Skip to content

All posts by NNL - 165. page

China News: China May Adopt New Anti-Corruption Measures

As the Chinese Communist Party is holding its Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee, China News published an article suggesting that the meeting may adopt new measures on anti-corruption work.

The article quoted Wang Qishan, the head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, who once said, "The current [anti-corruption work] should focus on treating the symptoms to win more time for the fundamental cure." Wang also said at the Seventh Meeting of the Twelfth Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on August 25, "Anti-corruption work needs to achieve [the goal that officials] ‘dare not,’ ‘cannot,’ and ‘do not want to’ [be corrupt]. ‘Dare not’ is to cure the symptom. ‘Cannot’ and ‘Do not want to’ are to cure the problem permanently. We need to combine them together, curing both the symptom and the root cause."

The article quoted an experts’ opinion: It will take China at least 20 to 30 years to complete the undertaking of fixing the corruption problem, starting from punishing corrupt officials to making people "dare not" be corrupt, to building a system in which people "cannot" be corrupt, and to educating people so that they "do not want to" be corrupt, based on Singapore and other country’s experiences.

Source: China News, October 20, 2014
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2014/10-20/6693592.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: Xi Jinping’s Statements on “The Rule of Law”

It has been widely suggested that one of the major topics of the Chinese Communist Party’s Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee that is currently taking place in Beijing is "the rule of law." People’s Daily published an article with images quoting Xi Jinping’s past statements on this subject from December 2012 to September 2014.

Source: People’s Daily Online, October 20, 2014
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/1020/c1001-25866473.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: Obama Is in Trouble, but the China Card Can Save Him

Xinhua published an article stating that, in the upcoming mid-term election in the U.S., Obama is in trouble. The article suggested that playing the China card can help him get out of trouble. It reported that recent polls, conducted one month before the mid-term election, showed that Obama’s public support was 43 percent, far below the 75-year average of 53 percent. "According to a New York Times report, Obama’s low public support makes him a ‘negative asset’ for the Democrats. Many Democratic candidates in swing states have clearly rejected his help in their campaigns, including Iowa, where Obama started his political life."

The article predicted that Republicans will continue to hold the majority of the House but Democrats may lose the Senate. If that happens, "President Obama will become a complete ‘lame duck.’" Then Obama will not be able to achieve much in the next two years, which is likely to burst the Democrats’ dream of keeping the White House in 2016.

Obama’s domestic challenges include the fact that the living standard for the average American has gone down and he has only done a lot of talking about the immigration reform issue. In international affairs, such as the Ukraine crisis, the wars in the Islamic world, and the outbreak of Ebola, Obama’s reaction has been "slow, weak, and ineffective." "His actions have also given the international community a reason to talk about the ‘Decline of the U.S.’"

The article claimed that Sino-U.S. relations are something that Obama can use to improve his international performance.

Source: Xinhua, October 14, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-10/14/c_1112809159.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

People’s Daily on North Korea’s Unification Proposal

When South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany on March 18, she made several proposals on the steps to take toward the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. On October 10, North Korea countered with the idea of establishing the "Democratic Confederate Republic of Koryo (Korea)."

People’s Daily interviewed some think tankers about North Korea’s proposal. Their analysis was that North Korea was afraid that Park’s "Dresden Proposal" would unify the country on an economic basis, which would mean the "peaceful revolution" of North Korea. Therefore North Korea countered with the proposal of a federation system. The think tankers felt that both sides realize that war will not resolve the problem of the peninsula. The two sides should reach an "independent and peaceful unification." However the issue of "independence" remains as the key.

Source: People’s Daily, October 14, 2014
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2014-10/14/content_1487567.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing Suffers Intense Haze

From Oct 7 to Oct 11, Beijing suffered five days of intense haze. A large portion of Northern China was also the victim of haze. In many places, the visibility was below 1 km (0.6 mile). Sometimes it was even below 500 meters (0.3 mile).

The Hong Kong based South China Morning Post reported that, in order to create a clean sky during the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Beijing, "employees of government departments, quasi-government institutions, and organizations in Beijing will be granted a six-day holiday starting on November 7 and continuing through November 12." "The meeting will be held on November 10 and 11. The ministers of 21 Pacific-rim governments will meet from November 7."

People’s Daily published an article stating that China’s current smog treatment is ineffective. There have been many theories on the cause of the smog, but no one knows exactly which one is the real culprit. On the simpler pollution treatment issue, local governments are not synchronized. The central government has established a coordination mechanism with six provinces/autonomous regions/cities to treat the air pollution. It includes Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia. However, different local government have different regulations. For example, Hebei’s fine for pollution discharge is only 20 or 30 percent of the amount of fines in Beijing. Some companies would rather move to Hebei to pay the penalty than spend money to treat the pollution.

The local environmental protection agencies do not have enough power to enforce pollution treatment regulations. Many big pollution offenders also contribute a substantial amount of taxes to local governments. As a result, the local governments protect them.

Source:
1. South China Morning Post Online, October 10, 2014
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1613232/beijing-marks-apec-summit-extra-public-holiday-moves-cut-pollution
2. People’s Daily Online, October 10, 2014
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/1010/c1001-25801921.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Western Think Tank Stated That Washington Scripted “Occupy Central”

Xinhua reported that Tony Cartalucci, a researcher from the think tank "Land Destroyer" published an article in which he maintained that the U.S. planned the current "Occupy Central" event in April of this year.

The Xinhua report stated, "When Martin Lee, founder of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, and Anson Chan, Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary under British rule, visited the U.S. in April, they held a meeting with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), funded by the State Department, on their plan, the leaders, and the agenda for the ‘Occupy Central’ movement."

"Cartalucci stated that the U.S. has provided funding and support for ‘Occupy Central,’ and that the people directing ‘Occupy Central’ are not Hongkongese who participated in the movement, but Washington and Wall Street. … The true agenda of ‘Occupy Central’ is not about having a real vote in Hong Kong, but getting the foreign-backed political cabal behind ‘Occupy Central’ into power, ‘soft’ colonizing Hong Kong, and further dividing China."

[Land Destroyer has been described as a blog that critiques the "corporate-financier oligarchy" and never condemns any U.S. enemy (http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Land_Destroyer).]

Sources:
1. Xinhua, October 7, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-10/07/c_1112724840.htm
2. Black Listed News, October 5, 2014
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Entire_%22Occupy_Central%22_Protest_Scripted_in_Washington/38396/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: China’s People’s Congress System Is Superior

In order to fend off any requests for more democracy, China has kept promoting its own political system. People’s Daily published an article stating that China’s People’s Congress system is better than Western parliamentary democracy. The article gave the following reasons:

First, the "people’s democratic dictatorship" is what determines the nature of China’s People’s Congress system, while the purpose of the western political system is to serve the "bourgeoisie dictatorship." Second, China’s system is a democracy based on “the rights belonging to the people,” while the western system is a democracy based on "the rights belonging to capital." Third, China’s People’s Congress is the organ with the highest power of the state, but the Western system has a "separation of powers." China’s system guarantees the public has the top power, where the Western system is balanced. Fourth, China’s system is one legislative body following the "democratic centralism" principle. The Western system is a multi-party or bicameral system. China’s system ensures the efficiency of carrying out a substanial initiative quickly.

The article further rebutted the suggestion to adopt a Western style of democracy. It stated that the [Western] "one person one vote" election system would quickly lead China into turmoil or even civil war. "[If] it gave up the political path that has the People’s Congress system as the foundation of its political system, [China] would for sure fall into social turmoil, the country would be split, the result would be people’s deaths, and government policies would end."

Source: People’s Daily Online, September 30, 2014
http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2014/0930/c40531-25764547.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on the Sino-Russian Military Alliance Issue

On September 17, Hong Lei, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, was answering reporters’ questions. A news reporter asked, “Yesterday, a Russian congressman suggested that the Western’ sanctions against Russia will push Russia and China to establish a military alliance. What is China’s response?”

Hong replied, “The Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership will not have an alliance, we will not confront each other, and we will not target third-parties. China will adhere to its strategic cooperative partnership position. [China will,] with Russia, continuously increase our strategic trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and strengthen our cooperation on international and regional affairs.”

Hong also stated, “On the Ukraine issue, sanctions will not solve the problem. The issue will ultimately be handled through a political resolution.”

Source: Xinhua, September 17, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-09/17/c_1112522728.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend