Geo-Strategic Trend - 248. page

Xinhuan reported that Kim Jong-il made an informal visit to China between May 3 and May 7. He stopped in Beijing, Tianjin and Liaoning and met with all nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee. Hu Jintao proposed five suggestions in their conversation: (1) maintain top level contacts; (2) enhance strategic communication; (3) deepen trade cooperation; (4) extend culture exchanges; (5) improve coordination in international and regional affairs. Kim commented that the current core work of the North Korean Communist Party is to improve the living quality of the North Korean people. He also agreed that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is still his policy. Establishing the positive conditions for returning to the Six Party Talks is also a priority. In his meeting with Kim, Wen Jiabao agreed to push trade cooperation, especially the projects with high priorities.

Source: Xinhua, May 7, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-05/07/c_1278775.htm

Wang Yongli has announced that Miami Dade College, the largest and most diverse community college in the U.S., with eight campuses and over 170,000 students from across the world, will host China’s Confucius Institute. Wang is the deputy director of Hanban, the Office of the Chinese Language Council International, an agency composed of government appointed officials in charge of the regime’s promotion of the Chinese language overseas. This move will help Chinese culture to extend into communities, and Wang says Hanban will supply Chinese teachers and Chinese sources, and sponsor China-related activities. 

On April 27, the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) held a briefing on the “Chinese Communist Party’s Inner Party Democracy Development,” attended by more than 40 diplomats from 30 European and American countries. 

According to a People’s Daily article on April 28, at the Fourteenth Meeting of the Eleventh National People’s Congress in Beijing, the Minister of Culture, Cai Wu, reported on the ever-growing international influence of Chinese domestic culture products. 

The International Herald Leader, under Xinhua, recently published an article discussing the fact that Foreign Policy Magazine is now grouping Venezuela, Iran and Russia into a new acronym, “VIRUS.” Foreign Policy believes these countries are a threat to the U.S. and the entire order of the West.

The author of the International Herald Leader article suggested that the U.S. is fond of labeling other countries, such as the “Axis of Evil” label that the earlier administration came up with. However the author thought the U.S. is only pretending to have moral superiority because the label “Totalitarian Dictatorship” does not apply to Saudi Arabia and “Democratic Bridgehead” won’t apply to democratically elected Hamas. The article concluded that the labels may reflect U.S. policy directions, and that some of them are worth monitoring.

Source: Xinhua, April 22, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2010-04/22/content_13402389.htm

Global Times quoted an article from the Nigeria Daily Sun newspaper on April 8, “Air Force Has Recovered Its ‘Broken Wings’ – Inaugurates Chinese Multi-Role Combat Aircraft.” It claimed that Nigeria has recovered its air force power after spending US$250 million to purchase fifteen F-7 fighter planes and armaments from China. The deal included twelve F-7NI single-seat fighters, three F-7NI double seat trainers, twenty live PL-9C air-to-air missiles, ten training PL-9 rounds, unguided rockets, and 250/500 kg bombs. Nigeria’s government approved the deal in 2005. China started training Nigerian pilots in 2008 and delivered the aircraft in 2009. China’s F-7 is a Chinese copy of the Russian Mig-21.

Sources:
1. Global Times, April 9, 2010
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2010-04/771941.html
2. Daily Sun, Nigeria, April 8, 2010
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/apr/08/national-08-04-2010-025.htm

Boxun (peacehall.com and boxun.com), an independent online Chinese news source, published an article based on information from Associated Press on April 5, 2010, titled, “Europe Exclaimed: China Swept the Entire Eastern Europe with a Trump in Hand.”¹

The article reported that “the Chinese government’s approach is very simple. It just starts from economic cooperation. The trump in hand is the money.”

The article further pointed out that “China’s investment in the Balkans is not for money but for positioning itself in international politics. China sends a strong signal to the world through (its involvement) in the Balkans that … China is no longer a regional power but a real world power. China is on the way towards world hegemony. The Balkans is only a geographical location on its schedule.”

1. Ed. Note: The original article from Associated Press could be found.

Source: Boxun, April 5, 2010
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/army/2010/04/201004051101.shtml
http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/army/2010/04/201004051101.shtml

China Great Wall Industry Corporation signed an agreement with the Republic of Bolivia at the Presidential Palace in La Paz. The agreement includes the delivery of a communications satellite and corresponding land systems. The satellite will be based on the Chinese Dong Fang Hong 4 platform. It will be launched 33 months after the contract takes effect. The theoretical life span of the satellite is 15 years. This is the first satellite owned by Bolivia. China entered the international satellite production and launching market in 1990. This is the sixth on-orbit delivery contract.

Source: Xinhua, April 2, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-04/02/c_1213458.htm