Peter Wilson

Beijing's battle of the bicycles

When I was last posted in China, in the mid 90s, there was no doubt that bicycles were still winning the urban transport wars. There were plenty of cars by then, but bikes ruled the road. They were heavy Flying Pigeons, or Forevers. They often had an adult passenger on the back. If they wanted to stop the cars, and just carry on going, it was easy. A stranded car surrounded by a sea of cycling commuters was a common sight.

Now I am a more lonely cyclist on the streets of East Beijing. New cars are pouring onto Beijing's streets at the rate of about 1,500 a day. There are still a good number of sensible cyclists - they know that even for quite long distances, it is faster than a car in rush hour.  But most people are in cars now, and an increasing number use the subway. The Beijing metro system - which ten years ago only had two lines -  is now rapidly catching up with the London underground. A new line opened last month, that can take you right across town to the Summer Palace.   

Right now it is below freezing in Beijing - some of the coldest weather for 40 years, and wierdly early snow (some man made, to fix a drought, but more recently it's been natural). I still like biking. But, with less and less hair, I really need the hat.

Posted at 08:41 18 November 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[2]

China's view of itself, and a UK perspective

The latest Pew Attitudes Survey data for 2009 is available on their website.  They poll globally, and annually.  It makes interesting reading. 

According to the survey, China remains very positive about its future direction  - more so than any other country surveyed.  87% of those surveyed in China think it is going in the right direction, compared to 86% last year - not bad in a financial crisis.  There is an urban bias in the figures - Pew points this out in the fine print.  But compared to even five years ago, using the same methodology, this is a significant improvement.
 
The UK is the country in Europe with the most positive view of China.  That has been true since Pew started asking the question in the UK, in 2005.  The numbers go up and down.  But the trend is pronounced.

Posted at 10:26 05 November 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[1]

Diplomacy for five year olds

This morning I spoke to my son's reception class in Beijing about my job. I think it was my hardest audience. He and most of his classmates speak three languages - Chinese, English, and one other. Most of them have lived in at least one other country in their lives.
 
Here's what we talked about.
 
I said that my job as a diplomat is to help countries work together, and to stop them fighting. I tried to explain why my job matters.
 
The class thought countries are a bit like people. They have relationships with each other. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes they don't get along. Sometimes they argue. Occasionally they fight. If they do, that is very bad, because people can die.
 
To do my job well, I have to try to understand why other countries think as they do. Countries, like people, have choices. I try to help my country, and the country where I am working, make good choices. If we do, then the people who live in both our countries will be safer, richer, and happier.
 
In the last five years my family has lived in four countries. Britain. Portugal, where my wife is from.  Pakistan, our first family foreign posting. And now China. I explained how my son helps me in his work, by being a special, friendly boy, who is kind to everyone who comes to our house. That helps me make friends, too.
 
My country, Britain, thinks that diplomacy is important. We send diplomats to almost every country in the world. We join as many groups as we can, to work with other countries on common problems. We learn a lot of languages.  I speak Chinese, French, and some Portuguese. But I do not speak Portuguese nearly as well as my son.
 
Coming to China is a big job for me. China is a huge country. More people live here than in any other country.  Before the children in my son's class were born, China was still quite poor. Now it is growing very fast - even faster than my son. That is not just changing China, but changing the whole world. People from other countries who know a lot about China will have important jobs to do in the future.
 
I like my job. Every four years, I get to learn about another place, and meet new people. It is a bit like going back to school. If I am doing my job well, I meet interesting people. If I do my job really well, then China and Britain find more ways to work with each other, and together we find ways to make the world a better place.
 
My son and his class told me about some of the conflicts they get involved in, and how they sort them out.  And they told me ways they negotiate, too.  They will make a great generation of diplomats - whatever they choose to do.

Posted at 10:21 23 October 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[2]

CHINA: CLIMATE CHANGE BLOG ACTION DAY

David Concar, our climate change counsellor at the Embassy, is launching his own blog today - blog action day on climate change.  You can find it at http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/concar    and will soon be able to read it in English and Chinese on the British Embassy website www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk . 

Climate change is a big deal for our China network.  We have massively increased our work here on climate change in the last two years. It is a top priority for us at home in the UK, and working with other significant players round the world. 

Posted at 14:24 15 October 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[0]

Working with China on the Arms Trade Treaty

When it comes to the ATT, there are two really important groups of countries.  The first and most important is those countries that most suffer from the negative effects of the international unregulated trade in conventional weapons.  The second is the biggest sellers of arms.  As is often noted, there is a correlation between the biggest arms selling countries and the Permanent 5 of the UN Security Council. 
 
That is why we see a dialogue between P5 members at all levels, including between NGOs, as an important part of international efforts towards an ATT - efforts which received the support of 147 countries at the UN last year.  We believe that an effective ATT can not only make the world a safer place, but also be consistent with a commercially successful international defence trade. 
 
That is the conversation we are having with Chinese experts and it is a very interesting one.  Indeed, not only are we discussing the potential benefits to our respective defence trades, but also to our wider trade in the developing world, where stability and reducing the impact of conflict are key to mutual benefit.  Finally, addressing the unregulated trade in conventional arms should make our peacekeepers and nationals working overseas safer.

