Geo-Strategic Trend - 227. page

He Wenping, director of the African Department of the West Asian and African Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote an article to explain China’s success in Africa. 

He said, “While the Western countries pay attention to ‘software projects’ such as ‘ability development’ and so on, China emphasizes roads, bridges, and other such visible and tangible projects, the “hardware projects,”  that benefit the local residents directly. So far, China has constructed more than 2,000 kilometers of rail lines, more than 3,000 kilometers of roads, over 100 schools, and over 60 hospitals. China has also reduced or cancelled 20 billion yuan worth of debt.”

“Due to financial constraints, Africa’s basic infrastructure development has a shortage of at least US$20 billion each year. These projects actually support China’s globally competitive construction enterprises which are implementing the ‘going overseas strategy.’” He said that each time she went to the capital of Ethiopia, the taxi driver would thank China for helping them to have such modern roads.

Source: Qiushi, August 29, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/gj/gjsspl/201108/t20110829_105813.htm

On August 29, 2011, Study Times, a newspaper under the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School, published an article about Libya. When talking about the reasons why Gaddafi fell, the article stated, “Gaddafi did not hold high the banner of national sovereignty and nationalism and failed to effectively develop a strong nationalist sentiment among the people. In the end, he became a loner with no way to escape.”

As for the Libyan rebels, the article stated that many of the leaders are former high officials from Gaddafi’s government; it is uncertain whether they really want to push forward on reforming the system without fighting for their personal political interests and whether they can withstand the pressure from receiving political spoils from the West.  

Source: Study Times, August 29, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/08/29/02/02_46.htm

Huaqiao University and Social Sciences Academic Press recently published the first “Blue Book on Overseas Chinese Media.” According to the Blue Book, there are over 300 overseas Chinese media in 50 countries, including 20 in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Malaysia and Australia alone.

Based on a survey collected from the oversea’s media, the Blue Book disclosed that 55.7 percent of the media have built their own websites while 12.9 percent have plans to launch a website; 60 percent of the media think that the major challenge they face is market competition; some have business operational issues including that 50.8 percent lack funding; and 47.7 percent are short of professional editorial staff.

Among the suggestions the survey collected were requests that the Chinese government provide funding; provide free news and various programs; support local Chinese language education; build networks and collaboration between domestic and overseas media; and encourage the local government to use the overseas media channels to advertise foreign investment opportunities and policies.

The Blue Book also suggested that two critical factors shape the future of overseas Chinese media: the immigration of millions of Chinese from the mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong provides a strong market; the arrival of the digital age poses a challenge when the traditional print market is shrinking and online media continue to grow.

Source: Huanqiu, August 26, 2011
http://china.huanqiu.com/hot/2011-08/1951267.html

In responding to divergent views about the South China Sea conflict, Qiushi Theory, the online version of Qiushi Journal, published a commentary stating that the precondition to any discussion is that China has sovereignty over the area. After that is agreed upon, there can be discussions among the countries involved on putting aside conflicts and collectively exploring resources.

Recently, there have been different views in China on how to handle the South China Sea conflict. One side thinks China should exercise self control and continue to find the strategic opportunity, while the other side thinks China should stand firm with the option of resorting to war. The commentary stated, “To those who disagree that sovereignty belongs to China, no matter who they are, China should hold a firm position and maintain its options, including war, to guard China’s rights. … For China to exercise self-control does not help to solve the problem.”

The commentary also stated, “China is firmly against those countries who are not part of the conflict getting involved. China is also against any action that will spread the conflict further in international society.”

Source: China Review News, August 27, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1018/1/3/1/101813174.html?coluid=169&kindid=0&docid=101813174&mdate=0827002412

Zhao Qizhen, the dean of School of Journalism at People’s University of China wrote an article for People’s Daily (overseas edition) titled “In Our Grand Vision, What Kind of China-Japanese Relations Do We Want?” The author’s question arose from a public opinion poll that indicated the people of both countries had a negative impression of each other. China Daily and Genron NPO of Japan jointly conducted the poll in preparation for the seventh Beijing-Tokyo Forum. According to the poll, 28.6 percent of Chinese had a positive view of Japan, while over 70 percent had a negative view. The Japanese general public’s view toward China was even worse. Only 20.8 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of China. The author lamented that the poor feelings the two country’s people have toward each other is readily seen and that the fragile relations between them is worrisome. The author stated that Sino-Japanese relations are a manifestation of both countries’ multiple and complex relationship (from ideology to national interests to history) and proposed to develop a relationship from the grand vision. The proposal includes looking into the common interests of both sides; striving to develop common interests and complementing each others economic structure; coordinating the common views of geopolitics; calmly handling territory disputes; and cautiously dealing with unanticipated sudden incidents. At the same time it involves avoiding “abusive language, forceful action, and hard injuries” such as what happened in Japan’s handling of the boat collision incident at the Jiaoyu (Senkaku) islands.

Source: People’s Daily, August 25, 2011
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2011-08/25/content_907017.htm

On August 12, 2011, Xinhua’s International Herald Leader published a commentary titled, “Be on Guard against the West’s Insistence on ‘China’s Responsibility.’” The article started with an apologetic statement that a German commissioner for African Affairs made, saying, “China is not responsible for the famine in the Horn of Africa.” The commentary stated that the West has launched a “media attack,” which is a “soft war,” against China for the purpose of driving China out of Africa. “With the rise and global influence of China, the so-called ‘China’s international responsibility’ has become a new weapon and a new means for the West to suppress China.”

The article acknowledged that “China’s responsibility” has misled some developing countries and created obstacles to China’s international cooperation. Therefore, it suggested that China must seize the earliest opportunity to spread the word in its loudest voice that favors China in the international media, so as to win the world’s understanding.  

Source: International Herald Leader, August 12, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-08/12/c_131043110.htm

On August 22, 2011, Xinhua published an editorial about the end of Gaddafi’s Rule. The article criticized the West for taking advantage of the unrest in Libya and constantly conducting air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces even though, since the beginning of the century, Gaddafi had adjusted his foreign policy to be favorable to the West. “As far as the West is concerned, smiling or swords are only tools to achieve their own strategic interests.”

The article pointed out that internal strife has started among Libyan rebels, concluding, “The end of the Gaddafi era does not mean the end of unrest in Libya. The power vacuum caused by the fall of a political regime tends to lead to factional conflicts, which will result in social turbulence.”

Source: Xinhua, August 22, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-08/22/c_121894757.htm

People’s Daily recently reported on a Gallup poll, which showed that 54% of those responding were dissatisfied with Obama. The poll also showed that Obama’s job approval rating was at 39%, which is a record low for a U.S. President. The report suggested that the poll result was related to S&P recently dropping the U.S. rating to AA+ for the first time in history. The report also referred to a recent Reuters’ poll which indicated that over 70% of U.S. people believe the country is heading the wrong direction. The report mentioned a few other numbers to prove its point: In July, the U.S. unemployment rate remained above 9% and the second quarter economic growth rate was merely 1.3%. Although Obama just started his bus tour in the Midwest to sell his new plan, the report hinted that might just be “a show for his reelection.”

Source: People’s Daily, August 20, 2011
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2011-08/20/content_902415.htm