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Briefings - 1104. page

Joint Communique of China, India and Russia Released

On October 27, 2009, foreign affairs ministers of China, India and Russia met in Bangalore, India. A Joint Communique was issued afterwards and published in People’s Daily.

The Communique stated that the improved economic conditions of the three countries will facilitate even faster growth. “The strengthened communication of the three countries will benefit improvement of their overall influence, promotion of the democratic process, and development of a multi-polar world.”

The Communique enumerated mechanisms for the three countries to launch talks on global economic management, climate change, trade policy, development, and cooperation.

The Communique asked for a “comprehensive reform” of the United Nations. China and Russia support India’s wish to play a larger role in the UN.

Source: People’s Daily, October 29, 2009
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2009-10/29/content_371134.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Develops Supercomputer

China unveiled its fastest supercomputer yesterday, known as a petaflop. At its peak speed, it can do more than one quadrillion calculations per second.

The birth of the supercomputer, named "Tianhe," which means "Milky Way," makes China the second country, after the United States, to build a petaflop computer. This gigantic device can do as many calculations in one day as those done by an ordinary dual-core personal computer in 160 years, said Li Nan, director of the Tianhe Project Office under the National University of Defense Technology, developer of the supercomputer.

The supercomputer has many practical applications, and will be used in seismic data processing, for oil exploration, bio-medical research, development of aerospace vehicles, long-term weather and climate forecasting, financial data analysis and pollution control in the Bohai Sea area.

Source: People’s Daily, October 29, 2009
http://scitech.people.com.cn/GB/25509/10280952.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Xinhua: Have the Courage to Make Demands on the United States

According to International Herald Leader, a newspaper under Xinhua, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated that the "the cycle of good and bad times" of Sino-US military exchanges over the years needs to be broken.  We hope that the U.S. should have enough common sense to realize that it is the U.S. military that has caused the occasionally good and bad times.

Tell the United States our concerns and pursuits directly. China has clearly put forward the requests on the Taiwan issue and China’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. The U.S. should not stretch its hand too far. On the issue of the Indian Ocean, the International navy should divide it into regions and provide anti-piracy convoy among different countries. Let us see how the U.S. will respond to China’s "cooperative and constructive spirit."

Source: International Herald Leader, November 2, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-11/02/content_12371614.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: National Police Chiefs Repledge Loyalty to the Party at Jinggangshan

Xinhua reported that on November 3, 2009, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the CCP Central Committee’s Political Bureau Standing Committee, the secretary of the Central Political and Law Commission, and Meng Jianzhu, state councilor and deputy secretary of the Central Political and Law Commission, Minister of Public Security, led all the Central Political and Law Commission members and the National Police Bureau Chiefs Forum participants to the Jinggangshan [1] Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery. They presented flower baskets to the revolutionary martyrs and re-read the Party Oath.

Now, there are over 2 million police and over 3 million political and law personnel all over the country with over 70% being CCP members. How to make all the police officers maintain their belief (in the CCP) has become the primary subject of public security work.

Source: Xinhua, November 5, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/05/content_12394516.htm
[1] Jinggangshan is known as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army and the "cradle of the Chinese revolution." It is where Mao Zedong and a few fellow Communists set up the first peasant soviet in 1927.

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Study Times: News Media Are Not Only the Mouthpiece of the Party

According to Study Times, news media are not only the mouthpiece of the Party but also the Party’s eyes and ears. If what media present are all good news, the CCP Central Committee will be deaf and blind.

For a long time, the opaque information has “taught” the people that the news from the government controlled media has no credibility. In many places, "maintaining social stability" equals "Maintaining stability in newspapers (or on the TV screen)." With the development and popularity of the Internet, SMS and other new communication technologies, the limits of this self-deceiving way of covering up can be seen.

Open and transparent public information can not fundamentally solve any problems, but can discover and diagnose the problems. It can also ease people’s discontent.

Source: Study Times, November 2, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=3028&bid=12

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Xinhua: Potential Obstacles in Sino-US Military Exchanges

According to Xinhua, during the meeting with US Defense Secretary Gates, Vice Chairman Xu of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party highlighted four obstacles facing the two countries: arms sales to Taiwan, activities of U.S. warships and planes in the Chinese economic offshore zone, legal barriers, and strategic trust in China.

Xinhua concluded with quotes from a Chinese military expert, “Generally, there was no breakthrough in military exchanges to speak of. In the past, whenever the United States needed China to cooperate with its overall strategy, it would make some moves to ease up. Otherwise, they would stir up trouble in Sino-US relations.”

Source: Xinhua, November 2, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-11/02/content_12371404.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Study Times: The U.S. Should Show More Respect for China’s Interests

According to Study Times, if the United States truly intends to engage in constructive cooperation with China, it should care about China’s core interests “such as economic development, arms sales to Taiwan, Tibetan issues, and China’s disputes over territorial waters with its neighboring countries.” The US should not ask China to make a promise on environmental controls that exceeds its capability. “No matter what excuses the U.S. uses or what the volume of the sale is, China views arms sales to Taiwan as an interference with China’s sovereignty and disrespectful of Chinese feelings. The same holds with the issue of Tibet, which goes beyond human rights. And even from the human rights angle, the U.S. has no just reason to interfere….”

Source: Study Times, November 2, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=3017&nid=11024&bid=2&page=1

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Reform Forthcoming for Non-commissioned Officers

Towards the end of the year, Chinese military forces will implement a new system for over 800,000 non-commissioned officers. This is another major policy reform for non-commissioned officers following the 1999 reform. According to the General Staff Department of the People’s Liberation Army, the reform is based on four considerations: retention of officers for information warfare, institutionalization of lessons learned, solutions for current conflicts and problems brought by various changes, and adjustments necessary to meet the needs for reform of the country and its military forces.
 
Source: China News Service, November 4, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/11-04/1946769.shtml

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military