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Geo-Strategic Trend - 205. page

China Presented a Wax Statue of Kim Jong Il to North Korea

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. 

Source: People’s Daily, July 10, 2013 
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2013/0710/c1002-22144115.html

Xinhua: Five Key Points of the China-Russia Military Exercises

Xinhua recently reported that the China-Russia joint naval military exercises had five important focal points: (1) The large scale included surface ships, submarines, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and Marine Special Forces units; (2) Both sides sent flagship level warships; (3) The scope of the exercises was wide and practical. They therefore enjoyed deep mutual trust and covered joint anti-submarine, anti-aircraft, and anti-ship exercises, as well as joint civilian escort missions; (4) The operational integration level, from planning to commanding, was high; (5) They emphasized real-life combat exercises and cooperation with the air force. The China-Russia “Joint Maritime 2013 Exercises” started on July 5 in the Japanese Sea. A total of 19 warships and 8 aircraft participated in the exercises. This was the first time a Chinese Naval fleet participated in international exercises with no direct logistic support from China.
Source: Xinhua, July 5, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-07/05/c_116424731.htm

People’s Daily: Philippines Committed “Seven Crimes” in the South China Sea Issue

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:  

“The first is the ‘original sin’ of illegal occupation of China’s eight Nansha islands and reefs. The second is to continually strengthen the so-called ‘actual control’ of the eight islands and reefs. The third is the attempt to turn Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Reef) into an actual possession. The fourth is unilaterally inviting foreign capital to engage in oil and gas development in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. The fifth is deliberately promoting the internationalization of the South China Sea conflict. The sixth is trying all means to pull in extraterritorial countries as its supporters in order to increase the leverage against China. The seventh is the complete lack of good faith in solving the South China Sea problem through dialogue and cooperation.” 

The article warned, “If [the Philippines] wants to choose confrontation … and tries to rely on external forces to strengthen their claim, which lacks legitimacy, it is futile and will eventually prove to be a pyrrhic strategic misjudgment.” 

Source: People’s Daily (overseas edition), June 29, 2013 
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2013-06/29/content_1261261.htm

Xi Jinping: The South China Sea Issue Should not Interfere with China-Vietnam Relations

On June 19, 2013, China News reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping recently met with Vietnamese President Zhang Jin in Beijing. Xi suggested that the two nations should prevent the issues of the South China Sea from interfering in the relationship between the two neighbors. Xi said China is determined to solve the issues in a political manner such as bilateral negotiations and friendly discussions. China called for stopping any activity that would further complicate the situation and for avoiding the internationalization of the issues. President Zhang agreed to the friendly negotiation approach and suggested that Vietnam is willing to participate actively in the joint delimitation effort as well as the peaceful joint development plan. Vietnam also does not want the issues to be a threat to the relationship between the two countries. The China News report described the meeting as “friendly and frank.”
Source: China News, June 19, 2013
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2013/06-19/4947354.shtml

Global Times: Russia Signed Long-Term Oil Supply Deal with China

Global Times recently reported that, on June 21, Russia’s largest oil company, Rosneft Oil, signed a long-term oil supply contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Deputy Premier Zhang Gaoli were both present at the ceremony. The contract is for Russia to supply 365 million tons of crude oil to China over the next 25 years. The total contract value is around US$270 billion. The contract was based on a framework agreement between the two governments which signed in March 2013. 
Source: Global Times, June 21, 2013
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2013-06/4051963.html

Overseas Chinese Media Share the “China Dream”

On June 8 in Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province, He Yafei, the deputy director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office under the State Council, and Liu Beixian, President of the China News Agency, met with personnel from overseas Chinese language media for a face-to-face discussion. The overseas Chinese media executives from Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Malaysia, and other countries shared their "China Dream."

The "China Dream" is not a narrowly defined dream of the Chinese people, but the dream of all mankind and of the whole world," said Liu Yang, the President of VCChina, a Belgian Chinese radio station. Gao Jin, the chairman of the Romania based Europe Bridge Media (欧桥传媒) also believed that overseas Chinese should combine the "China Dream" with the dream of the hosting countries. He Wanmi from Malaysia’s Sin Chew Daily (星洲日報) said, "I am a third generation Chinese in Malaysia. My fellow Chinese there are deeply rooted in the local country, but we still identify ourselves as part of the Chinese culture." Chen Weirong, the President of New Zealand’s Chinese Herald (中文先驱报) said that New Zealand’s Chinese care very much about the "China Dream." Some proposed that Chinese characters are an important carrier of Chinese culture and suggested establishing a "Chinese Character Day."

He Yafei offered three wishes for the overseas Chinese media: that the Chinese media objectively report China and tell the "China story" and the "China Dream" to the world; that Chinese media become the promoters of the Chinese culture and national spirit; and that the Chinese media become the bridge and pioneers in public diplomacy to facilitate communication between China and other nations.

Source: China News Service, reprinted on the website of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, June 19, 2013.
http://www.zytzb.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/tzb2010/S2012/201306/740513.html

Global Times: China Accused of Having a Political Motivation for Helping Nicaragua Build Canal

Global Times recently reported that the Congress of Nicaragua passed a proposal to allow the government to award an exclusive commercial contract to the Hong Kong headquartered HKND Group to construct the Nicaragua Canal. The Nicaragua Canal Project is to build the world’s largest and deepest inter-oceanic canal. It will compete head to head against the Panama Canal. Western media, such as Time Magazine, questioned whether China’s motivation behind the bid had geo-political considerations. The US$40 billion agreement with the Chinese company included fifty years of special operational rights which can be extended for another fifty years. Spanish media also suggested that the lack of transparency in the congressional vote as well as the impact of environmental damage are all issues that may require further discussion. The chairman of the 10-month-old HKND Group claimed the company had "rich experience" in developing and managing large infrastructure-building projects. Reuters suggested that China has a "strong enough economy" to invest into modernized ocean based transportation opportunities and that it’s about time. Time Magazine also commented that China has been expanding its influence in the U.S. backyard for some time now. However, Nicaragua is still one of the very few countries that maintains an official relationship with Taiwan. 
Source: Global Times, June 15, 2013
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2013-06/4028674.html

People’s Daily: The Black Hands Loomed out, Shorting Gold to Save Dollars

People’s Daily overseas edition published an article that stated that the current bear market in gold results from a conspiracy between U.S. financial institutions and the Federal Reserve. 

Since April this year, the international price of gold has continued to fall. In contrast, with the improvement in U.S. economic data, the U.S. dollar has gradually grown stronger. So what is the source of this shorting power that caused the price of gold to plummet? 
Honng Hao, a scholar at the Securities and Futures Institute of the Central University of Finance, believes that U.S. financial institutions actually manipulate the international price of gold. Once the 12-year long gold bull market bubble bursts, the United States can negate a large number of its printed dollars. To digest large quantities of printed money, the best way is to burst the asset bubbles and transfer the loss to the investors. 
Yao Tongxin, Deputy Director of the China Center for Strategic Studies at Peking University believes that the real black hands behind the scene are the Wall Street financial giants who are working together with the Federal Reserve. They have jointly controlled this round’s crash in the price of gold. The purpose of manipulating the price of gold is not just to profit through the shorting mechanism. They had a larger strategic plan in mind. That is to destroy investor confidence in gold and allow the dollar to continue to grow in strength through suppressing the price of gold, thus enhancing the dollar’s credit and in the end allowing the U.S. debt chain and financial cycle to continue. 
Source: People’s Daily (overseas edition), June 12, 2013 
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2013/0612/c1004-21815613.html