I used to subscribe to more mainstream media publications for source of information but now I receive lots of Organic Newsletters and Blogs not only supplementing to but sometimes more overwhelming than the mainstream mass media. We are living in a fast-paced world exhibiting rapid changes in our behaviors, our business environments and even life or death consequences by innovations and reforms. The Internet is the major thrust to the changes in our lives. Tons of reports and essays can be found in mainstream media published by New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Economists, Business Week, the like or prestigious consulting firms like McKinsey or think tanks like Brookings Institute. However, these reports seem to be not fast enough in covering the impacts that are brought on by the Internet and things, especially the tremendous reform and innovation that is happening in China. The US mainstream media may be somewhat reserved in reporting China’s reform and innovations, but the Organic Media are never shy in telling the facts.
 
Welcoming the New Year, I am dedicating this week’s column to reform and innovation in China. I can safely state that the reform and innovation in China are no joke judging on her past accomplishments, current impetus and future plans. You may not read them in the mass media but they are real and known at least in the think tanks. I don’t understand why we are not getting the facts and details in our mass media? The rapid changes and growth in China are really massive and they do have the participation of the masses. There is no way for the United States to compete with China if we don’t get our mass involved. Silicon Valley is great but it is just not enough. I hope what is presented below will give us a wake-up call. We invented the Internet, Apple’s iPhone helped the company to break the $80 Billion mark, but from mass application point of view, China has long surpassed the U.S. as we will discuss below.
 
First, let’s look at the infrastructure in the nation; the U.S. had been the envy of the world in the 1960’s. We had the best highway system linking across all the States in the North America Continent. Now China has surpassed us in highway constructions, 4.6 million kilometers (km) in 2015, for 2015/2005, the statistics show passenger (pr) 16.19B/16.97B pr (B=billion), a decrease due to alternative transportation, but an increase of kilometer traveled, 1074b/929b pr-km and freight transported 31.5b/13.4b tons and 5.79T/869b ton-km. The high-speed railroad lines are more impressive, some 24,000 km (15,000mi) of railroads (121,000 km total in 2015) supporting trains at speed of 250-350 km/hr (155-217 mi/hr). The growth (2015/2005) shows passenger 2.5b/1.6b pr, 1196b/606b pr-km, and freight 3.4b/2.7b tons and 2.4 T/ 2T (T=trillion) ton-km. The statistics for China’s waterway and airlines are equally impressive over 2015/2005, 0.27B/0.2B pr, 7.1B/6.8B pr-km, 6.1b/2.2B tons, 9.2T/4.9T ton-km and 436M/138M (M=million) pr, 728B/204B pr-km, 6.3M/3M tons, 20.8B/7.9B ton-km respectively.
 
China, since 2015, has made reform and innovation as her main focus to sustain her high growth rate. Propelled by the above infrastructure investments, China is now leading in high-speed railway, mega-project bridge and island construction and electric bus transportation technologies, exporting related products and services to other developed and developing nations. However, China is a big country with 1.4 billion people still having tens of millions people living under poverty line. The world is watching, can China sustain her growth to bring her entire population above poverty line in a few years? Can the Chinese government fulfill this Chinese Dream of bringing the entire nation to middle income living standard? The proof is not here yet, but the Chinese government is determined and the reform and innovation drive is very serious in China.
 
China has made major advances in the field of energy. China’s electric power industry is the world’s largest passing the U.S. in 2011. China has massive hydroelectric resources as well as the largest coal reserve in the world. Coal-fired electricity production still dominates China’s domestic electricity but it has declined since 2013 with a major push in renewable energy. China is leading in solar energy and her recent discovery and technology advances since 2012 in geothermal energy (HDR, hot dry rock underground) holds great promise. The geothermal energy found is equivalent to 856 trillion tons of coal which can generate 2.1 billion billion kwh of electricity. That reserve can support the U.S. electricity needs for nearly two million years. (Americans on average use 4000 kwh per year or the U.S. uses 1,200B kwh per year) In the agriculture area, China is exploring two other technologies. One is converting desert sand to irritable soil for growing vegetables and trees; the other is to grow rice in sea water. Both technologies will solve food supply issues in the world. According to World Bank data, China’s forest area has grown 22% from 1990 to 2015. Continuous innovations have been applied to prevent natural desertification.
 
What is most impressive in China’s innovation is its application in speed and scale. For example, the shared bicycle program took off like a rocket in many Chinese cities with a complete internet and GPS technology supported business model operating in a grand scale. Although, sometimes the fast entrepreneur business do run into problems, but the fast progress and experience gained are extremely valuable. They propel further innovation. Another application, Alipay or Zhifubao, using smart phone to pay for business transactions and transfer of funds, has penetrated deeply in the Chinese society. There are 400 million registered users for Alipay as of February 25, 2017 and there are 750 million Ecommerce users in China. No wonder, there is a saying for App developer or entrepreneur: If one could make it in China, one would make it in the world! Chinese are serious entrepreneurs; reform and innovation are definitely no joke in China.
 
Come with innovation are unexpected changes. For example, the packaged convenient noodle used to be sold by the hundreds of millions packs, now the business is dwindled simply because the efficient Internet delivered food services. The chewing gum was a big sales item at the check-out counter, now it is dead; since most people now use smart phone to pay for purchases. Interestingly, the pickpocket crimes in cities are vanished, simply because no one is carrying any cash in the pocket. China seems to be leading in face recognition for ‘pay with face’ application. If China could recognize 1.4 billion people’s faces, not only it would have commercial applications but it also could help fighting terrorism. The Chinese people seem to be more willing to accept innovation induced changes and innovation seems to become a normal way of life. 
 
The revolutions brought on by innovations have been embraced by the Chinese masses causing more revolutionary innovations, a powerful cycle. Traditional businesses are forced to accept revolution or revolt. In China, the new definition of illiteracy is that one does not know how to handle smart phone applications and the new definition of generation gap is that two people’s Internet gadgets are three years apart. If you would travel to China once a year you barely could keep up with her innovations. China’s reform and innovation are no joke, indeed!
 

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China’s Constitution Revision prepared and submitted by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to be ratified by China’s 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) in its first plenary session (March, 2018) is dominating the Western press. Before we examine the details of this amendment and its implication, let’s review the history of the constitutional amendments of the U.S. to provide a comparison and discussion.

National Constitution, ratified by the people and/or its representatives, is the document prescribing the structure of the government, the rights of the people and rule base for governance and serving the people. Every country is founded on its Constitution which can be amended as needed by a due process defined in the Constitution. The U.S. declared its independence in 1776 but its Constitution was first written and ratified in 1787 during the Philadelphia Convention. Subsequently to this day, there were 11,539 proposals for amendment but only twenty seven being approved by the Congress. The First twelve (ten of which are the bill of rights defining people’s freedom and rights) were approved by the Congress in 1789 and sent to the States for ratification. By December, 1791, the ten Bills of Rights of people were ratified including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, bearing arms, security and personal effects, protection from search and seizure, warrant for arrest with due cause, guarantee of proper indictment, speedy public trial with jury, prohibition of double jeopardy and any rights not specified by the constitution and all powers not specifically granted to the government.

The fourteenth amendment (1868) is a significant one offering a clear, simple definition of citizenship with all enjoying equal treatment. The 22nd amendment is also significant concerning the presidency’s term limit. The 27 amendments endured a long debate process till Congress approved them in 1992 for State ratification. To this date, six of 27 have not been ratified by the required number of states; two were closed and four were still pending. This signifies that Constitution Revision is a very serious matter and highly dependent on the procedure requirement in the original Constitution.

China’s Constitution like many others defines the country’s people’s rights and duties, the structure of the State and the government hierarchy including the NPC and its formation and duties. What is different and unique in China’s Constitution is the Chinese style of Communism prescribed as a socialistic economic system with public ownership of the means of production (such as land). Like the U.S. Constitution, China’s Constitution consists of versions of 1975, 1978, 1982 (amended through 2004), 1988,1993, 1999, and 2004 amendments, 2007 resolution on amendments, 2012 revised constitution and the latest 2017 resolution on amending the Constitution yet to be ratified by the 13th NPC this month.

