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All posts by TGS - 108. page

Sinopec Completes Acquisition of Occidental’s Argentine Unit

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), Asia’s largest refiner, completed its acquisition of Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s Argentine oil and gas unit for $2.45 billion. The acquisition agreement was signed on December 10, 2010. This purchase gives Sinopec an interest in 23 production and exploration concessions in Santa Cruz, Mendoza, and Chubut provinces. According to Sinopec Groups, in 2010, petroleum production had reached 15 million barrels with natural gas sales hitting 14 billion cubic feet.

Source: Xinhua, February 23, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-02/23/c_121114769.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Major Social Unrest Every Five Days In 2010

In January, Shanghai Jiao Tong University released its annual report on social unrest in China. The report, titled “Annual Report on China’s Crisis Management,” stated that in 2010 there was a major incident of social unrest every five days that had a widespread and lasting effect. This represents a 20% increase over 2009. The report stated that in 2009 there were 60 major incidents of major social unrest while in 2010 there were 72. Social unrest had spread throughout 29 provinces and cities (over 90%), with most occurring in Henan, Beijing, and Guangdong. About 43% of the incidents could not be resolved by the local governments and required intervention from upper levels of government to restore order. The report found that the crises hit the media much faster in 2010 than in 2009. About 33% were reported the same day and 67% were reported by Internet media, particularly through blogs.

Source: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, January 29, 2011
http://news.sjtu.edu.cn/info/news/content/101406.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Beijing Will Not Tolerate Democracy or a Separation of Powers

On January 24, 2011, Wu Bangguo, a member of the Politburo standing committee, spoke at a national conference on the Chinese style legal system. Qiushi published his speech on February 1, 2011. The highlights of his speech also appeared in a People’s Daily editorial on February 21, 2011. “Based on China’s national conditions, [we] solemnly declare that we will not engage in a multi-party political system or in diversity of the guiding ideology. We will not pursue the ‘separation of powers’ and the bicameral system, or engage in federalism or privatization of property.”

Sources:
Qiushi, February 1, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2011/201103/201101/t20110128_64951.htm
People’s Daily, February 21, 2011
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/13963415.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua Accuses U.S. of Using Twitter to Stoke Fires in Iran

After the United States witnessed the critical role that Facebook played in assisting people to bring down the totalitarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, it began using Twitter to encourage the opposition in Iran, said Xinhua in an article titled “The U.S. Uses Twitter to Stoke Fires in Iran.” “On February 13, the U.S. Department of State started posting messages in Persian to two Twitter accounts. One message said, ‘We hope to join your dialog.’ The other said, ‘The U.S. calls on Iran to allow people the universal right to peaceful assembly and to hold protests.”

Source: Xinhua, February 16, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-02/16/c_121087738.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Taiwanese Scholar Concerned about the CCP’s Penetration

"The Chinese Communist Party is working directly with local organizations and businesses in Taiwan, looking for agents, instead of dealing with the Nationalist Party leaders (the Kuomintang)," said Wu Zhaoxie (Joseph Wu), a research fellow at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations. “Further, there are more political parties [in Taiwan now] … about 140 of them. Most of them are one person or three to five-person parties, funded by Taiwan businesses or Mainland civic groups or organizations. Actually the Chinese Communist Party is behind them.” Wu made this statement on February 15, 2011, during an interview with Epoch Times after the Taiwan Cross-strait Business Relations Forum.  

As the former head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, D.C.,Wu was the chief representative of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the United States. 

Source: Epoch Times, February 15, 2011
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/11/2/15/n3171118.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Qiushi Article Warns of Over-urbanization as a Threat to Food Supply

Qiushi, the core publication of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party published an article on its website warning that urbanization at the current excessive rate is posing a serious threat to China’s food supply. The threat is three-pronged: a reduction in the farming population, in farmland itself, and in government funds. “This will inevitably lead to the food crisis arriving much sooner than anticipated.” The article stated that the authorities have manipulated the composition of the price index by increasing the weight of housing prices and expenditures on education. Their objective is to reduce the impact of food prices and ease the public’s concern over inflation. “This is just like a thief, who covers his ears when he steals a bell. It will not allay fears of inflation. It may, instead, conceal the impact of over-urbanization on the supply of food.”

Source: Qiushi, February 16, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/lg/zl/201102/t20110216_68361.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Guangming Daily on New Social Conflicts

State-run Guangming Daily published an article discussing the characteristics of newly emerging social conflicts. Social conflicts have spread to more groups, such as between cadres and the masses, between different social groups,  and between workers and employers; conflicts involve complaints about abuses and lawsuits, triads, and hostile forces that have incited these conflicts. Social conflicts tend to be large scale, increasingly confrontational, highly unpredictable, and explosive. Further, the nature of conflicts has changed from simple civil disputes to a mixture of civil disputes, economic disputes, administrative disputes, and disputes involving laws and regulations.

Source: Guangming Daily, February 9, 2011
http://politics.gmw.cn/2011-02/09/content_1593523.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China to Strengthen the Absolute Leadership of the Party over the Military

On February 8, Hu Jintao, Chairman of Central Military Commission (CMC), approved the revised Work Regulations of the Chinese Communist Military Committee, said to be “an important measure to strengthen the Party buildup in the military and regulate the work of Party commissions at various levels.” It “firmly establishes the Concept of Scientific Development as the important guiding principle in national defense and in developing the army.” The revised regulations “further solidifies and strengthens the guidelines and requirements for addressing both new situations and problems that face military Party commissions at various levels, and the responsibilities and decision making process of military Party commissions …”

Source: Xinhua, February 8, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-02/08/c_13722260.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics