Climate Change

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on his third visit to China since taking office, urged China to be a global leader in fighting climate change ahead of the Copenhagen summit. "China has an opportunity to blaze a new trail for the world" in creating a new low-emission development model, he said.

Hong Kong
Jurisdiction
Extradition

As the High Court of Guangdong continued to delay its judgment in the appeal by several defendants for allegedly committing the execution-style murder of businessman Harry Lam Hon-lit in Central's Luk Yu Tea House in 2002, Hong Kong and mainland China continued to stall on the conclusion of an agreement for the transfer of fugitive offenders between the two jurisdictions. The issue of death penalty reportedly remains the main sticking point.

Treatment of Aliens

An FM spokesman dismissed as "noise" pleas by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other Australian officials for fairness and transparency in dealing with the four employees of Rio Tinto, one of whom is an Australian citizen, who had been detained on suspicion of stealing state secrets. Later, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said the cases would be handled "quickly", and urged Australian to respect China's judicial sovereignty.

Terrorism
Secession
Minority Rights

A Chinese government official asserted that the government’s ethnic minority policies were “effective” and “had nothing to do with the violent crimes” that unfolded in Urumqi on 5 July, a view contested by many analysts. Meanwhile, if it works for Taiwan, why can't it work in Xinjiang as well, as the Xinjiang regional legislature vowed to pass a local anti-secession law to "help provide a formal legal basis to prevent a separatist movement in the restive region".

On the diplomatic front, although evidence implicating Rebiya Kadeer and her World Uighur Congress in the 5 July riots remains tenuous, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei urged the US to prevent separatist activities against China on the US territory, saying, "Chinese people know well about their activities and I suppose the U.S. side did so too". A senior PLA official also suggested that China would consider sending troops to Central Asia to strike the East Turkestan forces within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Territory - Spratly Islands
Law of the Sea

As Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia fortified their occupied islands in the South China Sea to which China claims sovereignty, Beijing asked US and other foreign oil companies to halt work with Vietnamese partners in the South China Sea or face consequences in their business with China. While the US Government would not take sides on the island disputes, Senator Jim Webb said the US was "the only guarantor there to provide a credible umbrella under which those other countries in the region can successfully grow their economies without intimidation".

Territory - Diaoyu Islands

US Senator Jim Webb said during a US Congressional hearing that the US had admitted Japan's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, a view apparently at odds with the official position of the US (namely, the US reserves judgment on the ultimate sovereignty of the islands but considers the US-Japan Security Treaty applicable to Diaoyu). Commenting on Senator Webb's remarks, a Chinese FM spokesman reiterated that China holds indisputable sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.

Use of Force
Law of the Sea

The PLA must have taken the Somali pirates really seriously as China dispatched her third naval flotilla to escort merchant ships through the waters off the Somali coast, which included China's most advanced guided missile frigate. The move appears a bit odd, considering the naval mission was supposed to be "not striking [the pirates] but dispersing them."

Extradition

The Gao Shan case, involving the stealing of RMB 942.6m from a Harbin branch of the Bank of China, may not be as well-known as the Lai Changxing case, but the legal difficulties in getting the fugitive suspects back to China from Canada (now emerging as Chinese corrupt officials' favourite safe haven) appear no less daunting. A Canadian court reversed a decision of the Canadian Government on pre-removal risk assessment for two of the principal suspects. Meanwhile, for some unknown reasons, one of the fugitives was audacious enough to return to China, only to be arrested upon arrival at the Beijing airport.

Law of the Sea
Law of Treaties

In June 2008, China entered into a Principled Consensus with Japan which stipulates that "Chinese enterprises welcome the participation of Japanese legal person in the development of the existing oil and gas field in Chunxiao in accordance with the relevant laws of China". Somehow the Japanese Government appeared to interpret the agreement to create an obligation on China not to develop Chunxiao until a treaty is concluded to implement participation of Japanese companies, as Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone expressed ''serious concerns'' to China over Chinese vessels moving around the Chunxiao gas fields. China explained that the vessels were engaged in the maintenance, not exploitation, of the gas fields. But it remains to be made clear whether the Principled Consensus is a legally binding agreement and, if so, what is the scope of the obligations undertaken by both parties.

