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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson on the Sino-Russian Military Alliance Issue

On September 17, Hong Lei, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, was answering reporters’ questions. A news reporter asked, “Yesterday, a Russian congressman suggested that the Western’ sanctions against Russia will push Russia and China to establish a military alliance. What is China’s response?”

Hong replied, “The Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership will not have an alliance, we will not confront each other, and we will not target third-parties. China will adhere to its strategic cooperative partnership position. [China will,] with Russia, continuously increase our strategic trust, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, and strengthen our cooperation on international and regional affairs.”

Hong also stated, “On the Ukraine issue, sanctions will not solve the problem. The issue will ultimately be handled through a political resolution.”

Source: Xinhua, September 17, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-09/17/c_1112522728.htm

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BBC Chinese: HK Poll Showed Half of the People Do not Support Political Reform Proposal

BBC Chinese recently reported that the South China Morning Post conducted a scientific poll on the recent government-proposed reform of the political system that determines how the Chief Executive of Hong Kong will be elected. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved the proposed reform. However the Hong Kong Legislative Council has to pass the proposal before it can become law. According to the results of the poll, 48 percent of the sample thought that the Legislative Council should veto the proposal. Thirty-nine percent said it should pass. Thirteen percent of the people surveyed were unsure. Among all of the people who responded to the poll, 70 percent of those between 18 and 29 years old favored a veto; 50 percent of those between 30 and 49 years old supported a veto; 37 percent of those who are 50 or older supported a veto. The proposed reform includes a “filtering mechanism” to limit the candidacy.

[Editor’s note: Beijing has rejected open nominations in favor of having a nominating committee select who can run.]

Source: BBC Chinese, September 15, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2014/09/140915_hongkong_democracy.shtml
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BBC Chinese: Survey Showed 93 Percent of Japanese Have Negative Views of China

BBC Chinese recently reported that Genron NPO, a well-known Japanese non-profit think tank, just released the results of its public opinion poll on the Japan-China relationship. The organization started this annual poll in 2005. The current survey was done jointly with China Daily, a Chinese state-owned newspaper published mainly in foreign languages. Among the Japanese surveyed, 93 percent had negative views of China. Among the Chinese people surveyed, 86.8 percent had negative views about Japan. The Japanese negative views were based primarily on China’s violation of international rules, its selfishness in sharing natural resources, its territorial disputes, and on China’s constant criticism of Japan’s war history. After the number one threat, North Korea, 64 percent of the Japanese thought of China as a military threat. For the Chinese in the survey sample, 55 percent expressed the belief that Japan is a military threat, the number one threat being the United States.
 
Source: BBC Chinese, September 9, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2014/09/140909_japan_poll_china.shtml
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EU Chamber of Commerce: Golden Age of Doing Business with China is Ending

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the European Union’s Chamber of Commerce just released its annual report on the state of the EU-China business relationship. In its report, the Chamber questioned how trustworthy China will be in keeping its promise to let the market play a decisive role in the economy. The report warned that the Communist country must speed up on the delivery of its promise of reform or the world’s second largest economy will see a landslide in its growth rate. The Chamber suggested that “the golden age of doing business with China is about to end.” The report expressed the belief that the window of opportunity for rebalancing the Chinese economy is closing. In the meantime, the Chamber had doubts about whether, during the process, foreign companies will be treated fairly or not. It also expressed concern about the role that state-owned companies will play. The Chamber’s report from last year already showed that only 44 percent of the EU companies saw a growth in their profits in China. 
Source: Sina, September 10, 2014
http://finance.sina.com.cn/china/20140910/145320255115.shtml
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Xi Jinping met Putin: China and Russia Should Support and Back Each Other

According to Xinhua News Agency, when Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe on September 11, Xi told Putin that the Sino-Russian bilateral relationship between the two countries and their cooperation in a number of fields was strong. He recommended that the two sides strengthen their mutual support, expand opening up to each other, and back each other up so they can jointly cope with external risks and challenges in order to achieve the grand goal of each country’s own development and rejuvenation. 

