Will the new Chinese leaders carry on much the same as their predecessors?

Li Keqiang, the new Chinese Premier

Over the last few days, Beijing has held the annual National Peoples Congress, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outlined the agenda for the coming year. This years meeting was more unique than previous meetings, as both a new President and Premier, along with other top political posts were officially appointed. Xi Jinping now President and Li Keqiang the new Premier.  

At the end of the week long sitting of the National Congress, the new leaders, both Xi and Li spook on their policies and future direction of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). As expected, economic growth was a top issue emphasized by both leaders’ in their speeches to party members as well as the need to tackle internal corruption, where President Xi urged delegates to reject extravagance and fight corruption.

Apart from domestic issues, foreign policy was also mentioned by both leaders, especially the need to improve relations with the United States (US), with Premier Li, saying that "common interests far outweigh our differences." Although, Li talked about better relations with the US, he did reject the allocations that the Chinese government is behind the cyber attacks against US government agencies and companies. Furthermore, President Xi told the party faithful that the military needs to be in a better position to protect the national sovereignty and security of China.

A new era in leadership for China will unfortunately be much the same as the past; it is the same message over and over again with both President Xi and Premier Li have stated that continued economic growth will be the number one priority for the Communist party, which carries on from former President Hu Jintao’s polices aimed at economic development. So far from what both leaders have mentioned in their first speeches, tackling corruption will also be on the agenda, much like the rhetoric of their predecessors. Only time will tell if there will be much improvement in cracking down on corruption that is wide spread in China.

On the issue of foreign policy, both leaders are indicating that China will carry on an assertive approach to its security and national interest in line with its predecessors. I think China no longer want to be viewed as the dominant force bullying other regional nations, and renewed calling by the new leadership for better relations with the US. 

In my interpretation of what Premier Li said in his speech, that the US and China have more in common than they do have in differences, leads to an intention that China wants to cooperate with the US on regional security and stability, rather then be in conflict with them. 

Once again, only time will tell if this is just rhetoric or whether China really does want to be an active partner within the international community.  

The Catholic Church needs a modernising Pope

The position for a Pope is  now open due to the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI (Image source: WikiCommons, credit to: Marek.69)

In the next few days the Catholic Church will choose a new Pope to lead the 1.2 billion people of the Catholic faith, just a few weeks after the shock resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the first Pontiff to resign in over 700 years.

The Conclave began on Tuesday, and is a momentous occasion at a time of strife for the Vatican and the Catholic Church, as a new Pope will have the task of dealing with many disruptive issues plaguing the Church in recent years. The most disturbing matter is the Churches handling of abuse cases by Catholic priests in many countries around the world.

The Church and specifically the Vatican have been criticised of trying to cover up and protect priests who have been accused of these abuses. In Australia for instance, the Federal government have had to step in after allegations were brought to the surface and are about to convene a Royal Commission into the cases of abuse by the Catholic Church. Although the Church has agreed to cooperate with the Royal Commission, they still protect and support priests that have been accused of abuse against children.    

As the Catholic Church has a membership of over 1.2 billion followers, the Vatican plays a large role in the lives of many of these peoples, who dictate their existence in accordance to the teachings of the Catholic Church, especially guidance from the Pope. For this purpose, I think the conclave should elect a modernising Pope who will break the silence on the abuse of children by Catholic priests and will right the wrongs of the past. Perhaps, in a era where many political and social institutions are breaking with tradition concerning who can become the  leader, the Vatican should decide to elect a non European to become Pope, this will be seen as a break from old traditions and a way forward for a religious institution which has in my opinion lost its ways.  

The Iraq War was a waste of money and lives

This week a final report was released by the United States (US) inspector general for Iraq reconstruction concluding that the billions spent on trying to reconstruct Iraq after the 2003 invasion by the US and its allies was a waste of money and did not achieve much.

The eight years of occupation cost the US over $800 billion dollars in stationing hundreds of thousands of troops and reconstructing Iraq. On top of the economic expenditure, around 5000 American troops died, along with thousands more of Iraqis casualties.

The study was carried out as an audit on the overall expenditure by the US in this conflict over the eight years. The finding of the audit concluded that billions of dollars were wasted to corruption in both Iraq and the US and insufficient security, the money provided to rebuild Iraq was misused and did not accomplish the aim of improving the situation in Iraq.

The Iraq war had been a failure from the beginning for both American foreign policy and the future stability of Iraq and the entire region. Up until the invasion in early 2003, Saddam managed to stabilize Iraq and kept control of any ethnic or religious tensions, even if he had committed crimes against human rights. I agree that Saddam needed to be ousted from power, but I think it was an incorrect policy decision and strategy to firstly invade Iraq at a time were resources were required in Afghanistan and to remove all authority from power, including the dismissal of the police and military. 

The argument set by Bush and his administration, that Saddam and Iraq were linked to al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks was a misjudgement  The chemical and biological weapons that the US and other nations argued that Iraq possessed and were going to use to  attack its neighbours further were lies. All that seems to have been achieved by the war and the occupation was to fuel religious and ethnic tensions and further destabilize Iraq and the whole region.

Let’s hope this report on the cost of the war and reconstruction, along with the other inquiries conducted by the US and its allies will offer lesions for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and any other future decisions will assist governments to make better decisions in the future.                  

Tony Abbot's climate change policy inconsistent

Opposition leader Tony Abbot has announced recently that if the Liberal party is elected at the end of this year, the party plan to keep some of the tax cuts and pensions in compensation for the carbon tax,introduced last July by the Labor government, despite having previously stated his party would scrap the tax.

This new carbon tax was introduced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor government on the 1^st July 2012. The initiative was to tax high polluting companies, with the aim of introducing behavioural change towards cleaner energy. Every tonne of CO2 emissions requires companies to buy permits. The money raised by the tax would be invested in clean energy projects and compensation for the public, who would be feeling the cost of increased energy and other living costs associated with the carbon tax.      

When the Labor government first introduced the carbon tax, Tony Abbot went on the attack accusing the government of not caring for hard working Australian’s who would suffer because of the new tax. He further argued that business large and small would experience economic hardship that would trickle down to ordinary citizens.

While Abbot is correct that living costs would increase because of the carbon tax, the impact on the public has not been as dire as predicted by the Liberal party. Last July when the tax was implemented, many declared that the scheme would not reduce pollution, however studies revealed that after only six months of the tax, emissions have dropped by 8.6 percent. If we can already see this amount of improvement in a short time, years to come, the slight impact on families and the economy would be outweighed by cleaner air in the future.

If Abbot is true to his word, that his party would keep some of the tax cuts and pension increases in compensation for the carbon tax, why not just keep the carbon tax in place? The money spent on the  compensation is funded by the money from the permits purchased by the high polluting companies; if  Abbot removes the tax, yet continue to keep some of the tax breaks and pension increases, how is he going to pay for all these incentives for the public vote? Likely chance if Abbot wins the next election, even in a landslide victory, he would not be able to scrap the tax as the Greens would still hold the balance power in the Senate. If I was Abbot, I would just leave the tax in place and make the future for our children a brighter one.