Geo-Strategic Trend - 234. page

At a recent forum at Beijing Normal University (BNU), Ma Jianfei, Deputy Director of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (Hanban), elaborated on China’s efforts to promote its literature around the world. Since 2006, BNU, jointly with the U.S. magazine World Literature Today and the Confucius Institute at the University of Oklahoma, has compiled a special issue of Chinese Literature Today, launched the Chinese version of World Literature Today, and held international forums on “World Literature Today and China.” In January 2010, the Center for Promoting Chinese Literature Overseas was newly established at the School of Chinese Language and Literature at BNU. 

At the second Sino-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) strategic dialogue in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on May 2, China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE, the current rotating GCC president; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nizar Madani of Saudi Arabia, the next rotating GCC president; and GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait Mohammad Sabah Al-Salim Al Sabah and Foreign Minister of Bahrain Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa also attended the meeting. 

On April 25, 2011, China started building the Kunming-Singapore high-speed railway, which will run from China’s Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, to Singapore, passing through Vientiane in Laos, Bangkok in Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Once finished, the entire trip is expected to take only a dozen hours. 

Voice of America (VOA) recently reported that, for the first time, the Chinese government released a policy white book on foreign aid. In 2009, the total amount of Chinese foreign aid reached US$40 billion. Africa received half of that aid. The white book emphasized that Chinese aid does not come with political conditions. However, as Chinese aid has a low transparency, it is often criticized, even among the locals, because of the opportunities for corruption. The fact that the aid results in Chinese rather than local laborers being employed and the low transfer rate of technology have also resulted in complaints. Seventy percent of what Africa exports to China is oil.

Source: Voice of America, April 21, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110421-China-Gives-Almost-Half-of-Foreign-Aid-to-African-Countries-120397484.html

On April 24, 2011, Xinhua reported that the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and 12 other organizations jointly held an academic seminar on the fall of the Soviet Union. Over 200 people attended the seminar. The primary topics were “The Reason for the Fall of the Soviet Union,” “The Consequences of the Fall of the Soviet Union,” and “The Outlook for the World Socialist Movement.” Some experts expressed the belief that a deep understanding of the reason for the fall and of its impact are the key to improving the socialist movement. They believe socialism can be realized in the foreseeable future. The participants concluded that the seminar will have a positive impact on the process of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. It will also help advance the ideological movement of socialism around the globe.

Source: Xinhua, April 24, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-04/24/c_121342251.htm

A China-Russia-North Korea visa free tourist program was formally put in place on April 26. A pilot tour group of 21 people started a trip from Changchun, the capital of China’s Jilin Province, traveled through Huichun City in Jilin, Russia’s Slavyanka, Vladivostok and Khasan, and North Korea’s Hancha and Nasŏn, and finally returned to Huichun. With the visa application waived, one can tour these three bordering North East Asian countries within four days.

Source: Xinhua, April 26, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2011-04/26/c_121350825.htm

Xinhua’s International Herald Leader published an article titled “How Can China Get Out of Its Diplomatic Predicament in the Middle East?” The article quotes from an Arab source that China’s Middle East policy is widely viewed by many Arab countries as “sitting on the fence.” It wants to have access to the oil but does not want to give up cooperating on technology with Israel, let alone offending the United States. The article predicts that, as China expands in the Middle East, sending Chinese troops to the Middle East to protect its workers may become inevitable, given times of chaos and the economic loss in the Libya crisis. 

While Australian Prime Minister Gillard is on an official visit to China for four days, from April 25 to 28, on April 25, the Lowy Institute, a leading international think tank, released a new poll. According to the poll, 44% of the respondents believed that China may become a military threat to Australia within the next 20 years; 87% of the respondents believed that, if China were to start a fight with the U.S., Australia might get involved because it is a close ally of the U.S.; 52% of the respondents said that they would support Australia to fight alongside the U.S. if a conflict explodes between North Korea and South Korea due to a North Korean provocation.