Xi-Obama summit aims to boost ties, aspirations between China and USA

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L, front) shakes hands with US President Barack Obama at the Annenberg Retreat, California, the United States, June 7, 2013. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, met Friday to exchange views on major issues of common concern. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping (1st R) meets with U.S. President Barack Obama (1st L) at the Annenberg Retreat, California, the United States, June 7, 2013. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, met Friday to exchange views on major issues of common concern. Photo: Xinhua

Southern California residents are preparing a warm welcome for presidents of the world's two largest economies ahead of their two-day summit at Sunnylands. Anticipation is high for closer Sino-US ties that will help people from both countries pursue their own dreams.

"I'm glad that both presidents will come. I'm sure once they see Sunnylands, they'll want to see it again," John Benoit, chair of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, said of the exclusive Rancho Mirage estate.

Benoit, a local highway patrol commander during the late 1980s when then-President Ronald Reagan regularly visited Sunnylands for New Year's Eve, told the Global Times he was eager to see the winter retreat formerly owned by late philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg become the "Camp Davis of the West Coast" ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit.

"People in the world all dream about having a better life for themselves and their children," said Benoit, whose father's cousin was a priest in China during the 1940s. Benoit said that both the American and Chinese dreams have their own obstacles and opportunities, adding American people "have more challenges today than in the past."

John Harley, who works at a Riverside County-based company that grows and sells grapes, noted people from China and the US share common aspirations. "We're all people, and we all desire the same things: happiness, love and family," he said.

Harley told the Global Times that his company, which exports grapes to Shanghai and Hong Kong, posts an annual revenue of $15 million. "I see this business growing over the next decade. The better the relationship between the two governments, the better it is for our businesses."

Edward Chenghua Cai, president of the Southern California Chinese-American Federation, noted some Chinese-Americans had flocked to Rancho Mirage two days ahead of the private summit, which begins Friday, to express their hopes for deeper ties.

Wai-Jen Jeffries, president of the US National Organization of Chinese Women, told the Global Times she has personally known Xi for over two decades, having met the president during his visit to the US as  Party chief of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, in the 1990s.

"He's very easygoing and not interested in formalities at all. He calls me 'elder sister' every time I see him," she said of Xi. "I'm sure the two presidents' pragmatism will strike up the two countries' ties and bring people on both sides more benefits."

By Xu Yan and Sun Weichi in Rancho Mirage Global Times

Malaysia needs re-engineering sports, not computer games, junk foods....

Re-engineering sports in schools

KHAIRY Jamaluddin, our Youth and Sports Minister, wants to transform our country into a sporting nation – he has a daunting task to achieve with many challenges along the path of success.

First and foremost, how much time is allocated to physical education in schools? With more children reportedly facing obesity, we wouldn’t even get to the starting block.

Also, our children are too engrossed with computer games and our fields are being hijacked for commercial development, making our children lazier. Let’s not forget too the unhealthy fast food eating culture.

Physical education classes are irregular in schools and disorganised. PE teachers lack the knowledge in sports science or health science.

Most teachers lack the capability to assess a potential athlete as they cannot even explain the percentage of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres and other aspects related to athletic performance such as physiology, physical ability, technical proficiency and psychological predisposition to performance.

Based on feedback, students are just given a ball to kick around without being given much guidance on ball skills. In many cases, students just laze around the field without proper attire.

The main focus of schools, teachers and parents seems to be for students to score the maximum number of “A’s” in the exams, with sports ranking low in priority among the stakeholders.

The million-dollar question now is how are we going to create a sports culture in schools and sell the idea to parents that sports offers great career progression?

Parents have seen that sports does not pay in the long run, except in a few cases like Datuk Nicol David (squash), Datuk Lee Chong Wei (badminton) and Pandelela Rinong (diving) who are positive role models.

There must be a firm commitment from the Government to prioritise school sports, facilities and space for competitive sports and play.

Khairy, our No.1 sports fan must work closely with the relevant stakeholders to promote a strong sports culture among our youths.

C. SATHASIVAM SITHERAVELLU Seremban

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Telcos and Maxis need to reinvent

Maxis has not been paying much attention to its young local talent, resulting in some of these talents making its competitors look good instead.

IT has been an interesting week for the telecommunications sector locally.

Axiata Group Bhd got pre-qualified to bid for a mobile licence in Myanmar, Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd head honcho Michael Lai quit the company and Maxis Bhd saw some staff departures.

Why Lai left is a mystery. Hopefully, he will show up at another telco because he knows the marketing game well.

At Maxis, several personnel have left, with more expected to head for the exit door. Most senior, and some middle-level executives, may also bid their adieus. Those whose contracts are up for renewal may leave because Maxis is on a massive clean-up mode.

Some call it a clean-up, while others say it is a reorganisation. Essentially, it is re-shaping itself to respond better to market demands in view of the challenging times ahead. The consumer is discerning and its competitors have cleaned up their acts.

It might be the biggest company by revenue and subscriber base, but it has competitors who are nimble and agile.

Surprisingly, Maxis has not been paying much attention to its young local talent, resulting in some of these talents making its competitors look good instead. Indeed, Celcom Axiata is looking attractive, and DiGi.Com Bhd, savvy.

What Maxis is facing is a battle both within and without the company.

It has no chief executive officer (CEO), a bloated workforce of 3,500, 24 units/divisions, a seemingly lack of young talent at the top, operational and cost inefficiencies, and it could do better in some market segments by lowering prices and bringing to market more innovation.

“It is hard to find a unit with large numbers of people below 30,” said a person familiar with the company.
The clean-up is the first step in addressing the problem, but is it skin-deep or merely surface-scratching?

Still, all is not lost.It has a great brand, brand loyalty, a wide network - although some hard decisions could have been made - a huge subscriber base, much to the envy of its rivals, and a multitude of products and services.

It also enjoys pole position in the market place.

The key now is to sharpen its focus, reinvent itself, harness its local talent and move forward fully energised. This may take anything from six to nine months, but worth every second in its bid to transform itself.

Next week, the new organisation structure will be out, although the search for a CEO is still on. Succession planning should be considered because at some point of time, the CEO will have to be homegrown. That gives hope to the team.

The future is about a real convergence of mobile and fixed networks, resulting in greater convenience for customers, with portals that can be accessed with all devices, independent of the technology used, says a report.

Making that right call on technology is, therefore, critical, as networks of the future will need a high degree of reliability whilst cleaning up, and at the same time, keeping costs under control, which is vital.

Friday Reflections by B.K. Sidhu

*Business editor (news) B K Sidhu says improve the call quality and there will be happier and loyal customers.