Every spring, Chinese people are bombarded with the spectacle of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's legislature. But for the millions of Chinese outside China, the session elicits nothing more than a yawn.
"I don't think Chinese around the world know or care about the NPC meetings,'' said Perry Link, professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University in the US.
China exercises an ever-stronger pull for millions of ethnic Chinese across the globe as it changes. Expatriate Chinese-born people are venturing back to do business.
Foreign-born Chinese are reconnecting with their heritage, while the people in Taiwan and Singapore have sunk billions of US dollars into China, taking advantage of China's rapidly growing economy.
Still, for many of them, the NPC is nothing more than a charade of a real democracy that fails to give its people a voice.
"Without debate, what does the vote mean?" said Henry Zhao, a professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies. Abroad for more than a decade, he monitors current events in his homeland closely but sees no reason to follow the NPC.
Inside China, the legislature, which convened Friday, dominates newspapers and television. But Zhao doesn't expect that he will see much coverage of the event in his local Chinese language newspapers.
"Chinese newspapers abroad (are) only for the local communities, mostly restaurateurs," Zhao said.
"They do not care about those things far away," Zhao said.
Singapore is the home to more than 3 million ethnic Chinese, many of whom think of China as "laojia," or "old home." But even there, the NPC fails to drum up much interest.
"Singaporeans do watch China closely,'' said Simon Tay, head of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and a former appointed member of Singapore's Parliament.
"The workings and significance of the NPC are, however, not well known or appreciated by many," Tay said.
The ambivalence is understandable.
The NPC has been a showcase for the Communist Party's highly controlled and carefully staged version of participatory democracy. Handpicked delegates meet to hear and approve leaders' reports, with virtually no possibility of robust debate.
Some 2,904 delegates are meeting for 10 days of ceremonies, speeches and voting on laws and amendments already crafted by members of the Communist Party's ruling elite. Dissenting votes are rare.
Although important constitutional amendments covering foreign trade, human rights and private property will be endorsed next week, many predict business as usual.
"It looks to be a very routine, normal event this year, which I would find reassuring if I were an overseas Chinese with significant investment in China or participating in a business relationship," says Donald DeGlopper, head of research for the US Law Library of Congress.
However, legal experts and activists outside China are watching.
The scheduled insertion into the constitution of language on human rights could draw attention from overseas activists.
That makes it "of particular interest this year," said Jose Luis Diaz, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Henry Gao, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said scheduled amendments to China's 10-year-old Foreign Trade Law will be "closely watched" by select people in Hong Kong, which is still treated as a foreign territory in customs and trade despite its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
"It is still too early to predict whether the amendments will make the Chinese foreign trade regime more liberalized or restricted," Gao said.
"But it certainly shows that China has become more sophisticated in the international arena," Gao said.
But many abroad agree that anyone with a passion for the NPC is firmly in the minority, even when it comes to those actively participating in China's pursuit of profits.
"There may be a few [overseas Chinese] who follow the NPC," said Wang Gungwu, head of the East Asia Institute at the National University of Singapore.
"But I have not met any who believe that the meetings help them much in their business in China," Wang said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not