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Beijing Experts Discussed How China Should Deal with U.S. Financial Dominance

On February 1 in Beijing, the Chongyang Financial Research Institute of Renmin University held a new book release conference and forum exploring the theme, "Financial Sanctions: the U.S.’s New Global Asymmetric Power." 

The participants in the forum generally agreed that the U.S. financial hegemony is an exclusive weapon built on its comprehensive national strength. Using this weapon to provide sanctions against other countries is “a massively profitable business without any cost.” It is like "killing people without firing a shot." The difficult situation in Russia is a new example of the United States applying its financial hegemony. In modern society, financial sanctions have become the core of economic sanctions. 
[The experts at the forum believed that] “Facing this situation, China, on the one hand, should not simply oppose the monetary system in which the United States is the center, as it is impossible to change the reality that the Federal Reserve is essentially the equivalent of the World Bank. Instead, China can actively get into the system and make it change the rules so the direction in which it moves is favorable to China. On the other hand, China should establish "infrastructure" in the financial sector and develop a cross-border payment transactions system capable of replacing the SWIFT code. 

Source: China Review News, February 2, 2015 
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1036/0/2/8/103602851.html?coluid=151&kindid=11515&docid=103602851&mdate=0202110708

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

BBC Chinese: China Responded to Obama Welcoming Dalai Lama

BBC Chinese recently reported that President Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama at the National Prayer Breakfast and called him “a friend.” This was the first time the President and the Dalai Lama appeared jointly in public. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hong Lei responded at a press conference that China is against any country allowing the Dalai Lama to visit and is against anyone using the Tibetan Issue to interfere with China’s domestic matters. Hong said the Dalai Lama has long been using the name of religion to perform the function of splitting China. He urged the United States to “keep its promise” on the Tibetan Issue. The last time President Obama met with the Dalai Lama was on February 21, 2014, in the White House Map Room instead of the Oval Office. That meeting was a closed-door meeting with no media present. 
Source: BBC Chinese, February 6, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/02/150206_beijing_obama_dalai
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China.com Comments on the U.S. renaming of “Air Sea Battle” to JAM-GC

On January 8, the Director of the Joint Staff of the U.S. Department of Defense, Lt. Gen. David Goldfein, issued a memorandum, officially renaming the "Air Sea Battle" (ASB) operational concept to “Joint Concept for Access and Maneuver in the Global Commons" (JAM-GC). China.com published an article to interpret the implications of the name change. The article is also available on Xinhuanet.com. The article commented that the renaming of the "Air Sea Battle" concept is still new wine in an old bottle and that it has no benefit for the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The article said, “The U.S. has its internal needs to accelerate the ‘Air Sea Battle.’ The first is out of its defense strategy. Despite facing severe challenges in other areas, the United States has never relaxed its focus on the Asia-Pacific region. The second is the need to maintain hegemony. The third is out of political considerations. In recent years, the Obama administration has received heavy criticism for its ‘weakness’ and ‘lack of strategy’ in foreign policy. ‘Air Sea Battle,’ as a prominent highlight of its ‘Asia-Pacific rebalancing’ strategy, can be an important gimmick to shift the critics’ focus. At the same time, it can also, once again, tie the Asia-Pacific allies to the American military wagon.”

“In the current situation, such a U.S. action is obviously not appropriate. First, funding is very tight due to the weak economy and the fact that military spending will be substantially reduced over the next decade. Second, the U.S. is losing its power to be able to attack on all fronts. Third, allies’ responses are mostly lukewarm. Fourth, the negative impact is unpopular. The ‘Air Sea Battle’ that is highly aggressive can easily lead to a regional arms race and undermine regional peace and stability.”

Source: China.com, January 28, 2015                 http://mil.jschina.com.cn/system/2015/01/28/023516841.shtml                http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2015-01/28/c_127431258.htm               

 

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Huanqiu Reports on Obama’s State of the Union Address Comments on China

Huanqiu published an article commenting on what Obama said about China in his State of the Union Address: 

The article said that Obama’s talk on diplomatic issues allowed us, once again, to see the hegemonic attitude of the United States toward "leading the world." Interestingly, similar to the previous State of the Union speeches, China was again a target of critics. Obama directly mentioned China on three occasions. The first two were mainly about trade competition with China, calling for rules that the United States sets rather than China. The third was praise because China and the U.S. reached a "historic" emissions reduction agreement. Given his emphasis on competition and his "high praise" [of cooperation with China], what are Obama’s hidden intentions? 
The Huanqiu article cited a report from the Wall Street Journal on [January] 21 for its answer: "Obama uses China as an excuse to gain support for his trade policy." U.S. government officials have been using the excuse that China might gain economic dominance to try to win support for the TPP. The [TPP] agreement includes Japan and 10 other Asia Pacific countries, but excludes China. Critics claimed that warning about China’s intentions is a cover-up, an attempt to cover up the economic risks associated with lower trade barriers. 
The article said that Obama’s enthusiasm about the climate change agreement is understandable because it is a major achievement [he made] to improve bilateral relations between the two countries. 

