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October 31, 2007
Chinese Chemicals Flow Unchecked to Market -- New York Times Investigative Piece
Apologies for sparsely posting of late, but my practice has not allowed me much spare time. In the meanwhile, read this article on unregulated Chinese chemical exports finding their way into the pharma drug chain. Podcast available.
Posted by Richard at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)October 21, 2007
Event: Public Reason and the Harmonious Society: The Future of Political Theory in Cross-Cultural Perspectives
[Editor's Note: One generally find oneself yawning at academic conferences, but this one has provocative potential.]
DATE: October 25 - 28
TIME: see below
PLACE:Third Floor, Main Building, Tsinghua University)
COST: FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Sponsors: Department of Philosophy, Tsinghua University, Guangdong Province Philosophy & Social Sciences Association
Thursday, October 25
Arrival and Check-In (Tsinghua Ziguang International Exchange Center, “TZIEC”):
12:00 pm – 17:30 pm
6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Opening Dinner (TZIZC Dinning Hall)
Friday, October 26
7:30 am – 8:45 am
Breakfast (TZIEC Dinning Hall)
8:45 am
Meeting point for conference participants (TZIEC)
9:00 am - 10:15 am
Chair: Wan Junren (Tsinghua University)
Keynote Lecture by Michael Walzer (Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton): The Design of Democratic Discussions; Commentator: Cui Zhiyuan (Tsinghua University)
10:15 am – 10:30 am
Tea/Coffee break
10:30 am – 1:00 pm
Panel: Economic Growth, Rights, and Social Justice in China
Chair: Li Qiang (Peking University)
Thomas Pogge (Columbia): Growth Is Good! – But What Growth?
Li Weisen (Fudan University): The Deepening of the Marketization Process and China’s Future Road to a Rechtsstatt
Yao Dazhi (Jilin University): Social Justice
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Lunch (TZIEC) (extra time for our international guests to take a short nap to help recover from jetlag)
3:00 pm – 4:40 pm
Panel: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Political Philosophy
Chair: Stephen Macedo (Princeton University)
Bashir Bashir (Jerusalem University) and Avner de-Shalit (Jerusalem University): Teaching Political Philosophy in a Conflict Zone: The Case of Palestine/Israel
Tatsuo Inoue (Tokyo University): The Ambivalence of Globalization: A Cross-Cultural Challenge to Political Theory
4:40 pm – 5:00 pm
Tea/Coffee Break
5:00 pm – 5:50 pm (continued)
Sebastiano Maffetone (LUISS University): Human Rights and Cross-Cultural Perspectives
6:00 pm – 7: 00 pm
Free time
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Dinner (TZIEC)
Saturday, October 27
7:30 am – 8:45 am
Breakfast (TZIEC)
8:45 am
Meeting point for conference participants (TZIEC)
9:00 am – 10:40 am
Panel: Democracy and Pluralism
Chair: Daniel Bell (Tsinghua University)
Philip Pettit (Princeton University): From Republic to Democracy
Gu Su (Nanjing University): Overlapping Consensus and Public Reason in a Plural Democratic Society
10:40 am – 11:10 am
Tea/Coffee Break and Picture Taking
11:10 am – 12:30 pm
Panel: Chinese Debates on International Justice and Global Ethics
Chair: Sebastiano Maffetone (LUISS University)
Lu Feng (Tsinghua University): Is International Justice Possible?
Wei Zhengxiang (Tsinghua University): The Rise of China: Geopolitical Strategy and a Framework for a Roundtable Mode of Global Ethics
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Lunch (TZIEC)
2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Panel: Public Reason and John Rawls
Chair: Avner de-Shalit (Jerusalem University)
Stephen Macedo (Princeton University): What Is Public Reason and Why Is it Controversial? Two Claims and Three Objections
Liu Xin (Sichuan University): The Implication of Rawls’s Approach to Public Reason
Gong Qun (China Renmin University): The Public of Reason and Public Reason
4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Tea/Coffee Break
5:00 pm – 6:40 pm
Panel: Respect and Rationality
Chair: Thomas Pogge (Columbia University)
Ian Carter (University of Rome): Respect and the Basis of Equality
Po Chung CHOW (Chinese University of Hong Kong): Rationality, Teleology, and Congruence
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Dinner (TZIEC)
Sunday, October 28
7:30 am – 8:45 am
Breakfast (TZIEC)
8:45 am
Meeting point for conference participants (TZIEC)
9:00 am – 10:40 am
Panel: Confucian Perspectives on Politics, Democracy, and Justice
Chair: Neera Chandhoke (University of New Dehli)
Jiang Yi-Huah (National University of Taiwan): The Political in the Confucian Tradition: An Analysis of the Four Books
Stephen Angle (Wesleyan University): The Necessity of Participation: Toward a Modern Confucian Politics
10:40 am – 11:00 am
Tea/Coffee Break
11 am – 11: 50 am (continued)
Joseph Chan (University of Hong Kong): Is There a Confucian Theory of Distributive Justice?
