Geo-Strategic Trend - 236. page

People’s Daily published an article on Libya titled “Social Unrest: the Wrong Path for a Country and a Tragedy for the People.” The article said, “From the end of last year through this spring, a number of countries in Eastern and Northern Africa have suffered from continued political instability and social disruptions, having a negative economic impact on their people. Moreover, Libya is now trapped in a vortex of war.” The article concludes that the Chinese people should treasure their current “harmony and stability.” “Every one of us should do our utmost, achieve more development under this stability and continuously reap happy fruits during our development.”

Source: People’s Daily, March 23, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/30178/14212813.html

Even though Beijing abstained from voting on U.N. resolution 1973, since Saturday March 19, when the U.S. and allied forces started launching missiles and conducting air strikes against Libyan government forces, Chinese official media have run nonstop criticism against the military intervention. One March 22 Xinhua article titled “Western Forces Continue Air strikes in Tripoli; Anti-war Voices Rise in the International Community,” gives a list of countries (Russia, Turkey, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, South Africa, Argentina, and Gabon) that are part of the anti-war camp; it also highlights the civilian deaths from the air strikes and suggests that the military intervention is for the purpose of occupation to obtain oil and gas resources.

Source: Xinhua, March 22, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-03/22/c_13791949.htm

Xinhua recently quoted a few overseas Chinese media as saying that the overseas Chinese population calls for “fighting to safeguard the motherland’s stability and harmony.” They include Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao (《联合早报》), U.S. based Chicago China News and Digest (《芝加哥华语论坛》), Japan’s Chubun (《中文导报》) and European News or Nouvelles d’Europe (《欧洲时报》) in France. 

Source: Xinhua, March 15, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-03/15/c_13780316.htm

According to a UNESCO report, since 2000, the population of students studying abroad has grown by 75%; the number increased from 2.96 million in 2008 to 3.43 million in 2009. Chinese students studying abroad, as many as 440,000, are important players in the global higher education market. The U.S. is the destination for the largest number of students from around the world, hosting around 700,000. Their annual contribution to the U.S. economy amounts to US$20 billion. Chinese students, overtaking Indians and South Koreans, have now become the largest group of foreign students in the U.S. Meanwhile, in the coming years, China is planning to attract 500,000 foreign students to study in its country.

Source: International Herald Leader, March 7, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-03/07/c_13764823.htm

Xinhua recently republished an article discussing how the current round of political volatility in the Middle East has impacted China’s commercial interests in that region. The article made a few key points: 1) Normal trade activities have been heavily disrupted in the areas of the import and export of goods, including the export of labor, engineering and technology, and intellectual services; 2) China’s energy supply is clearly endangered, because 50% of the oil consumed in China is sourced from the Middle East; 3) Compared to the U.S., Europe, and Russia, China does not have “a card in hand to play” under the current circumstance to effectively influence the situation in the Middle East. The article called for establishing a strategic precautionary system.

Source: Xinhua, February 28, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-02/28/c_13753746.htm

An article published on Jiefang Daily, the official newspaper of Shanghai’s Communist Party committee, blames the turmoil in North Africa on the United States for shifting its domestic crisis to other countries. Many other state media republished it on their websites. The article claims, ”The recent continuous turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East may have profound world economic and social causes. It not only results from the global financial crisis, but is also the result of the decline of the U.S.’s ability to lead in world affairs. In the end, it is due to the U.S. shifting its domestic crisis to other countries through two waves of quantitative easing of its currency.” The article concludes that, as long as the internal problems arising from the financial crisis are not completely resolved, such turmoil will continue. It warns, “What’s even more worrisome is that some big power will use ulterior political and economic motives to implement irresponsible policies while the Arab countries in Africa are still not stable, making the situation even more complicated.”

Sources: Jiefang Daily, February 28, 2011
http://newspaper.jfdaily.com/jfrb/html/2011-02/25/content_518795.htm