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Chinese General Criticizes U.S. Containment of China

In an article in China’s People’s Daily, Qiao Liang (乔良), a professor at China’s National Defense University, a Major General in the People’s Liberation Army, and also the co-author of the book Unrestricted Warfare, criticized the U.S. for containing China via proxies.
Qiao stated, "Today, the U.S. strategists, through the hands of Japanese right-wingers and via the Diaoyu Islands dispute, have successfully blocked the process of the China–Japan–South Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiations and the process of the China-Japan currency swap. China’s periphery geopolitical environment is becoming complicated and grim."
"Now, we must understand the increasingly fierce global competition for resources, the U.S. eastward shift of its strategic center of gravity, and its strategy of ‘re-balancing to Asia’. Against such a backdrop, the Sino-Japanese dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, the Sino-Philippines dispute over Huangyan Island (Scarborough Shoal) and Renai Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), and the Sino-Vietnamese dispute over China’s maritime rights and interests are not only bilateral competition over territories and maritime rights, but part of the greater game in the U.S.’ attempt to ‘contain China by proxy,’ to block China’s development, and to defend American hegemony."
"What is the real purpose of launching the strategy of ‘rebalancing to Asia’? There is only one answer: to disarm China’s potential challenge and threat to American hegemony."
"So, how will the U.S. achieve this? Ever since the financial crisis, we have seen that the U.S. has resorted to every conceivable means. Its methods include the following: pressure on RMB appreciation, anti-dumping investigations of Chinese products, higher tariff barriers, road blocks to Chinese acquisitions of foreign access to resources and buying of overseas companies, and excluding China from the TPP."
Source: People’s Daily, September 4, 2014
http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2014/0904/c40531-25601000.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

He Qinglian: Economic Slowdown Not Because of Anti-Corruption Campaigns

On Voice of America, He Qinglian, a Chinese economist based in the U.S., refuted the recent opinions, voiced by many oversees, that the strong anti-corruption campaign has led to 0.6 to 1.5 percentage points in slower economic growth in China.
According to He, "The talk that anti-corruption campaigns lead to an economic slowdown is a superficial opinion. Such opinions disguise the fact that two major structural deficiencies in the Chinese economy are related to government behavior."
"China’s anti-corruption campaign has led to two consequences: first, a decline in local government’s investments; second, a reduction in final domestic consumption. Such a correlation is less likely to occur in other countries, but has, unfortunately, become a reality in China. The reason is also simple enough. In the past five years, the main source of investments has been the government, including the famous 4 trillion yuan stimulus package from the central government and 20 trillion yuan in local debt. Additionally, in the national final consumption, government consumption accounted for an extremely high proportion. This structural deficiency is China’s largest economic risk. The anti-corruption campaign just let the pustule rupture in advance. Without anti-corruption campaigns, that risk does not disappear. Rather, with the support of local investment and government consumption, the pustule continues to grow."
"The real reason for China’s economic slowdown is as follows:
"About the slowdown in economic growth in China this year, it resulted from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) notice as early as at the beginning of the year. There were two reasons. The first was the huge excess of capacity, while the economic structure needed adjustment and the growth of investment demand was inhibited. The second was the increase in the pressure of local government debt, which also restricted the expansion of government investment."
Source: Voice of America, August 28, 2014
http://http://www.voachinese.com/content/he-qinglian-20140828/2431754.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

2,190 “Naked Officials” in Guangdong Province

The term, "naked official" (裸官) refers to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who remain on mainland China while their wives and children reside abroad. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has reported that, from the beginning of the reform and opening in 1978 until 2003, about 4,000 corrupt officials left China, taking at least $50 billion out of the country; often the spouses and children went first. The government is setting up a stricter monitoring system to decrease this practice. In early 2014, a revision of the rules for the promotion and appointment of senior officials introduced rules that officials would not be considered for promotion if their spouses lived abroad (or if they had no spouse, their children).
Recently, Newsgd.com, a news portal based in Guangdong Province, reported that there were 2,190 "naked officials" in the southern province. More than 280 naked officials in Guangdong Province have brought their family members who lived overseas back to China. On Wednesday, Guangdong authorities announced that nearly 40 percent of the 2,190 naked officials have been reassigned. 
Li Yumei, head of the Organization Department of the CCP Guangdong Provincial Committee, said in an online interview on the official website of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection of the CCP Central Committee, "After three months of effort, Guangdong reassigned 866 naked officials, including nine department-level and 134 county-level officials."
Guangdong authorities talked to the naked officials about the new regulation that had been issued on the subject of official promotion and selection, explaining that it stipulates that naked officials will not be considered for promotion. Naked officials were then offered choices based on the government’s limitations.
Source: Newsgd.com, August 29, 2014
http://www.newsgd.com/gdnews/content/2014-08/29/content_107544673.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Security Times: Breakthroughs in China’s Diplomacy on Finance

