Geo-Strategic Trend - 231. page

The People’s Liberation Army Daily stated on June 14, that the live-fire military exercises that Vietnam planned for the South China Sea will intensify the conflicts in the region. "China resolutely opposes any country unrelated to the South China Sea issue meddling in the dispute. China opposes the internationalization and broadening of the South China Sea issue," said the military newspaper. “The countries concerned should stop the unilateral actions that broaden and complicate the South China Sea dispute and should no longer make untrue and irresponsible remarks.”

Source: PLA Daily, June 14, 2011.

The People’s Daily (overseas edition) rejected the commentaries of the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor which suggested the possible role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a military alliance. Titled “SCO is not an Eastern NATO,” the article states, “Some countries are on guard as their attention turns to the SCO. …The remarks [of the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor] reflect the mindset of those who are not willing to accept the fact that their ‘world police’ status is being challenged. … The SCO is not and will not develop into a military alliance, but the maintenance of regional security has been its important mission.” “The SCO military exercises target regional terrorism, and are different in nature from the recent military exercises that have been held frequently in various world regions with a color of military alliance.” “The killing of bin Laden is merely a symbolic achievement in one phase of global anti-terrorism, in addition to temporarily uplifting U.S. President Obama’s approval rating.”

Source: People’s Daily, June 15, 2011
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/14902479.html

On June 6, 2011, during his visit to Cuba, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited an oil drilling field where Great Wall Drilling Co. (GWDC), a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is arranging to provide drilling services to Cuba. Upon completion, the oil well will be the largest land drilling well in South America with a depth of 7,000 meters, and 6,200 meters of horizontal displacement. Since August 2005, GWDC has drilled 63 wells along the coast from Havana to Varadero, Cuba. The total output of petroleum and natural gas from these wells has reached 13 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua, June 9, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-06/09/c_121509938.htm

On June 7, 2011, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei refuted the Philippines’ accusation that Chinese vessels were increasing their activities in the South China Sea and violating the Philippines’ sovereignty. Hong said, “For Chinese vessels to cruise and carry out scientific studies in waters under China’s jurisdiction was proper and legal. China does not accept the Philippines’ groundless accusations.” “China urges that the Philippines stop unilateral actions that harm China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, broadening and complicating the South China Sea disputes, and that the Philippines no longer make irresponsible remarks that do not tally with the facts.”

Source: Xinhua, June 7, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-06/07/c_121505087.htm

The cheap land in Brazil has attracted massive investment from foreign individuals and companies, including Chinese. By October 2010, China’s state-run Chongqing Grain Group Co., Ltd. had developed 800,000 mu (131,790 acres) of soybean plantation farmland in Brazil. It plans to reclaim one million mu (164,736 acres) more farmland, for a total investment of over 5 billion Chinese yuan (US$771 million), making Brazil China’s largest overseas soybean oil production base. In addition, Zhejiang Province’s Fudi Agricultural Co., Ltd. has invested 200 million yuan (US$31 million) in the purchase of 16,800 hectare of Brazilian land for a soybean plantation. Meanwhile, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), China’s largest state-owned food giant, has also shown interest. 

According to Xinhua, on June 6, 2011, in Bandung, Indonesia, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) joined Indonesia’s National Armed Forces (TNI) to conduct a joint special forces drill “Sharp Blade 2011.” The event, the first one in history between the PLA and TNI, is expected to “further consolidate the friendship between the PLA and TNI, improve bilateral mutual understanding and trust, promote pragmatic exchanges and cooperation between the two armies, and enhance the capacity for anti-terrorism.” Sixty-nine commanders and soldiers from the PLA will join all three phases of the training: exchange and exhibition, the composite formation training, and the comprehensive exercise. They will join their counterpart in TNI in an exercise where the background is an assumption that a terrorist organization causes panic by seizing hostages. Zhao Zongqi, Chief of staff of the Jinan Military Region, and Lodewijk F. Paulus, Indonesian TNI special force commander, attended the opening ceremony.

For the whole month of June, over 500 overseas Chinese from 50 countries and regions are to visit the “Sacred Places of Revolution” in southern Jiangxi Province, including Nanchang, the Jinggangshan Mountains, and Ganzhou, where, in the 1920s, the Chinese Communists rioted against the then ruling Kuomintang (KMT) government and built its Red Army. According to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, a Communist led organization for overseas Chinese and the organizer of the tour, the mission is to “help the overseas Chinese, especially the young generation, understand and subscribe to Chinese revolutionary history.” The first group of visitors is mainly young entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao.

Source: The United Front Work Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, June 3, 2011
http://www.zytzb.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/tzb2010/S2012/201106/706525.html

On May 24, 2011, Xinhua reported that Jiang Yu, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented on an opinion expressed by Richard Bush, the former Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of the American Institute in Taiwan. Mr. Bush asserted that no one can deny the fact that the Republic of China has existed continuously since 1912. Jiang said that there is only one China in the world, that Taiwan is part of China, and that China strongly opposes that some people in the U.S. completely ignore the facts and employ words and deeds that are against the One-China Principle.

Source: Xinhua, May 25, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-05/25/c_121453563.htm