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China’s Official Scholars on the Sino-US Relationship before President Obama’s Visit to China

Question: Compared to the previous presidents, Obama is the first U.S. President to visit China during his first year after taking office. In addition, the exchanges between the high level officials of the two countries have been very frequent. Do you think this implies that the U.S. has undergone a strategic shift in its policy toward China, or is this an expedient measure that Obama took because of the economic crisis?  
 
Answer:

Peng Guangqian, Specialist in Strategy Research, Chinese Academy of Military Sciences: After Obama took office, he made some adjustments in his China policy; however, we cannot say whether a strategic shift has occurred or it is just an expedient measure. We still need time to observe. What may cause strategic conflicts between the two countries is not the fact that China’s power is getting closer to that of the U.S., but U.S.’s mentality of hegemony. Only when the U.S. changes its way of thinking can conflicts between the two countries be avoided. [1]

Qin Yanqing, Vice President of China Foreign Affairs University: From the deep level, Obama holds the idea of (establishing) a multilateral relationship to cooperate with other big countries and he has indeed made adjustments to the U.S. foreign policy. At the same time, in order to get out of the (financial) crisis, the US also needs China. However, we cannot completely separate a strategic shift from an expedient measure. The U.S. cares more and more about Asia. The first reason is that China is developing rapidly. The second reason is that Asia is the most active region in development. Third, from the perspective of the economy of the U.S. and its overall strategy, East Asia is an important region. In addition, countries in this region also want to strengthen their relationships with China and the U.S. [2]

Shen Dingli, Vice Dean of the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University: In my opinion, the adjustment of U.S. policy toward China is an expedient measure. Fundamentally, the U.S. still perceives socialist China as a strategic competitor. Therefore, currently, the U.S. is merely making gradual tactical adjustments in its China policy. For example, the U.S. is still selling arms to Taiwan. We should not have any illusion about the U.S. The behavior of Obama in mentioning Communism during his inaugural speech is a first among all the U.S. presidents.  That indicates that the U.S. has a strong ideological conflict with China. Our ideas are different from the U.S.’s. There are both common ground and conflicts in them. [3]

Yang Zhidan, Specialist at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Social Science Institute: I don’t think we can say it is a strategic shift, or an expedient measure. The U.S. has a systematic plan for its strategy for China and the whole East Asia. That usually will not undergo a dramatic change due to a change in the administration. From this perspective, the policy toward China of Obama’s administration to a large extent is inherited from the latter stage of the Bush administration. As the financial crisis sweeps across the world, Obama’s administration also faces an additional series of challenges, such as Iran’s nuclear issue and North Korea’s nuclear issue. On the other hand, China is becoming increasingly powerful. These facts force the U.S. to pay more attention to China. The U.S. on one hand has a protective mentality toward China, and on the other hand, it also hopes China will shoulder more international responsibility.  [4]

Tao Wenzhao, Specialist at the Institute of U.S. Studies, Chinese Social Science Institute: I think it’s neither. Obama has inherited a lot from the Bush administration, including its China policy. The 2008 Presidential election was the first time that the Democrats and Republicans did not have major disagreement on their policy toward China. What’s most important in the Sino-US relationship and benefits the interests of both countries is stability. Don’t let those unstable factors impact the normal development of the relationship between the two countries. We cannot expect that a single visit can elevate the Sino-US relationship to a new level. However, as a matter of fact, with the development of the Sino-US relationship in recent years, the common interests between the two countries are continuously expanding. [5]

Sun Zhe, Director of the Center for US-China Relations, Tsinghua University: We cannot say it is a strategic shift or an expedient measure. As a matter of fact, Obama to a great extent has continued the China policy of Bush’s administration. Furthermore, facing the global financial crisis, Obama’s administration has no choice but to cooperate more with China. [6]

Jin Canrong, Vice Dean of the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China: Both exist. On one hand, the financial crisis forces Obama to seek more cooperation with China; on the other hand, everyone sees the importance of China in international society. It is reasonable for Obama to make strategic adjustments in the policy toward China. [7]

Yuan Peng, Dean of the Institute of American Studies, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations: It is hard to say whether the shift in the policy toward China is based on tactical or strategic grounds. It should be both. From a strategic point of view, the U.S. currently has issues both inside the country and outside, and China is the only one that can truly help the U.S. from all perspectives. At the same time, in the drafting of U.S. foreign policy, the “need” from China is gradually increasing. If we study the policy shift at a deep level, the rise of China has become an irreversible fact. The U.S. has to face it, and cannot avoid it at all. The fact proves that the suppressive measures toward China adopted by the U.S. were not successful. Therefore, the U.S. indeed needs a shift in strategy. In addition, China is indeed sincerely promoting constructive cooperation with the U.S. That has also made the U.S. change its policy toward China. [8]

Ni Feng, Specialist at the Institute of U.S. Studies, Chinese Social Science Institute: As a matter of fact, the strategic shift of the U.S. policy toward China started during Bush’s administration. In 2005, the U.S. had a big internal debate on the policy toward China, arguing about “where China is heading.” At that time, Zoellick, (eleventh president of the World Bank) proposed the concept of “responsible stakeholder,” which was a positioning of the policy toward China. The U.S. thinks that China has become strong and should not get a free ride any more. In the eyes of the U.S., the issue of China has become the issue of a rising China. After Obama took office, he inherited Bush’s viewpoint toward China and Bush’s China policy from the latter stage of his administration. If there is any change, it is that Obama has higher expectations of China and hopes China will shoulder more international responsibilities. Right after Obama took office, he not only encountered the most serious financial crisis, but Iran and North Korea’s nuclear problems also forced the U.S. to depend more on China. [9]

Question: From the situation in Asia, what is the implication of the U.S. regarding China as more and more important? How does this influence the situation in Asia? Will other Asian countries such as India, Japan, and Korea adjust their diplomatic policies according to the change in the Sino-U.S. relationship? If so, what kind of adjustment may they make?
  
Answer:

Su Hao, expert on East Asia studies, China Institute of Diplomacy: With the development of China, it is an indisputable fact that the U.S. regards China as important, and China’s status has elevated. The development of the Sino-U.S. relationship has important implications for peace and development in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. has been following the idea of establishing an Asian-Pacific order and ally system under U.S. leadership. However, recently, the US obviously felt that China has extended its influence on affairs in the region and China has its own priorities. For example, China promotes regional cooperation in East Asia, which is different from the “Asia-Pacific” concept promoted by the U.S. We can say that the regional cooperation in East Asia has become an irreversible trend. Currently, what China, the U.S. and other countries in this region should consider is in what way to include the U.S. in it. The adjustment of the Sino-U.S. relationship is not only an issue between these two countries; indisputably, it will impact the whole Asia-Pacific region. Facing this adjustment, the reaction of different countries in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region is different. Specifically, after the South Korea President Lee Myung-bak took office, he initially focused on developing the relationship with the U.S. for a period of time. However, with the increasing influence of China, recently, South Korea made a rational choice to put more emphasis on development inside Asia. At the same time, Japan also found that the attitude of leaning toward the U.S. in diplomatic relations is not suitable to Japan. Therefore, after Yukio Hatoyama took office, he raised the concept of the “East Asia Community,” and is looking for new balance between China and the U.S. As to India, although from the perspective of Geo-politics, India was excluded from the Asia-Pacific framework, India is proactively participating in East Asia affairs. At the same time, between China and the U.S., India has recently focused more on developing its relationship with the US. Furthermore, Australia has raised the concept of the “Asia Pacific Community” too, and has been looking for a balance between the U.S. and China. [10]  
Yang Zhidan: From the perspective of other East Asian countries, if the Sino-U.S. relationship develops stably, they will feel more comfortable. Those countries will not be happy to see friction between China and the U.S. coming to the point where they have to make a choice. On the other hand though, other Asian countries also have a defensive mentality toward China because under the situation that their own power is not strong enough to influence China, they definitely hope to use the U.S. to keep China in check. [4]

Tao Wenzhao: The fact that the U.S. considers China more and more important implies that the imbalance in the Sino-U.S. relationship has changed. In earlier times, people thought that China needed help from the U.S. more than otherwise. Now, nobody says that any more. China’s development and increased strength have made the U.S. care more about China. This year, a major shift in the international situation is that the status of China “has been raised.” It is not that China proactively did or fought for something; it is that China did better than other countries during the global financial crisis, which prominently shows the importance of China in international society. This puts the Sino-U.S. relationship on a more balanced foundation and places the communication, dialogues, and cooperation between the two countries in a normal state. The change in the Sino-U.S. relationship will definitely have an impact on surrounding countries. The influence resulting from the rise of a huge country with a population of 1.3 billion might be something even we ourselves cannot imagine at present; therefore, it is natural that the surrounding countries have concerns. We should understand this kind of mentality, as long as it is not a malicious attack on us. [5]  

Sun Zhe: That the U.S. cares more and more about China makes some Asian countries feel uncomfortable as it is hard to adjust to it. Based on the current situation, different countries have had different reactions. The Japanese government showed that they care more about Asia; the Australians raised the concept of “the Asia Pacific Community” including the U.S.; Singapore directly called for more attention from the U.S. to keep China’s influence in check. The shift of the Sino-US relationship has influenced other Asian countries to make a policy adjustment. [6]  

Jin Canrong:  The U.S. will for sure pay more attention to countries around China when it cares more about China. With the increase in China’s power, when the U.S. deals with China, it will consider all factors that are related to China. [7]  

Ni Feng: Currently, the Sino-US relationship has become the most important bilateral relationship in East Asia. The direction of the Sino-US relationship determines the direction of the future East Asia situation. Under this situation, the U.S. will definitely pay more attention (to China) to keep the evolution of the situation in East Asia under its control. This kind of change in the Sino-US relationship will definitely affect other Asian countries. On the one hand, they will regard China as more important and care more about their relationship with China; on the other hand, when Asian countries such as Japan and Korea cannot hide their sense of loss, they will have a sense of self protection against China. [9]

Question: Do you think that Obama will make the decision to stop selling arms to Taiwan?

