Boycott Australia goods over Rio

Boycott Australia goods over Rio

Comment on the article, "China concerned over Rio-BHP alliance monopoly risk" (China Daily website, June 10)

China should stop importing goods from Australia in protest against the scrapping of the Rio Tinto deal. Though it would be difficult to do so because of the logistical advantages Australia enjoys compared to other sources such as South America, China can afford to take the losses because of its huge foreign reserves.

Rio Tinto-BHP, however, cannot afford to let its products lie idle. Nor will its workers tolerate being laid off?

China should also explore close neighbors such as Myanmar, Laos and Central Asian countries as alternative sources of raw materials.

It could even think of buying grains from countries other than Australia. A large chunk of Australia's foreign income comes from Chinese (and Japanese) imports of minerals, agricultural products and other goods, and its economy could collapse if China stops importing its products.

Or, what happens when China curtails its imports from France because of the Dalai Lama controversy?

Look at the Doha Round of WTO talks and the Kyoto Protocol. Western countries hardly spare a thought for developing nations. This makes it very important for developing countries to unite to fight against these inequalities. And the fight can start by targeting the BHP/Rio Tinto monopoly. Taking action now will set a precedent for the future.

Kenneth Chew

on China Daily website

Porn filters can be used as spyware

Comment on the article, "Porn filters 'not spyware'" (China Daily website, June 10)

The report says: "Pornography filtering software will be installed in all computers sold in China from July 1, but authorities say it is not advanced enough to act as spyware".

I'm sorry to say that a filtering software is often more complicated than spyware. Most spywares are designed as cookies on local host machines. Baidu, Taobao, and Alipay are three sites that put these cookies on your machine. I started using Taobao about two weeks ago, after which I've been receiving at least 25 spams a day. But before switching to Taobao I never got any spam because of the way I had configured my email address.

The report also says: "The software is designed to filter pornography on the Internet and that's its only purpose." That's not entirely true. According to Zhang Chenmin, general manager of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co, the software could be used to block other kinds of websites, too, depending on the keywords.

Brainwashing

on China Daily website

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(China Daily 06/12/2009 page9)