Briefings – Page 1097

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 | | December 8, 2009 | Geo-Strategic Trend

New PLA Command Regulations Cover Emergent Reactions

Chinese President and Chairman of Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Committee, Hu Jintao, recently issued new PLA command regulations for all branches of the army. The regulations give clear stipulations for commands at all levels and all branches geared toward “new situations and new requirements of the military struggles in the new era.” In particular, the new regulations include the PLA’s responses to multi-level security threats, combat situations involving information warfare, organization, and command operations in response to emergent incidents.

Source: Xinhua, December 2, 2009

http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-12/02/content_12573997.htm

Briefings | | December 8, 2009 | Defense/Military

H1N1 Influenza Outbreaks in People’s Liberation Army

China News Net reported that the outbreaks of H1N1 influenza have significantly increased since the autumn season started, according to the Department of Defense web site. Zhang Yan-ling, the Health Minister of the PLA General Logistics Department reported that up to now, 51 outbreaks have occurred in the PLA. Recently, some army divisions have had at least one hundred or even hundreds of individuals simultaneously sick with H1N1 influenza. The prevention and control of the disease is very difficult.

Source: China News Service, December 4, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/12-04/1999546.shtml

Briefings | | December 7, 2009 | Defense/Military

Made in China Experiencing Three Tribulations Overseas

According to a Xinhua’s International Herald Leader’s article on December 3, 2009, Chinese products have been experiencing three tribulations overseas: exposure of the tainted products, becoming anti-dumping targets, and being misinterpreted by those wearing “tinted glasses.”

Toxic toothpaste, tainted toys, poisonous dumplings and milk … have led Chinese products into a “poisonous” crisis. Meanwhile, Chinese products are becoming “anti-dumping” targets due to the cheap price supported by cheap labor. In addition, westerners view Chinese goods with tinted glasses, labeling “Made in China” as a “China’s foreign economic expansion tool” and blaming Chinese businessmen because they never consider social values such as human rights, environment and safety issues.

Source: Xinhua’s International Herald Leader, December 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-12/03/content_12580393.htm

Briefings | | December 7, 2009 | Economy/Resources

Outlook Magazine: China’s Role in the U.S-India Relationship

According to Outlook Magazine, among China, the U.S. and India’s relationship, the U.S. has the largest advantage, while China must nurture its relationship with India, “India believes that the U.S. apathy toward India is largely because the United States pays more attention to China. If the U.S. and China get closer, it will undermine India’s interests.” “In the trilateral relationships among China, the U.S. and India, the U. S. is the most powerful with the greatest initiative, while the relationship between China and India is marginalized and needs careful nurturing.”

The article holds that the U.S. fosters tension in the Sino-Indian relationship in order to lure India into the U.S encirclement to contain China. The article warns that if the Indian government chooses to blindly follow the U.S., acting as its pawn to contain China, then it will have a negative impact on Sino-Indian relations.

Source: Legal Daily, December 1, 2009
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/2007jdwt/2009-12/01/content_1189703.htm

Briefings | | December 4, 2009 | Geo-Strategic Trend

State Media: Western Assessment of China’s Air Force Is Distorted

State media, Globe Magazine, recently commented that the West has distorted assessments of China’s Air Force. While mainstream media tend to be the reviewers in the West, “the true assessment comes primarily from governments, military, and think tanks in the West.” Such an assessment is affected by various factors, mostly politics. “More often than not, the interpretation or assessment of China’s Air Force by Western countries is not based on an objective position, but rather serves their own political or strategic objectives.” The "China’s Air Force threat theory” is driven by economic interests as well as attempts to cause a deterioration of relations between China and neighboring countries and damage China’s image. [1]

The article also tried to ease concern in the West over Air Force commander Xu Qiliang’s claim that China should develop space weapons [2]. It said Xu’s statement was misinterpreted.

Source:
[1] Xinhua, December 1, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/globe/2009-12/01/content_12569894.htm
[2] Chinascope, November 5, 009
http://chinascope.org/main/content/view/2059/105/

Briefings | | December 4, 2009 | Defense/Military

China’s National Defense to Protect its Intellectual Property

China will implement an intellectual property strategy in national defense, stated a Chinese military official at a military IP strategy meeting. “A Defense Intellectual Property Strategy Implementation Plan will be carried out across the board in the areas of national defense, IT, and munitions building. The plan has set clear short-term goals for 2015 and long-term goals for 2020, with 19 specific tasks.” The short-term goal is that more than 10,000 patent applications will be filed by 2015. By 2020 China will own a group of independent intellectual property rights in the key technical fields of weapons and equipment and in the field of integration of military and civilian high-tech.

Source: Xinhua, December 2, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-12/02/content_12575240.htm