Society

In case you missed it, check out the column by my colleague William Pesek Jr. on the spat between Google and China. He argues a big beneficiary could be India. Pesek writes, “China should be concerned about the most influential Internet tool bypassing its $4.3 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people — and the specter of other Silicon Valley giants following suit. Executives at multinational companies who dragged their feet on diversifying investments away from China may now expedite the process.” As for India, the country “has a track record of innovation and a stable of internationally competitive companies that China doesn’t. India also has far superior laws on intellectual property and corporate governance. And China’s willingness to blow off Google plays to India’s relative advantage in these areas.” India’s billionaires, he adds, “must be rubbing their hands together in glee as China’s leaders make an expensive miscalculation.” Read the whole thing here.

The Sino-Kazak Pipeline has piped more than 20 million tons of crude oil from Kazakhstan to China since it became operational in 2006, according to the regional government of Xinjiang.

Last year, the pipeline carried 7.73 million tons of crude oil into China, up 26 percent year-on-year, the inspection and quarantine bureau in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said in a press release Monday.

The volume makes up about 4 percent of the country's crude imports, which is estimated at around 204 million tons last year.

The Sino-Kazak pipeline runs 2,798 km from Atasu in Kazakhstan to the country's largest oil refinery plant in Dushanzi, in Xinjiang, via the Alataw Pass.

Chinese analysts yesterday tried to downplay suggestions in Western media that the Google case could lead to increased tension between Beijing and Washington, saying that bilateral ties are strong enough to withstand any disagreement.

It is "just a commercial dispute" that happens to a firm when it operates on foreign soil, said Niu Jun, an international affairs expert at Peking University.

In a move reflecting that opinion, the government repeated its standpoint that the issue is a technical matter, and not a political or diplomatic one, by having the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the State Council Information Office (SCIO) reply to US criticism.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to US President Barack Obama on Saturday, when he asked for Beijing to explain the Google case.

Officials from the two ministries yesterday rejected US accusations of cyber attacks and described Internet controls as legitimate and reasonable.

Their remarks came nearly two weeks after Google said it might quit China citing disagreements with government policies and unspecified attacks targeting its services in China.

Outbound tourists this year will top 51 million, up 7 percent year-on-year, the director of China's National Tourism Administration said yesterday.

The World Expo will attract 3.5 million overseas visitors to Shanghai, Shao Qiwei said.