China`s `negative news?` - Motta, Fernandes Rocha Advogados
Transcrição
China`s `negative news?` - Motta, Fernandes Rocha Advogados
Opinion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2012 China’s ‘negative news?’ O nly four years ago, Beijing played host to the summer Olympics and amazed the world with its modernity and sophistication. The event was widely seen as China’s coming out party and signaled its readiness to become a major world power. Visitors were dazzled by the glittering capital and its high-rises. As the official website of the Beijing Olympics stated, the city was “an international metropolis’’ with an “impressive modern skyline, a reflection of its rapid economic development.’’ However, the recent July 20-21 rainstorm, which resulted in the death of 77 people, has provided a glimpse behind the city’s glossy facade. Now, it is clear that while externally the city featured some of the world’s most marvelous architecture, beneath the surface the infrastructure to support these modern buildings was not in place. Typically, the Communist party’s propaganda apparatus sprang into action, calling for fewer stories on death and destruction and more “positive’’ reporting. Experts, perhaps unaware of the full extent of the damage, declared the emergency response as “effective’’ and, in fact, “even better than that of the United States.” News media was told not to raise questions about whether the government had responded rapidly enough or whether enough was done to prevent the floods. The censors went so far as to delete Views From Overseas Frank Ching Journalist, Commentator in Hong Kong eight pages of flood-related coverage in the Southern Weekly, published in Guangdong province. Despite these steps, or perhaps because of them, postings on the Internet suggested a growing anger on the part of the people, who felt that the government was not doing enough to help flood victims. In fact, some police, instead of helping, were giving tickets to abandoned cars stuck in the water. The Chinese public was skeptical about what little information the municipal government disclosed, including the death toll, which the authorities insisted for five days was only 37. The government explained that it could not update the death toll because it had not identified all the bodies. Even the People’s Daily, the Communist party’s flagship newspaper, found this explanation unacceptable. It ran a commentary under the headline “Casualty numbers are not a sensitive topic,’’ and asked why it wasn’t possible to publish a death toll first and report the identities later. Alluding to the propaganda from NASA does gold medal dismount on Mars authorities about sensitivity to “negative news,’’ the paper said: “People are paying less attention to ‘negative news’ and more attention to how the government deals with ‘negative news.’” Clearly, it feared that the government was losing the trust of the people. After an updated death toll of 77 was released, the official Xinhua news agency quite untypically pointed out that this was not done “until the public and media criticized the government over its failure to release the figures in a more timely manner.’’ It added sarcastically that by then even “the death toll of the city’s livestock had already been calculated and released.’’ It is encouraging that Chinese media is bold enough to criticize officials and to offer them advice. However, this is a case of national-level media criticizing a municipal government. The case of Southern Weekend, meanwhile, suggests that a regional media organ is in no position to resist central propaganda authorities. One positive sign is that the two highest officials of Beijing municipality, party secretary Guo Jinlong and acting mayor Wang Anshan, both went to Fangshan, the city’s worst hit district, to mourn disaster victims. Mr. Guo said the disaster had provided an extremely deep lesson that should be remembered forever while Mr. Wang said the municipal government would consider the public’s criticism and “constantly improve its efforts to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.’’ But even if officials are sincere the job ahead is enormous. As the Global Times, affiliated with the People’s Daily, frankly acknowledged, “in terms of drainage technology, China is decades behind developed societies.’’ As visitors were told during the Olympics, Beijing was the capital city during the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is an ancient city whose drainage system was built during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) periods. The system still holds up well in the Forbidden City, home to China’s emperors, but it cannot withstand a major challenge. Fixing drainage pipes isn’t romantic but it is vital if Beijing is to present itself to the world as a modern capital. This is one problem that can’t be swept under the carpet. Frank Ching is a journalist and commentator based in Hong Kong. Email the writer at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @FrankChing1. Rover Curiosity on Mars By Dale McFeatters The most elaborate, technically difficult and demanding dismount came not in the London Olympics but 352 million miles away in a vast Martian crater. In a sequence NASA called “seven minutes of terror,” the mobile science lab Curiosity decelerated from 13,000 mph to be gently deposited on the ground through an elaborated choreographed sequence involving a giant parachute, 79 separate detonations to jettison ballast, protective shields and the parachute itself. A “sky crane” with retro rockets then took over and with Curiosity safely in place, cut its tethers and flew off to crash a safe distance away. It was the end of a journey that began last Nov. 26. One slip-up and $2.5 billion would have been down the drain. Martian expeditions are no sure thing even when it’s a fly-by with no landing involved. The Associated Press says of more than three dozen attempts since the 1960s more than half ended disastrously. Thus the understandable reaction of engineer Allen Chen, the deputy leader of the rover’s descent and landing: “I can’t believe this. This is unbelievable.” Curiosity was not a tiny craft like the two