Answer: 

Qin Yaqing: The U.S. will not stop selling arms to Taiwan for three reasons. First, the overall and long-term strategic promise of the U.S. (to Taiwan) has not changed. Second, besides the political reason, selling arms also brings an economic benefit. Third, the US wants to maintain a balance in the “scalene triangle” consisting of China, the U.S., and Taiwan. Therefore, the US will not stop selling arms to Taiwan. [2]

Yang Zhidan: No. From the perspective of the U.S., currently, the military balance on the two sides across the Taiwan Strait has been broken and Mainland China has bigger and bigger advantages. In this kind of situation, it is hard to imagine that Obama would make such a decision to terminate arms sales to Taiwan. In addition, the U.S. will not easily give up the strategy of using Taiwan to constrain China. [4]

Tao Wenzhao: Obama will not make too many promises regarding selling arms because the U.S. has the Taiwan Relations Act. The Taiwan Relations Act did not specify when the U.S. president should sell arms to Taiwan and what kind of arms to sell. Therefore, we should seriously communicate to Obama that we request that the U.S. respect China’s stand, consider the core interests of China, and not create barriers for the development of Sino-U.S. relations as a result of the issue of selling arms to Taiwan. [5]

Sun Zhe: The essence of the issue is not whether Obama will terminate the arms sales to Taiwan, but when he will make the decision to sell the arms. The U.S. parties that are close to Taiwan and those related arms enterprises of course hope Obama can make the decision to sell arms to Taiwan as soon as possible. Although currently the China-Taiwan relationship is at peace, from the perspective of the U.S., the fact that the military forces across the strait are out of balance and that the Mainland’s missiles are pointing at Taiwan can both be used as excuses for selling arms to Taiwan. [6]

Jin Canrong: Selling arms to Taiwan has been a long-term policy of the U.S. for many years. Due to this long-term policy, the possibility of terminating the sale of arms to Taiwan within a short period of time is slim. The U.S. is a country of pragmatism. Maybe with the further growth of the power of China or a change in the international situation, when it is no longer meaningful for the U.S. to sell arms to Taiwan, the U.S. can then make the decision to terminate the sale of arms to Taiwan. [7]

Ni Feng: It is very difficult for Obama to make such a decision in his term. The U.S. sells arms to Taiwan according to the Taiwan Relations Act. The Act will not change with the change in the administration. Furthermore, the imbalance of the military forces across the Strait has been the excuse for the U.S. to insist on selling arms. This will not change during Obama’s term. However, Obama may make some adjustment in the arms sales according to the situation, such as not allowing the sale for a certain year or delaying the sale. [9]

Question: In your opinion, with the power of the two countries becoming closer, will there be more strategic conflicts rather than strategic cooperation between the two countries? Do you think that the two countries can create an efficient model to limit conflicts?

Answers:

Qin Yaqing: The fact that the two countries are becoming more equally powerful will not result in inevitable conflicts. The two countries can establish a mechanism to avoid the emergence of conflict. Different from the time of the confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the threats that China and the U.S. face are no longer each other, but some threats to both countries. The U.S. and China should not escalate the conflicts; instead, they should limit the conflicts to a certain model and resolve them using the model. Since Obama took office, the Sino-U.S. relationship has been improving. Communication between high levels has also started. Those are all very good approaches. [7]

Shen Dingli: Both are possible. Currently, China is at the stage of resting and developing its power. No conflict will break out between the two countries. However, China will become more and more powerful in the future. If the U.S. knows clearly the current situation and understands the reality, it should not provoke any conflict on the issue of Taiwan, which is the issue that China cares most about. Then the possibility of military conflict between the two countries can be eliminated. However, if the U.S. still provokes China in the situation where the country becomes weaker and goes downward, then there may be conflicts between the two countries. I can put it in such a way: the region for cooperation between the two countries is large, but their relationship is still complex. [3]

Yang Zhidan: China needs a long period of time to catch up with the U.S. For a big country, the elevation of its power is the holistic elevation in all areas including politics, the economy, the military, and so on. It cannot be realized within a short period of time. Even though the power of the two countries is really becoming closer, we need to look at specific fields to judge whether there will be conflicts or cooperation. From the perspective of the strategic culture of China, China’s diplomatic policy is weak in term of being aggressive outwards and China definitely does not want to choose conflict. However, from a long term perspective, in the agenda on regional affairs and even in the global order, it is inevitable that the two countries will have conflict. The western countries, with the U.S. as the leader, always hope to drag China into the system they lead, and hope that China’s behavior will conform to their desires and interests; however, as a big rising non-western country, during the process of being assimilated into the system, China will definitely have an impact on changing the system, since it is impossible that the interests of China will completely conform to those of the west. [4]

Sun Zhe: With the powers between China and the U.S. becoming more comparable, both strategic cooperation and tactical conflicts can increase. In many fields that were ignored previously, such as environmental protection, attacking pirates, financial system reform, etc., the cooperation between the two countries will increase. On the other hand, with the economic relationship between the two countries becoming tighter, the overall relationship between the two countries will become more complex and the probability of having conflicts will also increase. It is not terrifying to have conflict; the terrifying thing is that there is no channel to resolve conflicts. Therefore, both countries should take advantage of the current dialogue channel and strengthen communication. [6]

Jin Canrong: That is determined by the joint effort of both countries and their current behavior. We can neither say that definitely there will be more strategic conflicts, nor can we conclude for sure there will be more strategic cooperation. However, from the current state of the policies, there is more cooperation than conflict. China is the first rising big non-western country. Based on the current international situation, the historical cycle of a rising power challenging another’s hegemony can be avoided. From an international perspective, the current trend of globalization has made mutual dependence among the countries develop to an unprecedented extent. The current international system is also more effective than that in any period of time in history. Those are all positive factors to effectively limit the conflicts between China and the U.S. in the future. From the perspective of the two countries, neither of the two countries are the same as the traditional hegemony counties of the 19th century. The U.S. hegemony is a hegemony of the system and depends more on soft power, which lowers the probability of using hard power such as military force on other countries. China walks on a path of development in peace and is different from the countries challenging the hegemony such as Germany and Japan in the past. China has sufficient resources, an internal market, and the ability to rise totally on its own. [7]

Ni Feng: No matter whether the issue is strategic conflict or strategic cooperation, both are related to the issue of strategic trust. The relationship between the two countries is extremely complex. In a certain sense, the relationship by nature is an issue of how to manage conflict. The interests and conflicts between the two countries are mingled and tangled together. Therefore, the two sides should sit down to converse. Currently, the two countries have already established quite a few dialogue mechanisms. However, at present, it is still too early to talk about how to establish a model to limit the conflicts between the two countries. [9]

Endnotes:
1. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629639.html
2. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629641.html 
3. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629638.html 
4. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629636.html
5. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629635.html
6. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629634.html
7. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629633.html
8. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629639.html
9. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629629.html
10. http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-11/629642.html

How to Maintain the Party’s Centralized Unification

The "Decision" emphasizes the importance of actively and positively developing inner-party democracy. At the same time, it puts forward new requirements and major initiatives on how to maintain the party’s centralized unification. It emphasizes that all comrades of the party must always put the party and the people in the highest position in their minds and maintain a high degree of unity with the party’s Central Committee mentally, politically, and physically. This has great significance under the new circumstances to better adhere to the democratic centralism system, which is the fundamental organizational and leadership system, and to strengthen and improve the party’s leadership.

To maintain the party’s centralized unification, the following must be done practically:
   
First, to fully understand the importance of protecting the party’s centralized unification. The party’s centralized unification represents the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups in the nation. … For a ruling political party that has more than 75 million members, 3.7 million grass-roots organizations, and that is leading the great cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is essential to maintain the party’s centralized unification. Only by protecting the Party’s centralized unification and continuously enhancing the party’s creativity, cohesion, and combat capability, can it ensure national unity, racial peace, and social harmony, and ensure the smooth execution of the process of Reform and Opening up and modernization.
 
Second, to maintain a high degree of unity on party ideology. Thoughts lead actions, and thus unity on ideology is the premise of the party’s centralized unification. One must persist in using Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the "Three Represents" to equip and educate the party and use the scientific development concept to equip the minds of the party members and cadres, so that all party comrades will be on a common ideological ground when thinking, making decisions, or taking action. One must frequently educate the party members on the party’s principles and policies, to strive to make sure party members and cadres at all levels deeply understand and grasp the spiritual essence of the party’s principles and policies, and to become the loyal enforcers and active advocates of the party’s principles and policies. In this way, a reliable ideology will guarantee the party’s centralized unification.

Third, to resolutely maintain the central authority. The Central Committee is the core of the party’s centralized unification. Maintaining the party’s centralized unification means to resolutely maintain the central authority and to effectively ensure the central committee’s decrees. One must insist that individual members subordinate to the party’s organization, the minority subordinates to the majority, the lower-level organizations subordinate to the upper-level organization, and party organizations and all party members subordinate to the party’s national congress and the Central Committee. Among all, the most important thing is that the whole party subordinate to the central authorities. The entire party must be in unity with the Central Committee on guiding ideology, goals, major policies and important work arrangements. No matter which area, which department, or what party organization, no matter what kind of leadership positions the party members and cadres hold, all must conscientiously uphold the party’s basic theory, basic policy, basic program, and basic experience, and resolutely subordinate to the unified leadership of the Central Committee. It is necessary to establish an inspection and evaluation system on a regular time basis on the implementation of significant policies from the Central Committee, monitor special projects, and improve the discipline mechanism, improve the leading cadres’ execution ability and firmly ensure that the principles and policies of the central authority can be carried out.

Fourth, to strictly adhere to the party’s discipline rules, especially the political discipline rules. Having good discipline is the guarantee for maintaining the party’s centralized unification. Our party is a Marxist political party relying on revolutionary ideas and is organized by iron discipline. Only by having strict discipline, can we move forward at the same pace. Political discipline is the most important discipline in the party. The whole party must strictly obey this discipline, consciously enforce it, and fight resolutely against any breach of the party’s political discipline. When a party member has different opinions about the party’s resolutions and policies, the party member first needs to resolutely carry out these resolutions and policies, and, at the same time, bring the issue to the upper organization, and even to the Central Committee. But no one is allowed to make the issue public and to spread any opinion that is contrary to what the central authority holds. One must firmly oppose being two-faced, showing things in one way, and doing things in another way. It is not allowed to fabricate and spread political rumors and words to smear the image of the party and the nation. One must resolutely rectify the phenomenon that orders or prohibitions are not carried out. Any violation of the party’s political discipline must be dealt with severely.

Endnote:
[1] Xinhua, December 30, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/30/content_12563503.htm

Dai Xu on China’s Military Strategy

The U.S. Suppresses China [2]

The U.S. has surrounded our country on two sides, which are two segments of one line. One segment is the circle over the sea. The sea circle starts at Japan.”

Continuing from the Japanese islands, the next important point in the circle is Taiwan… We cannot take the problem of Taiwan Island lightly. As long as it does not come back (to China), it will remain a problem for us.”

After Taiwan, the ending point of the sea circle is the South China Sea. I would say that (about the territory dispute of the South China Sea), either (other countries) take all and we completely lose, or we take everything and they have nothing. There is no win-win situation. The situation in that place is different from other situations. The issue of territory cannot be negotiated…”

“To the west of the South China Sea is India… (India has blocked China) from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. Thus, from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean, the two gates are basically closed. The U.S. is the gate closer.”

