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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000997 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EAIR ECON PINR EFIN PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Pearl River Flotsam and Jetsam, September 5, 2007 
 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  IT SHOULD NOT BE 
DISSEMINATED OUTSIDE U.S. GOVERNMENT CHANNELS OR IN ANY PUBLIC FORUM 
WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONCURRENCE OF THE ORIGINATOR.  IT SHOULD NOT BE 
POSTED ON THE INTERNET. 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: This is the second in a series of periodic cables 
that will feature snapshots of the Guangzhou consular district. 
Highlights of this installment include: official anger and apathy 
over food and product safety; an ambitious labor lawyer; an 
anniversary for China Southern Airlines; Party and government 
personnel changes; a crackdown on underground money shops; a 
vanishing debate about public funds; more cars for Guangzhou; and 
more toilets for Shenzhen. END SUMMARY 
 
Guangzhou Vice Mayor Scolds Officials on Product Safety 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2. (U) New Guangzhou Vice Mayor Cao Jianliao harshly criticized some 
municipal districts for sending only low-level representatives to 
attend a city-sponsored conference on food safety and product 
quality, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily. The organizers 
of the August 20 conference, which was attended by the mayor and all 
vice mayors, had requested that leaders of municipal districts all 
attend, but many sent only staff members on their behalf. 
 
¶3. (U) Cao said, "[The situation at the conference] shows that those 
districts' government leaders are not taking food safety issues 
seriously.  If district leaders aren't serious about it, how can you 
ask leaders of streets and neighborhoods to care about it?"  Cao 
also alluded to corruption at the local level being a problem, 
saying that without the protection of "relevant personnel" in the 
streets and neighborhoods, "[producers and sellers of fake goods] 
would have no place to hide." 
 
Workers' Rights Lawyer Hopes to Publish his Case Files 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Self-educated lawyer Zhou Litai told Congenoff that he had 
preliminary plans to organize and publish his archives, which 
document more than 7,000 lawsuits.  Zhou said these files, which 
encompass cases from every part of China except Tibet, truly 
reflected the history of China's migrant workers.  He envisions them 
serving as valuable primary source materials for individuals 
researching China's labor situation. However, limited financial 
resources could delay publication of the files. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Zhou, whose license to practice law was revoked in 2002 (an 
 incident cited in that year's Human Rights Report), said that most 
of his cases involved demanding compensation for workplace injuries, 
recovering unpaid wages, or compelling employers to pay for workers' 
pensions and medical insurance. The Zhou Litai Law Firm is 
headquartered in Chongqing with a branch office in Shenzhen, and 
will soon open an additional branch in the Wanzhou district of 
Chongqing. 
 
China Southern Toasts its Past 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) The China Southern commemoration of the tenth anniversary 
of the airline's first B777 trans-Pacific flight (with GE engines) 
was a lively affair, filled with reminiscences and -- of all things 
-- comments about how the airline would likely not be the ninth 
largest in the world today were it not for that historic event.  The 
reminiscences were provided by the primary pilot of that first 
flight, current Minister of Civil Aviation Yang Yuanyuan, who 
interestingly enough kept using one of Deng Xiaoping's favorite 
expressions ("seek truth from facts") and went on to speak in 
glowing terms about the impact of "reform and opening" on aviation. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) In a separate discussion with the Consul General, Minister 
Yang affirmed again that the time had not yet come for open skies in 
passenger flight; the U.S. side, the Minister said without 
elaboration, understood the reasons why.  The Minister also said 
that CAAC was continuing to work to expand the amount of airspace 
controlled by civil authorities, though he noted that his many 
friends in the military also had continuing reservations about 
ceding control. 
 
Promotions and Transfers 
------------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) Former Guangzhou Vice Mayor Wang Xiaoling was promoted this 
month to the position of Director-General of the Propaganda 
Department of the Guangzhou Communist Party.  Ms. Wang, who was born 
in Shandong province in July 1955, joined the Communist Party in 
August 1978.  She rose quickly through the ranks of the Guangzhou 
Administration of Industry and Commerce Development Zone Bureau 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000997  002 OF 002 
 
 
(1990-1994) and the Free Trade Zone Bureau of Guangzhou 
Administration of Industry and Commerce (1994-1998).  Following 
municipal-level Party assignments in 1998 and 2001, Wang was 
appointed one of Guangzhou's eight vice mayors in 2003.  Wang's 
replacement as vice mayor is Cao Jianliao. (See paragraph 2, above.) 
 
 
Eastern Union 
------------- 
 
¶9. (U) According to media reports, Police in Shenzhen and the State 
Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) Shenzhen branch conducted 
a joint operation in early August to expose a network of 
"underground money shops," which provide a channel for transferring 
large amounts of money while circumventing the international banking 
system and national tax bureaus.  Police arrested six suspects on 
the spot and froze 55 bank accounts totaling RMB 4.2 million. The 
illegal foreign exchange trading network covered 31 provinces in 
China, with major clients in Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang 
provinces. 
 
The Debate is Over -- Or Has at Least Disappeared 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶10. (U) An internet posting which sparked spirited public debate 
over the appropriate use of public funds has been removed, the 
Consulate discovered August 7.  All that is left of the debate, 
which examined whether the Guangdong Provincial Government should be 
paying for wealthy Cantonese entrepreneurs to attend the Central 
Party School, is an early August report by the government-controlled 
Nanfang Daily.  The article stated that some "netizens" questioned 
the necessity and value of paying training costs for the young and 
elite entrepreneurs, many of whom are billionaires.  Supporters of 
the program argued, however, that the government was wise to 
showcase the traditional innovation and independence of Cantonese 
businessmen to the politically conservative Party school, according 
to the Nanfang Daily.  One wealthy anonymous entrepreneur cited by 
the paper said he was accustomed to being used by the government as 
an "ATM machine" for charity, disaster relief, or poverty abatement 
programs, and he was surprised that he was not required to pay to 
attend the Central Party School. 
 
Guangzhou: Too Many Cars! Shenzhen: Too Few Toilets! 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶11. (U) A Honda Accord sedan became Guangzhou's 1 millionth licensed 
car on August 15, signifying that one in ten Guangzhou residents is 
now a car owner.  With more than 600 automobiles licensed in the 
city every day, experts estimate that in 5 to 7 years Guangzhou will 
have two million cars on the road. Vice Mayor Gan Xin declared that 
Guangzhou would not restrict the issuance of car licenses, but 
offered no solutions to the problems of parking shortages, heavy 
pollution, or traffic jams. 
 
¶12. (U) The same day, the City Management Bureau of Shenzhen 
announced that the city would build 375 new public toilets over the 
next three years, an increase of 25 percent over current numbers. 
Almost no new public toilets have been built in Shenzhen since 
¶1995. 
 
 
JACOBSEN