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Briefings - 1087. page

China Boycotts U.S. Companies for Arms Sales to Taiwan

China’s official website, www.huanqiu.com,  reported on January 11, 2010, that Raytheon, one of America’s major arms dealers, has a notorious record of selling arms to Taiwan. The Chinese government has taken sanctions against Raytheon, which has not received any orders from China since 2004 and had to withdraw completely from China’s Mainland market.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, another U.S. military industrial enterprise involved in arms sales to Taiwan, has suffered the same fate in China. Like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin faced severe sanctions from China and lost its market in China.

Source: Huanqiu, January 11, 2010
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-01/684617.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Combat Training on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in -20 Degrees Centigrade

On January 4, 2010, about ten thousand PLA soldiers and one hundred military officials from the Tibetan military region armed with one thousand armored vehicles had a combat drill on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in minus 20 degrees centigrade weather. The purpose was to strengthen the PLA’s capability to respond to emergencies in severe cold conditions, reported the PLA Daily on January 10, 2010. 

Source: PLA Daily, January 10, 2010
http://www.chinamil.com.cn/jfjbmap/content/2010-01/10/content_17734.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Chinese Communist Party’s Spokesperson System

At the end of the year 2009, the State Council’s press conference announced an “important task initiating a press release system in 2010: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee’s spokesperson system.” 

Over the past months, efforts of the pilot project were already put into place in local level party committees. On December 29, 2009, the CCP’s Nanjing Committee held its first press conference, with 117 spokespersons at various branches of the city’s CCP agencies showing up. In October and November, press conferences of the same nature were launched in Meishan City and Changsha City. 
Ever since 2006, five agencies in the CCP’s Central Committee have set up a spokesperson system: the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the United Front Work Department, the International Liaison Department, the Party Literature Research Centre, and the Taiwan Affairs Office. It’s believed that the growing spokesperson system in the CCP system is another measure to dominate public opinion and maintain social stability. 
Source: Xinhua, January 14, 2010 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-01/14/content_12806960.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s Information Official on Internet Security

On January 14, two days after Google’s announced threat to pull out of China, the People’s Daily published an interview of Wang Cheng, the Vice Chief of the Chinese Communist Party’s Department of Publicity and Director of the State Council Information Office. 

In the interview, Wang said the Internet “has become an important national infrastructure, and the online information is the nation’s important strategic resource.” “Safeguarding the secure operation of the Internet and secure flow of online information is the fundamental requirement of safeguarding the fundamental interests of national security and the people, and promoting social stability.” 
Wang also asked the Internet media “effectively to enhance the capability of guiding online public opinion,” “regulate the order of information dissemination,” and “promote the Internet media’s self-discipline.” 
Source: People’s Daily, January 14, 2010 
http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40606/10763399.html
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

SARFT: Vigorously Develop the Internet Radio and TV

"Capable radio and television stations must vigorously develop Internet radio and Internet TV, breaking away from the traditional mode of production, so as to gather the resources and wisdom of Internet users," said the Zhu Hong, of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT), on January 14. 

Zhu announced that 2010 will be a year to digitalize radio, film, and television, actively transforming the traditional media and accelerating the development of new media and new industrial trends. 
Source: Xinhua, January 14, 2010 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newmedia/2010-01/14/content_12810045.htm
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Chinese Military Expert: War in the Future Not Impossible

Zhang Zhaozhong, a Chinese military expert, warns that the United States will inevitably get entangled in another war, although time and the enemy are yet unknown. “Obama came from the grassroots. During his campaign, accepting the honor to serve his country and now in office, he expressed many good points of view. Yet, I have never held any illusion about him. He is a well-educated person and a member of academia, so he can speak well and express his point of view quite well, but such thoughts cannot be those of a president. He can receive the Nobel Prize trophy for his personal philosophy but as president, he has to launch wars.  

"When reviewing U.S. history, there was no U.S. president that prescribed peace – one cannot be president without a war. Obama must be in a very difficult position. He cannot do what he wants to do and he must do what he does not want to do. There is no other way. 

"This is the United States and this is the nature of imperialism. It is inevitable that the next war will break out. There is no doubt that the United States will be the culprit. But whom to fight and when is the big question."

Zhang is a military theorist and commentator. He is a professor at the National Defense University, and of Rear Admiral rank.

Source: Xinhua, January 11, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2010-01/11/content_12790747.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

People’s Daily: China should Not Worry about the US Returning to the Southeast Asian Region

The website of the State’s People’s Daily published an article stating China should welcome the United States to the Asian Pacific region to contribute to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region.  

“Despite U.S. intervention, China should keep a low profile and not be too much ‘in the public eye.’ It can seize this rare strategic opportunity of peaceful development to keep a low profile and good terms with neighbors, focusing on its own development.”  

In light of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the surging protectionism at home, the result of the “Asian return” may be significantly overstated. “In this context, Obama’s ‘return to Asia,’ may not be so terrible.”

Source: People’s Daily, January 12, 2010
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/10750195.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Google’s Withdrawal from China Is Part of China’s Control of Internet Strategy

 Boxun reports that Google’s withdrawal was inevitable according to a Communist propaganda official.

“The Chinese officials said that Google’s withdrawal from China is a matter of time, except Google has not reached that point yet. He said that this time the so-called Google’s withdrawal from China is a bluff, so it can negotiate better terms. But this is clearly a miscalculation. The threat might have been effective a few months ago, but now it is just empty air, because the current Internet rectification is considered a matter of life and death for the Communist Party and the country. The ultimate goal is to bring search engines like Google that have such a great influence in China under control.”

Source: Boxun, January 13, 2010
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/01/201001131208.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology