A good book worth a read is China – Fragile Superpower by China expert,  former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under the Clinton administration and current professor on International Relations and Pacific Studies, Susan Shirk.

The book explains and examines the many complex factors which define, underline, and often potentially undermine the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as it continues to weave the fine line of keeping its economy going along steadily whilst keeping its increasingly mobile, educated, spirited and critical populace happy, (or at least pre-occupied with other concerns), all the while having to deal with trade agreements and alliances, foreign partners and former foes, disputed regions and potential flashpoints both within and near the country.

Having opened up to the world with Nixon’s state visit in 1972 and furthermore in 1979 with Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms of “socialism with capitalist characteristics” which have transformed the sleeping giant into an economic dragon in a generation, the CCP can no longer rely on trotting out the old Communist lines that once placated the masses as its increasingly sophisticated and educated populace no longer believe it. What the CCP has found as a substitute in motivating and rallying the public behind a uniting cause is to use nationalism as a basis to underpin Chinese identity and enable the CCP to continue with its agenda. The trouble comes though when its time to rein in the masses once their spleen has been opened to vent against a common foe (usually either Japan*, Taiwan or the US) before it either jeopardises foreign relations and trade, leads to war or – what the CCP fear the most – brings down the central communist Government.

* – The 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations are one such notable example where the powers that be initially supported and allowed the masses to protest, before deciding to clamp down on the protests a month later as they were starting to impact negatively on China’s trade relationship with Japan and China’s image abroad.

The book clearly details and explains the many push-pull factors and balancing efforts the CCP and its many and various wings have to manipulate in order to achieve internal unity and stability whilst at the same time not jeopardise its foreign relations and trade on which the economy relies on to grow, as the CCP well know once the economy dips and jobs become scarce, the conditions become ripe for civil unrest which is the worst case scenario for the CCP.

Shirk’s book also looks at the power structures and hierarchy of the various branches of the CCP and China’s all-powerful military, whom the CCP know they must appease lest there be any military revolt.

Chinese – Fragile Superpower does a thorough job of explaining and detailing the many domestic and foreign issues which the CCP must manage to keep the world’s most populous, and 3rd largest (both physically and economically) nation progressing without disintegrating as the world is more intertwined than ever and China and the US, as the book demonstrates, are intricately connected so that if one economy collapses the other will too, and with that a massive black eye or worse for the world as a whole.

Now that China has been opened and its economy set rolling it simply cannot turn back. The CCP know this all too well and now are more fragile and paranoid than ever to keep the lid on firmly so that they stay in control.

A fascinating book and must-read for anyone interested in China, US-Chinese relations, China’s relations with its neighbours, and China’s many problems and issues with its huge, dynamic and diverse population.

Chinese media is controlled by the government but it doesn’t remove the fact that China has the largest media audience in the world. The rise of digital media, the Internet and mobile devices are changing China.

“There’s a move to innovative business models and that’s particularly true in the digital industries,” said Martin Bloom, co-founder of design and branding consultancy Bloom & Tse. “Few Chinese know the rules of western business schools and they don’t know the constraints we do in the west, so they experiment and find novel solutions. Chinese entrepreneurs are street smart, not book smart. They have to adapt very quickly, and that’s important.” (Guardian.co.uk)

Now about 30 percent of a Chinese mobile bill is spent on music. The next step is mobile video – and it will change media.

“As outside China, video, social networking and online gaming are major trends; the latter alone predicted to be worth $8bn per year across China by 2012. Illustrating the potential for growth, he said that telecoms revenue for last year was $120bn but half a trillion dollars in the US, a far more saturated market.” (Guardian.co.uk)

India’s newest private security personnel are rapidly transforming from static security guards to anti-terrorism forces, Jody Ray Bennett writes for ISN Security Watch.

Thousands of young men throughout India begin each day in blue uniforms that closely resemble that of official police officers, and often armed with little more than batons and radios, they patrol, survey, search and check guests and clients of some of the largest multinational firms in the country.

These young men are escorting VIPs, checking luggage and bags with bomb-sniffing canines, surveying landscapes with binoculars and night-vision goggles and even using hi-tech electronic equipment to scan for cyberinvasions and other network threats for a multitude of private clients.

The company they work for is busy assessing security risks for elite multinationals doing business in India while providing them with personal, private security. In the event of an emergency, the company claims it will deploy a “quick response team” dispatched through a 24-hour manned security control room.

In an increased blurring of the lines between security guard services and the private security personnel of companies that often raise eyebrows in western media, several Indian firms are preparing to earn their spot in the global private security industry.

Meet TerraForce Security Services, India’s newest private security company. Set apart from many of the other private security firms throughout India, TerraForce was recently formed by Indian billionaire Kushal Pal Singh to protect the assets of DLF Group, India’s largest real estate company. DLF states that it is by far the “largest” in terms of “revenues, earnings, market capitalization and developable areas in India,” so it is hardly difficult to identify the company’s vested interest in protecting its businesses, projects and assets in a country that even the US Department of State has said is “ranked among the world’s most terrorism-afflicted countries.”

According to the New York Times, TerraForce is hiring “as many experts as it can,” some of which include “former National Security Guards, the black-clad commandos who reclaimed the Mumbai hotels” in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and in a statement from TerraForce president and chief executive Harsh Wardhan, the company is “importing instructors from the Israeli army and the United States Marine Corps.”

Anti-terrorism is big business

Much like the private security industry boom that was experienced throughout North America and Europe in the aftermath of 9/11, India also experienced a rapid increase in demand for security in the period following the Mumbai attacks.

According to India’s Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI), as of June 2009 India’s private security industry had grown to “approximately 5.5 million security guards employed by about 15,000 security companies [and] as an industry, is now the country’s largest corporate taxpayer.”

The emergence of companies like TerraForce represents India’s ability to quickly create private forces to respond to perceived gaps in its national security. However, India’s private security industry is rather unique to the degree that it was once made up of mostly unarmed, static security guards that patrolled apartment buildings, hotels and other businesses and are now transforming into armed, anti-terrorism units.

“India’s [private military and security] market has gotten very interesting since the Mumbai attacks a year ago. What used to be a country guarded by loosely trained, ‘lathi’-equipped ‘chowkidars’ that guarded individual homes and apartment complexes is transforming to one attempting to address and mitigate sophisticated terrorism,” Shlok Vaidya, analyst and author of NaxliteRage.com, told ISN Security Watch.

“This has meant unprecedented growth as the market adapts to these new demands,” said Vaidya.

One report noted that “Even before the [Mumbai attack], the industry was experiencing an annual growth rate of 25 percent due primarily to the country’s infrastructure development [and CAPSI] now estimates an annual growth rate of 40 percent.”

Essential training

But even as the industry grows, some critics maintain that much of India’s private security companies are still unprepared to respond to threats such as terror attacks. Part of the reason could be the time it takes to prepare employees of these countries to adequately respond in the wake of a crisis. And in the industry’s rapid growth over the last year, private companies are recruiting India’s youth to begin careers that might quickly become India’s first line of defense against unconventional attacks.

In March 2009, Homeland Security Newswire reported that these young men who were “recruited at random […] from India’s small farming communities and thrown a uniform,” must now “prove who they are, pass a medical exam, and show they can read and write and do elementary math, [and while] there are no rigorous investigations into a recruit’s background or character, security firms argue [for] mandatory training courses [to] help weed out the weak and corrupt from the applicants.”

This ultimately resulted in the state’s Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) training many of those new applicants to “to combat terror strikes.” According to a recent report by the Times of India, a senior official with the ATS stated that the employees it had trained would be “allowed at multiplexes, cinema halls, banks and other prominent private establishments” and that it’s training program would “definitely enable them [private security personnel] to assist police in tackling terror.” CAPSI is now scrambling to help modernize and legitimize the development of the industry.

“Smaller companies with less funding are finding out the most useful role they can play in guarding social infrastructure (malls, movie theaters and banks) is to act as a highly trained information sensor for more heavily armed and better trained central police forces or special ops. Instead of chasing big weapons, small outfits are looking for secure, strong radio systems to report crimes or real time terror info. This is what they train on,” Vaidya told ISN Security Watch.

In many of the western private military and security companies, employees typically have previous police or military experience, which is almost always a requirement. In India, however, the dynamic has shifted in which young men can circumvent state police or military enlistment and go straight to private companies, which are in turn trained by state forces.

According to one source, India’s private security personnel begin making approximately 4,000 rupees, or $82 per month, meaning that “the typical security guard starting out in India will make approximately $984 in a country with a per capita income of $2,900 a year.” Some private security companies are even training Indians for employment as armed guards in western countries.

For now, India’s private security market is still in a developmental stage. If certain market forces remain intact, India’s private security industry could soon become the state’s first private line of defense against various security threats.

“The goal of the PMC market in India isn’t to supplant governance, but rather to enable it. While these [private security personnel] aren’t the heavily armed, highly-trained western PMCs, they are mission-critical information nodes. They join the variety of other private forces such as land owner militias, insurgencies and the underworld that, combined with the central government infrastructure, act as a government and enable life in India today,” Vaidya said.

BBC Country Profiles.

Developed by BBC News, the full profiles “provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.” (BBC News)

This resource is also listed as one of the best free reference web sites in 2009 by the RUSA Machine-Assisted Reference Section of the American Library Association. According to the review, each “profile includes an overview, map, facts, and current leaders. A media overview provides information on the press, television, radio, news agencies, and number of Internet users. Links provided on the side of the profile connect to the latest news and key stories, BBC links, background articles, related Internet sites and video and audio clips from the BBC archives. Additional features include timelines, recent news links, background articles, Internet sites, and BBC archive video and audio clips. Information on over 20 key international organizations is also included” (RUSA-MARS, ALA).

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Jakarta is the capital as well as the largest city of the Republic of Indonesia. Once a typical harbor town and earlier known by different names such as Sunda Kalapa, Jayakarta, and Batavia – Jakarta has now transformed into an advanced metropolitan city and one of the most popular tourist destinations in South-East Asia.

Situated on the Java Island’s northwest coast, Jakarta is credited to be the world’s 11th largest city as well as the fifth metropolitan area. The city is made up of five districts such as Central Jakarta, West Jakarta, South Jakarta, East Jakarta, and North Jakarta, each of them with its own significance. From interesting museums and historical monuments to beautiful parks and gardens, Jakarta presents a feast of attractions for people touring this incredible destination.

Few among many of the attractions that set apart Jakarta from other destinations in South-East Asia are the National Monument – a Russian built landmark located in the Medan Merdeka; Museum of Gadjah (the National Museum of Indonesia), exhibiting more than 80,000 Indonesian arts and artifacts such as a unique selection of Oriental ceramics and sacred traditional swords.

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a tour to which is a great way to explore the whole of the country in a day, as it is a park featuring miniature of all the country’s provinces; Jakarta Art Center (Taman Mini Indonesia Indah), where a variety of cultural performances are conducted; Sunda Kelapa Port, one of the busiest areas in the city; Pasar Ikan, a bustling area whose focal point is the Maritime Museum housed within a restored Dutch warehouse which date back to the period of Dutch East Indies.

Fatahillah Square, with some interesting museums of the city; Masjid Istiqlal, which holds the distinction of being the largest mosque in South-East Asia; Sea World, an amusement park with a rich as well as rare variety of marine animals; Pasar Seni, a vibrant open market located within Ancol Amusement Park; Chinatown, which is regarded as the commercial hub of the city; and Kebun Binatang Ragunan, a 185-acre zoo with a rare species of animals and birds.

With these scores of attractions, it is not a wonder why the city is visited by holidaymakers from every nook and corner of the world. Hence, Jakarta has wonderful accommodation options to cater to every taste and pocket.

For vacationers who want to explore the city in style, some excellent options are available in the form three-star and five-star hotels and resorts. Mostly, these hotels are located within easy reach of the major transport systems such as the Soekarno-Hatta international airport and Gambir railway station, apart from many of the top attractions and shopping facilities in the city. When comes to comforts, rooms mostly feature all amenities that are required to make your stay comfortable as well as enjoyable.

In most cases, high-end accommodations also feature facilities such as car rental, currency exchange facilities, laundry service, outdoor swimming pools, transportation service, concierge, valet parking, onsite complimentary parking, and public outdoor parking.

For business travelers, these hotels provide some superb facilities such as business centers and meeting rooms complete with state of the art equipments. There are also some upscale hotels in the city that offer a continuum of leisure facilities such as golf course, superb spa facilities providing rejuvenating massage, sauna and steam room. Apart from these, many of the top-end hotels are attached with one or more restaurants, serving an array of delicacies from local dishes to multi-cuisines.

Above all, some hotels provide excellent packages inclusive of accommodation, dining, transportation for sightseeing in the city, and facilities to enjoy a number of activities. Even some packages cover facilities to not only explore the city sights and landmarks but also to explore the attractions outside or nearby the city such as Bogor Botanical Garden, about 50 kilometers south of the city, and Prambanan, which is much famed for its Hindu shrines that were built during the ninth century. Additionally, since many of the hotels have their own websites with options for online booking, it allows people to book an accommodation choice according to their taste and budget and that too in advance.

I found an interesting slideshow about social media in China (created by Mindy Zhang).

Chinese netizens
※ 338 million users in June 2009
※ Mostly urban ~72%
※ 31,7% are students, 7,4% are unemployed
※ Only 12,4% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher
※ 46% access the Internet by Mobile phone
※ 35,5% access the Internet through Internet Café
※ China’s Internet penetration is only 25,5% (Korea 76,1%, USA 74,7% and Japan 73,8%)
Source: CNNIC

No surprises in 2009. Dell and Intel were jointly named the digital brand of the year 2009.

“The campaign involved a microsite to support Swarm and maintained a heavy social media focus, integrating the use of Twitter, mobile and rich media to engage audiences. Bloggers were also given special previews to drive buzz. Swarm used Singapore as a test ground before rolling it out on a wider scale.” (media.asia)

Swarm Campaign Page here!

HathiTrust Digital Library

University of Michigan Library recently announced that fulltext search is now available across the entire HathiTrust Digital Library of more than 4.6 million volumes, including materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK). Jidong Yang, Head of Asia Library at the University of Michigan tested the fulltext search capability and found that the OCR accuracy for CJK materials is low. Also according to Jidong, “searching by Latin and even Cyrillic scripts seems to work pretty well. So it’s definitely a useful tool for searching western studies on East Asia. Compared with Google Book, Hathi has a more library-OPAC-like catalog (which is closely related to the new Mirlyn, Michigan’s VuFind-based OPAC) and thus provides a good alternative for those who often get lost in Google’s search interface.” (Jidong Yang, eastlib message, November 20, 2009)

For more info about Hathi see Large Scale Search Blog & Twitter.

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Coca-Cola’s launching its largest social media project ever.

“Expedition 206 will send three 20-somethings to 206 countries and territories where Coca-Cola is sold in 2010. The trio sets off on their 275,000-mile tour from Madrid on Jan. 1, stocked with laptops, video cameras, smartphones and plenty of other gadgetry, in order to document for the masses their search for happiness.” (Adage.com)