bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Mark O'Neill

THE CONSTRUCTION  of two skyscrapers, one in Beijing and one in Shanghai, set to be among the tallest buildings in the world, symbolises China's response to the terrorist attacks on the United States.

Both projects are controversial and there were good reasons not to build them even before September 11.

However since then, there is every indication they will go ahead, as symbols of business as usual and confidence in the country's future.

Most contentious is the plan to build what would be the world's two tallest buildings, 500 metres high and costing US$1 billion, on the edge of the village Beijing is building for the 2008 Olympics. Sources familiar with the project say the city's government has decided to go ahead with the plan.

Since September 11, the media has published a debate on the pros and cons of this project.

Its supporters argue that, like the twin Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the buildings would be a sign of national economic success, becoming a symbol of Beijing.

Its opponents say that in a city as spacious as Beijing there is no economic justification for building so high and that, after the Olympics, the towers will become white elephants because they are far from the city's main commercial areas.

A similar argument is going on about the World Financial Centre, 460 metres high, to be built in Pudong by Mori Building and 35 other Japanese companies at a cost of US$625 million. Construction was due to begin in 1998 but was delayed by the Asian financial crisis.

Last week Mori said it was still committed to the project, despite the attacks in the US, and aimed to complete it before the start of the 2008 Olympics.

'In the 19th century it was the Eiffel Tower, in the 20th century [it was] the Empire State Building and in this century [it will be] the World Financial Centre,' an official from Mori said. 'The 19th century belonged to Europe, the 20th century to the US and this century belongs to Asia Pacific.'

The main objections to this building are economic and that Pudong suffers from a glut of office space and does not need such a large addition.

It is the symbolism of these two buildings that is most striking at a moment when the rest of the corporate world is taking a breather, waiting for a possible war between the US-led alliance and Afghanistan and to see what the long-term fall-out of all these events will be.

By contrast, China has been projecting an image of robust normality, especially during the 'golden week' of the National Day holiday, each day of which newspapers carried glowing reports of consumption.

The country's 14 airlines put on an additional 1,376 flights with a total of 1.45 million people flying, up 5 per cent over last year. On Thursday, nearly 800,000 people visited the main tourist sites in Beijing, with the Forbidden City taking in 2.7 million yuan (about HK$2.52 million) in ticket sales.

The television showed people enjoying their holidays with their children or having sumptuous family meals.

These images, accurate as they are, reflect the reality which the government wants to present to the public - of things going on as before, despite all that has happened since September 11.

While the media in the West has been fuelling public fear and panic with threats of revenge by the Taleban and Osama bin Laden and pictures of people buying gas-masks and cancelling air travel, the media in Beijing has spoken little of the impact of the attacks in China.

To achieve the gross domestic product target of about 7 per cent, the government needs personal consumption to maintain its current growth of more than 10 per cent to offset the losses caused by the attacks.

So far these have been limited - a drop in the number of foreign tourists and an increase in insurance premiums for the airlines. In time, the losses will increase - in reduced exports to the US and to Asian markets which rely on the US for their growth, and lower investment by now more cautious foreign companies.

The media has done a good job in giving the public the facts about the growing confrontation between the Taleban and the West and the efforts of the US and Britain to build a coalition. But it is a conflict in which most Chinese do not feel involved.

Before the attacks few people knew where Afghanistan was nor do they now think China will be a target of terrorism.

Attacks by Uighurs fighting for a separate state have been rare outside their home region of Xinjiang.

'We feel safe in Beijing,' said Liu Ming, a taxi driver. 'My advice to 'Little Bush' is not to fight a war. Death only leads to violence and revenge and terrorism will never end. He would be better using other ways, like diplomacy and cutting off its [bin Laden's] financial support. We are sad for the innocent Americans who died. Will Afghan civilians be next? 'When there is a war, it is always the small people who are killed.'



Buildings signal national success, symbol of future economic power