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Briefings - 1104. page

Chinese Businessman Buys Out Troubled UK Satellite Station

Ye Maoxi, a Chinese business owner of the Xijing Group from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province bought out a troubled UK satellite station named “Propeller.”

According to China News, Propeller was the first European digital satellite station to broadcast programs that contain original productions only. The station was established in February 2006 and currently has coverage in dozens of European countries. It was awarded the “best satellite television station in Europe” in Venice, Italy in November 2008. The station lost its funding from the government in the midst of the economic crisis and was eager to find a strategic investor. Ye learned about this opportunity while he was accompanying Wen Jiabao on his visit to Europe at the beginning of the year, and finally closed the deal six months later. Ye plans a major makeover and hopes to turn the station into a platform for domestic businesses and to increase its exposure overseas.

Prior to this, Wang Weisheng from Wenzhou also purchased a television station in the Emirates and has been airing programs since August 1, 2006.

Source: Zhejiang News, July 13, 2009
http://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/05zjnews/system/2009/07/13/015664716.shtml

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

State Media Rebuts Western Media Coverage of the Xinjiang Riot

The state media has issued a number of rebuttal articles expressing dissatisfaction with western media coverage of the “July 5 incident” in Xinjiang.

Beijing Daily said the western media’s reporting on the “July 5 incident carries double standard.” It labels the words “peaceful demonstration,” “discriminating ethnic policy,” and “violent suppression” as “biased.” It states that the western media were “wearing tinted glasses” to mislead their readers and audiences in the west. It said that some have “used distorted facts which favor the violent party and hence they lost their basic professional moral standard.”

Global Times said that the western media were trying to intensify ethnic conflicts with “ill intentions to split the nation.” It asked all parties to ignore the “noise and firmly stick to domestic rules and laws (established by the Party).”

Source: China News, July 12, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/07-12/1771707.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua Praised the Party Members’ Ability to Face the Challenge of the Xinjiang Riot

Xinhua praised the party members and leaders’ for their ability to deal the Xinjiang riot and called them a critical force in ensuring social stability. It also warned them that “as the situation in Xinjiang improves, domestic and foreign enemies will not give up, so maintaining stability in Xinjiang remains a most important task and a test for all the party members.”

Source: Xinhua, July 12, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/12/content_11697608.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Outlook: Lessons to Learn from the Soviet Union’s Collapse

When the Soviet Union was at its peak in the mid 70’s there were five ‘hidden dangers’, according to an analysis by Outlook Magazine, which had the stated goal of studying the collapse of the Soviet Union to avoid the same fate for the Communist Party in China. Interestingly enough, some of these dangers are already severe in China. The five hidden dangers were as follows:

1. Brezhnev was primarily focusing on an arm race with the U.S.
2. Under the claim of "stability,” Brezhnev refused revolution and suppressed innovation.
3. The lifelong terms of officials under the ruling system and subsequent governance by aging people formed a stable interest group and a bureaucratic privileged class.
4. Corruption and privileges for special groups reached an unbearable level.
5. The Soviet Union had a wrong positioning with the rest of the world.

Source: Outlook Magazine, 26th issue, 2009
http://www.outlookweekly.cn/htm/content_4847.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Wang Zhaoguo: The Labor Union’s Primary Mission Is to Serve the Party

On May 26, Wang Zhaoguo, the President of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, gave a speech at the “Conference on the Theory and Practice of Firmly Staying on the Chinese Characteristic Socialism Union Development Path.” Some excerpts from Wang’s speech are as follows:

“(Unions) must persist in consciously following the Communist Party’s leadership.”
“(Unions) must persist in serving the big picture of the Party and the nation’s work.” [i.e., the laborers in the unions should sacrifice for the Party and the “nation,” —Ed.]
“In the new era, (unions) must absorb employees, including peasant workers into their organization, expand the union’s coverage, … provide important support to strengthen the Party’s class base, expand the Party’s public bases, and fortify the Party’s control of the offices.”
“Actively include the union’s international work in the nation’s overall foreign relationship arrangement.”
“Unions should follow the principles of ‘promoting enterprise development and protecting employees’ rights’ and seek a balance between the two.” [i.e., in the Union’s view, the employees’ interest should yield to the enterprise’s interest —Ed.]

Source: Qiushi Magazine, June 16 2009 issue
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20090616/GB/qs%5E505%5E0%5E2.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Zhou Yongkang: Enforcing Comprehensive Management at the Grass-Roots Level

On May 18, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, Party Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of the Central Committee and Director of the Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security, spoke at the National Commending Conference on Comprehensive Management Achievements from 2005 to 2008. Zhou stated that the comprehensive management work [Editor’s Note: meaning preventing any public event or social turmoil] should be strengthened at the grass-roots level.

The comprehensive management of public security should be implemented at all work units. Each organization and work unit must “manage their own area” and “whoever is in charge is responsible (for social stability).” Each work unit must “watch its own gates, manage its own people, and take care of its own things.” The grass-root level implementation of the comprehensive management work includes enforcing the construction of the party organizations, comprehensive management offices and people self-management organizations.

Source: Qiushi Magazine, June 16, 2009 issue
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20090616/GB/qs%5E505%5E0%5E1.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: US Stepping Forward from “Behind the Scene” in South China Sea

2009 sees a bigger role for the United States in the South China Sea, said Xinhua. “Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries now view foreign military procurement as a shortcut to quickly upgrading their sea and air combat capability. In 2009 the neighboring countries in the South China Sea have changed their strategy to procure high-performance conventional submarines, long-range fighters, advanced surface ships and other heavy equipment.” As Southeast Asian countries have spoken about opposing China with the help of the United States, "the United States is stepping from ‘behind the scene’ to the ‘front stage’ in the South China Sea."

Source: Xinhua, July 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-07/03/content_11644872.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Outlook: China to Go to the North Pole

China has major strategic interests in the Arctic region and should secure the Arctic’s resources, said Outlook Weekly. “The Arctic has an important impact on temperature and precipitation in China.” “Use of the Arctic waterways for Chinese fleets would shorten the voyage by 40% compared to the current routes through the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal that are plagued with security risks, high cost and schedule delays.” “China should invest in the development of or otherwise secure the Arctic’s resources.”

Source: Outlook Weekly, Issue 27, 2009
http://lw.xinhuanet.com/htm/content_4882.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend