Modern society Essay

The modern family is obviously in many ways different from the traditional family types that existed in the past. A number of trends are at work nowadays shaping the modern, or, as some scholars put it, post-modern family (United Nations University). These factors affect the basic foundations of the family and reconfigure the roles of all members of this institution, receiving different evaluations of psychologists, economists, and sociologists. Professor Yount from Emory University notes that modern American families have undergone a dramatic sociological change in the past decades. Thus, the size of household declined among Caucasians and African Americans and rose among Hispanics, the â€Å"percentage of households headed by married couples declined from 78 percent to 53 percent in the period from 1950 to 1998† (Yount, 2005). In addition, the proportion of dual-earning couples has increased significantly, creating a new economic reality (Yount, 2005). Today, the woman is increasingly contributing as much as or even more than the man to the family budget, a fact that has implications for her economic role in the family. A woman is more likely to remain financially independent after divorce or even lose money in divorce proceedings to her husband. This has positive implications for children that are less likely to remain without support after the parents’ separation and benefits the society, creating a new workforce pool. Against this background a noticeable trend is certainly an alarming divorce rate. In a certain sense, this trend works against growing importance of women as bread winners, contributing to insecurity of children’s well-being and putting heavy financial pressure on spouses that take custody of children. On the other hand, divorce rates are connected to â€Å"the new level of women’s involvement in the workplace, as well as modernization of women’s roles in general† (Swanson 2004:1). In a sense, divorce is the result of growing egalitarianism in family relations, a trend clear from the psychological perspective. Families become more and more egalitarian in the sense that younger and older members, women and men are achieving a more equal status in many ways. However, Swanson (2004) also points out that perfect egalitarianism remains elusive. Most men and women aspiring to build egalitarian families in the times of their courtship face a reality in which they cannot attain this desired ideal and instead lapse into traditional rigid gender roles. This becomes even more of a problem with childbirth. Although men tend to have a greater role in parenting than before, women are still responsible for most of it, and it tends to re-shape the roles in the family toward greater participation of the woman in household duties and increases her workload relative to that of the man. Thus, a study conducted in Switzerland â€Å"reveals some moderate tendencies towards less sex typing of task allocation in such items as administrative contacts, gifts, holidays, cleaning, but there seems to be a hard core of tasks showing very little change (cooking meals, washing)† (Levy, Widmer, Kellerhals 2002). There are many other changes obvious in the psychological realm. Values and priorities in family life are undergoing a constant change. United Nations University in its article on the post-modern family notes that today’s families see â€Å"optional participation in most aspects of communal life, high levels of privacy and choice† as opposed to â€Å"compulsory participation in all aspects of communal life, lack of privacy and personal choice†. Because of lower level of required participation in communal activities, people experience a shift in the nature of identity, often associating themselves with a greater number of fluid social groups. Values become less constant, and social roles are changing. One interesting trend pointed out by Professor Gillis of Rutgers University is the growing virtual character of people’s connections with home. Many spend little time at the place associated with their home, something underscored by the fact that â€Å"homemade† and â€Å"homecooked† is likely to be made anywhere but at home† (Gillis 2000:7). On the other hand, modern communication possibilities in the form of Internet, cheaper long-distance calling and other ways allow for greater connection with relatively remote places. This creates prerequisites for a deep psychological change in the mentality of people who feel at the same time estranged and closer to their relatives who they see less frequently, but can communicate with from a distance. A word should also be said about the emergence of non-traditional households, starting from cohabitation prior to marriage that can now last decades to homosexual households and those including several couples. Welcomed or abhorred, these families also have a presence in the modern society. As to homosexual couples, we see these days a clear trend toward legitimizing these relationships. This can have far-reaching consequences for modern families. There is a greater scope of opportunities for adoption of children, greater security for members of such families that previously lacked social security, and other economic and social advantages. However, there is also an opinion that the prevalence of these arrangements destroys the foundations of the regular family. Thus, families nowadays undergo a profound change that occurs on sociological, psychological, and economic plane. Most often, these planes prove to be deeply interconnected in many ways. Thus, divorce has roots in growing egalitarianism and shift of values that affect the psychology of young people who get married. On the other hand, it has profound economic ramifications, creating instability and jeopardizing the financial well-being of women and children in most cases. Overall, the modern family demonstrates many trends, increasingly exhibiting diversity and fluidity in definition of patterns and values. Bibliography Gillis, John R. â€Å"Our Virtual Families: Toward a Cultural Understanding of Modern Family Life†. Emory University’s Center on Myth and Ritual in American Life Newletter Working Paper No. 2 (2000). 19 November 2006 . Levy, Rene, Widmer, Eric, and Jean Kellerhals. â€Å"Modern family or modernized family traditionalism? : Master status and the gender order in Switzerland†. Electronic Journal of Sociology (2002): Universite de Lausanne. 19 November 2006 .

Go to Hell Essay

Introduction: 1. Problem Studied. Supervisors are not Using Software Base Company’s IJSFA System. This Software is for all Employees of GlaxoSmithKline for Reporting and monitoring. Supervisors are not much trained to use it and they are not award of the importance of IJSFA System. 2. Research Goals. To investigate about the reason that why majority employees are not using Compass IJSFA System. Preliminary Details: 1. Background Information on the Organization. Multinational Company Established in 2000. GlaxoSmithKline is a Public Limited Company and working in 358 countries. GlaxoSmithKline is Expanding by acquiring Local and Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies to expand. 2. Information on Structure, Culture and Management Philosophy. The Structure of Company is geographically distributed in all over Pakistan. Culture of company is very much professional, with people from different locations and countries. Majority management of the company is formal, there is a lot of audit for every step. 3. Perceptions Attitudes and Behavioral Responses. All employees of the company are empowered to take decision under the umbrella of company’s code of conduct. Employees are trained and get trained by company’s Academy, twice or thrice a year. Employees are positive towards company’s policies. 4. Literature Survey. GlaxoSmithKline is well reputed Multinational Pharmaceutical Company. It has quality assurance department in every segment of company. Employees of GlaxoSmithKline are motivated and positive towards fluctuations. 5. Theoretical Frame work. The relationship among reporting system, supervisors, time management and Training sessions are as follows: a. Reporting System is used by Supervisors to send information to Head office, as well as supervisors can also use this information as history experience. b. Time management to use reporting system is totally dependent on Supervisors because supervisors are mostly busy in field work where they cannot use internet service to use reporting system. c. Training sessions are always helpful for the Supervisors to manage time to use Reporting system and how to use it efficiently. d. Lack of interest is also a factor in supervisors, towards reporting system after busy field work. Relevant Theory: Pfizer Pharmaceutical faced this problem in 2007. They investigated that employees are not using IJSFA system because they unable to manage their time to use reporting system. They solve this problem by providing mobile internet devices to the employees so that they can report from field as well, there is no such need to go to internet clubs or office or home. They conclude that field force supervisors does not have much time to go office or home to use reporting system. 6. Hypothesis Formulated. Hâ‚’= SLI = SEI H1= SLI ≠  SEI H2= SNT = SNI Where, SLI = Supervisors has lack of interest. SEI = Supervisors cannot efficiently use reporting system. SNT = Supervisors are not trained to use Compass reporting system. SNI = Supervisors are aware of Importance of reporting system. Research Design: 1. Type and Nature of Study. Purpose of the study is to test the above mentioned hypothesis. This research is establishing group differences of different geographical locations of company. Minimal interference will be occur during research as it is a studying research. It will be an one shot time horizon research. 2. Sampling Design. This research is based on Area sampling and convenience sampling. Some statistical measures will also be used in it to prove our hypothesis or disprove it. From population of 142, 20 sample size is selected by using random no. table. 3. Data Collection Methods. A questionnaire of structured questions will be presented to some element and some of the questionnaire will be filled by phone interviews as they live in other cities or distant locations. 4. Data Analytic Techniques Used. Employees will be about their experience in company and also no. of training sessions attended, it will show their interest if they are trained then why not they are using it efficiently and if they are not trained then it may b the reason to prove our alternate hypothesis. Secondly, employees have to tell their priorities to look into their time management skill. They will be asked about some terms which are related to compass to recheck their command on Compass reporting system. Research Findings: Hypothesis Testing. 1. The data analysis shows that 70 percent of the employees are below 5 years of experience and they are facing problem in using reporting system and time management factor. 1. Secondly, 70 percent employees attended only 10 training sessions in their professional career which shows that they need more managing skills or they should be helped by company to efficiently use reporting system. 1. Lastly, 60 percent of the total employees are uncomfortable in using Compass IJSFA system because they are not having background from IT knowledge. Conclusions: Finally, it make us to conclude that our null hypothesis is proven wrong but alternative hypothesis is proven true i-e, SNT = SNI . Supervisors are not trained to use Compass reporting system which is the main fact. Supervisors are aware of Importance of reporting system because this reporting system is containing an unlimited data of customer feedbacks and customer profile. Recommendations: Mainly employees are having low grip on using Compass reporting system so they should be trained on urgently bases to get desired performance. There is a problem in time management by field force also. It should be solved if Mobile devices of reporting system should be provided to them to save their time.

Discussion Questions Week 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion Questions Week 1 - Essay Example It aids me in analyzing purchases, printed claims, and our existing processes. As part of my responsibilities I am tasked with ordering office supplies for our modest office. Salesmen routinely contact me in regards to toner, paper, and computer supplies. They usually make claims about how many sheets can be printed with a single toner cartridge or a color ink jet cartridge. Only be reading the material completely can the specifications be assessed. I need to look at how the tests were accomplished and how it may compare to other similar products. There is a further concern about what I would need to do if the product does not live up to its expectations. The warranty and the methods of making a warranty claim needs to be critically analyzed to get a picture of its true value. These are skills I use everyday in my position. Though I often use critical thinking at work, there have been times when it was an overlooked asset. The plant had for years used a processing method that transported carcasses throughout the facility. Everyone assumed that the process was maintaining a temperature that was in accordance with the US Department of Agriculture guidelines. The common thought was that we have always done it this way and there has never been any problems. However, when one enterprising health specialist in the company did a detailed analysis, she found that the meat had an opportunity to deviate from the USDAs mandatory temperature window. A closer inspection by the engineers validated her concerns. Complacency had relegated critical thinking to the background and could have eventually cost the company in lost production. The lesson I learned from the above experience was valuable to me because it caused me to analyze my own office processes. My workflow process was taught to me by my mentors when I started there. Yet, I had never really applied critical thinking to it. I found that by using critical thinking I was able to change my workflow

The Apology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Apology - Essay Example He was found guilty and faced death penalty not because he was not able to present an effective dialogue but his opponents or accusers were highly threatened by his great wisdom which he did not boast off. Socrates further asserted that he wasn’t an evildoer and denied the accusations on him corrupting the minds of the youth and that relied heavily on the existence of God. He claimed that man knows nothing and if he knows even a little bit of something, this should not be a reason to be proud of because he himself humbled his wisdom on things. As one of the most influential Greek philosophers of his time, Socrates did not attack corruption or worship in false gods but rather on exposure of man to false wisdom. He believed in morality and that this could bring about happiness in an individual. Hence, throughout his trial, he was able to prove he was not a wretched man that he did not corrupt the youth, and that there was no man wiser than God. It was in Delphi where the myth of Zeus can be recalled being curious about the exact location of the earth’s center. Zeus release two eagles from Mount Olympus then flew in opposite directions and met at Delphi. The Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in Greece dating back to 1400 BC. Delphi was considered the navel or center of the world. People from all over Greece come to Delphi for answers about their future. Pythia, the priestess of Apollo could determine the course of everything from when a farmer planted his seedlings, to when an empire declared war. Socrates did not celebrate nor boast when he learned from a friend that the Oracle of Delphi had revealed the wisest man in Athens since he thought of himself as ‘ignorant.’ Instead, he tried to prove it wrong. After questioning everyone about what was truly worthwhile in life and no one fairly answered but pretended that they knew something but actually did not, Socrates finally realized that the Oracle was right. He alone admitted his own

Free writing journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Free writing journal - Essay Example She was trapped within the bars that her husband set up for her. Her husband didn’t want her to be creative because it will make her question him. And he can’t afford that because of his stature as a doctor. Her husband doctor was the stereotypical doctor, controlled, firm and practical. And he didn’t like the imagination of his wife because it made her a non-traditional wife. Both the protagonist and the woman in the wallpaper symbolized the restrictions placed on women during Gilman’s time. It was not easy to have lived in the time when women were treated as second class citizens. It was like being born a woman is a curse because you won’t be able to do anything but serve and follow your husband’s wishes. Gilman’s protagonist was not the typical woman. The Yellow Wallpaper taught us that a woman’s strength is her creativity and imagination, to the point that men would think she’s crazy. Men inhibit her creativity and imagination because they are scared that she might take away his throne and his crown. This was actually the triumphant moment at the end of the story when the woman declared that she was out of the wallpaper. This showed us that women are continuously fighting for their rights, and soon they will be jumping out of the wallpaper and become the centerpieces of the room. They will catch all the attent ion that was deprived of her when she was set

Bureaucratic organizational structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bureaucratic organizational structure - Essay Example Inside each organization, there exist a wide range of regulations and procedures, which every member should adhere. Inside bureaucratic organization, every process has a structure, the roles have targets, the productivity of team is monitored and there is a design of different solutions. However, it is complicated to abide rules, follow certain policy, perform job properly and achieve common goals if the personnel do not take active part in life of organization, cannot make its own decisions concerning work and does not see or know its role in the team. To enable its employees to make decisions about their job, organizations use such strategy as employee empowerment. It helps employees to take responsibility for the results of their performace, helps them to serve customers at the proper level of the organization. The process of empowerment enables or authorizes person to think, behave, make decisions, take action and control its work without constant supervision and management from the other sides. The organization is responsible for creation of proper work environment for the employee that will help him/her to bring up the ability and want to perform its job in empowered ways. It is up to organization to remove limitations that stop staff acting in empowered ways. Such management actions give possibilities for work in the perfect organization. The important step for empowering employees is to demonstrate that the organization values its people, helps them understand and feel as if they are part of something bigger and their indivi dual job is highly appreciated. This may be executed letting employees access to the organization's vision, mission and strategic plans.

Motivating Generation X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Motivating Generation X - Essay Example However, how to motivate employees has recently become a hard task for the management of various companies (Allen & Helms, 2002). This is because most of the employees in organizations today are of the generation X. The generation X is made up of people born between 1960s and the 1980s. They have grown up under very different values from the ones of those in generation Y. For example, this generation has grown up seeing their parents go to work all day and all night only for then to be retrenched after thirty years of faithful service. For them now, job security does not matter anymore they only see each job opportunity to advance their careers so they will always be hopping from company to company in search of greener pastures (Dewhurst, Guthridge, & Mohr, 2010). This, therefore, means that in order to retain generation X. Managers will always have to offer very attractive incentives. By incentives here, I mean that all forms of financial returns and tangible benefits received by an employee as part of the employment relationship. It can be divided into two parts, monetary compensation and non-monetary compensation. ... Most of them are well conversant with the core jobs that help an organization achieve very high profits. They also usually have expertise in the core units in a company. The core units are those that bring most sales and are most crucial to the successful running of business in an organization. For example, a well motivated sales team will increase turnover for the company. Other departments responsible for smooth running of operations in a company include IT, Finance department among others (Dunham, 2003). Management could also motivate the generation X using other financial forms of motivation other than an attractive salary. This could be a bonus which is mainly an incentive given to reward good performance purchase of shares in a company at a fixed price, and when employees feel some sense of ownership in a company they will stay longer and work more as they understand the benefits involved should the company make high profits. Generation X, having grown up in an era where there parents were always busy, they did not somehow get sufficient parental love. They, therefore, do not want the same to happen to their families and, therefore, in most cases will always choose their families over work. Management should, therefore, ensure that on the remuneration package, it also offers sufficient non-monetary compensation. Bhatia (2010) defines non-monetary motivation as benefits employees receive other than the normal monetary compensation package to boost employee morale. Non-monetary compensation includes any benefit received by an employee from an employer that is non-financial but satisfying. They include but not limited to opportunity for growth, flexible hours, recognition and praise, friendships

Dominican Republic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dominican Republic - Essay Example Such news includes stories portraying the negativity of Haitians and their poor way of life. This negative depiction of Haitians plays a major role in instilling antihaitinismo among the Dominican people. Haiti’s politics is portrayed as bad and viewed as a political failure by the Dominican press. All the media wants is negative news about Haiti so as to make great headlines and, as a result, make money by attracting many readers. Political cartoons are very common in print media and are used to give news that are hard to spread in words. Such news is greatly exaggerated to come up with cartoons that will be attractive enough for news consumers among the Dominican People. The negative news portraying antihaitinismo in the Dominican Republic is mostly false, but due to the media restriction within the Dominican Republic, the Dominican people tend to believe it to be true. In fact, very few Dominican reporters know the truth about Haiti. The rest only give news based on seconda ry sources, rather than firsthand experience or sources. None of them has been to Haiti to experience their way of life and to give a true account of it (Sagas, 2003). During the Trujillo error, antihaitinismo was an ideology, fitting the totalitarian model. The dictatorship required and ideology to dwell on, and on which to misguide the people and into hating the Haitians. The Trujillo error molded antihaitinismo into a system that was to be loathed. It was depicted as having a very great difference with Dominican ways. This propaganda against Haiti was instilled into Dominicans for decades, around thirty-one years.It means that, some people were born among the Dominican people when the propaganda was still on and lived a great part of their lives under a dictatorship that instilled it into them.It created a nation that had fully embraced antihaitinismo. Such a generation becomes hard to modify their mindset or view towards

Recruitment a Science, Selection an Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Recruitment a Science, Selection an Art - Essay Example This is possible by minimizing the possible errors and misplays that can occur during the processes of recruitment and selection and selecting the best personality in the benefits and interests of the organization (Roberts, pp. 26, 1997). The paper reveals the truth about the processes of recruitment and selection; by emphasizing on the difference of mechanism involved in carrying out these two interesting and sensitive processes. By using academic materials and researches carried out, the paper accentuates on the fact that during the execution of any hiring process in any business or organization; the process of employees recruitment or enlisting of potential candidate or applicants is a science but the processes or techniques involved in carryout selection of the candidates applied is an art. In order to throw light on both the subjects, it is essential to have a deep understanding and develop profound sense of the processes as to evaluate the processes as science and art. The paper first analyzes the process of recruitment in detail and studies the tools, proficiencies, and steps essential in carrying out the process of effective recruitment. Recruitment is a process of short listing or enlisting the candidates applied for a certain job opening from all the applications and job resumes received. It creates a pool of talented people extracted from the job market. The people enlisted in talent pool during and recruitment process usually matches the requirement, terms, conditions, and priorities of the business or organization. Usually, there are three different kinds or forms of recruitment carried out in organizations today, the internal recruitment, external, and the referral recruitment. Internal recruitment involves recruiting the best talented people of an organization for a sensitive and high profile project of the same organization. As the recruitment process is internal to the organization, that process is internal recruitment (Wilkinson, pp. 172, 2005). Similarly, when the recruitment includes enlisting the talent pool from existing job market outside the organization, the recruitment-taking place is the external recruitment. Referral recruitment is a process where company hires the services of an external recruiting agency in order to fill up the job vacancy with the desired candidate. The first step or technical proficiency involved in carrying out the process of recruitment is creating a job opening or making an announcement about the job position available in any business or organization. This step involves the broadcasting or delivering of information about the job openings through different technological mediums of media. The job opening information includes comprehensive details about the nature of the job, the technical skills and experience required, and description of certain other criteria necessary for the job position. After making the job-opening announcement, the recruiting committee receives a number of job letters that includes resumes of candidates willing to apply for the job. The recruiting committee shortlists the resumes that are inappropriate or that do not share any relevancy with the requirement of the organization as posted in

Ethics in Law Enforcement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Ethics in Law Enforcement - Essay Example Corruption is a term that springs easily to mind when one thinks of how law enforcement is usually applied. Popular culture is full of references to corrupt policemen and lawyers, especially in terms of how the police are often represented in movies and television shows, and also in terms of the numerous articles on police abuse that may be found in newspapers and other periodical. Especially after the events of September 11, 2001, and the racist attacks on Muslims and other Asian minorities in America came into the news, there has been a lot of negative publicity for the way in which minorities are apparently abused by many law-enforcement agencies. All these examples represent myths about law enforcement that are often belied by statistics. However, there is also some basis in reality for such opinions. In addition, corruption undermines respect for the rule of law and for the democratic process that are the very core of our system of government. Controlling this evil successfully is a constant challenge for any government. Yet any government that does not devote itself to this effort is in danger of sowing the seeds of its own destruction. (p. xi) The authors suggest, therefore, that instead of identifying the law enforcement system with corruption, there is the need to recognize that even the law is trying to fight corruption within itself. Corrupt practices are not an inherent or integral part of the law enforcement system. Rather, it is something that has crept into the system and must be weeded out. The corruption of law enforcement agencies is illustrated by the two interviews that were conducted as part of this study. The first will be discussed in the context of corruption. This instance is related to an interview with a twenty-seven-year-old white American woman who was a victim of hazing during her freshman year at a university in the U.S. Cindy (not her real name) recollects that she and her friends were wary of the senior students, because the college had a history of a couple of violent episodes of hazing. Apparently, the school authorities had done nothing about it. Cindy describes the night when she and her friends were abused by a large group of older students. They were forced to drink alcohol, and some of the senior students even urinated into their glasses and forced their victims to drink from them. They were also made to perform demanding exercises such as push-ups for almost three hours, and compelled to run around the campus a number of times. They were also verbally abused, many of the insults being gender- or race-based. Shortly after the incident, Cindy and a friend went to the neighborhood police precinct to lodge a complaint about what had been done to them. "I couldn't believe it," Cindy says. "None of the cops were ready to listen to us. Two who did pumped us for the 'juicy' details and then burst out laughing." Cindy's experience reveals that public faith in law enforcement authorities has diminished based on their reputation for treating victims badly. Although this was an isolated incident, there have been many reported instances of police cover-ups in similar cases, even in instances where students were killed or seriously injured as a result of hazing. Another instance in which law enforcement a

Sport Scale Essay Example for Free

Sport Scale Essay ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess sport fan motivation. Also, the new measure was employed to examine the relationship between sport fan motivation and ethnic identity. One hundred sixty nine college students from two southeastern institutions participated in this study. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Bivariate correlation, t test, ANOVA, and descriptive statistics. The Fan Motivation Scale (FMS), developed in this study, consisted of six components with 22 items. The number of items under every component range from 5 to 2 items (quality of the game 4 items, escape 5 items, boredom avoidance 5 items, social 3 items, entertainment 3 items, and sport atmosphere 2 items). In addition, two hypotheses were tested in the current study. The first hypothesis was that ethnic identity is positively related to sport fan motivation. The second hypothesis assumed that there was a difference between African Americans and European Americans in their ethnic identity. The results revealed the FMS is a reliable measure with an overall alpha score of 0. 90. Significant differences were found between participants in the total FMS and some of the subscales based on gender and ethnicity. However, the outcomes of the samples examined in this study do not support the first hypothesis. Therefore, no significant relationship was found between sport fan motivation and ethnic identity. Regarding the second hypothesis, a significant difference was found between African Americans and European Americans in their ethnic identity. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Sports have become an increasingly important part of our society. Sports fans represent a significant percentage of sport consumers, because 70 percent or more of Americans watch, read, or discuss sports at least once a day (Iso-Ahola Hatfield, 1986). From 1985 to 1998, attendance has significantly increased at the four major sports in the United States. Major League Baseball (MLB) had the largest increase in the number of people attending games (24. 2 million, a 50% increase), followed by professional basketball (10. 3 million, a 89% increase), professional football (5. 7 million, a 40% increase), and professional hockey (5. 6 million, a 49% increase). The number of people attending college sporting events has also increased during this time period (U. S. Census Bureau, 2000). Additionally, more television programming time is being devoted to sporting events. The ESPN was the fifth highest ranked television network in 2000, in terms of revenue, it was estimated to be $2. 1 billion (McAvoy, 2000). With the increase of interest in sports has become an increased interest of sports fans as consumers. Sport teams and companies are very interested in attracting as many consumers as possible to purchase game tickets or products. Therefore, sport marketers should acknowledge the factors that drive fans to follow sport by attending, watching on television, or purchasing products. However, understanding the notion of sports fans is not simple because their attitudes and behaviors are not determined by a single motive or factor but rather occur for a variety of reasons (Mashiach, 1980). Statement of the Problem There has been a growing interest in the study of sport fan motivations in recent years to better understand fan behaviors (Bilyeu Wann, 2002; Funk, Mahony, Nakazawa, Hirakawa, 2001; Funk, Mahony Ridinger, 2002; Funk, Ridinger, Moorman, 2003; Gantz, 1981; Kahle, Kambara, Rose, 1996; Lee, 2002; Mahony, Nakazawa, Funk, James, Gladden, 2002; Pease Zhang, 2001; Trail James, 2001; Wann, 1995; Wann, Bilyeu, Brennan, Osborn Gambouras, 1999; Wann, Brewer, 1 Royalty, 1999; Wann, Schrader Wilson, 1999). Some of these studies have introduced measures of different consumption motives of sport fans. In addition, researchers have examined the relationship between fan motivation and other variables such as team identification, involvement, gender, and race. The measures used in previous studies to assess fan motivations vary in length and number of components. However, some of the components are used in all or most scales such as the entertainment component, the family component, and the friends component. They also share very similar items with regard to similar components. Items used in most previous scales often begin with the words â€Å"I like†, â€Å"I enjoy†, or â€Å"I feel† which raises a validity issue for the measures because the aforementioned words represent satisfaction and attitude rather than motivation. Fan satisfaction relates to the happiness and pleasure associated with the outcome of a sporting event while fan attitude represents the opinion and feelings an individual has about a sport team or sporting event. On the other hand, sport fan motivation refers to the reasons that drive individuals to support sport teams, be loyal to them, buy team/sport related products, watch and attend sporting events. The Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess sport fan motives. Also, the new measure was utilized to examine the relationship between fan motivation and ethnic identity. The Conceptual Framework The conceptual framework of this study includes the discussion of two concepts. First, the Fan Motivation Scale and its content will be introduced. Second, the notion of ethnic identity and why it should be correlated with sport fan motivation will be presented. The prior research (Wann, 1995; Funk, Mahony, Nakazawa, Hirakawa, 2001; Bilyeu Wann, 2002) identified various motives that could drive fans to attend sporting events. Some of these motives are related to personal needs (entertainment and financial 2 gain), social needs (bonding with family and group affiliation), and psychological needs (self-esteem and achievement). In attempt to measure the motives of sport fans, the researchers introduced different scales. These scales comprised different number of motives ranging from 7 motives with 16 items to 18 motives with 54 items. The length of some of the scales was not the only problem. The major concern for previous scales is in the content validity, the extent to which items used in the scale accurately represent fan motives. In fact, all previous scales included items that are more related to attitude and satisfaction then motivation. The reason for this problem is the lack of clear definition of sport fan motivation. The current study is going to view sport fan motivation as the reasons that drive individuals to support sport teams, be loyal to them, purchase team/sport related products, watch and attend sporting events. In addition, this study will employ a review of related literature and the prior effort made on fan motivation scales to develop valid and reliable measures of sport fan motivation. The proposed Fan Motivation Scale (FMS) will measure six motives: social, entertainment, escape, aesthetic, psychological, and amotivation. The social motive assesses the extent to which individuals participate in sporting events as spectators because they desire to spend time with their families (Gantz, 1981; Wann, 1995). Also, to some individuals, group affiliation is an important motivation of being a sport fan. Sport spectating provides a fan with opportunities to share time with others who enjoy the same activities. A fan may want to keep contact with a group of fans and seek refuge from a feeling of alienation (Branscombe Wann, 1991; Smith, 1988; Wann, 1995). The entertainment motive includes items that represent the desire of some individuals to have a good time and enjoy the excitement associated with sporting events. Some fans might enjoy a sport because of its entertainment value. Sport spectating provides fans with leisure pastime activities similar to watching movies or television. One advantage of sport spectating is that few special skills, if any, are required (Zillmann, Bryant Sapolsky, 1989; Wann, 1995). The escape motive of sport fans assesses the desire of sport fans to escape or diverge from their everyday lives. Attending a sporting event gives many people an 3 opportunity to temporarily forget about their troubling, dissatisfying, or boring lives (Smith, 1988; Lever Wheeler, 1984; Wann, Schrader Wilson, 1999). The aesthetic motive of sport fans appeals to those that are motivated by the aesthetic value of the sport. Some fans enjoy sports because of the competition between highly skilled athletes. The beauty, grace, and other artistic characteristics make some people enjoy sporting events (Milne McDonald, 1999; Wann, 1995). The psychological motive is a factor that motivates sports fans and gives them a feeling of accomplishment and achievement when the fans’ favorite team or player is successful. Sports fans tend to associate themselves with a successful team or player in order to create and sustain a positive self-concept (Branscombe Wann, 1991; Milne McDonald, 1999; Sloan, 1989). Amotivation refers to the state of lacking an intention to act. When amotivated, individual’s action lacks intentionality and a sense of personal causation (Ryan Deci, 2000). Amotivation results from not valuing an activity (Ryan, 1995), not feeling competent to do it (Deci, 1975), or not believing it will yield a desired outcome (Seligman, 1975). Some individuals might go to sport events and watch sport games because they have nothing else to do, bored, and want to kill time. These types of reasons had been neglected in previous studies of sport fan motivation. As mentioned earlier, prior research has examined the relationship between fan motivations and other variables such as sport involvement, team identification, and some demographic factors of selected sport fans. However, the ethnic identity of sport fans has been ignored in the literature. It might be assumed by some researchers that the race factor is enough representation of an individual’s ethnic background. It is, however, only part of the concept. Ethnic identity is defined as â€Å"a process of coming to terms with one’s ethnic-racial membership group as a salient reference group† (Smith, 1991, p. 182). Smith (1991) defined an ethnic group as â€Å"a reference group called upon by people who share a common history and culture† (p. 181). According to Gordon (1985), culture influences our social standards, values, cognitions, social perceptions, attributions, feelings, and sources of motivation. Individuals develop their ethnic identity through their social interaction with others. Through their interactions they begin to view themselves as others view them 4 (Stryker, 1980). Ethnic identity is viewed as part of social identity and it was defined by Tajfel (1981) as â€Å"that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership† (p.255). An ethnic group is composed of a number of individuals who share a sense of group identity based on their unique culture, which include values, morals, and various customs, as well as shared origins. In the larger society, ethnic groups tend to maintain a sense of peoplehood (Dublin, 1996; Kornblum Janowitz, 1974; Portes, 1996). Forty years ago, Tumin (1964) defined an ethnic group as â€Å"a social group which, within a large cultural and social system, claims or is accorded special status in terms of complexity of traits which it exhibits or is believed to exhibit† (p.123). Distinguishing between ethnic groups is not always simple. Some ethnic minorities, such as African Americans, may have obvious physical differences that set them apart from other ethnic groups within the United States, but many biracial individuals present an ambiguity because they belong to two or more ethnic groups, which makes ethnicity a subjective construct (Root, 1992). Studying ethnic identity is very important because it is the foundation for what an individual believes about himself or herself. Given the significance of ethnic identity, many researchers have been studying this construct. Phinney (1990) reviewed 70 studies of ethnic identity published between 1972 and 1990. She found that most of the studies have used one of three theoretical frameworks to examine ethnic identity. The first framework is the social identity theory which ethnic identity is considered a component of social identity. Social theory refers to the need for an individual to be a member of a group that provides him or her with a sense of belonging that contributes to a positive self-concept. The second framework is the acculturation prospective. The concept of acculturation refers to changes in the cultural attitudes, value, and behaviors that result from interactions between two distinct cultures (Berry, Trimble, Olmedo, 1986). These kinds of changes are normally the concern of a group of individuals, and how it relates to the dominant or host society. Ethnic identity can be an aspect of acculturation in which the focus is on the individuals and how they relate to their own group as a subgroup of the larger society (Phinney, 1990). The third framework is developmental framework, where ethnic identity is viewed as a process by which people construct their ethnicity. 5 Erikson (1968) indicated that identity is the outcome of a period of exploration and experimentation that normally takes place during adolescence and leads to a decision of commitment in various areas, such as occupation, and religion. This view of ethnic identity suggests age as a factor is strongly related to developing one’s ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990). Phinney (1990) mentioned that most studies have focused on certain components of ethnic identity. These components include self-identification as a group member, a sense of belonging to the group, attitudes about one’s group membership, and ethnic involvement (social participation, cultural practices and attitudes). Self-identification represents the ethnic label that one uses for oneself. The ability of children to label themselves with the right ethnic group was the addressed in a study by Aboud (187). Another issue was the relationship between incorrect labeling and poor self-concept (Cross, 1978). Adults are expected to know their ethnicity but the issue is what label one chooses to use for himself or herself. However, some ethnic groups have a little choice in what ethnic title they can use for themselves often because of their distinctive skin color or culture (language, dresses, customs, etc. ) which distinguishes them from other groups. Additionally, some individuals have two or more ethnic backgrounds and they identify themselves as members of more than one group. Ethnic self-identification is an important but complex component of ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990). The feeling of belonging to one’s own group is an important element of ethnic identity. Some researchers have tried to assess the sense of belonging by either asking people how strong was their relationship with their groups or how separate they feel from other groups (Driedger, 1976). Members of every ethnic group can have positive or negative attitudes toward their own group. Some of the positive attitudes related were pride in and pleasure, satisfaction, and contentment with one’s group (Phinney, 1990). Negative attitudes include dissatisfaction, displeasure, discontentment, and a desire to hide ones identity (Driedger, 1976). People who display no positive attitudes or express negative attitudes can be seen as denying their ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990). In addition, the involvement in the social life and cultural practices of one’s ethnic group is considered a strong indicator of one’s ethnic identity. The social and cultural practices 6 that represent the involvement component include language, friendship, social organizations, religion, cultural traditions, and politics (Phinney, 1990). Phinney (1992) developed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) with the purpose of assessing ethnic identity among various ethnic groups. The scale was designed to measure three components of ethnic identity: affirmation and belonging, ethnic identity achievement, and ethnic behaviors. Roberts, Phinney, Masse, Chen, Roberts, and Romero (1999) examined the validity of the MEIM and conducted factor analysis with a large sample. The outcomes suggest that the scale measures two components of ethnic identity: ethnic identity search and affirmation, belonging, and commitment. Ethnic identity search refers to a developmental and cognitive component. Affirmation, belonging, and commitment represent the affective component. However, the scale has been proven to be a valid and reliable measurement and it will be used in the context of this study. More discussion of the scale is provided in the method section. Researchers have indicated that positive relationships do exist between ethnic identity and self-esteem, self-concept, psychological well-being, achievement, and satisfaction (Phinney, 1992; Roberts et al. , 1999; Delworth, 1989). However, it is the purpose of this study to examine the relationship between ethnic identity and motivations of sport fans. According to Phinney (1990) some.

Year Round Production Of Oranges In Nigeria

Year Round Production Of Oranges In Nigeria Nigerians, like many other Africans, believe that certain fruits like orange only grow in particular seasons. This cannot be any further from the truth. In developed countries, most if not all the fruits are available for consumption all year-round. The secret behind this availability of fruits is not so far-fetched. This write-up is focused on year-round orange production in rural Nigeria. Growing oranges demands the maintenance of certain climatic conditions like temperature and wind intensity although there are other issues less related to the climate such as pest control, irrigation and fertilizer application. These conditions control the growth of orange. In other words, if they can be maintained at a certain level, production can be done year-round. The Communication and Information Management Technology branches of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have a crucial role to play here as they make it easy to reach majority of the rural farmers. Emphasis is placed on r adio as a result of the fact that it is readily available to most of them. Information on the basics of cultivating the fruit throughout the year is handed down to the farmers through radio. The postulation here is that as the farmers get enough of this information, their orientation begins to change and whatever funding or support they get from external sources can be put to good use. This raises the question of funding for this orange production, and this is where the benefits of year-round production such as job creation and increased revenue serve as incentive to potential supporters and lenders, like the government and microfinance banks. One of the most widely grown crops in the country today is orange. Its strong nutritional value and by-products such as orange juice are part of the reason for its popularity. Firstly, it is imperative to explain that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) may be subdivided into three main branches namely Computer Technology, Communication Technology and Information Management Technology. While Computer Technology is a vital component of ICT, Communication and Information Management Technologies are equally as important (Wikipedia, 2010). In fact, as far as agriculture goes in the rural areas of Nigeria, Computer Technology will play a less crucial role than any of the other two and the reason is not far-fetched. Although most of the farmers understand the conditions required for the crops to grow in practice, only a handful of them know this in theory. This theoretical knowledge is important if a farmer is going to maximize production. Methodology An advantage to the team is that the father of one of our team members is a large scale farmer. Thus a number of our questions were directed to him. Also, another team member made calls to his friend at the bank, a means by which we obtained information about loans and a few other financing questions. Some information was also obtained from books. Most of our sources though are from the internet, like articles and journals. Year-round Production One important aspect of year-round production is the culture of the orange tree. Recently, it has been discovered that close-spacing the plants in an orange grove might cause reduction in productivity, and there is also the argument that in close-planted groves, it is quite expensive to prune. On the contrary, the ease with which pruning, fertilizing and harvesting can be done influences farmers decision to engage in close-planting. Many groves in rural Nigeria have an average spacing of 20 X 15 ft (7.56 m), which in comparison to the former standard 25 x 25 ft (7.57.5 m) can be considered to be really close-spaced. Conversely, it has been discovered that by budding Pineapple orange onto the rootstock of rough lemon, close-planting can otherwise increase the total yield. A chart is given below to illustrate the behavior of this new type of orange in relation to spacing. This brings to light two new points of interest varieties of orange and budding. These two points are very crucial to year-round orange farming. The first secret in growing orange year-round is in its varieties. Different types of oranges react differently to different climatic conditions. For example, while Hamlin and Queen thrive well under extreme cold temperature, Valencia, on the other hand, does not do as well. In developing countries where orange is available to customers year-round, they simply grow the particular type of orange that will flourish in each season. It will not come as a surprise that many if not all of the varieties of orange can grow in many parts of Nigeria. In fact, Benue state in north central Nigeria alone accounts for the production of over ten varieties of orange. The implication of this is that with proper knowledge of these varieties and how they thrive under different conditions, oranges can be produced year-round in the country. Budding is another important tool that can ensure the production of the fruit during particularly harsh seasons of the year. Although there are many varieties of the fruit that survive in different seasons, there are some seasons that are uniquely harsh to plants. For these seasons, budding is a practice that can ensure the development of more vigorous and productive trees. The process ensures the quality of oranges produced. Budding involves grafting a part of a plant (called the scion) on another plant (called the rootstock) with an already active root system, thus enabling them to grow as one plant. Rootstocks are mostly used for fruiting trees and depending on the rootstock used, even with the same scion, properties such as large fruit size, vigor, and resistance to diseases, drought and root pests can be induced in the resulting tree (Wikipedia, 2010). For example, when certain orange trees are budded onto the rootstock of trifoliate orange, the result is a tree that can survive in extreme cold and even low wet soils. Irrigation plays a very important role in crop yield, especially during the dry season when wilting is an imminent problem. Many of the farmers in the rural areas know this, but there are still some limitations. One of them is the lack of water; another is the fact that many of the farmers do not know how much water is required for irrigation. To determine how much water is needed, information on the depth of the soil is vital. As with most trees, the depth of the soil affects the reach of the root system. Deep soils allow for better root systems, and consequently better resistance to drought. Furthermore, the deeper the soil, the more the amount of water that can be used in irrigation. For the problem of lack of water, it would be a good idea if farmers are encouraged to work together as the distribution of water is usually uneven in this period. That is, while some farmers wells have abundant water, others become dry. Cooperation between them would not only aid in irrigation but in many other useful areas as well. Also because of the benefits to be reaped from this year-round orange production (as explained further down), the government should also help with the supply of new irrigation technology and supply of water. Another hindrance to the year-round production of orange in the country is the problem of pests and diseases. Oranges, like many other fruits, are affected by a huge amount of pests. Some of the pests particular to orange include citrus rust mites, numerous scale insects, mealy bugs, aphids (plant lice) and fruit flies. These various pests affect different parts of the tree including the leaves, stem, root, and even the oranges. Additionally, diseases are also a big threat to the production of oranges. Some of the common diseases include blight, citrus canker, and some viral and fungal diseases. In some other cases, incompatibility between the scion and rootstock can also be a cause of reduced production. Scientists have come up with some effective treatments for many of these diseases, but without ICT, it is impossible to pass this information to farmers in rural areas. However, occasionally farmers mistake things like abnormal coloration of leaves caused by mineral deficiencies suc h as copper and zinc for diseases. Oranges can be preserved for as long as 5 months at relatively low temperatures (between 2.22oC and 3.89oC). This is another advantage of oranges that can be taken to ensure that it is available for year-round consumption. Farmers in rural Nigeria do not take advantage of this property because they do not have the required storage facility, which should be large enough to hold a substantial amount of oranges and keep the temperature low enough to ensure preservation. Most of them have no idea that the fruits can even be preserved that long. The Role of ICT The most powerful tool that can be handed down to these farmers is information empowerment; hence the earlier laid foundation on Communication and Information Management Technology. There is no point in purchasing technical equipment for farmers when they do not even know how the things work. The first step is to open their eyes to the details of the fruits they are producing. With proper understanding, the farmers will begin to ask for the right tools. Without instigation from any external factors, they will begin to ask for loans and additional infrastructure to facilitate year-round production. In other words, they need to be informed that it is possible and with todays technology, there are numerous ways to hand down this information. Radio would be an effective tool since most of these farmers have one. Agricultural programs should air on the radio stations available to them, and in their dialect. These programs, aimed at the farmers, would help them better understand irrigation , soil depth, and many other factors related to their crops. With time, they will start to ask questions, and then extension agents can be introduced to help answer them. Consistency is a key point in the use of radio. It takes time to change a persons beliefs. The idea is that the farmers hear the information well enough that it begins to transform their ideas about the growth of their fruit. In other words, unless these programs are kept on air long enough, making these rural farmers adopt the modern techniques introduced here would be an almost impossible task. Therefore, ICT forms the foundation for this revolutionary project in the nations agricultural sector. It is the most effective method for passing information to the farmers. Financing Agriculture gets it funds from federal and state government, private sectors, and international development partners. Some of the financial institutions like banks believe that lending to small scale farmers is not as risky as lending to big time farmers. This is as a result of the fact, as a number of banks have pointed out, that small scale farmers unlike their large scale counterparts tend to pay back their loans (Mommoh, 2008). However, some other financial institutions believe in funding large scale farmers rather than small scale farmers. Basically, funding agriculture is classified as macro or micro finance, depending on the source of the funds. One of the major problems facing agricultural financing, especially in rural areas, is poor handling of loans. The targeted farmers barely have access to loans due to barriers or conditions attached. Even when they have access to the loans, they are often given lower than what they applied for, because of insufficient funds. The very unfortunate thing is that the fake influential people who pose to be farmers meet up with the conditions thereby having access to the loans. Another problem is the fact that farmers do not really channel the funds to what it was originally intended for (agricultural production); instead they use it for personal purposes. For this, some blame can be placed on the policy that empowers them with money without the information what the money can and should be used for. Many farmers are already used to their old ways of doing things, and they can continue without the extra money. Thus, they need to be taught new agricultural techniques that will help them unde rstand where to channel the funds they receive, and this is where ICT comes into play. There are different ways to address problems of agricultural financing. First of all, government should encourage long term loans at low interest rates. Agricultural production involves long gestation period. With such policy (long term loans at lower interest rate) in place, there is tendency for an increase in agricultural production. Financial institutions should also relax their lending criteria in order to allow farmers to have easy access to loans. Small scale farmers do not have acceptable collateral (houses, moveable properties, stocks, shares and so on) required by these institutions. Thus the criteria should be user friendly for easy accessibility of loan. Government can also make land available to farmers for farming. Alongside the information on how to grow their fruit, the farmers should also be encouraged to utilize funds for the purpose for which they are meant and abide by the terms and conditions of the scheme. They should also make their project and records accessible to the lenders for inspection and verification. The lending body should ensure intermittent monitoring of the funded agricultural project under the scheme. On the part of the government, there should not only be provision of sufficient funds for agriculture, but also follow-up to ensure the proper disbursement of these funds. Marketing (especially the Off-Season Oranges) [Bitrus] With year-round production or orange comes the problem of acceptance. This is where marketing comes into play. Being Africans and Nigerians, especially fond of superstitious beliefs, we have made up our minds that the orange is greenish-yellow and any other thing is probably genetically manufactured and hence posing risks of cancer, toxins, poisons, and food allergies. As a result, any company that plans to market oranges of the highest quality all through the year in Nigeria and Africa as a whole must have a way to convince the general public that the oranges are perfectly normal. How do you assure the potential buyers that the oranges are not genetically altered since the company will be providing quality oranges all year round? The finished orange, although grown in the rural area but using state-of-the art technology should be made available all through the year, orange in color, juicy and large enough to meet international standards if it is to be exported. Since what most of us take in the country does not meet any of the above, then theres every possibility that potential customers will be skeptical about buying because they might feel it is not natural. The marketing campaign will have to convince the general public that the oranges are naturally grown all year round under the right conditions; stating that the fruits grow under proper irrigation all year round, that different varieties of orange are grown depending on the season; and pesticides and herbicides are used to regulate and control the pests and weeds respectively. The marketers should have radio talk shows and TV personalities educate the general public that people need to take their minds off the stereotypical way of thinking that fruits can be grown only in their seasons. By educating the general public that under the right conditions, a fruit can be grown year-round, the producer will be able to convince the buyer that there is nothing wrong with the fruit. After all, in developed countries fruits and vegetables are gotten all year round. Take note though that there are the genetically manufactured ones which are usually labeled GM and there are the naturally grown ones. The naturally grown ones are simply grown under monitored conditions and this is the same kind of thing that will be replicated by the rural farmers. Getting endorsements from NGOs and other prominent organizations such as the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) and the National Agency for Food and Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will convince people that the fruits are safe for consumption. Internet ads, billboards and commercials too will be instrumental in publicizing the naturally-grown oranges. The typical orange in Nigeria is not packaged. Proper packaging will attract customers to buy the produced orange. A decent price will further interest the customers and keep them, but this will be after the packaging must have served its purpose. Another important factor to be considered is the transportation of the oranges from the rural areas to the customers. The producer/supplier must consider how to transport the oranges from the grove in the rural area to the consumers. In theory the fruits will be transported in trucks with properly cleaned, disinfected and ventilated containers that contain temperature-controlled atmosphere for specifically prolonging the shelve life of the oranges and keeping them in their best shape. The trucks will be painted with the ad of the oranges showing the brand name and a colorful painting of the oranges which is a very good marketing strategy. The temperature-controlled trucks should preserve them until they are given to the buyers. Benefits of Year-round Production [] 1. Export: After a few years of production, there would be a need to start exporting the oranges since production is going to be done year-round. This will increase the countrys revenue and consequently, the Gross Domestic Product of the country. This would help the farmers to make the most profit by exploring opportunities in foreign countries that are not present in the domestic market (Tekle, 2007). By doing this, the farmers would eventually turn their small scale farm into international companies which will participate in todays fast growing global market and gain more knowledge from the highly diverse international market place. This could also go on to help strengthen the value of the Nigerian Naira which translates to an improvement in the Nigerian economy. 2. Job Creation: According to INDEX MUNDI, the rate of unemployment in Nigeria has reduced by 21.3% within the space of 2003 and 2010 as shown in the chart below (Barrientos, 2010). In this time, a huge reduction in crime rate has also been observed and this goes to show that people who are not among the labor force are the ones responsible for the crimes being committed. If farmers are successfully granted the opportunity to go into larger scale production of these oranges they would need to employee more workers to help with the cultivation and harvesting of the oranges. This would go a long way in abetting the decline in crime, unemployment rates, and poverty in the rural areas of Nigeria. Since these oranges are going to be the produced year-round, then the jobs would be full-time jobs instead of seasonal. 3. Joint Production: Farmers can also join their businesses together. This could become an additional source of capital and resources for all the parties involved. This would help facilitate and increase the growth of the business because they have more funds to facilitate the operation involved in the production your oranges which would result to an increase in their profit margin and revenue potential. It also helps this farmer because they have someone to share the responsibility with them which would also reduce the risk and effect of losing plenty money. 4. Environmental Benefits: In order to produce oranges, we need to plant trees. These trees protect the environmental biomes of organisms, giving way to the reduction of Enhanced Green House Effects also known as global warming by remove surplus amount of carbon dioxide and atmospheric air pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, ozone and nitrogen oxide (iloveindia.com, 2010). They also provide us with more oxygen required for living life. These trees would also improve the quality of air and reduce its pollution. It would also improve the visual effect of landscapes in rural area which could also increase revenue gotten from tourism. Since most rural areas appear to be in Northern part of Nigeria it would help control the climate by moderating the effects of sun and can also act as windbreakers. It would also reduce erosion and flooding in these areas since they have no effective drainage system. 5. It will accelerate the growth of the agricultural sector: Since the discovery of crude oil in the country, Nigerians have neglected the agricultural sector. Producing these oranges would also encourage the year-round production of other agricultural goods and also transform it to industrial agriculture and these would ease of the stress that has been put on the oil and gas sector. It will generate more Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Product (GNP) and per capita income for Nigeria. 6. Investments: This will bring a large influx of foreign companies who deal in food production and pharmaceuticals. It would also increase the flow of cash into the country and encourage economic activity in Nigeria. It would also curb the problems of low job opportunities and reduced GDP. The remaining farmers and producers will have to develop their labor to keep up with the much improved competition therefore bringing about an increment in general efficiency level. And the Nigerian Government will be taken much more seriously in the worldwide conferences because the number of investors in the country has improved. 7. Infrastructural development: This will bring in new equipments for industries who patronize in agricultural products and the agricultural sector will have to provide modern equipments to produce more yields. 8. Globalization: It would generally breach the gap between countries through trade. It would also reduce the cultural barriers which would increase the global village effect. 9. World Trade Organization (WTO): With agricultural investments, there will be economic growth which will make Nigeria a valuable participant in the World Trade Organization. 10. Skill development: Over time, the rural areas will see an evolution of skilled workers, both in the agricultural and industrial sectors. 11. Population Distribution: Like many other countries, the urban regions in Nigeria are densely populated while the rural areas are sparsely populated, but with the new jobs created in rural areas, there would be a redistribution of population. Places like Lagos and Abuja would not be so densely populated. And this would help in the development of the rural areas in Nigeria. Recommendations Although there might be set-backs or even disadvantages to the year round production of orange in the country, the advantages far outweigh these disadvantages. With this many advantages, the government and many other sponsors should be more than willing to support the idea. Implementation of this would be revolutionary to food production in the country as it would open the door for year-round production of many other fruits. The implication is that these fruits will become much cheaper than when they can be purchased only in their season. There would be benefits to every sector in the country, but it is imperative that the government does not try to force these rural farmers into production as it might just result in another waste of limited resources. The farmers must properly understand the process and the necessary techniques so that when they get the resources they will use them judiciously. For proper understanding, the ICT tools must also be used efficiently, that is, the farme rs must constantly be getting this information and it should be consistent. They should be encouraged to work together and implement these new methods of farming as many of them will be initially resistant to them.

Chinas String of Pearls Strategy

Chinas String of Pearls Strategy CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION String of Pearls Chinas String of Pearls strategy is the name given to a geopolitical strategy adopted by China arising as foreign oil becomes a center of gravity critical to Chinas energy needs.[1] This policy on the face of it appears to be an attempt by China to have an increased access to various ports and airfields in the South Asian region and at the same time to developing special diplomatic relations with these countries. This seems to be a strategic move as China is establishing these pearls or a series of nodes[2] of military and economic power thus enhancing its overall influence in these regions. A question posed by the String of Pearls is the uncertainty of whether Chinas growing influence is in accordance with Beijings stated policy of peaceful development, or if China one day will make a bid for regional primacy[3]. China gives the impression that it is interested in having a more powerful role to play on the global stage and thus evoking concerns in its neighbours, especially India, as being threatening. However, Chinas development of these strategic geopolitical pearls has been non-confrontational[4], with no evidence of imperial or neocolonial ambition, whatsoever. Extension of the Pearls The pearls extend[5] from the coast of mainland China through the littorals of the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the littorals of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. However, looking at the progress that China has made in the last couple of years it may not be too erroneous to say that it is now trying to extend these pearls by making a foray into the African continent and the Central Asian regions. In light of this, it is imperative to focus on the abovementioned issue and the concerned predicament in the minds of the other world power players as to the real design and intention of China and the consequence that this might have on the energy and economic security of these nations, particularly India and the US. Emergence of Strategic Players The rise of this strategy has not only shifted focus on China and its growing energy needs but also has brought to limelight those smaller nations in which China is trying to gain foothold and develop these pearls. Nations like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and recently, countries like Sudan, Egypt Nigeria etc which are rich in energy resources, have come to play a major role in the worlds energy needs. These nations are fast becoming the centre of the worlds energy playing field and are emerging as the strategic centres around which this game of energy security will be played out in the coming future. Hence, it becomes essential for fast developing countries like India and Brazil, who need their share of this energy market, to progress ahead in order to counter Chinas strategy at the earliest. These nations need to evolve their own strategy if they do not want to be left behind because not acting at this point in time may have a huge impact on their economies in the coming future. METHODOLOGY Statement of the Problem This paper seeks to study and analyse the impact of Chinas string of pearls policy on the energy security of the worlds major players in general and India in particular. Hypothesis Chinas String of Pearls policy does not have security implications for India militarily but will have definite implications on the energy security particularly that of India and US. Justification of the study China, in the past decade has influenced the behaviour of its neighbouring nation states to quite an extent. In continuing with its stated policy of economic reforms, it had to secure all the energy resources that it could in the available time frame. Although the name String of Pearls was a name coined by a minor pentagon analyst[6] but certainly it does indicate Chinas quest for securing its energy needs by occupying certain areas of influence in and around its neighbourhood. China, in recent past, has started making headway into the vast energy resources of Africa and Central Asian regions apart from the resources in Myanmar, Spratlys and Paracel islands. Hence, a detailed study is required to look into the effects that may be caused by Chinas incursions into these yet untouched and somewhat unexplored regions. The world took some time to wake up to the vast amount of energy resources that these countries had and China had a headstart in this regard over other nations in these regions. This study tries to bring out the effect that the existing pearls have on the energy security of India and other nations and examines the new pearls and their effects on the energy security of these nations. Scope This study concentrates on the specific issue of string of pearls policy and the impact of this policy on the energy security of India in particular. The study also tries to bring out the aspect of Chinas inroads into the African Countries and the Central Asian Regions as an extension of this policy. The aspects of Chinas military modernization as an offshoot of this policy have been kept out of this discussion. Operational definitions Methods of data collection Organisation of the dissertation Rising China: Implications for India by Major General (Retd) Dhruv Katoch SM, VSM, USI journal July September 2009. www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-string-of-pearls-strategy.htm www. U.S.-China Commission, 2005 Report to Congress. Rising China: Implications for India by Major General (Retd) Dhruv Katoch SM, VSM, USI journal July September 2009. www. M K Bhadrakumar, India and its troublesome Neighbours, The Hindu, 02 Nov 2009 CHAPTER II HISTORICAL BACKGROUND HOW CHINA TRANSFORMED IN THE LAST DECADE? Before we begin to discuss the String of Pearls policy in detail, lets take a look at how China has transformed itself economically in the last 10 years. China is the third largest economy in the world after the US and Japan. China has had the fastest-growing major economy for the past 30 years with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%[7]. In 1978, after years of state control of all productive assets, the government of China embarked on a major program of economic reforms. In an effort to awaken a dormant economic giant, it encouraged the formation of rural enterprises and private businesses, liberalized foreign trade and investment, relaxed state control over some prices, and invested in industrial production and the education of its workforce. By nearly all accounts, the strategy has worked spectacularly. Chinas economy regained momentum in the early 1990s. In early 1992, China made a series of political pronouncements designed to give new impetus to and reinvigorate the process of economic reform. Along with cContinuity in the political system, but a bolder reform was announced in the economic system were announced as the a hallmarks of the 10-year development plan for the 1990s. Although capital accumulation, i.e., the growth in the countrys stock of capital assets, such as new factories, manufacturing machinery, and communications systems, was important, as so were the number of Chinese workers., a A sharp, sustained increase in productivity (that is, increased worker efficiency) was the driving force behind thise economic boom. China has really come very far in the last ten years. Chinas growth as an economy wont flow smoothly from the bottom-left to the upper-right side of the chart. But the fact remains that China will be the biggest, fastest-growing economy in the world in the twenty-first century[8]. In fact, it is interesting to note that when China began its reforms , Deng Xiaoping put military last on the list forro modernization[9]. Chinas economy is gathering momentum and gaining speed. After a period of a double -digit growth in the post-Tiananmen period of the early 1900s, the law of large numbers would have predicted that thisat kind of growth couldnt happen again. But China has defied conventional wisdom. Already one of the largest economies, China grew by at least 10 percent in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The country had $21 billion in foreign reserves in 1993; ten years later, in 2003, China was adding $200 billion or more of reserves into its coffers each year. By the end of 2006, China had more than $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves, an unprecedented amount that was growing by $50 billion each month. Chinas leaders are traveling the world negotiating long-term supply contracts with oil-producing countries. China doesnt have enough of its own energy reserves, and obtaining enough energy to fuel its economy is a very real concern. Quest for Energy South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore were dubbed Asian Tigers as they sustained rapid economic growth and industrialization from the 1960s through the 1990s. Chinas rise in the 21st century, the rise of the Asian Dragon, has the potential to surpass greatly the growth of the Asian Tigers. Since the beginning of economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, China has averaged an annual gGross dDomestic pProduct (GDP) growth rate of 9.4 percent. Since 1978, foreign trade has grown from a fraction of a percent of the world economy, or $20.6 billion, to over 4 percent, or $851 billion in 2005. Chinas GDP is the worlds third largest at roughly 1/7th that of the United States, yet because of its population of 1.3 billion, on a per capita basis, China is ranked roughly 100th in the world and considered a low-income developing country. Many economists believe that with the latent potential of a rapidly emerging middle class, China has the potential to continue its impressive growt h for many years to come. An ever-increasing demand for energy fuels Chinas growth. Chinas Energy Needs The majority of Chinas energy requirement, 70 percent, is currently met by coal — China is the worlds largest producer and consumer of coal. Although coal will remain preeminent, oil consumption is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.8 percent for the next 10 years. In 1985, China was East Asias largest petroleum exporter; in 1993, China became a net oil importer; and in 2004, China leapfrogged Japan to become the worlds second largest oil importer. Roughly 40 percent of all new world oil demand is attributable to Chinas rising energy needs. Secure access to foreign oil resources will be necessary both for continued economic growth and, for the survival of the Chinese Communist regime because since growth is the cornerstone of Chinas domestic stability., for the survival of the Chinese Communist regime. http://en.wikipedia.org/Swiki/Economy_of_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China Jack Perkowski, Managing the Dragon Robyn Meredith, The Elephant and the Dragon CHAPTER III THE PEARLS AND THEIR STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE A few strategists in India and US have been using the term String of pearls to designate those areas where China is establishing its bases. These bases have been given the term pearls. Each pearl in the string is a nexus of Chinese geopolitical influence or military presence, which stretches from Hainan Island to Gwadar[10]. GWADAR, PAKISTAN Gwadar port is a small fishing village, 450 miles west of Karachi and 75 km east of Iran border , and was identified by Pakistan as a potential port location in 1964 but lacked the means to develop. It is a deep sea , warm water port situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan at the apex of Arabian sea and entrance of Persian gulf. The port facility at Gwadar is a win-win prospect for both China and Pakistan. The port at Karachi currently handles 90 percent of Pakistans sea-borne trade, but because of its proximity to India, it is extremely vulnerable to blockade. This happened during the India-Pakistan War of 1971 and was threatened again during the Kargil conflict of 1999. The port is strategically located between three important regions Oil rich Middle East, heavily populated Pakistan and the Central Asian Region. A modern port at Gwadar would enhance Pakistans strategic depth along its coastline with respect to India. For China, the strategic value of Gwadar is its 240-mile distance from the Strait of Hormuz.[11] China has funded a majority of the $1.2 billion project and provided the technical expertise of hundreds of engineers. Since construction began in 2002, China has invested four times more than Pakistan and contributed an additional $200 million towards the building of a highway to connect Gwadar with Karachi. This port accrues the following advantages for China :- It can serve as a potential Chinese Naval Anchor. It serves as an energy transport hub to carry oil from Gwadar to its western region of Xinjiang by an oil pipeline. It helps insulate the Chinese imports from interdiction in case of any major war. It benefits by having access to international trade routes. Use of rail network is also a major advantage although the access in this case may be hampered due to the difference in gauge between China , Pakistan and CAR nations. Shanghai port is approximately 16000 kms from Chinese industrial areas and sea travel adds another 2-3 months whereas Gwadar is only 2500 Kms and will work throughout the year. It also provides Beijing with a listening post from where it can monitor US, India and US-India Maritime cooperation. As Admiral (retd) Sureesh Mehta[12] said It has a serious strategic implication for India, being only 180 Nm from the exits of Strait of Hormuz, would enable Pak to take control over the world energy jugular interdiction of Indian tankers. Hambantota, SriLanka Hambantota is a rural town in the SE coast of Srilanka. As per the 2007 agreement, development of Hambantota included[13]:- Developing a container port Developing a bunkering system Establishing an oil refinery Setting up an airport and other facilities The approximate expenditure in setting up Hambantota was $1 Bn of which 85% will be financed by China over the next fifteen years. A question that comes to mind is that although there seems to be not much economic significance of this pearl to China, then why is it investing so heavily here. Possibly the following answers come to mind:- There is a potential for Navy as a Port of Call. The port can be used for refueling purposes. The port will act as a Listening post and watch tower on Indias nuclear, space and naval establishments in South India. At present, there is no military component here but Chinas involvement here would make much more sense from a military perspective. Chittagong, Bangladesh Chittagong is the largest seaport in Bangladesh. China is developing a container port facility a Chittagong[14]. However, it is important to note here that there has been no further word on this development probably because of the regime change in Bangladesh which is India friendly. Sittwe, Myanmar Among the many ventures of China in Myanmar, the following two are the most crucial:- The gas pipeline from Myanmars West Arakan state to Yunnan province. Using Sittwe Port as a sea gateway. According to the 1992 agreement, China was ready to modernize Myanmars naval facilities in return for the permission to use the Coco Islands. China undertook building a deep sea port (Kyaukpyu)[15]; road construction from Kunmig to Sittwe for which a feasibility study was done in 2005 and is also funding the road construction from Rangoon to Akyab. From 2013, Chinese oil tankers from the