Geo-Strategic Trend - 130. page

On its Chinese Edition site, well-known Russian news agency Sputnik recently reported that the large amount of aid loans China provided South Africa during President Xi Jinping’s visit to that country will probably save two large South African state-owned companies, Eskom and Transnet. The South African newspaper City Press also reported that these two large companies will have significant relief from financial pain and will get their health back. In July, Eskom, as the national energy resource provider, just declared a financial loss of US$174 million and it will receive a US$2.5 billion loan from China Development Bank. Transnet, a major transportation company, will receive a large loan from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China as well. According to South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Xi thinks China has significant special interests in Africa, especially in South Africa. President Xi will continue to provide aid to the region. Ramaphosa has been trying to save Eskom for many years. The company was deeply involved in political scandals during the time of the previous administration. Banks later stopped providing loans to Eskom.

Source: Sputnik Chinese Edition, July 26, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/economics/201807261025969234/

On August 3, the foreign ministers of the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their Chinese counterpart announced agreement on a Single Draft South China Sea Code of Conduct Negotiating Text (SDNT) that will serve as the basis for the adoption of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

Among the proposals that China made, two of them are notable. The first is on cooperation on the marine economy and states that cooperation is to be carried out by the littoral states “and shall not be conducted in cooperation with companies from countries outside the region.” In contrast, Malaysia proposed that nothing in the Code of Conduct (COC) “shall affect… rights or ability of the Parties to conduct activities with foreign countries or private entities of their own choosing.” The marine economy includes aquaculture and oil and gas cooperation, and marine culture.

Another proposal is about joint military exercises. “The Parties shall establish a notification mechanism on military activities and will notify each other of major military activities if deemed necessary. The Parties shall not hold joint military exercises with countries from outside the region unless the parties concerned are notified beforehand and express no objection.”

China’s move is perceived at an attempt to weaken further any U.S. intervention in the South China Sea as the U.S. is considered as being among “countries outside the region.”

Shen Shishun, a scholar from the China Institute of International Studies, made it very clear in his interview with Russian based Sputnik News. “The so-called interference or factors of uncertainty mainly mean that some countries outside the region, out of a cold war mentality, are worried about the rise in influence of other countries in the region, and the decline of their own. They have adopted cold war tactics to provoke dissension among the countries in the region and to disrupt the situation in the South China Sea. It should be said that the interference of external forces is mainly from the United States. The U.S. global strategy is simple. It is to prevent any country from challenging its hegemonic status. The rise of China naturally has become its greatest threat. In fact, what the U.S. is doing does no good for Sino-U.S. relations, nor for regional peace and stability.”

Source: Sputnik News, August 4, 2018
http://sputniknews.cn/opinion/201808041026048188/

People’s Daily reported that, on the afternoon of July 19, the State Council Information Office, the State Administration of Radio and Television, the Chinese Embassy in Senegal, and the Senegalese Ministry of Information jointly organized the opening ceremony of the “China Film and Television African Screening Program (French Region)” in Dakar City in Senegal. The StarTimes Media Company in Senegal and Senegal Radio and Television hosted the ceremony. At the launching ceremony, the guests watched the promotional film for the “China Film and Television African Projection Program (French Region).” According to the plan, 26 Chinese films and 20 Chinese TV dramas dubbed in French will be screened in several French-speaking countries in Africa such as Senegal. The selected programs will be aired through the mainstream media of Senegal, the platform of the “African Satellite TV Project,” the satellite TV platform of the Star Times Group, and its “Mobile Cinema” stations.

Source: People’s Daily, July 28, 2018
http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0728/c1002-30175334.html

The Paper.cn, a China based news portal, reported on the three-week long 2018 young sinologist training program that ended on the afternoon of July 27, with a closing ceremony held at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Thirty-two young sinologists from 27 countries participated in the training.

Scholars from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Fudan University, East China Normal University, Tongji University, and Shanghai International Studies University gave lectures at the training session. The trainees also visited historical, business, and political sites in Shanghai and Beijing.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism hosts the Youth Sinologist Training Program. Launched in 2014, the program has finished 12 sessions, graduating 360 young sinologists from 95 countries. The project “aims to build a global platform to support overseas young Sinologists in conducting China research and to create opportunities for young talent in the field to exchange and cooperate with outstanding Chinese academic, cultural, and educational institutions and scholars and to provide them with convenient and substantive assistance in their research.” It also “takes the opportunity of personnel training to promote long-term and stable relations between the academic institutions of different countries, Chinese institutions, and think tanks, in order to achieve mutual exchanges and mutual learning, and the joint promotion of the development of China studies.” In 2018, the program started its Spring, Summer, and Autumn classes in 6 cities including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Xi’an. The number of trainees this year will exceed 200.

Source: The Paper, July 29, 2018
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2302374

At the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2015, China’s President Xi Jinping proposed that China implement the “10 Cooperation Plan” with African countries over the next three years. One of the 10, the Humanities Cooperation Plan, included a proposal “to implement satellite TV projects for 10,000 villages in Africa.”

A recent People’s Daily report gave an update, with quotes from villagers in Kenya, Senegal, and Zambia. They expressed gratitude toward the Chinese government and President Xi for being able to watch TV programs for free using set-top boxes that the Chinese company installed.

According to the report, on July 20, 2018, the local digital TV project was launched in a village in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. According to the plan, the project will select 500 villages in the country and provide digital TV equipment for 1,500 public institutions and 10,000 households without charge, so that villagers can watch TV programs for free. The project is expected to be completed in mid-September, covering 60 percent of the entire Republic of Uganda.

StarTimes Ltd. is the Chinese digital TV service provider that Beijing picked to implement the program. The company is currently connecting digital TV signals for 10,112 villages in 25 African countries. For each village, it will provide two sets of solar projection TV systems and one digital TV system free of charge and will install digital TV set-top boxes for 20 families, also free of charge.

StarTimes has been involved in the African digital TV market for over ten years. As early as 2011, it launched a TV program translation center. The company has developed into a sizable program translation base with nine languages, including Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Luganda, and Tweed and a capacity for 10,000 hours of programming. It also established a comprehensive content system, with more than 480 channels including internationally renowned channels, Chinese mainstream channels, African local channels and 42 self-operated channels.

The report quoted praise from Zambian president, Edgar Lungu, and Uganda’s First Lady and Cabinet Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni. It also mentioned the upcoming Beijing Summit of FOCAC in September, which will “make new plans for the China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.”

Source: People’s Daily, July 27
http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0727/c1002-30173141.html

On Tuesday, July 24, the East Asian Olympic Committee voted to rescind an agreement for Taichung Taiwan to host the first-ever East Asian Youth Games in 2019, a decision that was made four years ago in 2014. Huanqiu published an opinion article claiming that the voting result aims at Taiwan’s intent to use politics to influence sports and no one can challenge “Chinese Taipei” as the name to be used at the Olympic Games. It referred to Taiwan’s intent to hold a name change referendum which proposed to change its name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The article stated that results of the vote of the eight East Asian Olympic Committee members broadcast the message that the decision “perfectly fit the spirit of Olympics” and the end result is a well-deserved lesson for “Taiwan Independence” forces.

Source: Huanqiu, July 24, 2018
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2018-07/12565479.html