On August 28, a scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published an article on the Shenzhen based Security Times titled, "Breakthroughs in China’s Diplomacy on Finance." Some translated excerpts follow.
"In recent years, the bright spot in China’s diplomacy in the financial area is its performance at the G20 summit as a major developing country. China thus entered the inner circle of global economic governance, with its influence continuing to expand."
"In the field of international finance, China has been pushing two initiatives. The first is to continue to expand the scope and scale of bilateral currency swaps. As of the end of May 2014, China had signed currency swap agreements with 23 countries and regions, amounting to 2.567 trillion yuan ($0.41 trillion). The second is to build an Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank and the BRICS Development Bank to provide financial support to the economic development of the region and to other developing countries. Initiatives advocated by China also include a regional foreign exchange reserve, with China as the largest contributor, and the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Development Bank."
"The 2008 financial crisis highlighted the serious flaws in the international monetary system with the dollar as the main reserve currency and also discredited the Washington-led model of the global economic governance system. The majority of developing countries are eager to reform the global economic governance system, especially the global monetary system. The G20 summit mechanisms in recent years have made useful attempts, but the G20 decision to reform the IMF and the World Bank’s quota and voting shares stalled because the U.S. Congress disapproved."
"China’s plan to build the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has seen substantial progress. It is understood that the AIIB may raise capital from the initial proposal of $50 billion to $100 billion, which is not far from the Asian Development Bank’s $165 billion fund size. However, the parties have yet to reach an agreement. The AIIB’s funds will be used for infrastructure in Asia on projects that may include the new Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe. Twenty-two Asian countries, including a few Middle Eastern countries, have expressed a strong interest in this project. China has had in-depth discussions with Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, and European countries and Australia, and is in contact with the United States, Japan and India."
"In mid-July, the BRICS summit was held in Brazil. The parties have a solid anticipation that the BRICS Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, will become a reality."
"As we all know, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, the IMF and other organizations are part of the dollar hegemony. For the developing countries to change the global financial landscape, they need to break through the institutional barriers in order to counterbalance the dollar hegemony. The BRICS countries’ establishment of foreign exchange contingency arrangements and a development bank will have a profound practical and historical significance for actively participating in global financial governance and reforming the international financial system."
Source: Security Times, August 28, 2014
http://epaper.stcn.com/paper/zqsb/html/2014-08/28/content_607308.htm
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xinhua: 84,000 Officials Subjected to Party and Administrative Discipline in Six Months

In the first half of this year, China’s disciplinary and supervision authorities disciplined 84,000 officials, an increase of more than 30 percent over the same period last year. Huang Shuxian, deputy chief of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party and Minister of Supervision, made this announcement at a recent high-level APEC Anti-Corruption seminar. In the year 2013, nationwide discipline and supervision organs accepted 1.95 million reports and 18,000 letters of inquiry, held in-person meetings with 42 billion people, prosecuted 172,000 cases, closed 172,000 cases, put 182,000 officials under Party and administrative discipline, and transferred 9,600 criminal suspects to the judicial authorities.
Source: Xinhua, August 14, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-08/14/c_1112082773.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Ambassador to Russia on Sino-Russian Cultural Engagement