Source: Xinhua, September 12, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2014-09/12/c_1112448800.htm
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Tajikistan’s Growing Dependence on Beijing

On September 9, Xinhua quoted a report from the Russian newspaper Independent (Независимая газета) that China is becoming Tajikistan’s most important economic and strategic partner.
The article, titled, "Tajikistan Is Becoming China’s Important Client in Raw Materials" stated, "Today, Beijing is one of Dushanbe’s [the capital of Tajikistan] top three trading partners. During 2011, bilateral trade exceeded US$2 billion. Dushanbe believes that this is not the upper limit."
"Xinjiang is treated as one of the future directions of the two sides for expanding trade cooperation. Emomalii Rahmon (the President of Tajikistan) said in an interview, that he hoped to reach an agreement on the Tajikistan-Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) subcommittee on economic and trade cooperation during his talks with Chinese leaders. One cannot rule out that the plan will be implemented, as China regards Tajikistan as Xinjiang’s energy supplier."
"Tajikistan also hopes to participate in supplying natural gas to China. The Central Asia gas pipeline will go through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Dushanbe wants to pump the natural gas from the Bokhtar field into the pipeline. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and the French Total oil company have started to develop this field. Experts from the two companies said that Tajikistan is likely to become the region’s second-largest supplier of natural gas to China."
"Last year, China won the right to develop the Zeravshan gold mine. In 2007, China’s Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd (紫金矿业公司) acquired the Zeravshan Gold Company. In 2013, Zijin invested US$60 million in gold mining. Last year, Tajikistan received a US$140 million long-term loan from China. The funding will ensure the increased production of gold. In addition to gold, China also paid special attention to lead and zinc."
"China’s agriculture encountered little significant competition in Tajikistan. When local farmers traveled to Russia for the Gold Rush, Chinese farmers came to cultivate the land. The Ministry of Agriculture of Tajikistan leased land to Chinese farmers. The Ministry explained that there is a lack of domestic farming capacity, and that cotton-planted lands are no longer suitable for other crops. The Chinese have the technology to restore the salts to the soil. Their Tajikistan grown products will be sold locally."
"In recent years, China’s investment in Tajikistan approached US$500 million (about 3.07 billion yuan); its loans were about US$1 billion (about 6.14 billion yuan). Beijing is becoming a generous and important source of finance for a number of projects in Tajikistan. Tajikistan’s growing economic dependence on China is not only the key for Beijing to access natural resources, but also a tool for political pressure."
Source: Xinhua, September 9, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/cankao/2014-09/09/c_133630666.htm
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People’s Daily: France Should Not Flip-Flop on Russian Arms Sales

People’s Daily carried a commentary article questioning France’s decision to suspend the delivery of its first Mistral-class amphibious assault ship to Russia. The article said that the French authorities’ decision is rather surprising [disappointing]. 

The article stated, “On whether to carry out the contract to provide Russia the amphibious assault ship, the French authorities had been resisting pressure from the United States and some Western countries. … However, France recently made a 180-degree U-turn. This is primarily because of sustained pressure from the United States. Of course, it is also related to the Russia and Ukraine relations, which started deteriorating some time ago. As can be seen, the French authorities also wanted to use it to exert influence on the Kremlin’s decision makers.” 
The article commented, “In the past, France has been implementing a "de Gaulle" independent foreign policy. Even when the leftist former President Francois Mitterrand was in power, this policy did not change. Now France has to play America’s tune, has become indecisive on major decisions, and has even backtracked. People cannot help but worry about the future of French Foreign Policy.” 

Source: People’s Daily, September 9, 2014 
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0909/c1002-25627747.html

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China Review News: It Is Urgent for China to Develop an Aggressive Maritime Strategy

On September 4, 2014, China Review News published an editorial commentary titled, “It Is Urgent for China to Develop an Aggressive Maritime Strategy.” The commentary viewed the United States as the top obstructionist hindering China’s rise. “The purpose of the United States’ ‘Return to Asia’ strategy is to counterbalance China in order to ensure the Asia-Pacific security system. To do this, it takes advantage of the disputes between China and its surrounding countries and uses China’s neighboring countries’ forces (to act together to go against China).” The commentary asserted that the United States has constantly been making trouble so as to contain China’s rise and to let China’s neighboring countries rely on US protection. “America’s ‘Return to Asia’ strategy has undoubtedly encouraged China’s neighbors to challenge China more boldly in their maritime disputes and even take risky actions against China.”

The commentary suggested that China should be more aggressive. In the disputes in the South China Sea, “China should target Vietnam as a main breakthrough country. It should increase its efforts to crack down on Vietnam through economic, diplomatic, and other means. Scaring Vietnam can achieve the effect of “striking at the mountain to frighten the tiger.” As for the dispute with Japan on the Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands), the commentary suggests China should use the same aggressive strategy to crack down on Japan so as to scare the Philippines and Vietnam.

Source: China Review News, September 4, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1032/8/1/3/103281309.html?coluid=136&kindid=4710&docid=103281309&mdate=0904000620   

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