The Chinese See Egypt In Their Future

China block news of Egypt protests

CHINA'S powerful propaganda department is trying to block non-official news about the bloody riots shaking Egypt.

The Government has stopped the use of the country's name across a popular Twitter-like blogging site and restricting the reporting of events there.

Authorities have blocked the Chinese characters for Egypt on Sina.com's Weibo site, used by more than 50 million of China's 400 million netizens.

The Egyptian news has been played down in the Chinese media, being relegated to the second page of the country's major website and portals. Newspapers all carry the state-run Xinhua version of the story.

The Chinese authorities are sensitive to offshore revolutions against authoritarian governments, fearing such movements might spread to China.

Local street protests have been swelling over corruption, the income gap between rich and poor, and heavy-handed security operations such as evictions to make way for development projects.

The internet has been a key tool in spreading the protest messages from Iran, Tunisia and now Egypt. China largely blamed the use of Twitter and other social networking sites for helping to foment the deadly riots during July 2009 in the ethnic Muslim province of Xinjiang, when 197 people were killed and thousands injured. Following the unrest, China pioneered the wholesale blocking of the internet, leaving Xinjiang province -- home to 23 million people -- cut off for eight months.


Comments:

China's greatest fear is and has been for years, social unrest resulting in revolution.

Its great drive for economic growth which has so heavily concentrated on construction to provide jobs, is designed to pacify is growing population.

The state has been successful in controlling its citizens in urban areas, but largely unsuccessful in doing this with its large rural population.

China's political instability index remains at only moderate levels (4.8), yet the authorities are so fearful, they engage in severe forms of censorship.

When China's property bubble eventually pops (perhaps in late 2011 or 2012), we can expect to see a great deal of unrest.

According to Jim Chanos, China's bubble is at least 3x the size of the property bubble we experienced in the United States on a percentage of GDP basis.

That does not bode well for the longevity of its authoritarian regime.

Comments

  1. China Central Bank Advisor Urges Increase In Official Gold And Silver Reserves

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-central-bank-advisor-urges-increase-official-gold-reserves

    Bill

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  2. Yes Bill, the Chinese appear to be ready soon to make another major move in the bullion markets. Perhaps they are waiting for prices to drop a little further as they begin their stealth accumulations. From the charts, gold still looks like it has some downward momentum for the short term.

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