On July 31, Li Hui, the Chinese Ambassador to Russia published an article on People’s Daily about the cultural exchanges between the two countries.
"Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China and Russia have further deepened bilateral cultural exchanges. By setting up several working mechanisms and signing a series of cooperation documents, they have promoted and ensured Sino-Russian cultural relations at the political and legal level. There have been four main achievements."
"The China-Russia Committee on Humanities Cooperation. In 2000, this organization’s predecessor, the Sino-Russian Cooperation Committee on Education, Culture, Health, and Sports (SRCCECHS), was set up under a regular meeting mechanism between the Chinese premier and Russian Prime Minister. In 2007, with ever growing cooperation, SRCCECHS was renamed the China-Russia Committee on Humanities Cooperation."
"Cooperation packages between the Ministries of Culture in both countries. In December 1992 in Beijing, the leaders of both countries signed the "Agreement of Cultural Cooperation between the Governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation." This agreement became the guiding paper on the cultural exchanges between the two countries. Under this framework, the Cultural Ministries of the two countries signed 10 cultural cooperation plans. At present, the two ministries are implementing the "2014 – 2016 Cooperation Plan between the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation."
"The Reciprocal Establishment of Cultural Centers. In October 2009, the "Agreement between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Russian Federation on the Reciprocal Establishment of Cultural Centers" was signed in Beijing. The Russian Cultural Center was launched in Beijing in September 2010, and Chinese Cultural Center in Moscow opened in December 2012."
"Cultural activities as major diplomatic events. In 2006 and 2007, China and Russia held the reciprocal event, "Year of the Country." The leaders of both countries attended both the opening and closing ceremonies. Since then, China and Russia have launched large-scale cross-nation activities using the mechanism of mutual visits between the leaders of the two countries. In 2009 and 2010, both countries held reciprocal events, the "Year of Language" in 2012 and in 2013, the "Year of Tourism." 
Source: People’s Daily, July 31, 2014
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0808/c1002-25430950.html
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xinhua News Agency Signs Cooperation Agreement with a Spanish Think Tank

On August 7, Xinhua News Agency and the Observatory of Chinese politics (OPCh), an affiliate of the Spanish think tank the Galician Institute of Analysis and International Documentation (IGADI), signed a friendship and cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, "the two parties will cooperate in publishing analyses of China’s political and economic policy and social hot issues that concern foreign readers, offer in-depth interpretations, and thus enable the world to improve its understanding of China." Wang Chaowen, the European chief of Xinhua and Julio Rios, the Director of OPCh, signed the cooperation agreement. The Chinese Ambassador to Spain Zhu Bangzao attended the ceremony. "The Chinese policy observation center" and its website were established in 2000, for the purpose of studying and analyzing the Chinese legal system, political trends, national defense, ethnic minorities, human rights, and foreign policy.
Source: Xinhua, August 8, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-08/08/c_1112001469.htm
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Huanqiu: African Summit, Americans Learn from China While Stubbornly Refusing to Admit Mistakes

A Huanqiu opinion article made some comments on the recent African Summit held in Washington DC. 
"From August 4 to August 6, the Americans ‘learned the Chinese way’ when they attended an African Summit. This is the first obvious example of the ‘Chinazation’ of American diplomacy. Looking at Obama who sat together with nearly 50 African leaders and government representatives and discussed African-American cooperation, the Chinese people were happy. China has good things and is not afraid that the Americans will learn from it. China does not have a sense of crisis about China’s interests being compromised if Americans strengthen their cooperation with Africa."
"It is President Obama who is a bit stingy. At the Summit he emphasized that ‘we don’t look to Africa simply for its natural resources’ and that ‘we don’t simply want to extract minerals from the ground.’ The media interpreted that he was ‘silently criticizing’ China. What is more, in his exclusive interview with the Economist magazine, he said, ‘The roads (built by China) don’t just lead from the mine to the port to Shanghai.’"
"Americans should no doubt be considered ‘oldies’ in Africa. They have quite a deep influence there. China’s experience in Africa is still young, but this round of Sino-African cooperation has flung the American-African relationship far behind. Sino-African total trade in 2009 exceeded the trade with the U.S. by more than $100 billion and China has become Africa’s largest trading partner. In 2013, the figure jumped to over $200 billion, while, last year, American-African trade shrank to $60 billion from over $100 billion in 2008. It is understandable that Americans are getting worried."
"The rapid development of Sino-African cooperation verified the vitality and future of the bilateral cooperation on an equal footing and also demonstrated the huge potential of the Chinese economy. In contrast, the West’s highbrow way of ‘transformation of Africa’ has become less and less popular in Africa. This is the root cause behind the difference between Sino-African and American-African trade."
Source: People’s Daily, August 7, 2014
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2014/0807/c1003-25421033.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations