This Week in China

Top Story

Analysts continue to weigh in on China’s gargantuan stimulus package, announced Sunday. Many economists believe that China’s economic growth will drop into the 7 percent range despite these latest measures.

One China scholar opined in the Wall Street Journal that the biggest potential for a stimulus package would be to pump funding into health and social services, which would ease burdens on consumers and promote domestic consumption. If the Chinese government chose to do this, it would be quite encouraging for the global economy. Unfortunately, the plan seems to be focused on infrastructure spending, the long-term effects of which are hard to predict. Some news outlets are even hailing this as China’s “New Deal.”

There is also growing discussion of possible motivations that Beijing may not have wanted to mention outright. Inklings of labor unrest have already begun to sprout up in cities across China, which have seen the closure of 67,000 export-producing factories this year. Plus, many of the country’s five million college grads last year still have yet to find jobs. But overall, it’s a waiting game until the government releases more details about the plan.

General News

Taxi drivers are on strike in the southern resort city of Sanya, adding to similar strikes in the past week in Gansu province and the city of Chongqing.

Beijing annouces a 240 billion RMB ($34 billion) plan to expand transportation infrastructure. The city’s plan to quadruple the amount of subway track by 2012 comes after an already feverish period of development in the lead up to the Olympics.

An angry mob of 400 people attacked police in the southern city of Shenzen to protest the death of a motorcyclist who crashed when an officer tried to hit him with a walkie-talkie.

Politics

China reacted with criticism to a comment made by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee claiming that the disputed border region of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to India.

Former Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian was arrested as prosecutors prepared corruption charges.

Business & Economy

The Pearl River Delta, a major manufaturing region that includes the southern city of Shenzhen, saw 1,300 companies close their doors in the first nine months of the year.

Chinese CPI, the main indicator for inflation, dropped to 4 percent in October from 4.6 percent in the previous month, signaling a reigning-in of price increases but also an economic slowdown.

Science & Environment

Infectious diseases caused 1,000 Chinese deaths in October. The top culprits were AIDS, rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and neonatal tetanus, which together accounted for 90 percent of the deaths.

China unveiled its first complete map of the lunar surface.

China Moment

A slew of reactions to Barack Obama’s victory speech appeared on China’s Internet forums, many of them positive:

So touching! I approve! I continuously supported him and he did not let me down! … I hope he can really help bring change to America, and also peacefully coexist with China, giving the world positive change!

Read other opinions here.

Photo: China Photos/Getty Images