Geo-Strategic Trend - 204. page

China Review News (CRN) recently reported that, in addition to highways, China and Pakistan have decided to build a railroad connecting Xinjiang Kashgar and Gwadar Port located on the Arabian Sea and at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. CRN stated, “Following the China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline, this project carries a strategic significance. It indicates that China has another channel it can use to have direct access to an energy source in the Arabian Sea which connects to the Indian Ocean region.” China has signed a series of collaboration agreements with Pakistan to build an economic corridor between the two countries. From 2002 to 2006, China invested US$200 million to turn Gwadar Port into a deep water harbor. In February 2013, China Overseas Holdings Ltd. officially gained operating rights to the Gwadar Port.

Source: China Review News, July 21, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1025/7/3/7/102573708.html?coluid=136&kindid=4730&docid=102573708&mdate=0721003247

The People’s Daily Overseas Edition published a commentary article in which it called the Philippines “the fox borrowing the tiger’s fierceness.” Its purpose is to mess around and cause trouble [in the South China Sea issue]. The article pointed to the Philippines’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Hernandez’s statement on July 15, 2013, that, "It is impossible for the Philippines to continue bilateral negotiations with China on the South China Sea dispute." 

Hu Siyuan, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, published an opinion piece in Xinhua’s International Herald Tribune commenting on the implications of the 2013 Sino-Russian joint military exercise. 

Xinhua recently reported that the newly released Japanese Defense Whitepaper is full of false statements against China. The Japanese Cabinet approved the latest Whitepaper on July 9. It suggested that the Japanese government is pushing hard to counter the “Chinese military threat.” The language in the Whitepaper suggested that China’s military activities at sea are a threat to the safety not only of Japan but to the entire region as well. The report however expressed the belief that this is just a game the Abe administration is playing in order to justify its attempts to modify the Japanese constitution and to break the traditional military limitations Japan has had in place since the end of the Second World War. The Whitepaper claimed that China has taken a lot of “dangerous steps” to change the existing international order and that, in the past ten years, China’s defense budget has tripled while Japan’s showed a five percent decline. The Chinese government issued an official rebuttal immediately, saying that the Japanese allegations are simply lies and Japan is just looking for excuses to increase its defense spending.
 
Source: Xinhua, July 11, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/2013-07/10/c_132527928.htm

Huanqiu recently interviewed Wang Jianling, CEO of Wanda, who told Huanqiu that China’s ability to export its culture overseas would be very difficult without acquiring and having control of the proper channels. Wang acknowledged that acquiring AMC has enabled Wanda to take a first step into the world’s culture industry. Wanda’s goal is to reach a 20 percent market share worldwide by 2020. Wang continued, “We plan to show three to five Chinese movies in the U.S. this year. I don’t care which movies will be shown but AMC must do so. Otherwise, we will fire the management. If we have worldwide channels like this, why should we be concerned about not exporting Chinese movies to the world?” Wang also claimed that Wanda might consider investing in some influential television stations overseas or participating in the distribution of English films worldwide. “Only through this, can we make culture infiltration possible and allow our culture to go out the door,” Wang said. Wanda Group recently announced a US$1.08 billion investment in building a Wanda Hotel in London and a US$483 million purchase of UK yacht builder Sunseeker. It was back in May 2012, that Wanda announced its acquisition of AMC, a U.S. Cinema chain, for US$260 million. The purchase made Wanda the largest owner of movie theaters in the world.

Source: Xinhua, July 11, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/globe/2013-07/11/c_132525691.htm

On July 9, the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the Great Man Wax Museum of China jointly organized a ceremony in Beijing in order to "present a wax statue of Comrade Kim Jong Il" to the Korean people. The North Korean delegation traveled to Beijing to receive Kim Jong Il’s wax statue. Zhang Murray, the president of the Great Man Wax Museum of China, delivered a speech at the ceremony. 

The overseas edition of the People’s Daily published an article that enumerated seven “crimes” the Philippines committed in the conflict with China over the South China Sea issue. They are: