has said that Pakistan-China cooperation in the oil and gas sector was rapidly growing for the mutual advantage, according to a petroleum ministry statement Tuesday.

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In business news today it was announced that the establishment of the China United Property Insurance Co. has been approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission. For someone from a country with a deregulated market economy the ownership of the company - the majority of shares held between different state organisations - makes one feel a little uncomfortable.

New insurance company receives CIRC approval

Sep. 19, 2006 (China Knowledge) – The application of China United (Holding) Corp. Ltd. to establish the China United Property Insurance Co. has been officially approved by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), according to a press release.

The registered capital of the United Property Insurance is RMB 1.5 billion, out of which RMB 1 billion will be injected by China United.
[Read more]

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