rovers launched in 2004 with expected life spans of three months. (One of which, Opportunity, against all odds, is still trundling around the planet.) Curiosity is a nuclear-powered, sixwheel research vehicle the size of a small car, packed with scientific instruments, and with an Earth weight of a ton. Curiosity went right to work and began transmitting photos back to Earth, the start of its two-year mission to learn as much about the Red Planet as possible, particularly looking for any evidence that Mars once supported life. The successful landing was an important victory for NASA, which has seen the end of the space shuttle program and its most ambitious projects canceled for budgetary reasons or by changes in administrations. President Barack Obama, who has been accused by Republicans of being insufficiently ardent about “American exceptionalism,” called the landing an “unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future.” Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Charles Elachi put the feat in a more contemporary context. “This team came back with the gold,” he said. Indeed they did and sincere congratulations to all. Dale McFeatters is an editorial writer for Scripps Howard News Service (www.scrippsnews.com). 1 Romney’s fumbling foreign-policy foray By Arthur I. Cyr Did the Obama presidential campaign stage-manage Mitt Romney’s foreign policy trip to Britain, Israel and Poland? Of course not, but then it didn’t have to. The result was the same as if the Obama team had. The public gaffes and blunders of the Republican presidential nominee-inwaiting have been truly stunning. The Romney visit to Britain was launched in the media by an unnamed adviser who praised “Anglo-Saxon heritage” in an off-the-record interview with a British newspaper. There is in fact a lot to praise about that heritage, which has given us the common-law tradition, trial by jury and also arguably our powerful proclivity for philanthropy beyond the boundaries of business and government. However, the staffer instead provided media and political critics with an opportunity to attack Romney’s camp for elitism, insensitivity and even racism. That is unfair, but who said political campaigns are fair? Even then, deft sound-bite salvos could have recovered Romney’s ground. He should have immediately emphasized his minion meant the Anglo-American “special relationship,” also referred to in the interview, vital to victory in World War II and instrumental in creating the United Nations and other international institutions. President Barack Obama, after visiting London, declared dramatically that the British never used torture during World War II, which is factually wrong. He also abruptly sent back to the British government a bust of Winston Churchill that graced the Oval Office, presented to President George W. Bush by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Churchill, pivotal in protecting democracy and defeating the Axis in World War II, has recently become a posthumous target of British activists on the loony left, offended by his lack of political correctness. They ironically confirm his importance in leading the coalition that saved freedom, including theirs. That point and others could have been made by the Romney campaign. Instead, the candidate publicly pummeled the British for problems plaguing the current London Olympics, thus offending many people far removed from the political left. Prime Minister David Cameron rightly retorted with cutting effect. In Israel, Romney predictably underscored the vital partnership with the United States. Here as well, however, he and his organization could not resist complicating things. His public denigration of Palestinian culture as explanation for that population’s economic hardships, delivered before a Jewish audience at a Jerusalem fundraiser, was gratuitous and unfair. In Poland, Romney was endorsed by Lech Walesa, former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. As leader of the labor union Solidarity, Walesa was instrumental in ending Soviet domination in his country, and indirectly by example in the rest of Eastern Europe as well. Romney wisely also visited monuments in Gdansk and Warsaw honoring veterans of World War II and Solidarity, and victims of the Holocaust. He could easily have added visits with American military personnel to his trip itinerary. Apparently, his corporate-style campaign staff did not even consider that. To repair the serious damage done on this safari, Romney can regularly note the heroism of the Polish people and others, and emphasize to voters the service of our own military people. Conventional wisdom holds that foreign policy does not have an important role in presidential campaigns and elections. However, that is an oversimplification. In recent years, most of the public has viewed Republicans as more effective than Democrats in protecting national security. The Romney campaign retains but now risks squandering this asset. Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., and author of “After the Cold War.” Email [email protected]. 9 Asian tiger stalks Brazilian jungle By Michael Altit T his year Brazil is commemorating 40 years since the arrival of the first Korean immigrants in the country. They initially settled in the city of Sao Paulo, and mainly engaged in small business ventures. With an innate understanding of the importance of education as a path to social inclusion, coupled with sheer tenacity and hard work, they were able to ascend both socially and economically. Today, they are present at all levels of Brazilian society as successful politicians, doctors, professors, and businessmen. Brazil has been traversing an important and unique moment, which started with the consolidation of democracy and control of inflation marked by the introduction of the Brazilian real in 1994. Everything relating to Brazil is supersized: the national territory (8.51 million square kilometers), population (192 million), and the sheer diversity and volume of its natural resources. For instance, some specialists have estimated that the country’s newly found pre-salt oil reserves might yield from 70 to 100 billion barrels of oil. The country’s ability to cruise through the 2009 crisis practically unscathed, and with positive growth, has attracted the attention of businesses and investors around the globe. However, there is still much to be done, taking into account the country’s immense needs in terms of infrastructure, technology, and specialized labor, all of which are essential if the country hopes to maintain the current momentum and truly differentiate itself from other emerging market economies. Moreover, the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games will also require further investment. With a keen eye, Korean ventures have identified opportunities, and could play an even greater role in this process. In this scenario, Korean investments in Brazil continue to accelerate. According to the Brazilian Central Bank (BACEN), the South American giant received more than $1 billion in direct investments from Korea in 2011. This represented only 1.5 percent of total direct investments in Brazil for the year. Nonetheless, this entails an increase of approximately 688 percent vis-a-vis 2009. The overall sentiment is that the investment spree has only just started, and should increase considerably in the near future. For instance, the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s industrial and financial locomotive, recently organized a seminar geared towards Korean investors interested in investing in Brazil. As widely divulged in the Brazilian specialized press, approximately 100 participants, from a wide range of business segments (oil and gas, telecommunications, real estate, alternative energy, water and sewage, among others) attended the event. Unlike countries with a long-established presence in Brazil (Japan, Germany and the United States spring to mind), Korean investors have been carefully — but surely — learning with great speed and fearless determination, to navigate Brazil’s complex business and legal environments. Currently, together with Korean titans Hyundai Motor, Doosan, LG and Samsung, there are more than 100 Korean-related ventures already operating in the country, including smalland medium-sized companies. More are expected. The complexities of Brazil’s tax, labor and regulatory legal environment have not deterred them. In developing their investment business strategy, Korean ventures have adopted a multidisciplinary approach. They are fast learners, and are keen to use the latest legal and financial technology available to maximize returns their investments. Strategic decisions are taken only after a thorough investigation of all relevant aspects of the business alternatives available, traditionally followed by on-site visits and face-to-face contact with local partners and service providers. Some of their major concerns have been more affordable funding, broad access to capital markets and the possibility of simultaneous access to local and international sources of financing, including BNDES — the Brazilian Federal Development Bank — and its diverse lines of financing. Instead of straightforward direct investments, typical in similar circumstances, some Korean investors have decided to invest in Brazil using local funds. One of the advantages is better management of profits and losses arising out of the project and a more efficient dividend policy. Another example is instead of capitalizing the target project with the usual cross-border loans, investors have considered the issuance of debentures, or local securities. These can be purchased by Brazilian and international institutional investors, and, provided some specific conditions are met, they allow the foreign investor to receive interest payments free of withholding tax, thus reducing the final cost of funding for the borrower. This kind of innovative business approach places a lot of pressure on both legal and financial advisors. At the same time, it also affords new opportunities for service providers to render services that effectively create and add value to investment decisions. The process is just beginning. The hunt is on! Michael Altit is a senior partner at the Brazilian law firm Motta, Fernandes Rocha (www.mfra.com.br). He has a B.A. in law from Sao Paulo University and an L.L.M. from Harvard Law School. Letter to the Editor Foreign aid useless for Pakistanis According to media reports, the United States released $1.1 billion to Pakistan from the coalition support fund after the two countries signed an agreement to regulate NATO supplies to Afghanistan. Pakistan will also get extra $84 million after reopening the NATO supply route. Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of U.S. assistance and nearly $3 billion in U.S. aid to Pakistan is planned for year 2012. True reality is that over the last several years U.S. aid served only the interest of the elite class and corrupt politicians in Pakistan and could not change fortunes of ordinary Pakistani people. Despite large amounts of foreign aid, foreign debts have already reached $62 billion and the country is facing worsening energy and power crises. Pakistani people believe that large amounts of money have already gone to Swiss Banks through corrupt politicians and Pakistan’s Supreme Court is trying hard to bring back this corruption money but due to a lack of government interest it seems an impossible task. Instead of providing money to unpopular and corrupt elements, the U.S. should try to make good relations with ordinary Pakistani people. Direct U.S. investment into the energy and power sector can bring better results and also win the hearts and minds of ordinary Pakistani people. Pakistan is also seeking a role in U.S. and international markets to boost economic activities, especially in the textile sector. Due to worsening peace conditions, the worsening energy crises and failed economic policies, foreign investment has already dried up in the country and unemployment is rising very rapidly. Now the government is seeking another loan from the IMF on humiliating conditions and despite large amounts of foreign aid ordinary Pakistani people find nothing to improve their lives. Khawaja Umer Farooq Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Email : [email protected]