Posted at 13:08 07 October 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[1]

China's 60th Anniversary

The People's Republic of China was founded on 1 October 1949.  The sixtieth anniversary is a huge day, and will see a big celebration across China.  The Prime Minister recorded a message for an event at the Chinese Embassy in London to celebrate the anniversary - you can read it, in Chinese or English, or watch it, on the Embassy's website  - all the links are from the front page, at  www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk  

Posted at 14:03 29 September 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[1]

A guest blog, from Alex(andra) Needham, at our Consulate General in Chongqing

 

Yesterday I revisited Shuangxi village on the outskirts of urban Chongqing, where our Foreign Secretary David Miliband went in February 2008 to see a slice of rural China.  It is not rural any more. Eighteen months later, the old village was gone. On the hillside behind, a new district of high-rise modern apartment buildings had been built. Street lighting was provided by solar panels and fairly large numbers of old farmers sat around, watching the world go by.

Villagers told us the old village was to be redeveloped for tourism. They had been asked to rent their land to a co-operative for an annual income of 1700 RMB per household member (about £170). This process is an integral part of Chongqing's Balanced Urban-Rural Development pilot project: farmers are encouraged to rent their land use rights to large scale co-operatives to boost development in rural areas. The co-operatives often provide job opportunities as well as as an additional rental income.

We met with one farmer whom we had last seen in February 2008. From living in an old stone house with almost no modern conveniences 18 months before, he and his family now occupied a 120m2 brand new apartment in a high-rise block. The flat was furnished with newly-bought modern furniture and appliances (TV, electric fan, water cooler, telephone).  He said he was now too old (late 50s) to work as a migrant worker - no one would employ him. He spent his days walking around the compound and chatting with neighbours. He said his life was better now - it was easier as he had to do less physical labour. But he did worry about money, and that his economic power couldn't keep up with the new lifestyle he now found himself in. His wife and daughter both worked in urban Chongqing.  Previously food was free, but now with no land he had to pay for it.

Other villagers we spoke to thought their lives were getting better. One shopkeeper said the gap between urban and rural incomes was fair. All depended on the kind of lifestyle you chose. He and his wife had worked as migrant workers in Guangdong for 11 years, but migrant worker life was physically tough. They had decided to return home to their village for a quieter, easier life. Business was good with lots of construction work in the village. There was now little difference in wages between a migrant's salary in Guangdong and what they could earn in rural Chongqing. The government was also giving rural people more subsidies (pension, rural medical insurance).  This should help to achieve two key Government aims - reducing disparities, and boosting consumption.  It will also give more people a better life.

Posted at 13:43 29 September 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[0]

Lord Mandelson at the Party School in Beijing

Lord Mandelson has been in Beijing this week.  He met Premier Wen Jiabao this morning, and had talks with Vice Premier Wang Qishan on the global economy, and with Trade Minister Chen Deming on trade. 

His speech at the Central Party School is an important one - on the effects of the financial crisis, climate change, and EU/China relations.  The school is where China trains its leading officials - not just early in their careers, but at regular intervals afterwards, for shorter and longer courses.  So questions were lively.

We have also posted the Chinese version of the speech on our Embassy website.

Posted at 13:29 09 September 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[0]

Answering some of your China questions

I have had a lot of questions on the Chinese version of my blog.  And it is not always easy to answer them systematically, as the comment system works a bit differently than the one for my UK blog.  So...  I have focussed on three of the big ones, and will try to answer those.

1.   Visa questions.  Our visa section in Beijing is one of our largest in the world.  Add to that our teams in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing and it is one of our three biggest global visa networks.  Most of our visa work is done through our visa application centres, in 12 locations across the country - that means we can do much more, much faster, than if we did everything through the Embassy.  We want genuine applicants to go to the UK but our systems are tough on those who try to abuse the system and break our rules.  Over the past three years we have been consistently rated one of the best visa services available in China, by independent observers.  Most applications can be turned round inside 15 working days, we publish our turn around targets and most importantly how we are doing against them on our website www.vfs-uk-cn.com . This lets customers know how long their application is likely to take, which is the question we get asked most frequently.  When making a visa application it is important to provide what the visa section ask for  -  these requirements, and any right of appeal, are clearly set out on the Embassy website, at www.ukinchina.fco.gov.uk .

This period is the busiest of the year, because of the number of student applications.  There has been something like a 20% increase on last year.  We take a lot of trouble to make sure that the application process is fair, and as quick as we can make it.  The vast majority of people who apply for a visa in China are genuine applicants, and our refusal rate in China is low.  But there has been an increase in fraudulent applications recently, in particular for student visas from Fujian. We take a very tough line on anyone using fraud or forgery to attempt to obtain a visa, their application is automatically refused and they are banned from making a future UK visa application for ten years. The current problem is slowing us up a bit as we have to make detailed checks but we are still processing the vast majority of applications within our 15 day limit.  We are committed to providing a quick, efficient and fair service.   

2.   The Arms Trade Treaty.  A couple of people said they thought the West was happy to expand our own armed forces, but complained when China did it.   It is important to be clear about what an Arms Trade Treaty would be and what it would not be.  It would not have any bearing on the defence equipment that countries decide to develop for themselves.  What it would do is ask all signatories to agree the criteria they should use when deciding who to sell arms to (countries would retain the sovereignty to make the ultimate decisions themselves).  This would create a more predictable international market for China both as an importer and as an exporter.  And it would close the loopholes that allow arms to find their way into civil wars and be used against peacekeepers.  An Arms Trade Treaty would make it harder for Chinese or other weapons to be used in conflict zones in Africa, for example. 

But there is a broader issue, too.  The more transparent countries are about the purpose of their military expansion, the less likely others are to be worried by it.  Signals of intent matter.  So too do substantive military to military exchanges, sharing of doctrine, and proper mechanisms for handling crises.  There is more exchange now between major militaries today than there has been in the past.  But there's a lot further to go. 

3.  How to get into the Foreign Office.  A couple of you on the English language version of this site have asked.  There is a lot of material on the www.fco.gov.uk website.  But if you have a particular interest in China, then you should know that our network in China is one of our largest in the world.  And the opportunities here for British diplomats are likely to increase.  Having a background in Chinese studies will not necessarily make it easier to get into the Foreign Office  -  we are looking for a broad range of people, and we need to be able to deploy them in a wide variety of places.  But once you get in, if you already have some Chinese or an interest in China, that will be a big advantage for you, and good for the Foreign Office too.  And particularly good for the growing China network.  So please apply!

Posted at 02:19 19 August 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[1]

New UKTI China trade website

UK Trade and Investment Director Alastair Morgan started his own China blog last month joined by the wider UKTI China team.  The Commercial Section of the Embassy and in our three consulates, UKTI in London and the China Britain Business Council, are all contributing.   You can find it in Chinese and English at blog.sina.com.cn/uktichina.  The UKTI English language site is at blog.ukti.gov.uk.

There are lots of good posts on it already, including daily posts from Trade Minister Lord (Mervyn) Davies during his recent visit to China.  The latest post, from Qin Li, is on information and communications technology.  In other posts, Jeremy Gordon has written on opportunities from China's stimulus package.  and Corin Wilson writes about doing inward investment in Wuhan, central China.

The trade and investment story is a good one.  We have a demanding target, to achieve US $60 billion in two way trade by 2010.  China invests more in the UK than in any other country in Europe, and we are Europe's largest investor in China, with 25% of all Chinese-recorded EU Foreign Direct Investment.   The EU as a whole is China's largest trading partner in the world.  I hope you will find time to click on the links.

Posted at 10:12 10 August 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[0]

The law, the UK, and China

William Ehrman, our Ambassador, gave a speech on 21 May at the China University of Political Science of Law in Beijing, on the role of politics and law in British society, and how it affects the relationship between China and the UK. The University is also the home of the China-EU Law School. I thought you might be interested to read the speech here. Thank you for your kind comment on the Foreign Secretary's Guardian article, John!

http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/?view=Speech&id=18298769

Posted at 11:46 25 May 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[0]

Foreign Secretary's interview on China's global power

The Foreign Secretary gave a significant interview in the Guardian today, that was posted on the web edition on Sunday night, to mark the first day of their Mandarin language edition, which starts today. You can see it in both Chinese and English at the web link below:

Posted at 09:32 18 May 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[1]

China: Human Rights Report

The Foreign Office's annual human rights report comes out today.  It includes material on China, where we have a number of concerns.  We raise these regularly with the Chinese Government, at high level.  We have both bilateral and EU dialogues on human rights.  It is important that these work well.

Chinese leaders say that they want to see improvements in human rights.  They also point out that social and economic rights have improved a great deal over the last thirty years.  That is true - and China has lifted more people out of poverty in a shorter time than any other country in history.  But it is also not the whole story.  On civil and political rights, progress has been slow.   A timetable for ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,  which  China signed in 1998 , would be welcomed round the world.

We point this out not because we do not want China to succeed, or because we want to use this as a card to play in diplomacy, or a tool to keep China down.  It's the opposite.  We have an increasingly large stake in China's success.  And as China changes so rapidly, it - and the relationship with us - matter more to people in the UK, not less.  Better human rights contribute to long term stability.  Universal values are not a Western invention, but something we are all signed up to through our membership of the UN.

Posted at 16:51 26 March 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[2]

China and the United States

Everyone can see that the conversation between these two great powers has become a more public one. Premier Wen's comments on Chinese investment in the US last Friday, at his press conference following the National People's Congress, sparked a quick reaction from President Obama, who said "not just the Chinese Government but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States". Foreign Minister Yang was in Washington last week. Both sides sent clear signals about their desire for a strong, stable relationship. The two Presidents will meet for the first time at the London Summit.

Posted at 09:08 16 March 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[0]

China and the US

I'm going to Washington and New York next week. The Sino-American relationship has been described by strategists on both sides as the most important bilateral relationship in the world. I want to understand it better from the US side. Now is a good time to go.

Posted at 08:08 27 February 2009 by Peter Wilson  |  Comments[4]