Terrorism
Genocide

Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first called the violence in Urumqi "savagery". Then he declared "the event taking place in China is a kind of genocide". Of course, Turkey should know a thing or two about genocide, as the Ottoman Turks have long been accused of committing the first genocide of the 20th century in killing 1.5 million Armenians around the time of WWI. Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Ministry quickly demonstrated why people should not take their prime minister's remarks seriously by reaffirming Turkey's commitment to develop ties with China in every field.

Terrorism

Is it conceivable that the US Congress and the Al-Qaeda may share a common goal eight years after the September 11 attacks? Or is Rebiye Kadeer thrilled now that her East Turkestan cause (funded by the Capitol Hill) is supported by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Algerian-based offshoot of Osama bin Laden's organisation, who pledged to avenge the deaths of Muslims in Urumqi by targeting Chinese workers in Algeria as well as Chinese projects and workers across northwest Africa? The Chinese Government alerted its citizens and organisations abroad about potential terrorist attacks.

Terrorism
Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges

It may still be a matter of debate whether the Urumqi riots were started by the Uighur separatist attacks or the Chinese police crackdown. But there was little dispute over what triggered the attacks by some Uighur supporters on the Chinese embassy in the Netherlands. The violent bent of the East Turkestan movement went on full display as the protest was peaceful until "protesters saw somebody taking photos of them from inside the embassy", according to Gheyretjan Rozi of the Dutch Uighur Support Group. A Chinese FM spokesman strongly condemned the attacks, and the Dutch Government apologised and agreed to pay for repairs to the embassy.

Terrorism
State Responsibility

In the immediate aftermath of the deadly riots in Urumqi, a FM spokesman said the violence was "instigated and directed from abroad", and the Government pointed fingers at Rebiye Kadeer, the chairwoman of the World Uighur Congress who had been imprisoned in China for stealing state secrets and released to the US on medical parole (arguably inconsistently with the Chinese law on medical parole) in 2005. Ms. Kadeer denied the allegation and challenged the Chinese authorities to release their evidence in full, even though an officer of the World Uighur Congress admitted that some Uighurs inside China "might have been inspired" by the protests that Ms. Kadeer organised outside Chinese embassies in some European countries to protest the alleged killings of Uighur workers in Guangdong in late June.

The Chinese government further insinuated the US may be responsible for the bloodshed as the World Uighur Congress and the Uighur American Association (also headed by Ms. Kabeer) receive much of their funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, an organisation created and financed by the US Congress to promote democracy worldwide. But perhaps in a showing of the weakness of the claim, a FM spokesman chose not even to name any particular country, demanding instead the "relevant countries" to "immediately stop their funding and support".

Macau

A vice president of the University of Macau gave some details on the expansion of Macau's jurisdiction onto the Hengqin Island. Reading between the lines, the Guangdong Province clearly is not too thrilled about practically ceding 1.09 sq km of its land to Macau. The new campus of the University of Macau on Hengqin Island will be largely sealed off from the rest of the island. One wonders how a university that is cut off from the local community is capable of producing regional or even national leaders as the University of Macau vows to do.

Diplomatic Protection

Six Chinese female "technical interns" who were abused in a Japanese laundry shop received apology and compensation from the Japanese employer. Meanwhile, how to safeguard the interest of nearly 4 million Chinese nationals who work abroad, many illegally, has emerged as a major policy issue.

Taiwan

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou indicated there were certain lines he would not cross in dealing with the mainland when he rebuffed a suggestion by Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, that the number of direct cross-strait flights would be sharply increased by opening up the centre of the Taiwan Strait. He said the airspace around the central line was "a key training base for our air force which is impossible to open up".

Climate Change
Trade

After the US House of Representatives passed a "cap and trade" bill that would impose a carbon tax on imports from countries that decline to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a Chinese vice foreign minister said China is "firmly against such attempts to advance trade protectionism under the pretext of climate change". It is interesting that China's charge appears to be at odds with an assessment by the WTO secretariat which gave a cautious nod to carbon tariffs.