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Chinese Military Using Internet to Monitor Soldiers

The People’s Liberation Army is strengthening the ability of its political commissars to use information technology to monitor its officers and soldiers. Xinhua reports that in a recent contest of its political officers, the Jinan Military Region has added questions on collection and analysis of online information, production of multimedia courseware and simulation of wartime political works. 96 percent of the soldiers had Internet experience prior to joining the PLA. A common activity shared by those born in the 80s and 90s is to express independent opinion on the Internet. "This is an important channel for us to learn what our officers and soldiers really have on their minds,” said a political commissar from the "Tiger" Division of the Jinan Military Region.

Source: Xinhua, December 9, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-12/09/content_12619528.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Daily: Harper Gave up Hugh Rights for Economic Development

China Daily commented on Harper’s visit to China, saying that after years of being firm concerning human rights issues, Harper finally saw the light, became realistic and traded it for economic cooperation with China.

The commentary said that Canada’s support for Falun Gong, the Taiwan question, and the Tibet issue has greatly hurt the Sino-Canada relationship. On the contrary, the U.S. was quite pragmatic. Bush raised Sino-US ties to their best period in history, and Obama downplayed ideology and declared to respect other countries’ choices concerning internal matters. Finally, the economic pressure drew Harper to mend his China policy.

The commentary said “… if Canada respects China over issues concerning China’s core interests, bilateral ties could realize sound development.”

The Chinese version listed meeting the Dalai Lama in 2007 and refusing to attend the Beijing Olympic Games as Harper’s transgressions, which were not mentioned in the English version.

Source: People’s Daily, December 2, 2009
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/10494985.html
China Daily, December 2, 2009
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2009-12/02/content_9098381.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Held Central Economic Work Conference

The Central Economic Work Conference took place in Beijing from December 5 to December 7. Xinhua reported that all nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, nearly all members of the Political Bureau and many other high rank officials attended the meeting.

Hu Jintao gave a speech on the current internal and global economic status and the importance and urgency of accelerating the transformation of China’s economic development. Wen Jiabao laid out the economic development plan for 2010.

Source: Xinhua, December 7, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-12/07/content_12605370.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CASS: 85% of Families in China Cannot Afford Housing

Housing prices in China have risen through the roof and are outside the range of any reasonable income, leaving 85% of families in China unable to buy a residence, disclosed the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in its 2010 Economic Blue Book. Government land supply policy and developers holding land for profit are blamed for the rise in housing prices in 2009.

The blue book indicated a reasonable ratio between house prices and resident’s income is between 3 and 6. However, in 2009, that ratio between city housing and city residents is 8.3, 22.08 for off farm workers, and 29.44 for farmers.

Source: Xinhua, December 7, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/2009-12/07/content_12604520.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: What’s behind the “Made in China” CNN Commercial

The Chinese government recently delivered a “Made in China” commercial via CNN. The 30-second commercial took one and half years to prepare. It was paid for by multiple government-controlled chambers of commerce and reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Commerce. CNN was selected to run the commercial because it has the “biggest influence.” The total cost of the commercial was estimated to be tens of millions in RMB. The idea is to cleanse the image of “Made in China,” especially after western media’s widespread reports on the poor quality of Chinese products.

Source: Xinhua, December 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-12/03/content_12580786.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: Hollywood Changing Attitude

Xinhua Net recently republished an article by Globe Magazine, which is a branch of Xinhua News Agency, on recent changes in Hollywood. The article stated the belief that the recent popular movie 2012 signals Hollywood’s changing attitude towards China. The change started from Kungfu Panda in 2008. In both of the movies, China had a positive image. The article concluded that there are three reasons for Hollywood’s change: (1) China is a rising world power; (2) The U.S. is facing challenges around the globe; (3) Hollywood cannot ignore the Chinese market.

Source: Xinhua, December 1, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/globe/2009-12/01/content_12570710.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Wen Jiabao: Some Countries are Restraining China’s Development

Xinhua Net reported on Nov. 30 that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao commented on international trade after the China-Europe Summit. Wen said that it was unfair to ask China to increase the RMB exchange rate while applying protectionism against China. He believed the request was actually an effort to restrain China’s development. Wen also suggested that keeping the Chinese currency stable benefits the Chinese economy as well as the recovery of the world economy.

Source: Xinhua, November 30, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-11/30/content_12564226.htm 

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Chinese Language Rises Amid Financial Crisis

The fourth annual Confucius Institute will be held in Beijing December 11 to 13. As a press conference for the event, Xu Lin, the Director of the state agency Hanban, and The Chinese Language Council International under Ministry of Education, commented that the impact on Confucius Institutes and overseas Chinese language promotion is counter-cyclical. 

Xu, also the Executive Director of the Headquarters of the Confucius Institute, explained that as China has not been hit hard by the financial crisis, and many foreigners wanted to learn how Chinese deal with the crisis, the demand for Chinese language learning has been increasing. 
According to the data provided by Hanban, by the end of 2008, 249 Confucius Institutes have been established in 78 countries. Within the crisis year of 2009, 33 more Confucius Institutes and 10 more countries were added. The theme of this year’s annual conference is “Confucius Institutes and Community Service.” 
Source: Huanqiu, December 4, 2009
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-12/651395.html
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend