Saturday 17 August 2013

China media: Lesson from Egypt


China's state media are issuing further warnings over the perils of "Western-style democracy" amid ongoing violence in Egypt. "The West is an irresponsible teacher, but Egyptian society should have its own judgment and the political capacity to itself resolve the country's internal sharp conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, it has none of this. It is naive and rash like a child... Egyptians must calm down and think," comments the Global Times. "The Arab Spring in Egypt has turned rapidly into an absurd farce and unprecedented tragedy, and this is indeed historical inevitability... China itself has had a similar experience, but its price was much higher. This was the Republic of China established in 1912," Song Luzheng writes in the Social Outlook commentary website. "The painful lesson of Egypt is indeed a very valuable asset for China. It has made us aware once again of the price of going astray. If in the 1990s, Russia paid a high price in pointing out the direction for China's path, the Arab Spring in the Middle East has come at the right time for those more forgetful Chinese in the 21st Century," he concludes. In other international news, the state media have unleashed another attack on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his speech marking the 68th anniversary of Tokyo's surrender in World War II on Thursday. "Not only did Abe avoid the promise usually given by his predecessors to uphold Japan's pledge not to engage in war, he also broke with two decades of tradition by not expressing any remorse over Japan's aggression against its neighbours," says the China Daily. Mr Abe is also under fire for sending a ritual offering in his capacity as ruling party leader to the Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday. The shrine honours 2.5 million citizens who died in World War II and other conflicts, including 14 military leaders convicted of being WWII class-A war criminals by an Allied tribunal. "Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not visit the Yasukuni Shrine, but this is not important because everyone knows where his intentions lie... Abe's footsteps to the right seem to have become more resolute," notes Bai Yansong, host of China Central Television's News One Plus One. "Abe has ghosts in his heart despite not worshipping them... Abe's 'missing words' can be described as extremely grave and they are in no way inferior to a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine," comments the Beijing Times. Roof-top homes Turning to domestic news, the Global Times says China will start phasing out its controversial harvesting of organs from executed prisoners from November. Hospitals will instead seek donated organs from patients who have died from cardiac arrest. The China Daily says researchers are calling for a fishing ban along the entire Yangtze River. They warn that over-fishing and the construction of hydropower stations has pushed the river's acquatic ecosystem to the "verge of collapse". Finally, the mainland media continue to pay close attention to the ongoing demolition of an illegally built "rooftop rockery" on top of a block of flats in Beijing. In recent days, there has been a public outcry at how law enforcers failed to stop the construction of the rooftop villa by former political advisor Zhang Biqing. It has been nicknamed the "Most Awesome Illegal Structure" by netizens. Meanwhile, the owner of another outlandish "rooftop garden" villa on top of an 18-storey building further south in Suzhou is also under investigation on suspicion of violating building restrictions.