America's Future Update on China

Update on Trade with China

DaimlerChrysler AG will soon start selling Chinese-made cars. The world's fifth-largest automaker said it has approved the framework of a limited partnership that will have China's Chery Motor Co. build the cars in China. They will be sold in North America and Western Europe under Chrysler Group brands, which include Dodge and Jeep. Chery is China's biggest domestic automaker. This means that 11,000 manufacturing jobs will be eliminated in the next 24 months (9,000 in the U.S. and 2,000 in Canada), plus 2,000 while-collar jobs. The SUV assembly plant in Newark, DE will be closed. The Warren, MI truck plant and South St. Louis assembly plant will each lose one of their two shifts. Buffalo News, 2-28-07

Tire imports from Communist China jumped 47% in the last two years, while North American production fell. The average cost to make a passenger tire in China is only $25. The result has been wave of plant closings in North America as tire manufacturers shift production overseas. Globe and Mail, 4-1-07

In 2006, the U.S. had a deficit in traded goods of $836 billion, a fifth-straight world record.

Update on Chinese Military Threat

The Bush Administration has suspended plans to develop space ventures with China, including joint exploration of the moon, in reaction to Beijing's Jan. 11 test of an anti-satellite weapon that left orbiting debris threatening U.S. and foreign satellites. The U.S. action is meant to signal displeasure with the anti-satellite test as well as with China's failure to give an explanation for its space arms program. China fired a missile on Jan. 11 releasing a nonexplosive warhead that destroyed a Chinese weather satellite 530 miles above the Earth by ramming it at high speed. Thousands of pieces of the destroyed satellite are now in orbit and could damage or destroy some of the hundreds of U.S. and foreign satellites.

China's anti-satellite interceptor test is part of a covert space-weapons program designed to cripple the U.S. military in a conflict. U.S. defense officials say the test exposes a key strategic vulnerability and major gaps in U.S. intelligence. Protests were also raised by the governments of Japan, Australia, India and Canada. Washington Times, 1-9-07 and 2-2-07Associated Press, 12-14-06

Update on Chinese Medicine

After years of denial, China has finally acknowledged that most (some estimate 90%) of the "donors" of human organs used in transplants in Beijing are taken from executed prisoners. China admitted the profitability of this practice since many of the recipients are foreigners who pay hefty sums around $40,000 for a transplant. Some pay $60,000 for a liver transplant.

China's acknowledgement confirms what has been an open secret on line and in local magazines. China's doctors defended the practice: "There simply aren't enough organs to go around. Saving someone's life using executed prisoner's organs is worth it. Voluntary organ donation is not well established in China."

China announced it will now tighten oversight of capital execution cases, requiring that death sentences be approved by the country's highest court. Legal experts estimate that this could reduce executions by a third. Amnesty International reports that at least 1,770 people were executed in 2005 (which is 80% of all executions worldwide). Some observers say the annual figure could be as high as 10,000. Los Angeles Times, 11-18-06