11:50 am – 1:30 pm
Lunch (TZIEC)
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Panel: Ethics, Morality, Feminism and Ritual in Politics
Chair: Philip Pettit (Princeton University)
Wan Junren (Tsinghua University): Why Politics Needs Ethics
Xiao Wei (Tsinghua University): The Three Goods of Women’s Struggle for Citizenship Qualification: From Gender Equality and Gender Difference to Fair Gender Distinction
Daniel Bell (Tsinghua University): Hierarchical Rituals for Egalitarian Societies
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Tea/Coffee Break
3:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Panel: Justice, Just War, and Human Rights
Chair: Tatsuo Inoue (Tokyo University)
Neera Chandhoke (University of New Dehli): The Quest for Justice: The Ghandhian Perspective
Lian Cheng (Peking University): On the Making of a Moral Distinction in the Conduct of War
Luigi Caranti (LUISS University): Kant’s Theory of Human Rights
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Banquet and closing ceremony (Quanjude Peking Roasted Duck Restaurant)
Monday, October 29
Breakfast and check-out (8:00-12:00 pm)
October 18, 2007
China Plans CCP Branch in Space
The more prescient members at the National Party Congress are evidently thinking far outside the box. Outside the planet, it appears...
China's space communists would "carry out the regular activities of a Communist Party of China branch in space in the way we do on Earth," Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut to fly into space, was quoted by Xinhua as saying on the sidelines of the national party congress. Yang said a party branch would have to await establishment of a permanent presence in space such as a space station, something China is decades from achieving.
[Kudos to Miss Johnson from London. Knightsbridge, perhaps?]
October 12, 2007
Judicial Independence -- When Local Authorities Pay the Judiciary Scant Attention
Get a judgment somewhere in China. Then try to collect. There is little value in a judgment when the authorities flout its enforcement. Read this Washington Post article. The local government, against whom the judgment was entered, won't pay and can't be forced to.
Yuci township, the subject of the story, is not a rogue element (although it may be run by rogues); in fact, it displays typical administrative behavior. It might possibly disgorge its illegal gain if a superior authority compels it to -- a strategy used by a number of American bankers collecting on bad loans in China ("The governor of the province is a personal friend of mine, and if you don't give me my $23.6 million today I will be having lunch with him tomorrow). But then, the judiciary is once again circumvented by the power structure which would -- or would pretend? -- to espouse judicial independence in the first place
Posted by Richard at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)October 4, 2007
Audio: Republicans Reject Free Trade and China Takes a Hit
Click the little triangle to listen to today's post.
U.S. Republicans Reject Free Trade -- China Takes a Hit
Over the last few years, the American ardor for China has cooled. Even I need a sweater. In speaking with Americans, the topic often turns to China. My partner in conversation, whoever it may be -- home improvement contractor, local attorney, bank teller, teacher -- is now, as a rule, adamant that China is not a friend. Of course, that person may delight in friendships with individual Chinese, but to many Americans, China has become more than just an adversary. And I believe I am right in saying that Chinese are similarly disposed towards the U.S. A dreadful state of affairs.
China has become a focal lens for the distress, anger and helplessness that Americans can no longer tolerate directing inwardly. No longer do we read encomia touting the virtues of ancient Chinese philosophies practiced in modern life, the beneficially high rate of savings and lack of debt, the care and respect towards the elderly, the veneration of education, the tolerance for long hours and hard work.
Instead, we read only that Chinese are rapacious money-makers who intentionally employ toxic materials to improve profit, dirty spitting pedestrians who copiously litter with no sense of public morality, brutal authoritarians who control the freedom of speech, association and worship that Americans believe God gave Man, and the like.
Now, mind you, there is truth in both viewpoints. But, over the past few years, Americans have focused on the latter, seemingly in forbearance of all knowledge of the former. There should at least be balance.
Historically, Americans have always expected that the next generation would enjoy an improvement in the quality of life -- until my generation, who expect its decline. The American senses narrowing opportunity amid heightened competition. What can one truly eat from the communal pie that always seems to shrink?
The hackneyed phrase is "the American dream." It originally referred to the desire of lifelong tenants to own their own home. It now seems to be used to describe a paradigmatically American ideal of plenty, a cornucopia of whatever the individual would wish for himself. But for the American individual today, there is no boom, only the residual smoke of a bust. And someone must be held to blame. Why not China? They're enjoying -- so goes the thought -- an incredible run, and entirely at our expense.
Even long held American commercial tenets may go the way of the perpetual Republican vow to cut taxes. According to this WSJ poll, even the Republicans are beginning to sluff off the centuries old hallmark of "free trade."
By a nearly two-to-one margin, Republican voters believe free trade is bad for the U.S. economy, a shift in opinion that mirrors Democratic views and suggests trade deals could face high hurdles under a new president.
Incredibly, China obliquely takes its licks in this article devoted to American politics:
We're seeing a lot of jobs farmed out," said Mr. Pirtle, whose father works for General Motors Corp. Rankled by reports of safety problems with Chinese imports, he added, "The stuff we are getting, looking at all the recalls, to be quite honest, it's junk.
Mr. Pirtle's comment is sadly typical in American society today. If it's junk, why are we're buying it? If it's of poor quality, why have we eagerly exported the work to cultures where standards are different? If it's unsafe, why have we authorized a branch of the federal government, proven time and again to be incompetent or incapable in so many aspects of life, to perform tasks it can't even begin to complete?
The decisions Americans have made, as a people, over the past generation are more the cause of our predicament than anything manufacturers across the globe could have possibly done. We will have rid ourselves of what we value most before it is over. But, for the instant moment, we deny ourselves the serious critical look at our own ideas and actions, which require far greater correction than we demand of our neighbors.
Posted by Richard at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)