Middle East and Africa will be able to cross the Bay of Bengal to dock at Myanmars Sittwe and Kyaukphyu ports from where their cargo will be transported through pipelines to Yunnan. The transport time of fuel that bypasses the Malacca Strait in this way will be cut by a week. A recent article in the Outlook[16] explained the significance of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinpings Dec 09 visit to Myanmar, one of the key reasons being Chinas determination to go ahead with the construction of the parallel oil and gas pipelines from the Arakan area of Myanmar to Yunnan. He accorded a greater priority to the A rakan-Yunnan pipeline as compared to the Gwadar-Xinjiang pipeline proposed by the Pakistan Government citing the reason that the Chinese Government was more confident about the Myanmar Army taking care of the security of parallel pipelines passing through Myanmar than about the Pakistan Government for security of a pipeline passing through Pakistan. Moreover, the first stage of the pipeline connecting Xinjiang with the Central Asian Republics has been recently commissioned, thereby reducing the urgency of a Gwadar-Xinjiang pipeline. There is another added advantage of the Arakan-Yunnan pipelines over the pipeline from Gwadar. The former has a two-fold benefit it will help carrying oil brought by Chinese tankers from West Asia and Africa thereby reducing present Chinese dependence on Malacca Strait transporting the gas procured locally in Arakan by Chinese companies The pipeline from Gwadar can only be used to carry oil/gas from West Asia. Pakistan does not have any oil or gas to sell to China . As per the Indian analysts, Chinese presence may allow it to interdict regional SLOCs. On this account, Myanmar is emerging as the single largest threat to Indian strategic interests in SE Asia. Coco Islands Coco islands are a pair of strategically important islands located in the East Indian oceanOcean politically administered by Burma under Yangon division. The Great Coco Islands (102) and Small Coco Islands (51) are separated from each other by Alexandra Channel. They are separated from the Andaman by Coco Channel; Myanmar 300 km N Historically, these islands were a part of India under British rule but due to lack of close supervision, they were transferred to Myanmar. These islands were supposedly leased to the Peoples Republic of China since 1994, according to various amateur sources[17]. The government of Burma and that of the Peoples Republic of China do not comment on such manner. China has helped in carrying out the following activities here:- Establishing a SIGINT and ELINT int gathering station (supposedly 92) Oon the Great Coco Island. Building a maritime base on the little Coco Island. Development of airfield, radar dish, ae, jetty and a number of buildings. However, there are no signs of a large base here. Strategic importance of this pearl for China:- Monitoring Indian Naval activity Monitoring movement of other navies and ships esp between Bay of Bengal and Malacca Strait. May be used to monitor the activities at the launch site of ISRO at Sriharikota and DRDO at Chandipur on sea. According to Indian analysts, this may pose a threat to Indian tri-service command at Port Blair (190 Nm away). If seen in toto, this completes the maritime encirclement of India. Strait of Malacca Strait of Malacca is a narrow 805km stretch of water between Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesian island of Sumatra. At the Philips Channel, this Strait narrows down to 2.8 km, thus becoming one of the worlds most significant choke points. Straits of Malacca and Hormuz have become crucial waterways for China. Close cooperation with Myanmar and Pakistan thus also becomes a crucial issue[18]. From economic and strategic perspectives, Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes of the world. This Strait is economically significant for China in that 50,000 vessels pass through it each year and almost 80% of Chinas oil passes through this Strait. In essence, whoever controls Malacca threatens Chinas oil supply route. China gave a statement indicating that it would use its naval might to ensure that these sea lanes remain open. In President Hu Jintaos own words[19], Malacca dilemma is the key to Chinas energy security. Hu also hinted that various powers (including US) had tried to enlarge their scope of influence in the Straits of Malacca by either controlling or trying to control navigation in the Straits of Malacca. It is interesting to note here that Indias naval base in the Andaman and Nicobar islands puts India in an advantageous position. Kra Canal Kra Canal or the Thai Canal is actually a plan for a large canal that would cut through Southern Thailand to enable improved transportation in the region. China had planned to construct this over ten years employing 30,000 workers with an estimated cost of $20-25 Bn. However, initially the plan seemed to have been dropped owing to environmental concerns but recently there have been signs of revival of this plan since there are economic benefits for China and a threat of piracy in the Strait of Malacca. The plan was tentatively approved in 2007 but Singapore and US showed their dissent for obvious reasons. Another alternative to this plan is to build a pipeline across the Isthmus to carry oil to ships waiting on the other side. South China Sea South China Sea is located south of China and Taiwan, west of Philippines, North West of Malaysia, North of Indonesia and East of Vietnam. The region has proven oil reserves 7.7 billion barrels (28 bn estimated) and its natural gas reserves are estimated at 7500 km3. A significant part of this region is the Spratly Islands where oil was discovered in 1968. It has been estimated by the Geology and Mineral Resources Ministry[20] of Peoples Republic of China that Spratly islands may have oil reserves to make them the fourth largest reserve bed in the world. Hence, there is intensification by PRC to claim these islands. Woody Islands Woody Islands are a part of the Paracel Islands occupied by PRC. This node acts as a Chinese Emergency Rescue Centre served by an artificial harbour and an airfield with a 2350m runway. The centre was occupied in 1956 and also has oil tanks, gun emplacements and ammunition storage bunkers. The islands may be used as a staging point to sp offn ops in the Spratlys. There are also reports of the existence of Silkworm anti-ship cruise missile installations on the Woody Islands. In mid 95, a new SIGINT station was established on the Rocky Island, north to Woody Island. Since it is the highest point, there is good signal interception is obviously good. Hainan Islands These 200 islands form the smallest province of PRC and are home to the PLAN strategic nuclear submarine naval harbour that is capable of hiding upto 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites. The harbour houses nuclear ballistic missile subs and is large enough to accommodate aircraft carriers. PLAN has developed Sanya Naval Base (Yulin) in Southern part to op Jin class subs (SSBNs) and Shang class subs (SSNs) (replaced Han Class). Rising China : Implications for India by Major General (Retd) Dhruv Katoch SM,VSM ,USI journal July September 2009. Source: http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/01/gwadar-port-has-strategic-implications.html Source: http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/01/gwadar-port-has-strategic-implications.html Source: http://www.marinebuzz.com/2007/11/02/china-funds-sri-lanka-hambantota-port-development-project/ Dilip Ghosh,Chinas String of Pearls encircling India , Asia Defence News Vol IV , Issue 12 , 15 Dec 2009. Dilip Ghosh,Chinas String of Pearls encircling India , Asia Defence News Vol IV , Issue 12 , 15 Dec 2009. Source: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?263531 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Islands Amardeep Athwal, China India relations contemporary Dynamics Source: The Straits of Malacca: the Rise of China, America s Intentions and the Dilemma of the Littoral States by Mokhzani Zubir, Researcher, Centre for Maritime Security Diplomacy Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratly_Islands CHAPTER IV POSSIBLE MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS BEHIND THIS STRATEGY Chinas development during the past decade, from its expanding economy and increased global influence to its growing military might and demand for energy, presented tremendous challenges to their leaders as they managed the turmoil of massive structural, technological, and social changes. The governing three key worries of the Chinese government have been:-elites of China had three overarching concerns:- Regime survival. Territorial integrity. Domestic stability. In the succeeding paragraphs these three concerns and their impact on the economy have been highlighted. The relation between the economy and the string of pearls strategy has also been shown. Regime Survival Regime survival was has always been and will shall remain the foremost concern of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The party leadership is It is aware that their survival depends upon the satisfaction of the Chinese people and their ability how well they are able to protect Chinese national interests. The collapse of the When Soviet Union collapsed and the end of the Cold War ended, Communism was exposed deduced as a communism as a bankrupt ideology with a flawed economic system[21]. To avoid the same fate as had befallen the erstwhile USSR, the Chinese adopted a socialist market economy. Although a lot of economic and social reforms have taken place but , in the middle of it the CCP has maintained a strict authoritarian control. The CCP is aware of the fact that as long as the economy is thriving the populace willl be satisfied and hence there would not be a serious threat to the current regime. Territorial Integrity China has in the recent past adopted a strategy of befriending its neighbours with the notable exceptions being India and Taiwan and in the process has met with considerable success too. Although certain contentious issues still remain with the countries such as Japan over some disputed islands but more or less China has successfully demilitarized its land borders in the nNorthern and the cCentral aAsia. On the central Central asian Asian front, China has become more influential under the support of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose member states consist of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, along with the observer members of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Mongolia. It is slowly but surely laying to rest the dispute over Tibet although in a more subtle way. The only spanner in the wheel that remains is its relations and territorial disputes with India which are not showing any signs of fast progress. However, the relations with India have been more of a sine curve with statements against one another coming from both sides. India has more or less recognized Chinas claims to Tibet and China has reciprocated by recognizing Indias claim to the Himalayan state of Sikkim. Even with respect to Taiwan, Chinese policy attempts to balance the stick of diplomatic and military pressure with the carrot of mutually beneficial cross-strait economic ties. With the last elections in Taiwan throwing some startling results in favour of cChina, the day is not far off when it will come into some sort of agreement with Taiwan also. What has made China want to have good relations with its immediate neighbours . neighbours. The one thing that comes to mind is economy. It seems that the ever increasing demands of increased economic development are the driving forces behind Chinas improved relations with her neighbors. Domestic Stability Again successful economic development is perceived as key to Chinas third area of strategic concern, domestic stability. CCP is focused inward, and primarily domestic politics drive Chinas foreign and economic policies. Changes to the economic system and the decision to embrace globalization are causing major shifts in Chinese society[22]. The Chinese government is aware that although it is moving towards becoming an economically prosperous nation but everything is not in order inside their house. ThHere are large disparities between the economy of the people who are living in the coastal cities such as Shanghai and the people who are living in the interior less developed regions which have not seen the effects of the information revolution. Due to this class distinction due as a result of theto economic stratification, the government is wary and knows that if there are anti government demonstrations they cannot be repressed as was done earlier, the famous example being of the Tianan men Square crackdown of June 1989. Thus to address this issue the regime is aware that it needs to bring economic parity to its provinces such as Yunnan and Xinjiang. In meeting this challenge, the government must foster economic prosperity to satisfy the demands and expectations of the Chinese people. Link with Energy All these three abovementioned factors, as have been shown in the preceding paragraphs, are inescapably linked with the economic prosperity of China. The government iof China is aware that the greatest strength of cChina as also its greatest vulnerability is the its economy and hence it has based its national policy and strategy on economyaround this key factor. For its economy to continue thriving, as is with the case of all nations, China knows that it has to rely upon continued and sustained import of energy. Since energy provides the foundation of the economy, Chinas economic policy depends on the success of its energy policy. As the energy resources available within the country are quite limited and cannot ascribe to the full economy; hence it China, therefore, has to rely in a big way on the external sources of energy and raw materials. To import these energy resources and raw materials, it has to have a good and effective transportation system both on land and at sea is required. The three major problems that were faced by China in importing energy via land based routes were that firstly, most of the energy rich nations are either not connected by land; secondly, it would take a major effort and would not be cost effective to connect them with land and thirdly, even if these nations were connected, their links pass through other natio ns which may be a risk keeping in mind the fluid world order and changing equations. Hence, it was important that the Sea Lines Of Communications , which were importing the major chunk of energy be secured . Securing Sea Lines of Communications for energy and raw materials supports Chinas energy policy and is the principal motivation behind the String of Pearls. This is how and why the String of Pearls relates to Chinas Grand National Strategy. Protection of SLOCs The question that arises here is that from whowhom is the protection is required, if at all.? Whom does China fear? Over 70 percent of the total oil imports of China come from either the Middle East or the African countries majority of which is transported through sea and this will remain so for the foreseeable future. Hence, China has a long-term commitment to these supply sources due to which it has been trying to build up better relations with these countries whether that comes as monetary help or in some other form. For eg, Saudi Arabia is Chinas largest crude oil supplier, and the Saudi national oil company, Aramco, is a 25 percent investor in Chinas String of Pearls Strategy Chinas String of Pearls Strategy CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION String of Pearls Chinas String of Pearls strategy is the name given to a geopolitical strategy adopted by China arising as foreign oil becomes a center of gravity critical to Chinas energy needs.[1] This policy on the face of it appears to be an attempt by China to have an increased access to various ports and airfields in the South Asian region and at the same time to developing special diplomatic relations with these countries. This seems to be a strategic move as China is establishing these pearls or a series of nodes[2] of military and economic power thus enhancing its overall influence in these regions. A question posed by the String of Pearls is the uncertainty of whether Chinas growing influence is in accordance with Beijings stated policy of peaceful development, or if China one day will make a bid for regional primacy[3]. China gives the impression that it is interested in having a more powerful role to play on the global stage and thus evoking concerns in its neighbours, especially India, as being threatening. However, Chinas development of these strategic geopolitical pearls has been non-confrontational[4], with no evidence of imperial or neocolonial ambition, whatsoever. Extension of the Pearls The pearls extend[5] from the coast of mainland China through the littorals of the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the littorals of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. However, looking at the progress that China has made in the last couple of years it may not be too erroneous to say that it is now trying to extend these pearls by making a foray into the African continent and the Central Asian regions. In light of this, it is imperative to focus on the abovementioned issue and the concerned predicament in the minds of the other world power players as to the real design and intention of China and the consequence that this might have on the energy and economic security of these nations, particularly India and the US. Emergence of Strategic Players The rise of this strategy has not only shifted focus on China and its growing energy needs but also has brought to limelight those smaller nations in which China is trying to gain foothold and develop these pearls. Nations like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and recently, countries like Sudan, Egypt Nigeria etc which are rich in energy resources, have come to play a major role in the worlds energy needs. These nations are fast becoming the centre of the worlds energy playing field and are emerging as the strategic centres around which this game of energy security will be played out in the coming future. Hence, it becomes essential for fast developing countries like India and Brazil, who need their share of this energy market, to progress ahead in order to counter Chinas strategy at the earliest. These nations need to evolve their own strategy if they do not want to be left behind because not acting at this point in time may have a huge impact on their economies in the coming future. METHODOLOGY Statement of the Problem This paper seeks to study and analyse the impact of Chinas string of pearls policy on the energy security of the worlds major players in general and India in particular. Hypothesis Chinas String of Pearls policy does not have security implications for India militarily but will have definite implications on the energy security particularly that of India and US. Justification of the study China, in the past decade has influenced the behaviour of its neighbouring nation states to quite an extent. In continuing with its stated policy of economic reforms, it had to secure all the energy resources that it could in the available time frame. Although the name String of Pearls was a name coined by a minor pentagon analyst[6] but certainly it does indicate Chinas quest for securing its energy needs by occupying certain areas of influence in and around its neighbourhood. China, in recent past, has started making headway into the vast energy resources of Africa and Central Asian regions apart from the resources in Myanmar, Spratlys and Paracel islands. Hence, a detailed study is required to look into the effects that may be caused by Chinas incursions into these yet untouched and somewhat unexplored regions. The world took some time to wake up to the vast amount of energy resources that these countries had and China had a headstart in this regard over other nations in these regions. This study tries to bring out the effect that the existing pearls have on the energy security of India and other nations and examines the new pearls and their effects on the energy security of these nations. Scope This study concentrates on the specific issue of string of pearls policy and the impact of this policy on the energy security of India in particular. The study also tries to bring out the aspect of Chinas inroads into the African Countries and the Central Asian Regions as an extension of this policy. The aspects of Chinas military modernization as an offshoot of this policy have been kept out of this discussion. Operational definitions Methods of data collection Organisation of the dissertation Rising China: Implications for India by Major General (Retd) Dhruv Katoch SM, VSM, USI journal July September 2009. www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-string-of-pearls-strategy.htm www. U.S.-China Commission, 2005 Report to Congress. Rising China: Implications for India by Major General (Retd) Dhruv Katoch SM, VSM, USI journal July September 2009. www. M K Bhadrakumar, India and its troublesome Neighbours, The Hindu, 02 Nov 2009 CHAPTER II HISTORICAL BACKGROUND HOW CHINA TRANSFORMED IN THE LAST DECADE? Before we begin to discuss the String of Pearls policy in detail, lets take a look at how China has transformed itself economically in the last 10 years. China is the third largest economy in the world after the US and Japan. China has had the fastest-growing major economy for the past 30 years with an average annual GDP growth rate above 10%[7]. In 1978, after years of state control of all productive assets, the government of China embarked on a major program of economic reforms. In an effort to awaken a dormant economic giant, it encouraged the formation of rural enterprises and private businesses, liberalized foreign trade and investment, relaxed state control over some prices, and invested in industrial production and the education of its workforce. By nearly all accounts, the strategy has worked spectacularly. Chinas economy regained momentum in the early 1990s. In early 1992, China made a series of political pronouncements designed to give new impetus to and reinvigorate the process of economic reform. Along with cContinuity in the political system, but a bolder reform was announced in the economic system were announced as the a hallmarks of the 10-year development plan for the 1990s. Although capital accumulation, i.e., the growth in the countrys stock of capital assets, such as new factories, manufacturing machinery, and communications systems, was important, as so were the number of Chinese workers., a A sharp, sustained increase in productivity (that is, increased worker efficiency) was the driving force behind thise economic boom. China has really come very far in the last ten years. Chinas growth as an economy wont flow smoothly from the bottom-left to the upper-right side of the chart. But the fact remains that China will be the biggest, fastest-growing economy in the world in the twenty-first century[8]. In fact, it is interesting to note that when China began its reforms , Deng Xiaoping put military last on the list forro modernization[9]. Chinas economy is gathering momentum and gaining speed. After a period of a double -digit growth in the post-Tiananmen period of the early 1900s, the law of large numbers would have predicted that thisat kind of growth couldnt happen again. But China has defied conventional wisdom. Already one of the largest economies, China grew by at least 10 percent in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The country had $21 billion in foreign reserves in 1993; ten years later, in 2003, China was adding $200 billion or more of reserves into its coffers each year. By the end of 2006, China had more than $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves, an unprecedented amount that was growing by $50 billion each month. Chinas leaders are traveling the world negotiating long-term supply contracts with oil-producing countries. China doesnt have enough of its own energy reserves, and obtaining enough energy to fuel its economy is a very real concern. Quest for Energy South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore were dubbed Asian Tigers as they sustained rapid economic growth and industrialization from the 1960s through the 1990s. Chinas rise in the 21st century, the rise of the Asian Dragon, has the potential to surpass greatly the growth of the Asian Tigers. Since the beginning of economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping, China has averaged an annual gGross dDomestic pProduct (GDP) growth rate of 9.4 percent. Since 1978, foreign trade has grown from a fraction of a percent of the world economy, or $20.6 billion, to over 4 percent, or $851 billion in 2005. Chinas GDP is the worlds third largest at roughly 1/7th that of the United States, yet because of its population of 1.3 billion, on a per capita basis, China is ranked roughly 100th in the world and considered a low-income developing country. Many economists believe that with the latent potential of a rapidly emerging middle class, China has the potential to continue its impressive growt h for many years to come. An ever-increasing demand for energy fuels Chinas growth. Chinas Energy Needs The majority of Chinas energy requirement, 70 percent, is currently met by coal — China is the worlds largest producer and consumer of coal. Although coal will remain preeminent, oil consumption is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5.8 percent for the next 10 years. In 1985, China was East Asias largest petroleum exporter; in 1993, China became a net oil importer; and in 2004, China leapfrogged Japan to become the worlds second largest oil importer. Roughly 40 percent of all new world oil demand is attributable to Chinas rising energy needs. Secure access to foreign oil resources will be necessary both for continued economic growth and, for the survival of the Chinese Communist regime because since growth is the cornerstone of Chinas domestic stability., for the survival of the Chinese Communist regime. http://en.wikipedia.org/Swiki/Economy_of_the_Peoples_Republic_of_China Jack Perkowski, Managing the Dragon Robyn Meredith, The Elephant and the Dragon CHAPTER III THE PEARLS AND THEIR STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE A few strategists in India and US have been using the term String of pearls to designate those areas where China is establishing its bases. These bases have been given the term pearls. Each pearl in the string is a nexus of Chinese geopolitical influence or military presence, which stretches from Hainan Island to Gwadar[10]. GWADAR, PAKISTAN Gwadar port is a small fishing village, 450 miles west of Karachi and 75 km east of Iran border , and was identified by Pakistan as a potential port location in 1964 but lacked the means to develop. It is a deep sea , warm water port situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan at the apex of Arabian sea and entrance of Persian gulf. The port facility at Gwadar is a win-win prospect for both China and Pakistan. The port at Karachi currently handles 90 percent of Pakistans sea-borne trade, but because of its proximity to India, it is extremely vulnerable to blockade. This happened during the India-Pakistan War of 1971 and was threatened again during the Kargil conflict of 1999. The port is strategically located between three important regions Oil rich Middle East, heavily populated Pakistan and the Central Asian Region. A modern port at Gwadar would enhance Pakistans strategic depth along its coastline with respect to India. For China, the strategic value of Gwadar is its 240-mile distance from the Strait of Hormuz.[11] China has funded a majority of the $1.2 billion project and provided the technical expertise of hundreds of engineers. Since construction began in 2002, China has invested four times more than Pakistan and contributed an additional $200 million towards the building of a highway to connect Gwadar with Karachi. This port accrues the following advantages for China :- It can serve as a potential Chinese Naval Anchor. It serves as an energy transport hub to carry oil from Gwadar to its western region of Xinjiang by an oil pipeline. It helps insulate the Chinese imports from interdiction in case of any major war. It benefits by having access to international trade routes. Use of rail network is also a major advantage although the access in this case may be hampered due to the difference in gauge between China , Pakistan and CAR nations. Shanghai port is approximately 16000 kms from Chinese industrial areas and sea travel adds another 2-3 months whereas Gwadar is only 2500 Kms and will work throughout the year. It also provides Beijing with a listening post from where it can monitor US, India and US-India Maritime cooperation. As Admiral (retd) Sureesh Mehta[12] said It has a serious strategic implication for India, being only 180 Nm from the exits of Strait of Hormuz, would enable Pak to take control over the world energy jugular interdiction of Indian tankers. Hambantota, SriLanka Hambantota is a rural town in the SE coast of Srilanka. As per the 2007 agreement, development of Hambantota included[13]:- Developing a container port Developing a bunkering system Establishing an oil refinery Setting up an airport and other facilities The approximate expenditure in setting up Hambantota was $1 Bn of which 85% will be financed by China over the next fifteen years. A question that comes to mind is that although there seems to be not much economic significance of this pearl to China, then why is it investing so heavily here. Possibly the following answers come to mind:- There is a potential for Navy as a Port of Call. The port can be used for refueling purposes. The port will act as a Listening post and watch tower on Indias nuclear, space and naval establishments in South India. At present, there is no military component here but Chinas involvement here would make much more sense from a military perspective. Chittagong, Bangladesh Chittagong is the largest seaport in Bangladesh. China is developing a container port facility a Chittagong[14]. However, it is important to note here that there has been no further word on this development probably because of the regime change in Bangladesh which is India friendly. Sittwe, Myanmar Among the many ventures of China in Myanmar, the following two are the most crucial:- The gas pipeline from Myanmars West Arakan state to Yunnan province. Using Sittwe Port as a sea gateway. According to the 1992 agreement, China was ready to modernize Myanmars naval facilities in return for the permission to use the Coco Islands. China undertook building a deep sea port (Kyaukpyu)[15]; road construction from Kunmig to Sittwe for which a feasibility study was done in 2005 and is also funding the road construction from Rangoon to Akyab. From 2013, Chinese oil tankers from the Middle East and