“During the Cold War era, there was only one sea circle. It was called a “Crescent Surrounding” at that time. It was like the crescent moon, a very small circle. However, it is different now. That is to say, the circle in the ocean stops at India. The circle on the land starts with India. Therefore, the circle on the land extends from the circle in the sea. From India, it goes to the west, then to the north, and then to the east.”

“After India, it is Pakistan (on the land circle). Recently, the situation in Pakistan has been very severe. Not only is the Pakistan military battling with the Taliban; the U.S.’ military action in Pakistan has basically surpassed those in Afghanistan. They are battling in the Southwest of Pakistan, where it is close to the Indian Ocean… There is a sea port on the Indian Ocean called Gwadar Port, which was built by our Chinese.”

That is why on May 9, 2009, an American wrote an article saying, “Why do we have to battle in this place? It is to try our best to force China, who built the Gwadar Port and needs the natural gas from Iran, to withdraw from that place…” Therefore, I think that the U.S. is actually fighting against China behind the scenes, while fighting with the Taliban on the surface. Thus, in that place, many of our enterprises have been driven out. We have withdrawn all the construction projects there. We can do nothing at present. Therefore, the U.S. military action in that area (having achieved its goal) has basically stopped. That is actually a U.S. action against the mainland.”

From the mainland to the ocean, the U.S. has also laid down an Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) network… The network was laid by the U.S. around China from the Korean Peninsula all the way to India. The U.S.’ ABM system circle in the ocean is connected by the Aegis Shield Warship with ABM capabilities. From the ocean to the mainland, it forms a C-shaped circle… This ABM system is to stop missiles from China, and not allow missiles to be launched from China’s territory.”

Another point is the U.S. strategy towards China, which is comprehensive. The U.S. occupation of China includes economic deprivation, surrounding China, militarily suppression, political pressure, attacking China from both inside and outside, continuous interference, and a trade blockade. The overall goal of the U.S. for China is as follows. The U.S. has created Japan after the model of a eunuch. Now it wants to shape China after Japan, which is rich but not strong. If China insists on independence and protecting its national pride, the U.S. will employ all kinds of means to suppress China, including instigating wars between China and its neighboring countries, direct military interference, and even eventually dividing China.

After the war between China and the U.S. in 1951, the CIA of the U.S. issued an injunction. At first, it was not called an injunction. It was about how to use state-level action to divide and destroy China from all sorts of aspects, levels, and angles. They wrote 10 approaches… 1. Try the best to seduce and degenerate the younger generation using material enticement. Encourage them to oppose their education. Create interests and opportunities for them to be lustful (This is very clear to our friends in Shenzhen). Make them not to feel ashamed of their vanity. 2. Try the best to make them long for the lifestyle of the Americans. 3. Make them focus on sports, pornography, indulgent games, crime movies, religion and superstition. In addition, create something boring and silly every now and then for their people to discuss openly, and then plant the seeds of separation in the backs of their minds. 4. Find opportunities, particularly in the ethnic minority groups, to separate the country, separate the ethnic groups, separate their feelings, and instigate old and new resentment and hatred among themselves. That is a strategy that cannot be ignored. 5. Create derogatory images of their leaders. 6. Promote democracy, that is, make them trust the U.S. 7. Try the best to encourage their government to spend money, and encourage them to borrow money from the U.S. Thus, we would have the full confidence to destroy their credit… 8. Ruin their industries using our economic and technical advantages. As long as their industries can be paralyzed without even realizing it, we can encourage turmoil in society. Therefore, on the surface, we should help them very compassionately. Thus, their government will appear soft and a soft government may have greater turmoil. 9. The next step is to destroy its value system. 10. Last, secretly ship different kinds of weapons to arm some of (China’s) enemies and people who might become their enemies. That is the big circle surrounding us that I mentioned above. The U.S. not only provides weapons to all the countries in the circle, but it also forms alliances with them, may it be a factual, open or invisible alliance.”

“Therefore the Rand Corporation offered a suggestion to the U.S. government in 1999 that the U.S. strategy toward China should be carried out in three steps. First, westernize and divide China by making China have western ideology. That is to make China rich but not strong and not confrontational toward others. Second, if the first step does not have an obvious effect, then comprehensively suppress China and form a strategic joint surrounding of China… If neither of the first two steps works, then have a war with China. Of course, the best format for the war is that the U.S. does not directly participate in the war. The U.S. can support the regions in China that seek independence or the neighboring countries that have major conflicts with China or instigate riots inside China.. That explains why there was the March 14 incident last year (2008 in Tibet) and why there was the July 5 incident this year (2009 in Xinjiang). There will be other incidents down the road.”

“In addition to surrounding China geologically, the U.S. has other conspiracies including economic manipulation and U.S. Dollar traps, etc. …”

At the same time, the U.S. has been working inside China to organize and support all anti-China forces. As a matter of fact, we all know those anti-China forces. Actually, the U.S. is the general sponsor for all the forces that are hostile to China. However, the problem is that those forces are now cooperating with each other. They used to work separately. The situation is different now. Therefore, Dalai contacted Rebiya Kadeer when he created the March 14 incident, and Rebiya contacted Dalai after she caused the Xinjiang incident. They stood together again… Dalai is connected to Democracy activist Wei Jingsheng and the Democratic Progressive Party. At the same time (the U.S.) has set up a great number of spies inside China (in many major economic offices and academic organizations). Many of our academic organizations have researchers working for them or serving as visiting professors and conducting academic exchanges. Those professors take advantage of their own reputations to spread notions that serve the U.S.

The last one is that the U.S. has led the world to create mob-like trade attacks on China. After Obama declared a sanction against China in September, 55 countries sued us within just a few days and started anti-dumping actions. This was said by an American. He said, “Right now, the countries in the world are forming alliances to initiate mob-like counter attacks against China, using the regulations of the WTO.”

China Faces Wars

My point is that (in the next 10 years China) has the possibility of facing wars, and not just a single war…

Eventually, China may face a war. Why? There are several reasons. First, the U.S. is a country with a comprehensive military industry. A third of the U.S. enterprises engage in producing military products…Who would want military products if there were no wars? Therefore, the U.S. has wars everywhere and creates wars everywhere. The U.S. propels its industrial development and technology advancement through having wars.

The second reason that we cannot avoid war is that war always follows fortune. That is the law of the world economy. Thus, we have seen three major shifts of fortune in the 20th century. The first one is before the 1950s. Europe became the center of fortune for the world. Therefore, two world wars broke out in that place. The second shift happened during 1970-80. The oil in the Mideast became the West’s lifeline. Hence, from then on, the Mideast had 5 major wars in 20 years. By now, fortune has had its third shift, to the Asia-Pacific region, and to China, the center of the fortune of the world. How can China escape the disaster of war?

The third reason that we cannot escape from war is that economic crises generally lead to war. WWI was caused by the economic crisis in England. WWII was associated with the economic crisis in the U.S. in 1929… A crisis happened again in 2009 and the Rand Corporation has claimed that instead of spending $700 billion to rescue the economy, it would have been better to spend that money on a war. Therefore, for the U.S., the issue is not whether to have a war, but where to have the war and who to fight. In my opinion, currently, China is facing the danger of being divided (after a war)…

The Military Strategy for China

“Why can’t the GDP be a measure for being a superpower? Why historically was China defeated, even though at that time it had such a high GDP?  That is because the composition of our GDP is problematic… Now, China has the second largest GDP in the world, but what components are in the second largest GDP? The GDP in Japan and the U.S. consist of traditional and modern industries including manufacturing, electronics, ship building, aviation and aeronautics, automotive, and so on. However, ours are real estate, toys, liquor, and cigarettes. Eight hundred million pairs of pants to exchange for an airplane. It was proven over 100 years ago that GDP is not a good measure. Using this thing, we can only deceive ourselves and our people but not others. Being fat does not mean being strong; weight does not equal strength.” [3]

“I suggest that our military forces should have the eagle striking strategy, to fight the battle outside… I said that we should have the war 2,500 miles away (from our mainland). I resolutely insist that our first military ability should be to provide 2,000 – 2,500 miles of defensive depth. Because we do not have allies, aircraft carriers, or strategic pivots, what should we do? The task falls on our air force. We should start the war far beyond 2,500 miles. If anyone has the thought of hurting us, we should kill him first…” [2]

“I have not got to the point of the vertical direction. On this direction, we should close out the open window on our country (as China is weak in defending its air and space). In the future, the war will start from above. Therefore, I said that we should develop upward to the sky perpendicularly and develop to the direction of the ocean horizontally. We definitely cannot let the threat come from these two directions. That is why I resolutely insist that our military reform should clearly focus on these directions, stepping towards the ocean and the sky. We should not waste our resources on the land and continue to that direction. The reason is that our coastal areas are the places where fortune concentrates, the heart of the country, and we cannot afford to let them be threatened by any countries.” [2]

“(As for the South China Sea), at present, the countries around us have over 1,100 oil wells but we do not have even a single one. Why? Personally, I think it is because we take awareness of marine territory too lightly. It is the territory of our country. Whether to explore the resources in this area should not just be based on direct economic benefits. It should be considered from the perspective of the safety of the territory of our nation’s land and sea. It has strategic implications.” [4]

“Even though it may have a high cost, and even if it costs more than buying oil, we still should explore the natural resources there. Also, even if the cost is high, it is temporary. In the long run, once it reaches a large scale, the cost may no longer be high… Therefore, in this place, if we have oil wells, we can use them to develop fishing industry, tourism, etc. All those aspects can form a large economic circle. In addition, those places are close to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. Once we use them as a large resource base, the whole ecological environment will change.” [4]

“Therefore, the foremost and the most critical thing is to take actual action. By now, those small neighboring countries have constructed airports in places they have occupied. However, we can only send small ships, but not large ships, because we do not have the base. We should construct a large base there. The base should be able to support large helicopters. With future development and expansion, it should support small or mid-sized airplanes. Also, the navy should construct some deep-water ports so that large warships and large commodity and fishing ships can port. Thus, it can provide all kinds of services to the oil companies and large fishing companies.” [4]

Endnotes:
[1] Dai Xu’s Personal Blog
http://blog.people.com.cn/blog/s/48177
[2] “U.S. Strategy, China Crisis” (Dai Xu’s Speech at Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province)
http://club.backchina.com/main/viewthread.php?tid=813084&extra= 
[3] Speech at the Global Times, “The Strategic Challenges for China in the Next Ten Years”
http://blog.people.com.cn/blog/c9/s48177,w1252941371916731
[4] 22 Degree Observation, “How Should China Respond to the Escalation in South China Sea?”
http://blog.people.com.cn/blog/c9/s48177,w1251214874128521

The Current Church-State Relationship in China

“China is a country with multiple regions. It is necessary to handle the inter-religion relationship well. Although most people in our country don’t have any religious beliefs, there are still many people who practice religion. We need to handle the relationship between believers and non-believers well. Our country is undergoing a profound social reform. As religion has shown the trend of growth, and its influence is expanding through society, it is necessary to handle the relationship between these religions and every aspect of society well. China is a socialist country. The Chinese Community Party, as an atheist ruling party under the guidance of Marxism, should particularly handle the church-state relationship well.”

“Regarding the current church-state relationship in China, some Western researchers hold that our religions are ‘state-run religions’ or ‘state-controlled religions.’ They use this as an important foundation for attacking the Chinese government for ‘suppressing religious freedom.’ This bias originated from their ideology, especially the Western-centric culture view. Because the world has been dominated by Western religious doctrine for a long time, this prejudice has spread widely, seriously misleading the international community. Despite the fact that research on religious issues has been given more and more attention during recent decades, the study on the current church-state relationship has been left far behind, producing very little in-depth and convincing research.”

“Because of the differences in history, tradition, culture origin, developmental stage and social system, the church-state relationship in countries all over the world varies from one to another. In general, they can be categorized into three models: the unity of church and state, the church subordinate to the state, and separation of church and state. In practice, each has multiple subcategories. The unity of church and state was very popular in Western European countries during the medieval period. The church subordinate to the state was actually the type of church-state relationship in ancient China. Although the actual church-state relationship differs widely in countries around the world, the separation of church and state is the option which most countries have adopted. … Only when church and state are separated can you prevent religions or sects from gaining specific rights or positions by controlling or leveraging political power, which then results in unfairness and intolerance between different religions, and leads to the obstruction of widespread religious freedom.”

“The doctrine of separation of church and state is generally thought to have first been endorsed by the American Constitution. … But most Americans still debate whether the separation between church and state should be achieved by ‘a wall’ or ‘a net.’ The situation in Europe is even more complicated. Throughout European history, some countries had a very fierce struggle between the monarchy and the church. Each side wanted to gain absolute control over the other to secure both secular and spiritual power over the people. This resulted in endless battles between the monarchy and the church, bringing disaster and suffering to the nation, society, and the people. … It is thus evident that an absolute separation of church and state does not exist. Due to different traditions, the situation and extent of the separation of church and state are not completely identical in Europe and the U.S. A common model doesn’t exist.”

“Throughout China’s history there has been no instance of a nationwide practice of the unity of church and state, which was once adopted in Tibet. The Dalai Lama held both administrative and religious power until it was abolished 50 years ago. Overall, the historic church-state relationship was practiced in the format of a monarch controlling the church, in other words, the church complying with the monarchy. It belonged to the model of the church subordinate to the state.”

“During several thousand years of feudal dynasties in China, it was the unshakable iron rule that the imperial power was above everything. The feudal rulers dealt with religious issues mainly by tightening control of religion and making good use of it. The major ideology that the feudal ruling class used to control society was Confucianism, supplemented by Buddhism and Taoism. Despite that, they mainly relied on Confucianism, a doctrine about secular and political ethics. The sacred and transcendental roles of the religions of Buddhism and Taoism that Confucianism lacked were an important addition. Their sanctity could further strengthen the rulers’ legitimacy. Therefore, from the feudal rulers’ perspective, religions were used as an aid to implement political indoctrination, i.e. ‘The saint imparts the teachings that were handed down by the Gods and Taos, and everyone follows.’ At the same time, the feudal rulers strictly controlled religious activities and organizations. The government set up specific agencies to rigorously monitor religions, such as approving the establishment of the Buddhist temple and Taoist monastery, issuing religious documentation, forbidding large-scale religious gatherings, and prohibiting the religious staff from traveling far distances without permission, etc. They were very vigilant on the growth of religious forces. Once the religious forces over-expanded, and even become a threat to the foundation of the ruling power, the feudal rulers would take stringent repressive measures.” … “Overall, the way the feudal governments treated religions in ancient China was primarily politically motivated. The purpose was to maintain and consolidate the rule of the supreme imperial power. As long as religion was not a threat to the stability of their power, the feudal rulers tended to be relatively tolerant toward religion, taking advantage of and using it to achieve their own goals.”

“After the New China was founded, two situations developed: the government announced that citizens now enjoyed religious freedom; yet at the same time, it supported all religions; it conducted reforms if the religious systems could not meet the demands of the new profound social transformation. Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam have implemented democratic reform, abolished the feudal hierarchy, oppression and exploitation, and were released from the control and utilization of the reactionary ruling classes. Catholic and Protestant churches embarked on the road toward independence and self-governance through an anti-imperialist patriotic movement, and also were released from control and utilization by imperialism and foreign forces. After accomplishing these two ‘liberations,’ the political stance of every religion in China underwent major changes. They moved an important step forward toward conforming to the New China, serving the new society, and laying an important foundation for establishing a new church-state relationship.”

“After the ‘reform and opening up,’ our party resumed its religious freedom policy. Based on the changes in domestic and international situations, the party has studied the new issues that have emerged in the religious field, and explored the laws of religion’s development during the initial stage of socialism. It proposed a series of new conclusions on the theories and policies on religious work, such as managing religious affairs according to the law, actively guiding religions to conform to the socialist society, harmonizing the relationship between religions, and promoting the positive roles of religious personnel and people of faith in economic and social development. These new conclusions gave directions for solving the difficult political problems of ‘socialism and religion,’ and also actually answered the major questions related to the church-state relationship. On the other hand, every religion in China is also actively working in response to the requirements of epochal development and social progress. Every religion has tried to lay out a correct path for healthy development under socialist conditions, play an active role in social life, and accumulate some important experiences.”

“In summary, the new church-state relationship in China mainly includes the following four aspects: first, the government respects the citizens’ freedom of religious belief, and protects normal religious activities. Religion carries out the activities within the scope permitted by the laws and policies, and should not interfere with the implementation of the government functions such as administration, jurisdiction, and education, etc. Secondly, the government treats every religion equally. The government regime cannot use its power to suppress any religion, nor can it support any religion. No religion enjoys special legal status above any other religion. Thirdly, in order to protect the public interest and the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups in our country, including those of religious believers, the government follows the law to manage the religious affairs pertaining to national and social public interest, but doesn’t interfere with the internal affairs of religious organizations. Religious organizations cannot disobey the government administration using the excuse of separation of church and state. Finally, even though the policy of separation of church and state is implemented, the citizens who have religious beliefs, just as non-believers, enjoy political, economic, social and cultural rights. Unequal rights should not exist due to different religious beliefs. The representatives from religious organizations can participate in political life through legal channels, such as the People’s Congress and Political Consultative Conferences at all levels, and so on, to express their social advocacies. They can also give comments and suggestions and carry out democratic supervision on the legal administration of governmental, social, economic, cultural, and especially religious affairs.”

“As can be seen from the above four aspects, the current church-state relationship in China not only borrows from the models of both ancient China and present Western countries, but is also different from them. It is a new format that matches socialism with Chinese characteristics, and also has its own distinctive features. This new format is based on the principle of separation of church and state, and the value of political and religious harmony. In other words, (China) adheres to the principle of separation of church and state, making a clear boundary between church and state in order to prevent religion from assuming the role of the government, and vice versa. Therefore, freedom of religious belief is guaranteed by the social system. However, the separation of church and state is not the ultimate goal to handle the church-state relationship, but to pursue the harmonized relationship between church and state based on the separation of church and state, leading to positive interaction. When we deal with the relationship with religions, we adhere to the principle of ‘mutual respect for beliefs; and united collaboration on politics,’ which truly reflects the essence of our current church-state relationship.”

Endnote:
[1] Study Times, November 23, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=3075&bid=1

The Chinese Air Force’s Advancements in Military Theory, Strategy, and Equipment

Over the course of 60 years of development, the People’s Air Force has built an air combat system with a backbone of third-generation battle equipment; its combat skills improved in a measurable leap forward. [1]

1.  Guiding a powerful Air Force with scientific military theory  

Military theory for the Air Force has gone through four climactic research stages, moving from tactical guidance to strategic command. The first stage was creating a theory for the Korean War. The second stage was developing a theoretical system for the modernization of air-defense operations. The third stage was the jump to campaign theory in preparation to repel an invasion. The fourth stage was developing strategic theory during the transformation period. [1]

In the 1990s, along with the development of information technology, the Air Force has significantly broadened its strategic vision, continued research for Air Force strategy and Air Force development strategy, formally established the strategy of “integrating air and space, and is capable of both offensive and defensive combat.” . . . The People’s Air Force has paid close attention to the new development of local wars with new information technology, and carried out comprehensive combat tactics training including long-range precision strikes, air defense operations, and information protection. It has taken a solid step on the journey toward adapting to new global challenges of military transformation and learning the new air combat rules with information technology. In 2004, the People’s Air Force clearly established the strategy of “integrating air and space, capable of both offensive and defensive combat,” emphasizing the integration of air and space as the development direction for the Air Force, making full use of space-based information resources to improve Air Force combat effectiveness, and actively supporting the implementation of space-based platforms for offensive and defensive combat operations in the air and in space. [1]

2. Using advanced weapons and equipment to forge a powerful Air Force 

The 1991 Gulf War began a transformation in the military sphere led by Europe and the United States. A key aspect of the transformation was information technology and a significant sign was the integration of air and space. The U.S.-led Western countries, represented by the U.S., developed a new generation of combat systems supported by space-based systems, relying on third-generation battle planes, stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. The U.S. also actively promoted the integration of aviation and space weapon systems, thus achieving a new leap in combat capability. Facing the severe challenges brought by this transformation in military capability, the People’s Air Force began its historic leap of developing an information technology capable air force on an undeveloped industrial base. [1]  Moving from a focus on defense to a combination of offense and defense. . . . Since the 1990s, the Air Force has been transforming from a land-based air defense force into one that is capable for both offensive and defensive combat. In this year’s National Day parade, the formation of precision-guided munitions, mid-air refuel tankers, and three generations of aircrafts marked further improvement of the Air Force’s the long-range combat capability. [1]

Moving from platform-based to Web-based. . . . From the beginning of the 1990s, learning from local information technology wars and focusing on the trend of systematizing, the Air Force sped up the pace of establishing a command network. [1]

Moving from importing to independently researching and developing new weapons and equipment. . . . In the 1990s, domestic research and development of new weapons and equipment achieved substantial breakthroughs. . . . China-made weapons and equipment types expanded rapidly with systematic accessories. These weapons are close to or reach the world standard of advanced weaponry. [1]

3. Building a powerful Air Force with a high standard of military training

During the Korean War, the Air Force implemented the principle of "fight when there is a battle, train when there is no battle." It has used the time between battles to intensify training, trained while in battle, and created a record that has shocked those at home and abroad. . . . [1]
   
They moved from training in an ordinary environment to training in a complicated electromagnetic environment. In the 1990s, when the world’s Air Forces accelerated the transformation of information warfare, the People’s Air Force equipped multiple models with multiple types of information weaponry. Now the air force faces a profound change in military training. First, we need to highlight specific training in combat confrontation. Second, we must emphasize precision-guided weapon live-fire training. Third, we should strengthen electronic warfare training. [1]

Moving from training in a single element to systematic training. . . From 2004 on, at the Air Force Tactical Training Center, the Air Force organized its command team and tactical air units to conduct combat assessments. The command team and the tactical air units, ground air defense forces, radar and electronic combat troops, and other troops formed a complete battle system relying on the electromagnetic environment, with multiple soldiers and plane models, and carried out all elements of attack and defense under unknown conditions, thus preparing the troops to be familiar with the battlefield environment. The style of air combat command went through fundamental changes also, from the ‘nanny-style’ command to independent air warfare."[1]

In another similar report, Xu Qiliang said, "The 21st century is the century of information technology, and also the century of air and space. The fields of information and space have become two new high grounds for international strategic competition. From the revolution in the military field around the world, military competition is transferring to the field of aerospace, and military development has been continuously expanding in the direction of air and space. This ‘shift’ is a general trend. This ‘expansion’ is a historic necessity, and it is irreversible. In a certain sense, control of space means control of the land, sea and electromagnetic space, and control of the strategic initiative. Now, not only are the world’s major powers adjusting Air Force strategy, a number of developing countries are also introducing new strategic initiatives, and actively seizing this new strategic high ground in the military revolution." "The militarization of space is a challenge to peace. Facing this challenge, there is no right to speak if one does not have enough power." [2]

On November 9, 2009, Study Times published another article entitled "The People’s Air Force needs three major changes." Its main comments were about the transformation from territorial air defense to both offensive and defensive combat; from mechanization to information technology based combat, and from a traditional air force to an air and space integrated force for the Chinese Communist Air Force. [3] 
 
1. Fundamental change from territorial air defense to both offensive and defensive operations   

On one hand, the Air Force is transforming into a multi-functional force with both offensive and defensive capabilities. The traditional fighters, attack planes and bombers are gradually being reduced, while multi-functional, multi-purpose third generation fighters, tankers, and early warning aircraft are equipping the troops. Forming a systematic operational capability, the air offensive forces and the corresponding support development have been strengthened significantly. On the other hand, the ground air defense forces are transforming into air and space defense integrated forces. The combat range for new air missiles has become longer and longer, the reaction speed has become faster and faster, the anti-saturation and anti-radiation ability has become stronger and stronger, and the precision has become more and more accurate. Our Air Force is transforming from territorial air defense to both offensive and defensive type operations. The People’s Air Force will focus on active defense, forming systematic mechanisms in both offensive and defensive directions, to complete the preparations for carrying out campaigns and achieve strategic transformation. [3]

2. Complete transformation from mechanization to information technology based combat

Facing the fact that future wars will be confrontations between systems, the People’s Air Force will firmly focus on the key of information technology development, and gradually establish a comprehensive system integrating all combat forces. The Air Force will equip existing aircraft, radar, and command automation equipment with new information technology. … [We need to] move from ‘consuming’ to ‘performance-based,’ from ‘weapons platform-centric warfare’ to ‘network-centric warfare,’ and from traditional air combat to air and space integrated operations. [3] 

3. Strategic transformation from a traditional air force to an air and space integrated force    

Compared to the world’s most advanced equipment, the People’s Air Force is still behind. The core is the lack of support for space-based platforms. . . . In the new period of the new century, the People’s Air Force will follow the strategy of “integrating air and space, being capable of both offensive and defensive combat,” clearly define the functioning position of air and space, establish strategic guidance for “shaping the space situation, controlling space crises, and winning the space war” ideology, highlight the control of space, enhance the strategic initiative, flexibility and effectiveness, and accelerate the transformation into an air and space integrated force. [3]

We should speed up building a national air and space defense system. We must develop a modern air missile defense system, expand the scope of space activities, ensure effective monitoring of territorial space and air, minimize the possibility of a sudden air and space crisis, and be able to rapidly and effectively respond to crisis events, to ensure the safety of national core objectives from any fatal damage. [3]

We need to create and maintain an air and space strategic posture. We must develop monitoring and control of land surfaces to form an “air to land” and “air to sea” control power, maintain effective monitoring and control of national interests on land and sea, develop necessary air offensive forces for a strong attack, deter any damage attempts and actions, and promote regional and global air and space stability."[3]

Also on November 9, 2009, Learning Times Network published an article on the characteristics of Air Force equipment buildup. [4] The article said, "Throughout the 60 years’ history of the Air Force, the Air Force equipment buildup has the following features under the CCP’s core leadership.

1. Strategically equip the Air Force 

Throughout all the historic periods since the start of the Air Force, CCP core leadership always closely connected the Air Force and its equipment development with the CCP’s military strategy. The type of equipment, size, quantity and schedule are all based on the needs of the CCP’s military strategic tasks. This is the top priority of Air Force equipment development and buildup. [4]

2. We must have what our rivals have 

Since our technology and power are relatively weak compared to our rivals, we cannot be engaged in a comprehensive arms race, but we should focus on the development of “asymmetric warfare” and “skillful positioning.” We must master key advanced technology that our rivals have or even the ones our rivals do not have. According to Deng Xiaoping, “we must have what our rivals have.” We may not have a lot, but we must also have that. [4]

3. The type of equipment must be appropriate for the forces 

[The Air Force] must strengthen the supporting equipment for air offensive forces, gradually transform from territorial air defense to both offensive and defensive type forces, and establish ‘offensive defensive’ strategic thinking. [4]

4. Emphasize both the quantity and quality 

CCP leaders emphasize the importance of the quality of equipment. First, we must strive to continuously enhance the modernization of Air Force equipment by constantly upgrading main battle weaponry and equipment. Second, we should have stringent quality requirements for air force weapons and equipment manufacturing and maintenance. Third, we should allow the Air Force to be involved in the early research and development process of the most cutting-edge weapons and equipment. [4]

5. Always viewed as a priority 

The Air Force has always been the priority of national armed forces building. . . . During the 1970s and 1980s, the position and role of the Air Force during war became even more prominent; Deng Xiaoping asserted, "The Air Force should be a top priority.” He also repeatedly pointed out, "I think in the future we should focus on the Air Force’s development. The priority of our investments should be placed on the aviation industry and the Air Force’s development. Foreign currencies allocated to military use should focus on the aviation industry and equipment.” [4]

6. Pay attention to equipment purchase and manufacturing at the same time
 
In the 1950s, the CCP established the guidance to, “Pay attention to equipment purchase and manufacturing at the same time,” while relying on self-made equipment. In October 1956, Nie Rongzhen, who was responsible for military equipment research, called meetings, and proposed a strategy of “mainly self-reliance, while striving to obtain foreign aid and take advantage of existing research results of capitalist countries.” . . . In February 1966, Marshal Nie proposed the idea of “three steps” for military equipment development. His scientific management method of pre-research, development, and small-batch production at the same time greatly promoted the development of aviation equipment in a planned way. [4]

7. Guiding breakthroughs in person

The CCP’s core leadership is often involved in the Air Force weapons and equipment research process in person. Sometimes they work on the front line for days and nights without sleep. "[4]

Endnotes:
[1] http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=3042&bid=7
[2]
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=3035&bid=1 
[3
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=3042&nid=11053&bid=7&page=1
[4
] http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=3042&nid=11054&bid=7&page=1

The Culture Industry in China Has Drawn Attention from Central Government Decision Makers

“On July 22, Premier Wen Jiabao hosted an executive meeting of the Standing Committee of the State Council. The ‘Culture Industry Revitalization Plan’ was discussed and approved in principle. Earlier, Gao Shusheng, the deputy director of the Office of Reform, Central Propaganda Department, revealed publicly that the Central Propaganda Department and several other departments are working hard on developing several important national plans, including the “Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan for the Culture Industry,” the “Backbone of the Culture Enterprises Training Plan,” the “Culture Enterprises Listing Plan,” and the “Culture Industry Base Construction Plan.” “(Gao said that these policies) symbolize the development of our nation’s culture industry, which is in transition from the ‘spontaneous stage’ to the ‘self-conscious stage.’” “The development of our nation’s culture industry is entering a very important and crucial phase. The year 2009 will be a turning point in China’s cultural history. The culture industry possesses its own unique advantages in development and it has demonstrated unique development potential in the financial crisis. All these are drawing more and more attention from the central decision-makers.”

“The culture industry is developing at a rapid pace, and will definitely impact China’s future. Ten years ago, it did not even have a ‘legal identity,’ but today it accounts for 2.6 percent of China’s GDP, and is growing by more than 17 percent every year. In the year 2008, it accounted for more than five percent of the GDP in Beijing, Shanghai, Guandong, Hunan, and Yunnan. However, if we observe and estimate its significance only from a pure economics point of view, then it would be too narrow and shallow.” “When visiting an Animation (Cartoon) Enterprise in Tianjin City’s at the beginning of this year, Premier Wen Jiabao raised the point that we need to make the culture industry a new growth point for dealing with the financial crisis, and we need to have Chinese culture reach out to the world and show the world China’s soft power.”

“The development of our nation’s culture industry is entering a very important and crucial phase. The year 2009 represents a turning point for China’s culture history. Currently the Central Authorities’ strategies and train of thought about speeding up the development of the culture industry are becoming clearer and clearer. Looking at all the actions taken so far, the culture industry is being pushed forward at a thunderous speed.” “There are several reasons that the higher authorities favor and pay so much attention to the culture industry. One is that our nation is facing many difficulties in the mid and late stages of industrialization, including resource shortages, the worsening of environmental pollution, extensive development of the economy, and so on. The global financial crisis is making China’s development face an even more severe ordeal.” “Despite this financial crisis, China’s culture industry is still growing well, and many culture industries are demonstrating a counter-cyclical direction. The party, the government, and all sectors of society have recognized its nature and advantages and have thus paid much attention to it. With this background, the central leaders have pointed out that we need to turn the culture industry into a new growth point for dealing with the financial crisis, make Chinese culture reach out to the world, show the world China’s soft power, quickly study and figure out how China’s culture industry can seize the opportunity offered by the global financial crisis, and maintain a good growth momentum.

“Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the Center for Culture Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Outlook Weekly, ‘In the bigger picture, China’s economy has reached a phase where we must add culture to our nation’s strategy. This is a logical necessity for the development of the economy and the process of modernization.’… Since the end of 20th century and into the beginning of the 21st century, China has been quietly entering into a new period. Culture has begun to lose its traditional, simple concept of being ‘extrinsic.’ It is starting to be treated as an economic sector. We can say that this is an internal context for the development of the culture industry.” “Zhang Xiaoming also mentioned another even bigger basis for the development of the culture industry that is often easily ignored. From the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, developed countries have finished upgrading their national industries. They now are mainly relying on the knowledge economy and beginning to use the strategy of culture imperialism. At the same time, the western media groups changed in the mid-1990s through globalization. They were coveting the huge culture trade market in China, which was yet to open. Therefore in the final stage of the negotiation for China to join the WTO, western developed countries brought up requests to open the service trade markets in China, and this core request has a direct hit on our culture field. Zhang said, ‘Because China was an export-oriented economy at the time, it was crucial to China’s economic development that the developed countries open their traditional markets to China. Western countries have already entered the phase of developing a modern service trade in which the culture industry is their main industry. Thus the opening of a huge service trade market such as China became an urgent need for their economic development.’”

“In November 2001, China joined the WTO. Since then, our culture sphere has had no other option but to face the challenges from the culture of developed countries. However, China did not even have a formal concept of ‘culture industry’ until 2000. The Central Authorities obviously noticed this challenge, and thus in ‘Suggestions by the Central Committee of the CCP on Making the Tenth Five-Tear-Plan for the National Economy and Social Development’ that was passed in the Fifth Session of the Fifteenth Central Committee of the CCP, 2000, ‘culture industry’ was used the first time and it was the first time this term was put into one of the central authorities’ documents.” “People generally agree that this marked when the culture industry obtained a ‘legal status’ in China, and it became a milestone with high significance and value.”

“In the strategic intent and expectations of the central decision-makers, not only will the culture industry be the new engine for economic growth and the stepping-stone for economic restructuring; it will also be the important anchor for the development concept of experimental science and a break through point for achieving a change in methods of development. Since the establishment of the Department of Culture Industry, in the Ministry of Culture in 1998, China’s culture industry has gone through 10 years. Compared with nine years ago, now China has a clearer and a more accurate understanding of culture and the culture industry. The culture has more and more become the origin of national cohesion and creative power, as well as an important factor in the competition for overall national power. The Seventeenth Central Committee of the CCP raised the important strategic tasks of driving socialist culture to be vigorously developed and prospered and setting up a new upsurge in socialist culture development. These tasks required the nation to greatly develop the culture industry, prosper the culture market, distinctively increase the proportion of the culture industry in the national economy, and enhance the international competitiveness of China’s culture.”

"In a research report from the Ministry of Culture, it was said that the culture industry has a comparative advantage in many aspects that are unmatched by other industries. First, the culture industry does not consume a lot of resources and has little environmental pollution. … The culture industry mainly produces spiritual products. These products use creativity as the source, the content as the core, and as long as there is a steady stream of ideas, there will be a steady stream of output and profit. The development of the culture industry does not need a high expense for resources and does not pollute the environment. Secondly, the culture industry has high economic returns and long term benefits. Once consumers recognize and seek after the culture products, they will bring relatively high economic returns. Thirdly, the culture industry has a lower entry barrier, and can use lots of labor. The industry chain is longer and the employment is flexible. Not only is it suitable for large-scale, modern enterprises with high-tech equipment, but it can also accept individuals and small-scale traditional market players who rely on personal creativity and development of traditional skills. In addition, the culture industry and other industries of the national economy are having widespread penetration and integration with each other. They together are forming a huge industrial chain and industry clusters that use culture content as a link. They are becoming increasingly correlated with each other. At the high-end of the culture industry, service industries such as creative design are gradually combining with other industries. This way the culture connotation and product value of these traditional industries are upgraded and so the culture industry is playing an increasingly important role in promoting economic development. The culture elements can be blended together with other modes of economic production and operating styles to greatly drive other industries. The decision-makers hope the culture industry, in addition to giving full play to economic development, can also enhance the soft power of the national culture, and make a unique contribution to shaping a new international image for our nation."

On April 2, 2008, the BBC published an annual global public opinion poll. According to the results, in the evaluation of fourteen countries and areas, China ranked number seven. The positive feedback for China came mostly from the Middle East and Africa and the negative feedback came mostly from European countries and North America. On January 17, 2009, the China Academy of Sciences published the “China Modernization Report for 2009.” This report pointed out that even though the culture influence index for China ranked number seven globally, the value of the China index was only half of the value of the U.S. index, which was number one. “Facing the difficulties of global influence,” Zhang Xiaoming thought, “China must resolve the difficulties by developing a culture industry and having exchanges with the world. China needs to clearly express its position on international society’s widely respected practices and ethics concepts. Otherwise, China will ‘face difficulty everywhere and no matter what China does, others will have doubts.’” “In the current International environment, China’s culture urgently needs to ‘reach out.’ …China’s culture products that have Chinese elements and are very attractive, when disseminated in the world culture market…will bring China’s culture and spirit to the whole world through the world culture market platform. 

“The culture ‘reaching out’ strategy formally originated around the mid 1990s. It was earlier than the concept of the ‘culture industry.’ Although there are still many factors constraining culture from ‘reaching out,’ for this time in history, International society’s attention on China provides new opportunities to promote the culture industry’s ‘reaching out.’ The world is more and more acknowledging and paying attention to China’s culture, and to the unique better economic position that China has in this financial crisis. All these provide the opportunities for China’s culture ‘reaching out’ strategy.

In the China culture industry 30 people forum, the common understanding that the experts and scholars reached is that the next ten years will be the golden age of our culture industry. China Media University’s Culture Industry Institute director of the academic committee, Qi Yongfeng, thinks the “Twelfth Five-Year (Plan)” period will be considered the “growing up” period for the culture industry. The culture industry should be treated as a “National strategy industry” and employ important policies to accelerate its development. The “Thirteenth Five-Year” period (2016-2020) will be the period when the culture industry becomes internationalized. Our culture industry will enter the international market at a much faster pace and will set up its international competitive power as a culture giant.

According to a related bureau calculation, the culture industry represented 2.6% of the GDP in 2007. Using this ratio, the increase in the culture industry was around 641.2 billion which was an 18.4% increase over what it was in 2006. The ratio of the GDP increased 0.15% in 2008 which kept up the rapid growth momentum. The annual report on the national culture industry for 2008 has not yet been published. According to historical data, the increase in the culture industry will be close to 760 billion yuan and national family entertainment expenses will be around 639.1 billion yuan.

The China Culture Industry Report for 2009 pointed out that the growth of our domestic economic development decreased. However, the culture industry still sustained stable rapid growth and remained one of the few highlights in the domestic economy. “In 2008, Beijing, Hunan, Yunnan, Shanghai, and Guangdong became the five provinces where the culture industry ratio to GDP was larger than 5%. After these ‘five big clubs,’ other areas are catching up quickly. At a provincial conference, Xu Guangchun, who was the communist party committee secretary of Henan Province, issued a requirement for the Henan culture industry: ‘In Henan Province, because of the mindset, bureau organization, the arrangement of work, and other factors in general, economic development has dwarfed culture industry development. The culture industry’s scale, level, and performance are not comparable to its economy and culture resources, and could not meet the expectations and requirements of its people. It is highly desirable that we open up a new path in our culture revolution and strive to promote culture’s greater development. Thus, we will have a brand new image of both our hard and soft capacity in central China.’”

“Although all the data is promising, the development of the culture industry still has a lot of problems. The first one is that the culture industry’s revenue is small and makes a limited contribution to the GDP. The second one is that investments are insufficient and the infrastructure is out of date. The third problem is that marketability is poor and the industry is not centralized. The forth problem is the shortage of culture management professionals. The investment and financial support system lag far behind. The fifth problem is a lack of specific development planning; the related policies of the culture industry are not complete. The sixth problem is that the unfavorable balance of trade is still very significant. The ability of the culture industry to spread and to exert influence both need further improvement.”

“Experts think that science and technology, especially the rapid development and application of networking technology, digital technology, and new media technology, have deeply affected the development of the culture industry in four aspects. The first one is providing the advanced means and presentation forms for making the culture programs. Technology has made the presentation way more vivid, colorful, and attractive. The second one is giving birth to more new forms in the culture industry, such as electronic tickets, networking culture, cell phone culture, 4D movies, etc. The third one is the great expansion of channels to export and deliver the culture programs. The dominant broadcast channels for culture programs have been greatly challenged. More open, mutual channel layouts have been formed. The era when culture programs were based mainly on “broadcasting is king,” and dominated by television channels is gone. The era that evaluates programs based on quality and performance has become the main trend. The fourth one is that multiple high-speed, high-capacity channels have been built. The need for culture-rich programs has increased dramatically. This has provided a rapid development opportunity for the culture industry that centers on content creation and production. “The future for areas that have integrated science, technology and culture looks very bright for the next ten years. It would be a fatal mistake not to take it as a national strategy of development.” Zhang Xiaoming said, “The only chance for China to catch up with the culture industry of developed countries will be within a network. It is impossible in any other area.”

“In addition, Gao Shusheng, deputy director of the Reform Office of the Propaganda Ministry, found several noticeable trends in the development of China’s culture industry based on his recent years working on the coordination of policies and a grass-roots investigation: First, our culture resources have come to the period of big adjustments and big integration. Currently the administrative allocation system of culture resources is no longer suitable for the socialist market economic system. This not only causes a blockage in certain areas; it also leads to industrial monopoly. Ultimately it hurts the culture industry badly. This is exhibited in the fact that the present culture enterprises are very small and weak, and similar to each other. Therefore, the reform needs to break this old system and let the market system play a fundamental role in the allocation of culture resources. In this situation, someone’s will doesn’t determine the adjustment and integration of culture resources; instead they are determined by the market and capital. Second, the divisions among industries are blurred. There is a trend toward merging. Before, culture was categorized in three areas, “culture art, media, and publishing.” Because media technology and means are increasingly diverse, the trend toward merging blurs the lines of division between the industries. Third, the integration of the culture, travel and manufacturing industries has become more and more obvious. From now on, with further development of culture resources, the integration of culture and travel – that is deep travel – must appear in China. Fourth, culture industry development has transformed from spontaneous to conscious. The culture revolution is turning toward taking advantage of the market system’s direction. However, the market system also has its disadvantages. To fully employ the incubation and assembly functions of the culture industry’s base, and to strengthen planning, regulation and guidance are indispensable. Therefore, the top priority is to study and plan out the development strategy for the national culture industry.

“The Ministry of Culture Policy and Regulation Department Director, Han Yongjin, thought, based on the concept ‘culture market’ from the 1980s, to write ‘culture industry’ into the nation’s ‘Tenth Five-Year’ plan. The Chinese Communist Party Central Committee’s Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixteenth Congress first introduced the (name of) ‘culture productivity’ in the ‘Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on strengthening the Party’s governing ability’ in 2004, and introduced ‘culture soft power’ in 2006, all reflecting our Party’s understanding of the law of human society’s development, the law of the communist culture’s development, and the law that the communist party leads socialist advanced culture to become deeper and deeper, and more and more complete. These are the three milestones in China’s culture development history.

“Han Yongjin said the birth of the concept ‘culture industry’ indicates that culture also has the function of being industrialized. In addition to our traditional understanding that culture possesses the nature of ideology, being our battlefield, our tongue, and the tool of education and propaganda, culture also has a connection to the market, and can be used to make money. … This is not only a new name, and new concept; it is also a necessary requirement for the socialist market economic system of culture; it is the natural choice of China’s style of socialist culture development; it is the natural result of the culture industry’s self-practice and theory research.” 

“In November 2006, the CPC Central Committee General Secretary and State President Hu Jintao introduced ‘improve the nation’s soft power’ in his speech at the Eighth National Congress of the China Federation of Literature and Art and the Seventh National Congress of the Chinese Writer’s Association.” “From ‘culture market’ to ‘culture industry,’ then from ‘culture industry’ to ‘culture productivity,’ and ‘culture soft power,’ all these reflect that the Communist Party’s understanding of the development laws of human society and of socialist culture have become deeper and deeper.” “Science and technology will lead the renovation of China’s culture industry. …”

“In retrospect, we have found that our nation’s development concept has evolved from the initial stage of two parts one entity, that is ‘socialist material civilization and spiritual civilization,’ into the later three parts of ‘material civilization, political civilization, and spiritual civilization,’ to the current four parts one entity stage, which is ‘socialist economic development, political development, culture development and society’s development.’”

Endnote:
[1] Outlook Weekly,  October 28, 2009 

The Essence of Democratic Centralism within the Chinese Communist Party

In the article "The Development of Inner-Party Democracy and the Improvement of Democratic Centralism," it says, "The development of inner-Party democracy should be carried out within the Party’s democratic centralism system; it cannot cross the boundaries of the Party’s democratic centralism system; more importantly, it cannot deny, abandon or cancel the Party’s democratic centralism system. The democratic centralism system, as the Party’s fundamental leadership system and political principle, is the essential characteristic and the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party; it is a guarantee for the Party to carry out its leadership role.… It is also the institutional foundation for insuring that the Party maintains its long-term leadership; it is the reflection of and an important source for the Party to maintain its advanced nature. … Upholding a centralized system built on democracy, upholding democracy under the guidance of centralism, and supporting the Party’s centralization and unity are important guarantees of the Party’s creativity, cohesion, and fighting effectiveness. … Only by safeguarding the Party’s centralization and unity can (we) ensure the unity of the nation, the unity of ethnic groups, and the harmony of society."[2]

Although the CCP states that "inner-Party democracy is the life of the Party," the reality is another story. In the article "Guarding against Inattentiveness to Democracy," it said, "Because of the ‘anti-rightist movement’ in 1957, the ‘Great Leap Forward’ in 1958, the ‘anti-rightist’ campaign in 1959, and in particular, the ‘Cultural Revolution,’ which brought a decade of civil strife starting in 1966, inner-Party democracy and the people’s democracy have suffered severe damage. … (At that time) if ever there was any talk, especially sharp criticism, the government would start to check the individuals’ ‘political background’ and ‘political rumors,’ then file a case and start to repress those involved." "The truth cannot be avoided, and cannot be hidden. …The cadre leaders were arrogant, imperious, and despotic, too many sought to serve their own interests, too few solved problems for the people; they didn’t listen to the opinions of the masses or to media criticism. If citizens petitioned or offered public opinions, those in charge were either indifferent or stayed away. Their responses ranged from perfunctory, to not uttering a word, to even adopting such methods as ‘going after them.’ If someone said something different, the official tried to ‘use the media to cover it up, or extinguish it to prevent it from spreading,’ or other self-deceiving, absurd behavior. They even sought revenge. … Inner-Party democracy is the life of the Party, and the people’s democracy is the life of the nation. If there is no democracy, the Party will not advance and will lose its ruling status. There will be no scientific development or social harmony and no Socialist modernization; The Party will disintegrate, and the nation will disintegrate." [3]

"The development of inner-Party democracy and the improvement of democratic centralism should be unified. Inner-Party democracy is a type of ‘limited’ democracy. It is under a certain political authority; it is a democracy within a political organization. Inner-Party democracy is not exactly the same as national democracy. Party members are different from regular citizens; the democratic rights of Party members within the Party are different from citizens’ democratic rights; the dominant rights of Party members in the Party are different from the dominant rights of citizens in the nation. … The unique characteristics of inner-Party democracy are: First, Party members’ equal rights are conditional. That is, the prerequisite to joining the Communist Party is to have common political beliefs. In certain situations, one may be required to sacrifice his/her own rights for the needs of the organization. Second, the power structure within the Party is not equivalent to the power structure at the national level. Although within the Party, power is retrained with power, mostly power is restrained by rights. Third, the scope that inner-Party democracy covers is smaller than that of national democracy or social democracy. Inner-Party democracy involves fewer people. What’s more, in addition to complying with the Constitution and laws, the discipline and requirements within the Party are more strict." [2]

"The inner-Party democracy we are talking about now is very different from the past. It is no longer just an issue of carrying forward democracy in leadership groups or in the decision-making process. Rather, it is an issue of the whole Party’s institutional reform and improvement. To develop inner-Party democracy is a matter of life and death for the Party. The ultimate goal is to have the inner-Party democracy uplift the peoples’ democracy, to have harmony within the Party, and to lead to social harmony. This can be achieved by safeguarding the Party members’ democratic rights as the most basic tenet, focusing on improving the Party congress system and the Party committee system, reforming the institutional mechanisms, and initiating system innovation as the entry point, and having theory, practice and institutional achievements as the mainstay. … Inner-Party democracy is the kernel of democracy. … Democratic centralism serves inner-Party political democracy, so that the inner-Party democracy can be reflected and protected at the system and organizational level. Without keeping democratic centralism under the protection of the system and organization, inner-Party democracy will be difficult to achieve, difficult to sustain, or difficult to control. Therefore, democratic centralism is a reflection of the Party’s political democracy in both its organizational principle and its institutional perspectives." [2]

"In summary, there are two main ways to develop inner-Party democracy: to standardize the power relations within the Party, and to develop direct democracy from the grassroots. The advancement of these two elements must be equally emphasized. To standardize power relations within the Party, in essence, is to develop an indirect democracy within the Party, to standardize the scope of how much power can be delegated and the relationship of allocating power within the Party. It includes the following components: the starting point is to implement the dominant position of Party members’ rights; and then from the bottom-up to designate: the generation of the Party representatives and the role of the Party representatives; from there, the generation the Party Congress and its role as the highest organ of power; from there, the generation of the Party’s Central Committee (local Party committee) and the implementation of its role as a power organization; from there the generation of the Party’s Politburo (local Standing Committee) and the implementation of its role within the authorized power, and lastly, the generation of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and general secretary (local Party committee and the Standing Committee secretary) and the implementation of their roles within the authorized power. … The crux of the problem of inner-Party power relations is the ‘excessive concentration of power.’ Throughout the organizational system, power is more concentrated as one moves up the hierarchy, toward the level of Party committees and above, to eventually the Party Committee Secretary, which has the final say." [2]

"To develop direct democracy from the grassroots is the other main way of developing inner-Party democracy. The basic form of direct democracy is electoral democracy; the most important initiative to develop grassroots direct democracy is to promote grassroots direct elections. … The basic form of grassroots democracy is competition at elections. This competition at elections is the most direct embodiment of inner-Party democracy." [2]

Endnote:
[1] Two descriptions of Democratic Centralism follow:
a.) A Leninist doctrine requiring discussion of issues until a decision is reached by the party. After a decision is made, discussion concerns only planning and execution. This method of decision making directed lower bodies unconditionally to implement the decisions of higher bodies.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/albania/al_glos.html
b
.) Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party. The democratic aspect of this organizational method describes the freedom of members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of policy and direction, but once the decision of the party is made by majority vote, all members are expected to uphold that decision. This latter aspect represents the centralism. As Lenin described it, democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion, unity of action."  Lenin, V. (1906). "Report on the Unity Congress of the R.S.D.L.P."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/rucong/viii.htm
[2] http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=3061&bid=3
[3] http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=3063&bid=5

Beijing’s Culture Industry’s Renaissance Strategy

On May 14, 2008, Xinhuanet.com published an article, “Review of the Development of the Cultural Industry in the New Era and Its Current Status,” written by Cheng Huizhe, a researcher at the Center for the Strategic Study of Cultural Development, under the Chinese Academy of Art. The author wrote, “The [Chinese] cultural industry has experienced three stages of development. The first stage was from 1978 to1988, when the culture market emerged, and was gradually recognized. The culture industry sprouted amid difficulties and progressed slowly. The second stage was from 1989 to 1998, when the culture industry received social approval while painstakingly making progress. The culture industry served a supporting role to economic development. ‘Culture work sets the stage; economic development is the star.’ From 1999 to 2007 was the third stage, when the culture industry made significant progress.” “During the third 10 years, the concept of the culture industry penetrated into people’s feelings. The culture business’s functionalities and economic attributes became widely recognized. No longer a stair or stage for economic development, culture has become the star of economic development. ‘Culture sets the stage, culture is the star.’ The culture economy and the culture industry itself are the purpose.” [1]

The article said, “In 2000, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party‘s (CCCCP’s) Proposal of Formulating the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development passed in the Fifth Plenary Session of the 15th party Congress,  For the first time, the Central government’s official document formally adopted the concept of ‘cultural industry.’ The proposal required improving the cultural industry’s policies, strengthening the development and management of the culture market, promoting the expansion of the culture industry, and outlining the responsibilities and requirements for the culture industry’s development. It is of great significance in setting a landmark for China’s recognition of the culture industry.’ In 2001, the culture industry was included in the country’s Tenth Five-Year Plan. The culture industry has since become a significant part of China’s economic and social development strategy.

In 2002, the report of the party’s 16th Congress gave a whole chapter to the culture industry, calling for actively developing the culture industry, improving policy, and supporting its development. In 2004, the CCCCP’s Decision on Strengthening the Party’s Governance passed in the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th party Congress. It put forth the requirements for the development of China’s culture industry in the new age. The development of the culture industry was also included in the party’s proposal for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th party Congress in 2005, and the Outline of the Eleventh Five-Year Development Plan passed in 2006. In 2007, the report of the 17th party Congress again reiterated the need to vigorously advance the culture industry in order for it to make a significant contribution to the prosperity of the culture of Socialism. [1]

On the same day, another article published on Xinhua stated, “Traditional Chinese culture is the treasure house for developing the modern culture industry. The most pressing matter of the moment for implementing the decisions of the party’s 17th Congress and accelerating the development of the culture industry is, without doubt, to seize the opportunity and turn the advantages of our culture resources into advantages of the culture industry, to strive to create an attractive ‘China Dream.’” [2]

In April 10, 2008, Outlook Weekly magazine published an article, “Coping With the Tendency of ‘Soft Containment.’” It said, “In recent years, some Western mainstream media produced a large number of biased reports on Chinese products and its food safety issues, triggered by the ‘lead toys’ incident in the United States, and the ‘poisonous dumplings incident in Japan. In addition, Western media played up issues such as ‘Chinese spies,’ ‘China energy plundering,’ the Darfur issue, and the Beijing Olympic Games. China’s national image has been distorted.” “The massive reports of some Western media and social organizations that distorted China’s image have provided ample space for the ‘soft containment’ of China.” “It is obvious that the Western media are continuously manipulating public opinion to constrain China’s international environment for development.” “[Chinese] authorities are greatly concerned about such ‘soft containment.’ People in charge have pointed out that the purpose of ‘soft containment’ is to ‘damage your image, undermine your external environment, and slow down your development.’ They called for being vigilant and smashing the ‘soft containment’ of China.” [3]

The article also states, “As the Western media has an extensive communication network, and a wealth of information resources, it has enormous influence in setting the agenda. According to statistics, over 90% of the world’s information is disseminated from the U.S.-led Western countries; more than 70% is disseminated by multi-national media giants in those countries. Most developing countries can only serve as information transit points, relaying information from the Western Countries. It is true even in the Internet era. China’s national image has thus been distorted. According to the academic research, for longer than the past 10 years, Western, and especially the U.S. media’s main tone on China has not fundamentally changed.” “According to academic analysis, some features of the ‘soft containment’  include: putting pressure on the ideologies during so-called dialogue or communication, with the recognition of China’s rise and its role in international affairs; exerting influence on the world’s governments’ policies and forcing China to make concessions using pressure on ideological, economic, and social issues. The pressure on ideologies relies particularly on the media and public opinion.” [3]

The Outlook Weekly article quoted a number of views from Chinese officials and scholars:

The Vice Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University, Professor Cheng Manli, said, “Many Western media have always understood and judged the world according to their inherent values and interests, based upon which they set the ‘agenda’ for reporting, while the general audience can hardly perceive the selection process. Most people interpret the outside world by following the agenda and information chosen by the mainstream media.” “By setting the agenda, the Western media determine which events are important, which are less important, and which are not important. A virtual environment is thus built. Although this environment is not real, it, however, does have a great impact on people’s minds, behavior, and decision-making.” “For the world to learn objectively and accurately about China, (China) must break through the agenda set by the Western media and give China a voice on a broader platform.” “Firstly, China needs to seize the initiative in the international media, guide public opinion, and turn around from the current position of being passively judged by others. To achieve this, we must have the support of national power and we must have the sense of proactively communicating our agenda.” “Secondly, we must rely on our own international media to reverse what Western media report. Under the current circumstances, China should adapt to the outside world on linguistic symbols and means of expression, and thereby have Western media relay China’s message.” “Thirdly, we ought to focus on issues and hot topics of the international community, participate in the world’s discussions, and eventually dominate the reports.” “Meanwhile, in order to reap the gradually accumulated effects, we need to systematically clean up and refine China’s image.” Cheng Manli finally pointed out, “Lastly, overseas Chinese are an important audience. Their recognition and identification with China’s national image will help increase the effectiveness of disseminating information in the international arena.” [3]

The director of the Journalism Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Yi Yungong, said, “The Western media claim they pursue objective reporting, but when faced with the same facts, their reporting, including their angle of observation, tailoring of the facts, and editing of the details, are permeated with their values and bias.” [3]

Professor Yu Guoming at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Renmin University of China said, “From the perspective of news research, the Western media’s distorted coverage can be approximately divided into two categories: one category is due to ignorance, confusion, or lack of understanding; the other is deliberately distorting the facts. When it is to intentionally distort the facts, there must be some political purpose or even more, a profound national interest behind it.” [3]

Mr. Zhao Qizheng who once served as the director of the State Council Information Office said, “In the United States, only a few of the elite can influence U.S. policy: Members of Congress, the President, the chief editors of major newspapers, and top university professors. These people have an impact on U.S. policies, while other people don’t. In other words, the social elite in Western societies establish the public opinion agenda to control the international political and the economic agenda. Some scholars have even developed a term, ‘momentum making’ to describe the process: often times the so-called ‘social problems’ do not always have an objective and real existence, but are known to the public through the media’s selection, sorting, and dissemination. For the media who are ‘creating the momentum,’ it’s not important whether an issue is real or not. What is important is how to impose a particular social significance on it, introduce it to the public, draw wide attention and discussion to it, and arrive at a society-wide ‘consensus building’ through a ‘commonly defined process.’” [3]

Professor Jin Chanrong, Vice Dean of the School of International Relations at the Renmin University of China, said, “The reason Western countries can arbitrarily apply a double standard to China is that China’s soft power is still weak. He pointed out that soft power includes factors such as core values, the influence of social culture, the influence of commercial culture, and the effectiveness of domestic and foreign policies. In recent years, China’s soft power has been enhanced: the government has increased the support for our own culture products, and culture exports have increased. Since 2004, borrowing experience from language promotion agencies from the U.K., France, Germany, and Spain, China has been supporting the establishment of Confucius Institutes. But overall, compared to Western countries, China’s soft power is much weaker, the gap remains wide, and ‘China’s voice’ is not loud enough”. [3]

Mr. Cai Wu, the Minister of Culture and former director of the State Council Information Office, publicly stated, “At present, the proportion of positive, objective, and accurate foreign news reports on China is still relatively small.” “If we can take advantage of the modern digital technology, our current means of communication, and citizen diplomacy, we can break through the hegemony of dominance in public opinion.” [3]

On December 8, 2008, Outlook Weekly magazine published an article entitled, “The Expansion of Soft Power with Chinese Characteristics.” Dong Manyuan, author and researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, said, “30 years of reform and opening up has substantially upgraded China’s hard power. Its ever climbing soft power has a different nature from the Western definition. … China’s system, path, and development model reveal persistent vitality.” “The Chinese Communist Party has a strong and mature capacity for governance and popular public support. It is almost impossible for foreign forces to change China’s system; it’s almost futile for major powers to curb China’s development.” [4]

On May 25, 2009, Study Times published an article titled, “The Strategic Choice of China’s Cultural Modernization.” The article said, “The strategic choice of Chinese cultural modernization is to follow the basic principles of cultural modernization, to learn from the historic experiences of the world’s cultural modernization, and to be in line with China’s specific conditions and international environment. From the angle of science and modernization, we have focused on studying Chinese cultural modernization strategy’s quantitative targets, basic path, and implementation measures. We have also drawn a road map which is a strategic plan to achieve the strategic objectives and a systematic integration of the target, the path, and the means.” This strategic objective can be approached from three aspects: “(1) the implementation of the ‘National Culture Agenda’ so as to improve the quality of cultural life; (2) the implementation of ‘the Strategy of Revitalizing Chinese Culture’ to enhance our cultural competitiveness; (3) the implementation of the project, the ‘Quality Works of Chinese Civilization’ (a collection of high quality productions) to enhance cultural influence.” At the end of the article, it concluded that “the modernization of Chinese culture is a complicated systematic project, which cannot be achieved overnight. From a scientific and modern perspective, the cultural modernization road map can be a strategic choice. The 21st century is the century of the revitalization of Chinese culture and will be a century of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” [5]

On June 9, 2009, Xinhua reported that Li Changchun, a member of Standing Committee of the Politburo, addressed the promotion of socialist cultural development during his trip to Zhejiang Province. Li said, “While leading the people in periods of revolution, social development, and reform and opening up, the party has left landmarks and spiritual wealth, which are valuable resources for patriotic education. Taking the opportunity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the new China, (we need) to carry out massive patriotic education campaigns, guide the cadres and the massive public in the deep understanding of history that it was the Chinese people who chose Marxism, the Chinese Communist Party, socialism, and the reform and opening up, and who further strengthen the faith and confidence in walking on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics and achieving the great renaissance of the nation under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.” [6]

On July 20, 2009, Study Times also quoted Ye Xianwen, then Chief of the State Administration of Religious Affairs and special commentator for People’s Daily, from his conversation with the ethnic musician Xuan Ke in the dialogue, “Restoring Chinese Culture and Going Beyond.” Ye said, “Now, with the socioeconomic development, the Chinese nation is showing a momentum of rising and renaissance. However, in order to achieve the great rejuvenation of the nation, although it is very important to sustain a continual and rapid economic growth, we cannot neglect culture as the base and internal appeal. For a nation to stand high among the nations in the world and win respect, it needs to be not only ‘rich and powerful,’ but ‘culturally charming.’” He added, “Although the history of modern Western countries is not long, they have experienced the Renaissance, which provides a solid foundation for culture. If the Renaissance freed ‘human beings’ from the shackles of God, and later humans were deified, degenerated, and mankind fell downwards against its own nature, and even became a ‘virus,’ the [present] era calls for a new Renaissance. Mankind must return from an overly inflated self to ‘harmonious human beings,’ and must build a new ‘harmonious world,’ in which mankind harmonizes with nature, with society, and with mankind itself. Amid the development of a harmonious society, Chinese culture may need go through the culture restoration process of ‘basic cultivation in poetry, manners, and music,’ [8] and ‘music, and the harmony of heaven and earth.’ [9] The great renaissance of Chinese culture will be accompanied by a process from the “social values crushed” to a new stage of “social values revitalized.”… The renaissance of Chinese culture, such a complicated and heavy topic, can be brought out beginning from talking about the revitalization of social values, and then carried forward.” “Achieving the creation of the great history of the Chinese nation’s rejuvenation is bound to produce a magnificent epic. … China’s The Yellow River Cantata, and Long March Songs [10] are all ‘immortal works’ that are amazing and educational.” “We’re a large country, if everyone comes out to address this issue, even ‘Falun Gong’ will talk about it. That is not permitted. We encourage everyone to speak out, listen to good suggestions, and collect ideas. We should let the good voices spread all over the world, but for bad voices, we should block or guide them.” [7]

Endnotes:
[1] Xinhua, May 14, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-05/14/content_8168192.htm
[2] Xinhua, May 14, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-05/14/content_8167949.htm
[3] Xinhua, April 10, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-04/10/content_7950835_1.htm
[4] Xinhua, December 8, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2008-12/08/content_10473539.htm
[5] Study Times, May 25, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2667&nid=9674&bid=6&page=1
[6] Xinhua, June 9, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-06/09/content_11515860.htm
[7]Study Times, July 20, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=2808&bid=9
[8] The Analects of Confucius
[9] The Book of Music, a classic Chinese literature during Warring States Period, (BC 453 – BC 221)
[10] Titles of the songs that the Chinese government promotes.