The proposed revision and amendments by the Central Committee of the CCP can be summarized concisely in terms of definition, clarification and energizing the functions and effectiveness of the socialistic political and economic system with Chinese characteristics. The total 21 revisions can be grouped in four categories: 1. Adding words to clarify the direction, method and focus of China’s future development to include Xi’s thoughts and to anticipate new era, emphasize scientific development, and clarify win-win peaceful development under a ‘Human Common Goal’. 2. Adding phrases to sustain reform, achieve Great Rejuvenation (Great Chinese culture and dignity), and cultivate patriotic attitude（e.g. oath on the Constitution to take office), racial and minority harmony, and socialistic values as well as paying attention to environmental improvements. 3. Establishing organizational change by emphasizing law-based (治) rather than system-based (制) governance, giving more power to NPC in election and supervision, restricting NPC representatives and members to serve in administrative or monitoring and supervising roles in other branches of government, empowering NPC to elect the chief of the new monitoring and supervising branch (監察) separated from the executive branch. (Noteworthy point: this branch was uniquely described in China’s founding father, Sun Yat Sen’s Book, Three Principles of People, which has been practiced by KMT under Chiang Kai-Shek till today in Taiwan as a watch dog on the government.)

The revision of Article 79 in China’s Constitution, removing the second sentence in “The term (of President and Vice President) is the same as the NPC’s term. They shall serve no more than two consecutive terms.” Implies that the Chinese leader can serve without term-limit. This has been the focus of the Western Press with numerous articles cautioning the world leaders that they have to deal with a smart and powerful Chinese leader for his life time. However, this implication is highly speculative. We can examine the term limit issue in the U.S. and China’s Constitution and offer a far more rational interpretation and implication analysis.

In the original U.S. Constitution, there was no term limit set on the Presidency. When George Washington resigned after serving his second term, he essentially established a convention that the U.S. President will serve only two terms, eight years. This practice persisted over 152 years till President Franklin Roosevelt, served four terms and died in his 4th term (1933-1947). Roosevelt was a capable President and the U.S. was facing the threat of World War II, the US Congress and the American people supported his Presidency extending to third and fourth term to lead the nation in war. When Roosevelt died in 1947 after the war was ended, the Congress approved the 22nd Amendment to limit the Presidency to two consecutive terms, based on the speculation that the US bi-partisan system may not be able to return to the two-term convention establish by Washington. Of course, such a speculation had no real evidence.

The supreme leader Mao of China served for his entire life (1949-1976 in Power) with great achievement in uniting the nation but also with devastating social programs sunk China in misery. When Deng Xiao Ping emerged as the strong leader (1978-1992) with an agenda for reform and focused economic development, he was the de facto leader till his death even holding no official position from 1982-1992. It was Deng who restored the figure head position of Presidency and divided the power between the party Secretary General and the Premier (head of State Council, the Executive Branch)；all three led by the paramount leader Deng. Deng instrumented the two-term limitation (1982) in order to prevent the formation of a convention of life-long leadership like Chairman Mao. The two -term limit was practiced during Deng’s era (1982-1992) through Hu Yao Bang (1978-1987), Jiang Zemin (1992-2002), Hu Jintao (2002-2012) and Xi Jinping (2012- Present). From Jiang to Xi, they all have had the three positions, General Secretary of CCP, Chairman of the Military Commission (of CCP and National) and the President of China but Xi is the only one now holding all three positions concurrently.

Though the Western press is speculating the removal of the two-term limit on the Presidency as a possible sign for more authoritative power and life-long service for President Xi; personally, I believe that this move may just be Xi’s design to figure out a way to ensure a sustainable law-based governance with smooth transition so that the long-term objectives of China’s national rejuvenation can be accomplished. China’s rapid rise is envied by her neighbors including great powers like the U.S. and Japan targeting China as a security threat. Xi’s past performance adequately demonstrated his ability as a great leader not only for China but also for the world. The Chinese people by and large support his tenure extension beyond second term. One might even draw parallel to Franklin Roosevelt’s term extension discussed above, considering Xi in a critical time with a critical task to fulfill (including the grand scheme of One Belt and One Route, OBOR). The more pressure the other nations are putting on China thwarting her peaceful rise and limiting her leadership in pursuing a ‘Human Common Goal’, the more support the Chinese people and third world nations will offer to Xi demanding his leadership beyond his second term.

President Xi and the NPC have a lot of options and leeway to structure a transition scheme with structure and term limits redefined for the future round of Chinese leaders. One can observe some hints from the detailed revisions presented to the 13th NPC. Focusing on the term limit and making wrong interpretations is missing the mark of assessing China’s Constitution Revision.

Ambrose Wang

 
One day in September 2017, I received a phone call from my friend Serge Pun. He phoned from Myanmar to tell me that the Archbishop of Yangon was in a bind about the impending visit of Pope Francis which was set to take place in less than three months. The small Catholic Church of Myanmar did not have enough money in its coffer to pay for all the local expenses. (The TV company would broadcast the live telecast free of charge, but the Church had to pay for the rental of satellite bandwidth.)  Serge had promised that he would help solve the Archbishop's problem, and was soliciting assistance from me and another one of his good Catholic friends to pay for this TV broadcast expense. Over the phone I immediately agreed to open my wallet for this good cause, and electronically remitted the funds (amount omitted) on the same day. At the time, I view it as the performance of the duty of a Catholic disciple, and the answer to the plea of a dear friend. I expected nothing in return and had no inkling that I would gain an opportunity to meet with the Holy Pope.
 
Two months later, on November 20, 2017, I received another phone call from Serge. 
"Would you like to see the Pope up close and personal?" He asked.
"Is this a joke?  Who would say no to such a great honor?" I wanted to know.
"And what do you mean by up close?" I added.
"Only us three donors and our close dependents."
 
It turned that in appreciation to our donation and assistance, the Archbishop of Myanmar made a special arrangement for us to meet with Pope Francis. That was only eight days before the Pope's arrival in Myanmar.
 
Pope Francis arrived in Yangon on November 27, the same day Polly and I got there.  The second day, November 28, Pope Francis went to Naypyidaw, the new capital of Myanmar since 2006, to meet with Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other military and political leaders. The 3rd day, November 29 at 9 am, the Pope celebrated mass on an open field in Yangon. The temperature that day was 38 C (100.4 F). In order to occupy a seat closer to the alter, thousands of faithfuls entered the ground the previous night. By 7 am, two hours before the mass began the field was crammed with 150,000 people. The papal mass was conducted under a hot blazing sun, all attendees were drenched in sweat. As VVTPs, we were seated in the only area that was covered by open canopies and was shielded from the direct scorching sun. Even so, since we were wearing suits, our shirts were totally soaked.
 
That afternoon, Pope Francis stood in reception line for 500 priests, nuns, bishops and cardinals from all over Southeast Asia. That was the first time I saw so many members of the clergy stood in line like parading military officers and soldiers.
 
Finally, at around 5 pm, it was our turn to meet with the Pontiff in the Archbishop's residence. Our party of 9 people from 3 families was the only group of non-clergyman he would meet privately and photograph with in this entire trip.
 
We waited respectfully in the main hall for about 25 minutes before the great moment arrived! We heard Pope Francis and his entourage slowly walking into the main hall. Our heartbeats accelerated with the approaching footsteps. After his long flight from Rome plus two days of packed schedule, the Pope seemed a little fatigued. But he still shook our 9 hands with a warm smiling face. He gave us his blessing and had pictures taken with our 3 families separately.  
 
What honored and touched us most was how tightly Pope Francis held our hands with both of his hands. We could feel a warm current flowing from the Pontiff's palms directly into our hearts. This was indeed the greatest honor of our lives. For me, a baptized Catholic since infancy, this was the greatest blessing of a lifetime. I thank God for His gracious gift.