Beijing Airport Bomber to Stand Trial

Ji Zhongxing, the wheelchair bound bomber who detonated a homemade bomb at Beijing Airport is due to stand trial tomorrow.  Ji, who has been petitioning the government seeking compensation for the alleged beating that he received at the hands of the chengguan (who else?) in his home province of Shandong that left him crippled.

When he was arrested, human rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan who represented Ai Wei Wei said that he would be willing to provide legal assistance.  The minor explosion at the airport damaged Ji arm, who was immediately rushed to hospital, caused little damage and the blast wasn't powerful enough to cause any other damage.  The Global Time reports:

Ji Zhongxing, a 33-year-old wheelchair-bound man from Juancheng, Shandong Province, confessed that he prepared and carried the homemade explosive device and leaflets to Terminal 3 of the airport and triggered the explosive device on July 20.

Ji has been blogging (translation via The Shanghaiist) about his failed attempts to get compensation off the government - he's been demanding 334,782 yuan, including the medical fees of 14,300rmb, plus the 20 years salary that his disability has prevented him from earning.

Striking Workers Disrupt $2.5m Indo-China Deal

Indo-Chinese relations aren't exactly at an all time high these days,  a long festering border dispute, and India's recent increase in military activity along the disputed demarcation line that seperates China and India haven't done much to ease tensions.

The military action is caused ripples in Chinese industry, in one instance, a strike at a tire factory in Shandong, where it's been made clear that Indian management that would take control of the plant are not welcome.

The Chinese workforce at the Cooper Tires factory in Shandong have been on strike since July, and it's causing problems for a takeover worth $2.5m, since the new owners, Indian based Apollo Tires would then have a 65% controlling stake in the Chinese-US joint venture.  Putting it quite simply, the problem is that they're Indian.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the Cooper Shandong's union rep, a Mr. Liang said “We oppose this purchase also because Apollo is an Indian company.  If it was Michelin, we might have agreed.”

The strike comes at a particularly unwelcome time, since Liang Keqiang's visit to India in May was supposed to help the two countries increase trade, although now that Mr. Liang has dug his heels in over the nationality of the incoming management team because he wasn't involved in the deal to the extent that his ego demands - and has thrown a multimillion dollar deal into chaos.

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