Corruption, air and Shanghai

Today an excellent op-ed in the NY Times from Friedman makes the important point to the Chinese President that if he is serious about addressing corruption (which he claims he is, having recognized that corruption is seen as the main reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as most previous Chinese empires/dynasties) then he really needs to allow the media to investigate high-level corruption (which is he is not allowing, by blocking websites from foreign media that report on these issues and potentially kicking their journalists out the country). He also accurately notes that technology has already enabled citizens to explore and discuss these issues, so it's better to let the media bring them to the government's attention so that they can be addressed before it's too late and eventually citizens address it in the only way they know: protests. Check it out: www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/opinion/sunday/friedman-dear-president-of-china.html%3fpagewanted=all.

It's interesting that the Chinese media will try to push the boundaries in many aspects of their reporting, but they won't touch personal relationships to the President. It shows the government is not serious about addressing corruption; it's also not serious about enabling an effective, independent, judiciary; any semblance of a free media; or any sense of allowing the people to hold their government to account (it does not have to be through a full democracy, but through some means). I've been saying for a while that unless those issues are addressed, the country won't be a good place to be living in a decade from now. All the signs are, despite the pressure, there is no movement on any of these areas. In fact in most it is getting worse! The government still refuses to trust its people, and in return the people refuse to trust the government. Not a great situation....

I even joked last week to a friend in Shanghai that the focus on the environment, as bad as it is, might be intended to distract from other issues that are much harder to solve. Not that it will be easy to solve the energy and water and pollution issues, but it's technically possible within the current system, and the government is generally willing. With those other issues, it's not technically possible in the current system, and the system is not likely to change. The other distraction, of course, are things like foreign policy/nationalism (witness all the hyperbole over the East China Sea recently), the moon landings etc.

Anyway, on the plus side the government is responding to the pressure from the public to try to clean up the air - and it's an issue they can't hide! It rears its ugly head all the time, whether the media are bothering to report it or not! Funnily enough those in Shanghai thought they got off better than Beijing until November, since when Beijing has had good air and Shanghai awful air. All of a sudden the Shanghai folk can't think of anything else to talk about and have finally gone out and bought air filters (the Beijing folk bought them a while ago). Now it's still not an easy thing to fix quickly, but it will be fixed, and probably quicker than most people will expect, somehow.

I've been going to and from Shanghai quite a few times recently for weddings, work and the marathon. One day the air was good and as I landed I could see out about 20km to the skyscrapers of Lujiazui. I struggled to spot the 88 story Jinmao Tower, which when I arrived in Shanghai 9 years and 3 months ago was the tallest building around. Now it's dwarfed by two taller buildings next to it, and many other buildings of similar height. Still the pictures of Taipei where Taipei 101 stands out ridiculously or of Dubai where the Burj Khalifa stands out even more ridiculously are more stunning. Whilst in Shanghai I ran past the Expo's corporate buildings, lying abandoned... what a shame, but maybe something will happen to them (large 2-3 story buildings that are the size of museums) eventually.

In other news, it's definitely winter, though it's not too cold yet, and still gets above zero in the daytime; Hannah's going crazy with her little bobby-cart pushing herself all over the place. I tell you what, she could teach quite a few adults something about reversing, steering, stopping and more.... then again, she's also getting good on the trampoline, finally speaking a few more words (mostly Chinese), and keeping us entertained at weekends.