Africa will be able to cross the Bay of Bengal to dock at Myanmars Sittwe and Kyaukphyu ports from where their cargo will be transported through pipelines to Yunnan. The transport time of fuel that bypasses the Malacca Strait in this way will be cut by a week. A recent article in the Outlook[16] explained the significance of Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinpings Dec 09 visit to Myanmar, one of the key reasons being Chinas determination to go ahead with the construction of the parallel oil and gas pipelines from the Arakan area of Myanmar to Yunnan. He accorded a greater priority to the A rakan-Yunnan pipeline as compared to the Gwadar-Xinjiang pipeline proposed by the Pakistan Government citing the reason that the Chinese Government was more confident about the Myanmar Army taking care of the security of parallel pipelines passing through Myanmar than about the Pakistan Government for security of a pipeline passing through Pakistan. Moreover, the first stage of the pipeline connecting Xinjiang with the Central Asian Republics has been recently commissioned, thereby reducing the urgency of a Gwadar-Xinjiang pipeline. There is another added advantage of the Arakan-Yunnan pipelines over the pipeline from Gwadar. The former has a two-fold benefit it will help carrying oil brought by Chinese tankers from West Asia and Africa thereby reducing present Chinese dependence on Malacca Strait transporting the gas procured locally in Arakan by Chinese companies The pipeline from Gwadar can only be used to carry oil/gas from West Asia. Pakistan does not have any oil or gas to sell to China . As per the Indian analysts, Chinese presence may allow it to interdict regional SLOCs. On this account, Myanmar is emerging as the single largest threat to Indian strategic interests in SE Asia. Coco Islands Coco islands are a pair of strategically important islands located in the East Indian oceanOcean politically administered by Burma under Yangon division. The Great Coco Islands (102) and Small Coco Islands (51) are separated from each other by Alexandra Channel. They are separated from the Andaman by Coco Channel; Myanmar 300 km N Historically, these islands were a part of India under British rule but due to lack of close supervision, they were transferred to Myanmar. These islands were supposedly leased to the Peoples Republic of China since 1994, according to various amateur sources[17]. The government of Burma and that of the Peoples Republic of China do not comment on such manner. China has helped in carrying out the following activities here:- Establishing a SIGINT and ELINT int gathering station (supposedly 92) Oon the Great Coco Island. Building a maritime base on the little Coco Island. Development of airfield, radar dish, ae, jetty and a number of buildings. However, there are no signs of a large base here. Strategic importance of this pearl for China:- Monitoring Indian Naval activity Monitoring movement of other navies and ships esp between Bay of Bengal and Malacca Strait. May be used to monitor the activities at the launch site of ISRO at Sriharikota and DRDO at Chandipur on sea. According to Indian analysts, this may pose a threat to Indian tri-service command at Port Blair (190 Nm away). If seen in toto, this completes the maritime encirclement of India. Strait of Malacca Strait of Malacca is a narrow 805km stretch of water between Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesian island of Sumatra. At the Philips Channel, this Strait narrows down to 2.8 km, thus becoming one of the worlds most significant choke points. Straits of Malacca and Hormuz have become crucial waterways for China. Close cooperation with Myanmar and Pakistan thus also becomes a crucial issue[18]. From economic and strategic perspectives, Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes of the world. This Strait is economically significant for China in that 50,000 vessels pass through it each year and almost 80% of Chinas oil passes through this Strait. In essence, whoever controls Malacca threatens Chinas oil supply route. China gave a statement indicating that it would use its naval might to ensure that these sea lanes remain open. In President Hu Jintaos own words[19], Malacca dilemma is the key to Chinas energy security. Hu also hinted that various powers (including US) had tried to enlarge their scope of influence in the Straits of Malacca by either controlling or trying to control navigation in the Straits of Malacca. It is interesting to note here that Indias naval base in the Andaman and Nicobar islands puts India in an advantageous position. Kra Canal Kra Canal or the Thai Canal is actually a plan for a large canal that would cut through Southern Thailand to enable improved transportation in the region. China had planned to construct this over ten years employing 30,000 workers with an estimated cost of $20-25 Bn. However, initially the plan seemed to have been dropped owing to environmental concerns but recently there have been signs of revival of this plan since there are economic benefits for China and a threat of piracy in the Strait of Malacca. The plan was tentatively approved in 2007 but Singapore and US showed their dissent for obvious reasons. Another alternative to this plan is to build a pipeline across the Isthmus to carry oil to ships waiting on the other side. South China Sea South China Sea is located south of China and Taiwan, west of Philippines, North West of Malaysia, North of Indonesia and East of Vietnam. The region has proven oil reserves 7.7 billion barrels (28 bn estimated) and its natural gas reserves are estimated at 7500 km3. A significant part of this region is the Spratly Islands where oil was discovered in 1968. It has been estimated by the Geology and Mineral Resources Ministry[20] of Peoples Republic of China that Spratly islands may have oil reserves to make them the fourth largest reserve bed in the world. Hence, there is intensification by PRC to claim these islands. Woody Islands Woody Islands are a part of the Paracel Islands occupied by PRC. This node acts as a Chinese Emergency Rescue Centre served by an artificial harbour and an airfield with a 2350m runway. The centre was occupied in 1956 and also has oil tanks, gun emplacements and ammunition storage bunkers. The islands may be used as a staging point to sp offn ops in the Spratlys. There are also reports of the existence of Silkworm anti-ship cruise missile installations on the Woody Islands. In mid 95, a new SIGINT station was established on the Rocky Island, north to Woody Island. Since it is the highest point, there is good signal interception is obviously good. Hainan Islands These 200 islands form the smallest province of PRC and are home to the PLAN strategic nuclear submarine naval harbour that is capable of hiding upto 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites. The harbour houses nuclear ballistic missile subs and is large enough to accommodate aircraft carriers. PLAN has developed Sanya Naval Base (Yulin) in Southern part to op Jin class subs (SSBNs) and Shang class subs (SSNs) (replaced Han Class). Rising China : Implications for India by Major General (Retd) Dhruv Katoch SM,VSM ,USI journal July September 2009. Source: http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/01/gwadar-port-has-strategic-implications.html Source: http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/01/gwadar-port-has-strategic-implications.html Source: http://www.marinebuzz.com/2007/11/02/china-funds-sri-lanka-hambantota-port-development-project/ Dilip Ghosh,Chinas String of Pearls encircling India , Asia Defence News Vol IV , Issue 12 , 15 Dec 2009. Dilip Ghosh,Chinas String of Pearls encircling India , Asia Defence News Vol IV , Issue 12 , 15 Dec 2009. Source: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?263531 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Islands Amardeep Athwal, China India relations contemporary Dynamics Source: The Straits of Malacca: the Rise of China, America s Intentions and the Dilemma of the Littoral States by Mokhzani Zubir, Researcher, Centre for Maritime Security Diplomacy Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spratly_Islands CHAPTER IV POSSIBLE MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS BEHIND THIS STRATEGY Chinas development during the past decade, from its expanding economy and increased global influence to its growing military might and demand for energy, presented tremendous challenges to their leaders as they managed the turmoil of massive structural, technological, and social changes. The governing three key worries of the Chinese government have been:-elites of China had three overarching concerns:- Regime survival. Territorial integrity. Domestic stability. In the succeeding paragraphs these three concerns and their impact on the economy have been highlighted. The relation between the economy and the string of pearls strategy has also been shown. Regime Survival Regime survival was has always been and will shall remain the foremost concern of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The party leadership is It is aware that their survival depends upon the satisfaction of the Chinese people and their ability how well they are able to protect Chinese national interests. The collapse of the When Soviet Union collapsed and the end of the Cold War ended, Communism was exposed deduced as a communism as a bankrupt ideology with a flawed economic system[21]. To avoid the same fate as had befallen the erstwhile USSR, the Chinese adopted a socialist market economy. Although a lot of economic and social reforms have taken place but , in the middle of it the CCP has maintained a strict authoritarian control. The CCP is aware of the fact that as long as the economy is thriving the populace willl be satisfied and hence there would not be a serious threat to the current regime. Territorial Integrity China has in the recent past adopted a strategy of befriending its neighbours with the notable exceptions being India and Taiwan and in the process has met with considerable success too. Although certain contentious issues still remain with the countries such as Japan over some disputed islands but more or less China has successfully demilitarized its land borders in the nNorthern and the cCentral aAsia. On the central Central asian Asian front, China has become more influential under the support of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose member states consist of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, along with the observer members of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Mongolia. It is slowly but surely laying to rest the dispute over Tibet although in a more subtle way. The only spanner in the wheel that remains is its relations and territorial disputes with India which are not showing any signs of fast progress. However, the relations with India have been more of a sine curve with statements against one another coming from both sides. India has more or less recognized Chinas claims to Tibet and China has reciprocated by recognizing Indias claim to the Himalayan state of Sikkim. Even with respect to Taiwan, Chinese policy attempts to balance the stick of diplomatic and military pressure with the carrot of mutually beneficial cross-strait economic ties. With the last elections in Taiwan throwing some startling results in favour of cChina, the day is not far off when it will come into some sort of agreement with Taiwan also. What has made China want to have good relations with its immediate neighbours . neighbours. The one thing that comes to mind is economy. It seems that the ever increasing demands of increased economic development are the driving forces behind Chinas improved relations with her neighbors. Domestic Stability Again successful economic development is perceived as key to Chinas third area of strategic concern, domestic stability. CCP is focused inward, and primarily domestic politics drive Chinas foreign and economic policies. Changes to the economic system and the decision to embrace globalization are causing major shifts in Chinese society[22]. The Chinese government is aware that although it is moving towards becoming an economically prosperous nation but everything is not in order inside their house. ThHere are large disparities between the economy of the people who are living in the coastal cities such as Shanghai and the people who are living in the interior less developed regions which have not seen the effects of the information revolution. Due to this class distinction due as a result of theto economic stratification, the government is wary and knows that if there are anti government demonstrations they cannot be repressed as was done earlier, the famous example being of the Tianan men Square crackdown of June 1989. Thus to address this issue the regime is aware that it needs to bring economic parity to its provinces such as Yunnan and Xinjiang. In meeting this challenge, the government must foster economic prosperity to satisfy the demands and expectations of the Chinese people. Link with Energy All these three abovementioned factors, as have been shown in the preceding paragraphs, are inescapably linked with the economic prosperity of China. The government iof China is aware that the greatest strength of cChina as also its greatest vulnerability is the its economy and hence it has based its national policy and strategy on economyaround this key factor. For its economy to continue thriving, as is with the case of all nations, China knows that it has to rely upon continued and sustained import of energy. Since energy provides the foundation of the economy, Chinas economic policy depends on the success of its energy policy. As the energy resources available within the country are quite limited and cannot ascribe to the full economy; hence it China, therefore, has to rely in a big way on the external sources of energy and raw materials. To import these energy resources and raw materials, it has to have a good and effective transportation system both on land and at sea is required. The three major problems that were faced by China in importing energy via land based routes were that firstly, most of the energy rich nations are either not connected by land; secondly, it would take a major effort and would not be cost effective to connect them with land and thirdly, even if these nations were connected, their links pass through other natio ns which may be a risk keeping in mind the fluid world order and changing equations. Hence, it was important that the Sea Lines Of Communications , which were importing the major chunk of energy be secured . Securing Sea Lines of Communications for energy and raw materials supports Chinas energy policy and is the principal motivation behind the String of Pearls. This is how and why the String of Pearls relates to Chinas Grand National Strategy. Protection of SLOCs The question that arises here is that from whowhom is the protection is required, if at all.? Whom does China fear? Over 70 percent of the total oil imports of China come from either the Middle East or the African countries majority of which is transported through sea and this will remain so for the foreseeable future. Hence, China has a long-term commitment to these supply sources due to which it has been trying to build up better relations with these countries whether that comes as monetary help or in some other form. For eg, Saudi Arabia is Chinas largest crude oil supplier, and the Saudi national oil company, Aramco, is a 25 percent investor in