Group items tagged

This article discusses the unknowns of genetically modified foods that have parents in a rural China town worried. A US-China research program fed modified "golden rice" to several children in Central China. Little GM research has been done in China and parents are very worried, because of the rumored side effects ranging from lung disease to reproductive lose.

I find this interesting because China is the largest country in the world with 1.3 billion people and food is a crucial resource. I know in the article It says that it is just rumors and hear say but I believe that the government is also worried about how to feed everyone. Now that China has evolved into a developed nation the image of china no longer lacks industries and technology making China more wealthy. With that being said China doesn't want an image where they cannot feed all their citizens.

For years Apple has been trying to make a deal with China Unicom to carry the Iphone. Unfortunately for China, neither companies have reached an agreement yet. Even though China Unicom has the largest customer based with 688 million people, Apple Iphones are not available with their services. I was surprise since the Iphone is assemble in China.

To know that 688 million people might have access to the iPhone in the next few months is probably going to boost their stock; however, it will have to be seen if they can keep up with demand, since Apple is already struggling to do so; I won't be receiving my iPhone for another 4 weeks or so.

It seems as if the only concern Apple had was the task of meeting the consumer demand for a particular product, then Apple would surely not have too much to worry about. Apple chose not to manufacture iPhones in America because we are no longer efficient manufacturers in most instances (including the iPhone). China manufactures all types of products for Americans. Now I wonder how much China will need us when they begin to manufacture for their own enormous population. Also, I wonder if we would be ready to manufacture for ourselves if that were to happen.

The iPhone 5 was released recently, which led to many workers in China working extreme overtime. Some had to go a month or more without a day off. Add that to the already poor working conditions in some of Foxconn's factories and you get a riot. It is a shame that these workers have so few rights, especially since they can't even use these phones, which was also highlighted in one of the articles posted by John Trang. The site this article came from, phys.org, is a great site that I've visited for years for news related to a variety of sciences and technologies. Here are a few articles related to changes in the global oceans like the ones discussed in Seasick: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-slippery-slope-slime-overgrown-algae.html http://phys.org/news/2012-09-ocean-acidification-scientists.html

Well now I know why my Iphone is still on back order. Seriously though the brawl in China shows that once people are push to their limits they will revolt. Like Matt stated poor working conditions and high stress will lead to a riot. This should show the world how serious horrible working conditions are in China. In addition to China the brawl also affected the US. Joe McDonald of AP Business wrote "On Monday, Apple said it sold 5 million units of the new iPhone 5 in the first three days, less than analysts had expected. Its stock fell 1.4 percent to $690.50 in midday trading." The amount of Iphone does not match the amount of people that preordered the new Iphone. Zach Epstein of BGR news stated in his article "Verizon ran out of launch-day stock late Friday morning, and AT&T sold out of its preliminary iPhone 5 inventory just before 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday." http://news.yahoo.com/preorders-disappointing-iphone-5-sell-less-hour-apple-121522743.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CZAimdQ9loAlOrQtDMD http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Foxconn-factory-in-China-shaken-by-worker-violence-3888296.php

Apparently China is kind of being hit with a mini recession at the moment. This recession is affecting the fast food industries. In another article http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-23/china-s-stock-index-futures-decline-on-earnings-concerns.html most of China's top earning corporations has decrease in stock prices. One of China major corporation Volatility droped 22 percent in the markets today. Fast food sales growth in decrease to 6% from 19% last year.

The comparison of the two articles is really interesting. Especially since the linked article focuses primarily on the sales of US franchises in China. It would be interesting to compare whether equivalent Chinese 'fast food' chains are also suffering or whether these companies with such strong American associations may be suffering due to the tension in US-China relations.

This article predicts that China's Unicom customers will be able to purchase and use Iphones in 2013. The only issue right now is that the prices Apple is offering China is "too high". While a guy name Ramachandran said that apple should give China some sweeteners or incentives to work together. Which doesn't make sense to me because if China wants to be a efficient nation, why not add as many smart phones as you can? Apple is one of the most prospering companies in the world. The logical thing to do is work with apple before they decide to up the price.

Part of the reason apple would add incentives is because there ARE many smart phones available in China, but non-pirated apple products are under-represented. When apple set up their flagship store in Beijing they regulated people to one phone per person because there were so many problems with people trying to buy multiple phones and then re-sell them for a profit.

China's economical growth is slowing down. Many economists predict that China'a 10% growth will reduce to 7% or worse. In order for China to fight back they have lowered interest rate in hope of getting people to spend more money. When China lowers their interest rate it is cheaper for people to borrow money from the banks; but the money that isn't used and is stored in the bank will suffer from inflation. This slump might cause a chain reaction that hurt China's economic standing.

It's interesting that though China's economy is slowing down, it still has more growth than many other countries. Since China has more of a manufacturing-centered economy, I wonder if this slump may mark the transition to a possible service-oriented economy. In addition to that, maybe the leadership transition in the upcoming months will spur a more dynamic economy in China; thereby preventing a prolonged declining economy.

I remember discussing in class the fact that the world economy did not used to be so dependent on individual regions and countries doing well economically so that other countries could also do well economically on a global scale. It makes you wonder if an international economy is a good thing or not. To me, this is proof that we are not prepared for a multi-polar world. The United States is used to being THE world power rather than A world power. If at all possible, maybe it would be smart to learn how to coexist as more of an independent nation econonomically once again. Or on the other hand, perhaps that could create a situation where America could potentially be left behind by the other up and coming world powers.

This article describes a case the US is planning to file against China for subsidizing cars and car parts, mostly in developing countries. The reporter does mention that the rise in automation and the global recession of 2008 probably have effected employment numbers as well. International economics and business is pretty fascinating (ok, maybe, not to everyone), and it's worth noting that increased revenues for Chinese companies will allow China to pursue broader areas of research and development, as well as specilization in a lucrative market: auto sales in developing countries. Once a company has a market, it can give quite the fight to keep it, which provides the country and company a long term source of R&D funding. The article also raises the question of the timing of the case against China, and whether it's filing by the incumbent Obama administration is politically motivated. This question is more fully explored in an article from today's New York Times that goes well with the discussion from class today about government action on science and technology issues, and when it takes that action. Here's the link if anyone's interested in incumbent electoral advantages: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/us/politics/obama-exploits-familiar-junction-of-policy-and-politics.html?pagewanted=all

This is an issue I hadn't really considered when thinking of China's pollution problem, or pollution in general. Some of China's soil is getting infected, leading to tainted crops. It is interesting to see the negative effects that come up as a country tries to grow and develop, and it will also be interesting to see the actions China takes to combat these issues in the future.

Chinese manufacturer Foxconn is at it again! We can now add underage labor to other articles in this group that show how this company has been involved in controversial practices. It makes me wonder why Foxconn would continue to participate in risky, and in this case illegal, practices. Especially when they just had a strike earlier this month! Is it all about the money? What should be done? This seems like something the Chinese government would want to get involved in to protect the countries image.

It seems like Foxconn lack ethics and morals. To add on your question "what should be done" I want to ask what can be done? Only reason China's economy is flourishing is because of exporting goods. Most US companies uses companies in China for cheap labor. If they start cracking down on stuff like this the labor might not be as cheap and it would be cheaper to have stuff built in America rather than China. That is the last thing the Chinese government want for its country.

This is a somewhat interesting article about cooperation between China and Taiwan over resources in the South China Sea. This region was discussed a bit in Seasick, so I though it would be nice to get an update on the situation. Apparently there is some disputes over who owns land in the region, which makes negotiations even more difficult then if they were just over how resources should be divided up.

I remember discussing in class the immense amount of nuclear power we have especially when compared to other nations. Also, I remember us considering the fact that our government believes it is acceptable for us to possess nuclear power and not acceptable for other nations to possess nuclear power because we feel that as a whole, our morals are more honorable. If China is leading the cyber war, then can our nuclear power keep us safe when they can potentially access our launch codes in the future?

It is a bit disconcerting how the government tries to cover up and not discuss the fact this severe of a breach happened, and when it was brought to light, they seem to very shyly admit to the fact it happened. Even though they say the success rate of the cyber attacks is rare, the fact that China, or potentially any other nation with enough willpower, may hack and access the codes is daunting. Hopefully, the U.S. will do more to develop stronger forms of security and technology to protect this information.

This is pretty interesting. I follow politics fairly close and even I was unaware of this most recent attack. I agree with Sana, they very shyly admitted the downfall. These attacks should not be taken lightly, and it seems like more precautions need to be taken as well. Perhaps, they should install Norton Anti-Virus.

Tensions are rising as we approach the rocket launch window given by North Korea; the United States has moved ships into the area, and Japan has already ordered its military to shoot at any debris or rocket passing their air space. Even China, one of North Korea's only allies, has called on them to cancel their rocket test.

It is interesting and somewhat frightening that the North Korean government would launch rockets without the permission of not only America but China and even Japan as well. It seems that even through globalization and the development of a multipolar world, opposition to the majority is still plentiful.

The two main up and coming power houses continue their conflict over oil and gas. I am intrigued to see how much the United States will intervene as the conflict continues.

This article explains that more Chinese famers are beginning to use food chain partnership projects to produce higher yields. The partnerships are equipping famers with new technology that has not been used before in this province. With new technology comes new worries, and with new traceable scanning codes, customers can identify where, how, whether or not GMOs were used.

Today in class we talked about robots or machines with artificial intelligence, AI, and how it is going to be a reality soon. This article is about China's military advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV for short. The drone is similar to the Predator drone used by the US military but is cheaper at $1 million. The drone is called "Yi Long" but called Wing long in English. The editor of Kanwa Defense Monthly stated, "They know that in future wars unmanned warfare will be very important." Now with this new technology; choices are going to be harder to make when it comes to casualties. It is very easy to be objective when you are sitting in a room far away from the action, but if you are on the field doing the work its another story.

The quote from the Chinese president about having to win the war in an "information age" is really interesting. It is becoming more and more apparent that advancing military technology during this time makes a significant impact on warfare today and the future.

It sometimes seems as if we try to be the police of the world, and yet we are also sometimes the most despised nation of the world. Do we need to change our tactics in the face of globalization?

Chinese military fans are excited by the news that the country's second stealth fighter prototype has made its maiden flight. Meanwhile, experts and observers considered the possibility that the aircraft might be deployed on an aircraft carrier.

The National Oceanography Center was established on Friday in Xiamen, Fujian province, to accelerate the development of marine technology and innovation, amid the country's marine economy boom.

Instead of the usual methods of hiding cameras in trees and sitting for hours with a pair of binoculars and hoping to see some interaction of the orangutans scientists in Asia had been using, they are now employing unmanned drones to fly over the areas where the endangered primates live in order to document them. The drones are made in China and cost less for the scientists to use than actually going out into the field to study.