Violent Unrest Rocks China As Crisis Hits

Chinese riot police march through the city of Kangding, March 17, 2008.
Photo David Gray/Reuters (The National Post)

From Times Online:

The collapse of the export trade has left millions without work and set off a wave of social instability.

Bankruptcies, unemployment and social unrest are spreading more widely in China than officially reported, according to independent research that paints an ominous picture for the world economy.

The research was conducted for The Sunday Times over the last two months in three provinces vital to Chinese trade – Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. It found that the global economic crisis has scythed through exports and set off dozens of protests that are never mentioned by the state media.

While troubling for the Chinese government, this should strengthen the argument of Premier Wen Jiabao, who will say on a visit to London this week that his country faces enormous problems and cannot let its currency rise in response to American demands.

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My Comment: I sometimes wonder if the modernization of the Chinese Military is not to counter an external threat .... but to control their own population. This article gives credence to the argument that it is to control their population.