Geo-Strategic Trend - 203. page

On July 19, 2012, in Beijing, Chinese president Hu Jintao attended the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Hu said that, in the next three years, the Chinese government will promote the new China-Africa strategic partnership and will take measures to support African peace and development in five key areas.

First, expand cooperation in investment and financing. China will provide a US$20 billion line of credit, with a focus on supporting African infrastructure, agriculture, and manufacturing and development of SMEs. Second, continue to expand aid to Africa, including building more agricultural technology centers, training 30,000 professionals for Africa, providing 18,000 government scholarships, and setting up cultural and vocational and technical training facilities; China will provide a 1500-person medical team. Third, build a cooperative partnership with Africa in cross-border inter-regional infrastructure construction; encourage able Chinese companies and financial institutions to be involved in African cross-border inter-regional infrastructure construction; help African countries improve customs and commodity inspection; and promote regional trade. Fourth, support and promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation of non-governmental organizations, women, and youth; set up a "China-Africa News Exchange Center” in China, to support the news agencies with both sides exchanging reporters; continue to implement the" China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Program” to fund academic institutions and scholars on both sides to carry out 100 academic research, exchange, and cooperation projects. Fifth, China will launch a "Sino-Africa Peace and Security Partnership Initiative," to deepen its cooperation with the African Union and African countries in the field of peace and security, provide financial support to the AU peacekeeping operation, build a standing army, and increase trainings for peace and security officials and the number of peacekeepers for the AU.

Source: Xinhua, July 19, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-07/19/c_112477365.htm

On July 3, 2012, in Beijing, China’s Press and Publication Administration and the Export-Import Bank jointly signed  “the cooperation agreement on supporting the press and publication industry for going out (going overseas), using key enterprises and key projects.” Liu Binjie, Director of the Press and Publication Administration and Li Ruogu, Director of China Export-Import Bank signed the agreement on behalf of the two parties. The agreement indicates that, over the next five years, the Export-Import Bank of China will provide no less than 20 billion yuan (about US$3 billion) to press and publishing companies in support of their efforts to go overseas.

Wu Shulin, Deputy Director of the Press and Publication Administration, said that “the strategic cooperation to jointly support China’s press and publishing industry to go out is a major step in implementing the Communist Party’s spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session and the ‘12th Five-Year Development Plan of China’s press and publication industry.’”

Source: People’s Daily, July 4, 2012/7/5
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/0704/c70731-18444926.html

On the 15 year anniversary of Hong Kong’s reverting back to the mainland, the Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council issued its annual report on the overall developments in Hong Kong as well as the current relationship between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland.

The report expressed increased concern over the independence of Hong Kong’s media. According to the report, Hong Kong University recently conducted a public survey which found that the number of those surveyed who agreed that Hong Kong media lack independence and are unlikely to criticize Beijing was the highest since the 1997 date of reversion. The report also suggested that China has increased its involvement in the recent official elections in Hong Kong.

According to the report, the economic and manpower exchange between Hong Kong and the mainland has resulted in conflicts in the allocation of Hong Kong’s education and medical resources as well as in cultural differences. The examples included the increased number of mainland students studying in Hong Kong and the large number of pregnant women who come from the mainland to Hong Kong to give birth (a birth in Hong Kong results in Hong Kong residency for the child).

The report believes that the Hong Kong government will continue to face difficult challenges in the future.

Source: BBC Chinese Edition, July 1, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/07/120701_taiwan_hk_china.shtml

On July 3, China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the Export-Import Bank of China reached an agreement in Beijing on “cooperation to support and foster key enterprises and key projects of the press and publication industry’s going out strategy.” GAPP’s president Liu Binjie and China’s ExIm Bank’s president Li Ruogu signed the agreement. It allows the Export-Import Bank of China to provide no less than 20 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion) or its equivalent in foreign currency financing to support and promote the press and publishing enterprises’ overseas activities in the coming five years.

According to the People’s Daily report, the Export-Import Bank in recent years has “conscientiously implemented the Party’s Central Committee and State Council’s series of instructions on promoting the development of culture industries and making full use of a range of financial instruments to lead the financial industry in supporting the international development of culture industries.” As of the end of 2011, the Export-Import Bank of China had supported the international development of culture industries through different types of loan contracts amounting to nearly 26 billion yuan ($US4.10 billion).

Source: People’s Daily, July 4, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/0704/c70731-18444926.html

On June 21, 2012, the Vietnamese National Assembly passed the "Law on the Sea of Vietnam." The law proclaimed Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. However, China claims the islands are the “indisputable” territory of China. Jia Xiudong, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, wrote a commentary on Vietnam’s action, originally from People’s Daily’s overseas edition, which Xinhua published on June 23.  

In the commentary Jia called the "Law on the Sea of Vietnam" viciously provocative, saying it openly intensified the dispute between China and Vietnam over the South China Sea. The commentary claimed that the law is illegitimate because it seriously violates the basic principles of international law, including the "Declaration on the Code of Conduct on the South Sea," an agreement that both parties reached last October. The article called Vietnam’s government “too selfish” and “lacking sincerity.” In the end, Jia called for counter measures against Vietnam until it backs off on this issue.

Source: Xinhua, June 23, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-06/23/c_112273765.htm