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Briefings - 1004. page

International Herald Leader: How Should China Expand Its Foreign Aid?

China’s foreign aid is to serve its national interest, and not to fulfill a so-called “international responsibility” that is “forcibly imposed” on China, an International Herald Leader article stated. It made this statement to rebut Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who suggested China take more responsibility to provide aid to Pakistan after its flood catastrophe. The article argued that foreign aid is an important means of foreign diplomacy, and its target is selective and different from country to country. China should provide more aid to its close allies, so that it can attract more friends.

Source: International Herald Leader, August 30, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2010-08/30/c_13469316.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

New Public Service Officers Took Oath in Beijing

On August 31, 2010, the CCP Central Organization Department, Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security, and State Administration of Civil Service jointly organized an oath ceremony for new public service officials of the central government. More than 1,000 public service officials took the oath: “To support the leadership of the CCP; to protect national security, honor, and interests; …” They will each participate in one of 11 training sessions from July to September. The training’s main contents include: the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics and other public service topics.

Source: Xinhua, August 31, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-08/31/c_12503922.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Huanqiu: Be Alert to the U.S. Use of Its Hegemony to Reduce Debt

China Review News republished an article from Huanqiu warning that the U.S. is trying to use its dominant military power to reduce its debt. The article argued that the U.S. faces two issues: the crisis of the national debt and its over expanded military power. The U.S. is losing its political and economic dominance over the world. The only thing it has is the absolute advantage of its military. The U.S. is actually bankrupt in its fiscal budget. Its foreign policy’s mission is to attract U.S. dollar assets back to the U.S. to help it reduce the debt crisis. That means depriving other nations of wealth. The U.S. might also use its military power to achieve that goal.

Source: China Review News, August 31, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/3/1/6/101431617.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101431617&mdate=0831001542

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Low Altitude Interception Systems Passed Inspection

China Review News (CRN) reported that the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) recently completed a test of the Slow Low-Altitude Small Target Detection and Interception System. The system is urgently needed in the domestic security market, which requires round-the-clock detection and high precision features.

The system is expected to be used at important conference sites, large gatherings and sensitive locations. According to the test results, the system is ready for real-world deployment.

Source: China Review News, August 23, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/2/2/9/101422909.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=101422909&mdate=0823090642

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Xinhua: Weaknesses of Chinese Social Security System

In a recent forum, Yin Weimin, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, discussed four main weaknesses of China’s current Social Security System: (1) elderly unemployed city residents don’t enjoy any pension or monetary protection; (2) the aging traditional pension system still covers the government system and public institutions; (3) there is a lack of smooth connections between various social security related systems; (4) supplementary social protection systems are under very slow development and do not satisfy diverse market needs.

Yin suggested that a sound social security system is urgently needed for sustainable social development. The biggest unfairness is the fact that a large chunk of the population lacks basic social protection arrangements.

Source: Xinhua, August 23, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-08/23/c_12474383.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Wen Jiabao: The Biggest Danger for the Ruling Party is Corruption

In a recent State Council working conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao required officials at all government levels to establish the concept of the rule of law and to strictly follow the Constitution and other laws. He emphasized that the biggest danger the current government now faces is corruption, and concluded that the result of it is ineffectiveness in the execution of laws and regulations.

Wen listed four points in his speech at the conference, mainly talking about openness and the democratic processes. The conference included officials in charge of the central government all the way down to the county level. Lawmakers and the court system also sent representatives to the conference.

Source: China Review News, August 27, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/2/8/6/101428676.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101428676&mdate=0827203114

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Huanqiu: China Won’t Be Trapped in an Arms Race with the U.S.

According to an article published on August 20, 2010, on Huanqiu, the Chinese edition of Global Times, the purpose of the U.S. decision to send an aircraft carrier to the Yellow Sea for military drills was to lure China into an arms race with the United States so as to weaken China’s economic strength and induce China’s neighboring countries to contain China together with the U.S. 

“With rich experience in the international struggle, especially with a deep understanding of the former Soviet Union’s lessons, China will never be lured into an arms race with the United States.”

Source: Huanqiu, August 20, 2010
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Exclusive/2010-08/1032701.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Is Diversifying the Allocation of Its Foreign Exchange Reserves

At the end of June, 2010, China had $2.4543 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. On August 24, 2010, China Review News reported that China has been implementing a strategy to diversify the allocation of its foreign exchange reserves.　　

According to the U.S. Treasury Department on August 16, China had reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds by $96.2 billion since July 2009.

Japan’s Finance Ministry announced on Aug. 9 that China had purchased 456.4 billion yen (about 5.3 billion U.S. dollars) in Japanese government bonds in June, which means that China has purchased Japanese government bonds for 6 consecutive months. For the first half year of 2010, China purchased a total 1.73 trillion yen in holdings of Japanese government bonds (about 20.2 billion U.S. dollars). Meanwhile, China has increased its holding of South Korea government bonds by 111%, up to 3.99 trillion won (about 3.4 billion U.S. dollars). In mid-July of 2010, the Chinese Administration of Foreign Exchange bought about 400 million euros in Spain’s 10-year bonds.

Source: China Review News, August 24, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/2/4/1/101424122.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=101424122&mdate=0824080231

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources