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Briefings - 1134. page

Central Military Committee Modifies the Sergeant System

The Central Military Committee recently published “The Revolution Plan to Deepen the Sergeant System” for the military and armed police. Out of the seven areas of reform, two are to increase the intellectual level of the soldiers. The first one is that, while keeping the total number of military staff unchanged, the number of sergeants will be increased to 900,000 and the increase will be allocated primarily for those with high-tech specialties. The fourth one is to increase the number of direct recruits from college graduates and recruit them as sergeants.

Source: Xinhua, July 13, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/13/content_11699069.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Qiushi: Hu Jintao’s Instruction to Military on Safety and Stability

Qiushi Journal published an article by Fang Fenghui, the Commander of the Beijing Military Area Command, on studying President Hu Jintao’s instruction on using the military to maintain social stability. Some of Hu’s instructions are quoted as: “Development is the hard truth, the number one mission; stability is the hard mission, the number one responsibility. Development is achievement, maintaining stability is also achievement.” “(We) must always take it as a critical mission for the military to maintain society’s stability.” The Military should “consciously follow the big picture, to actively contribute to the steady and fast economic development and the harmonious and stable society (of the nation).”

Fang stated that in the past, the PLA has been a critical force during political turmoil and offered strong safety protection in complex situations, and thus has become the most reliable force of the Party when dealing with a crisis.

Source: Qiushi Journal, the 13th issue of 2009, published on July 1, 2009
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20090701/GB/qs%5E506%5E0%5E19.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Xinhua: New Challenges after 60 Years in Power

Xinhua recently published a report quoting experts’ opinions, suggesting that it’s time for Chinese leaders to establish a global vision of overall strategy covering both domestic and international aspects. The recent global financial crisis offered a major opportunity in the reshuffling process of the international financial order.

When the Reform started 30 years ago, China could only join the “games” and obey the established rules. Now China is the third largest economy and feels more and more about the restrictions set by those existing rules. Facing today’s international rule-changing opportunity, China should stand up for Chinese interests and build a strong base for the decades to come.

Source: Xinhua, July 1, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/01/content_11633180_1.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Should Have More Say in International Affairs

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently published an article arguing about “Discourse Power.” The article mentioned the Chinese proposal of reforming the IMF and the World Bank. The author believed that many countries supported the idea, but it seemed China did not have much say in these organizations, which are primarily controlled by Europe, US and Japan.

The author found that, in order to conduct important reform, many international academic organizations usually provide a large amount of research help. Chinese scholars rarely participate in these processes. The article identified the lack of English skills as the primary reason.

Source: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, May, 26, 2009.
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20090526235133.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

PLA Daily: Improve Regional Stability with International Military Cooperation

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily reported that a joint security exercise of the PLA and the Singapore military took place between Jun 19 and June 24 somewhere in the Guangzhou Military Region. This was the first joint exercise with Singapore, and this was the first security exercise with a foreign military.

The exercise reflected the developing military relationship between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In recent years, Chinese military has extended international military cooperation on a strategic level – which is a national defense policy that has been listed in the Defense Whitepaper since 1994.

Source: PLA Daily, June 30, 2009.
http://www.chinamil.com.cn/site1/xwpdxw/2009-06/30/content_1818160.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

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