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Briefings - 1163. page

Chinese Agriculture Hit Hard by International Financial Crisis

The State Council met on April 22, 2009 to discuss stimulus measures to stabilize the Chinese agricultural sector amid the international financial crisis, reported Xinhua. Premier Wen Jiabao presided over the Council’s executive meeting. The meeting reached a consensus that the international financial crisis is deepening and its negative impact on the Chinese agricultural sector is emerging. With global commodity demand shrinking and prices falling, the downturn of agricultural exports coupled with slack domestic growth has pushed down agricultural prices and production efficiency in China, making it increasingly difficult to maintain a stable agriculture sector and to increase farmers’ income.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, April 23, 2009
http://agri.gov.cn/jjps/t20090423_1260834.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Foreign Investment Withdrawals Become A Steady Trend In China

Mr. Xi Xiaoming, a senior official of the Chinese Supreme Court, recently said there has been a steady increase in withdrawal of foreign investments. Domestic private enterprises also face challenges due to the global financial crisis. 

A statement by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicates that the total foreign investment in January was $7.5 billion, a decrease of 32.6% compared to the same period last year.

Source: EpochTimes, April 18, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/9/4/18/n2499031.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Author of “Losing the New China” Denied Visa for Exposing CCP’s Brutality

During an interview, the author of the book "Losing the New China," Ethan Gutmann,  shared his view on Falun Gong’s "protest" outside of the Chinese central government compound, Zhongnanhai, 10 years ago.  Gutmann said that after an in-depth investigation and many personal interviews,  he had concluded that the "4/25 incident" was a setup by the Communist Chinese leader at the time, involving the intentional misrepresentation of Falun Gong practitioners’ actions to present grievances legally and openly at the Court of Appeals (near Zhongnanhai). He affirmed that the 4/25 incident was "just an excuse" on the part of the Chinese Communist Party leader at the time, and that the Falun Gong practitioners had fallen into a trap orchestrated by the Party used to justify a persecution that was already in the making. Subsequent investigation by Gutmann revealed that over the years, many Falun Gong practitioners have been killed as a result of the persecution as well as killed for their organs.  He believes that the death toll has very possibly reached beyond 100,000, of which about 10,000 have been used for organ transplants. 

Gutmann has been recently denied a visa into China.

Source: Epoch Times, April 17, 2009
http://epochtimes.com/gb/9/4/17/n2497771.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua: China Is Building up Its Satellite Navigation System

After China launched the second satellite of its Compass Navigation Satellite System (CNSS) on April 15, Xinhua published articles stating that China is building up its own satellite navigation system. Ten satellites will be launched in this year and next year, a global navigation system with over thirty satellites covering the entire world will be in place by 2015.

Xinhua stated that the global navigation system is largely for military use. It also mentioned that CNSS will help break the US’ monopoly in the world’s global positioning and navigation system business.

The positioning accuracy of the newly launched satellite is at the centimeter level.

Source: Xinhua, April 17, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2009-04/17/content_11197152.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2009-04/16/content_11192384.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Xinhua: Global Times English Edition Starts Publication

Global Times English Edition will start its first publication on April 20, 2009. The Global Times English website will also start on the same day. Global Times English Edition will be the second comprehensive English newspaper published in China. It will report the world from the Chinese angle and convey Chinese people’ s stance and viewpoint on major issues around the world.

Global Times, a newspaper under the People’s Daily, began publishing in 1993 and is one of the newspapers with the largest number of subscribers in China.

Source: Xinhua, April 19, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newmedia/2009-04/19/content_11217348.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s New Strategy: Loan for Oil

China National Radio reported that China and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on oil cooperation in Beijing on Tuesday. Under the intergovernmental agreement, China will provide a $25 billion loan to Russia, Russia will use oil as collateral. Russia will sell China 15 million metric tons of oil from 2011 to 2030, using the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline.

Energy Resources are currently the number one target of China’s overseas investment. Since the beginning of 2009 China has signed several "loan for oil" cooperation agreements with other countries, including a $10 billion loan to Brazil on February 18, a $4 billion loan with Venezuela on February 21, and a $1 billion loan with Angola on March 13. On April 5, President Correa of Ecuador announced a possible deal of exchanging crude oil for a $1 billion loan from China.

On April 16, China National Petroleum Corporation signed a contract to provide a $5 billion loan to Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz National Co. to jointly buy AO Mangistaumunaigas, an oil and gas company in Kazakhstan.

Source: China National Radio, April 21, 2009
http://www.cnr.cn/gundong/200904/t20090421_505310249.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Canadian Prime Minister Wakes Up on Visit to China after Three Years

The International Herald Leader, a branch of Xinhua News, published an article which reflected China’s state view analyzing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s intention of his trip to China. The article quoted Globe and Mail to describe Harper’s China policies as “childish”.

The article stated the belief that the Canadian Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day’s recent visit to China signaled an important policy adjustment to seek more trade opportunities with China to survive the current economic crisis. The article mentioned that Harper has consistently criticized China on human rights issues since he was elected.

Source: Xinhua News/International Herald Leader, April 16, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-04/16/content_11193852.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics