In Brief

1. Launch of "EU-China Civil Society Dialogue on Public Participatory Policy"
2. The forced disappearances of Ai Weiwei and others
3. China’s reaction over Japan’s nuclear crisis
4. On climate change, civil society and the China’s climate diplomacy
5. On Chinese foreign direct investment in Europe and Worldwide

The School of Contemporary Chinese Studies of University of Nottingham has been awarded a €1 million grant by the European Commission to establish a EU-China Civil Society Dialogue on Participatory Public Policy. From 2011 until 2013, it will foster durable and sustainable links between European and Chinese civil society stakeholders in eight policy areas, with specific objectives of

1. to improve the effectiveness of public participation in public policy making and implementation in China through a learning network on participatory public policy;

2. to establish an Annual Participatory Public Policy Innovation Award; and

3. to enhance the knowledge and understanding of relevant European stakeholders of the Chinese civil society environment.

The German Asia Foundation as a member of the EU-China Civil Society Forum is participating in this project and will focus on the policy areas Environmental Health and Labour Relations and closely cooperate with the Institute for Civil Society at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou.

Press Release of the Nottingham University, Project description

Amnesty International has reportedly estimated that more than 100 journalists, writers, and activists had been arrested or detained in the past weeks, following uprisings in the Middle East and calls on the Internet for protests across Chinese cities. Ai Weiwei's forced disappearance since 3 April has been made international headlines.

1. Ai’s forced disappearance raises concerns within China. Some netizens have come up with a phrase, “Love the Future,” (爱未来) which looks and sounds very similar to Ai Weiwei’s name (艾未未). Many netizens have immediately adopted this new coded phrase to post on Sina Weibo as a form of protest; many of those “love the future” messages have also been quickly deleted. 
   
2. During the Plenary Session on April 7, 2011 the European Parliament adopted a resolution, to call "for Ai Weiwei's immediate and unconditional release and expresses its solidarity with his peaceful actions and initiatives in favour of democratic reforms and the protection of human rights".  The resolution also calls the EU's High Representative on Foreign Affairs to raise concerns on the recent sentencing of Liu Xianbin and Liu Xiaobo as well as, for example, the cases of Liu Xia, Chen Guangcheng, Gao Zhisheng, Liu Xianbin, Hu Jia, Tang Jitian, Jiang Tianyong, Teng Biao, Liu Shihui, Tang Jingling, Li Tiantian, Ran Yunfei, Ding Mao and Chen Wei. 
3. Ai’s interview on the relationship between contemporary art and civil society in China
   On 24 June 2010 Dr Daria Berg and Dr Andreas Fulda from the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK interviewed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei in Beijing. Ai Weiwei discussed the relationship between contemporary art and civil society in China
                          Click here to watch the interview 

China announced that its ambitious going-nuclear plan remained unchanged, after the nuclear crisis in Japan broke out, due to the effect of the mega-earthquake on 11 March 2011, though it would study the Japanese experiences. 

China is building more nuclear reactors to meet its energy need in the coming years, reportedly from currently 13 to another 32 being approved and 25 under construction. Click here for the fact sheet from the World Nuclear Association.

An article on China going nuclear, gives an insight on why China is doing it, how much (or little) the Chinese are aware of it and if China is really ready for a booming nuclear industry. 

Since 2007 Chinese civil society organizations have started to advocate for climate change mitigation and adaptation. They promote green technologies as well as sustainable lifestyle. They form networks. Their number is growing. They closely work together with US-American NGOs. European-Chinese civil society cooperation, however, is still in its infancy. The two following publications are dealing with the issue.

• The brochure “’I could feel climate change’. Climate change and China: Civil Society Perspectives” provides an insight into the work of Chinese civil society organizations. Doing so it implicitly describes how China is changing in these days. 

• A recent paper analyses China’s new climate diplomacy in the COP16 and the various efforts that it is pursuing domestically to achieve its own low-carbon development targets. Its conclusion is that the new policies and measures that are being carried out by the Chinese government are a continuation of the current high-growth, energy intensive development paradigm albeit with efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the increasing use of non-fossil fuel energy such as large scale hydro-power and nuclear power.

• The EU-China Civil Society Forum has released a report on China’s Foreign Direct Investment, with a focus on Europe, as Chinese investment has been seen as controversial in the bankrupting European countries, of the past few years. Unfortunately the full report is available in German only. Click here to download.
• Two articles from the above-mentioned report are written originally in English, one on looking back the course of the past ten years (2000-2010), to see what the significant moments, concerns and changes were, for China’s “going global policy”, which is ten years old by then.
  Looking back at the Tenth Anniversary: A brief Introduction to China’s “going global policy”
  
  The second article shows the perspectives from the Chinese, from official statements, academics’ viewpoints and voices of the civil society, with regard to the rising Chinese investment in Europe, to see how the discussion has been going on in China. Is China buying up Europe? Perspectives from the Chinese media, officials and civil society
  
• A research paper provides an initial qualitative assessment of the impact of China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment on local workers and firms in Cambodia and Vietnam. Based on interviews with 60 Chinese investors plus further interviews with other foreign investors and domestically owned firms in the manufacturing industries of the two countries, the study assesses employment and income effects, training, spillovers, and linkage effects.