Jin Canrong, Vice Dean of International Relations at Renmin University of China, said, "Obama delivered both positive and negative signals regarding China in his State of the Union Address. It just shows the complexity of Sino-U.S. relations and the ambivalence of the U.S. when handling Sino-U.S. relations." On the one hand, as the world’s only superpower, the United States is very worried about the emergence of new powers and a re-set of the world’s rules. [The U.S.] hopes to revitalize its domestic economy through the implementation of re-industrialization. This is precisely the reason a competitive relationship with China exists. On the other hand, in response to climate change, counter-terrorism, and other global issues, the United States alone cannot handle them with its own power and needs to cooperate with China. 
Source: Huanqiu, January 22, 2015
ttp://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2015-01/5466186.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Zhu Chenghu: China Must Improve Its Ability to Handle Information Warfare

On January 6, 2015, People’s Daily reported on the "2015 China High-level Forum on International Affairs" held at the Institute of International Relations at Renmin University of China on January 3, 2015. Major General Zhu Chenghu, a professor from the National Defense University of China, gave a speech on the topic of "the contemporary military trends in the world and China’s military diplomacy." Zhu said that future wars will be more localized because of informationization. Therefore, China must improve the ability of its soldiers to handle an information war. Faced with enormous pressure on maritime security, China must also develop naval forces to safeguard China’s maritime interests. 

Zhu stated that, although the United States has never acknowledged its strategic goal of containing China, the United States strengthens its military deployment surrounding China, shifts its strategic center to the Asia-Pacific region, conducts high intensity and close surveillance of China, holds large-scale military exercises in waters near China, divides the relations between China and other countries, has created a TPP around China, and excludes China from the TPP. "All these actions have demonstrated that it is trying to contain China." General Zhu said, "Although China has said that we do not challenge the leadership of the United States position, I want to tell our American friends that China’s challenges to you are inevitable and unavoidable. China’s development is bound to challenge the U.S. leadership." 
Zhu said that, faced with the United States and other countries’ future changes in warfare and adjustments in military strategy, China must strengthen its construction and development of military weapons and equipment. In military construction, China must increase military investment to ensure financial support, improve the ability of officers and soldiers to manage information warfare, and improve the combat capability of military troops and equipment. On weapons development, [China must] strengthen the development of information infrastructure and information equipment, strengthen the development of forces in space, strengthen the strategic development of both nuclear and ordinary, offensive and defensive capabilities, and strengthen the construction of naval equipment. 
Zhu further said that in recent years, China has been paying attention to the sea. It is partly because China is facing tremendous pressure in the area of maritime security that China must protect its maritime rights from other countries’ aggression. At the same time, it is due to the fact that China’s economic development is more dependent on the oceans than ever. However, China is still far behind the West in the development of maritime power. To safeguard the interests of our oceans, the only way is to advance [China’s] maritime power. 

At the end of his speech, Zhu said that military diplomacy sometimes has the function of solving tough issues with a small effort. Often, its role in resolving a number of the issues that our country faces in external security cannot be replaced with national or money diplomacy. With the advances of China’s power, military diplomacy will play a greater role in the country’s overall diplomacy. 

Source: People’s Daily: January 6, 2015 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2015/0106/c1011-26336440.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China News: China Firmly Opposes Obama Selling Frigates to Taiwan

China News recently reported that U.S. President Obama just signed a bill to sell Taiwan four “Perry Class” frigates. These are the USS Taylor, USS Carr, USS Gary and USS Elrod. It is expected that the two parties will complete the transaction next year. The U.S. Congress started pushing this bill toward the end of 2013. It took 13 months to go through the legislative process. The Senate passed the bill on December 4 and the House passed it on December 10. Before the Congress passed the bill, the Spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs made it clear that the United States is once again breaking its promise and that China strongly opposes this bill. He also called for a complete stop to pushing this bill through and recommended that the President should not sign it. The Chinese government expressed the belief that this bill will “hurt the relationship” between the United States and China.
Source: China News, December 19, 2014
http://www.chinanews.com/tw/2014/12-19/6892829.shtml
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

The U.S. Plan to Tax Imported Chinese Steel

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) confirmed that carbon and alloy steel imported from China unfairly damaged the U.S. domestic steel industry. It will therefore tax these imports with anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The ITC vote was the final step in the process of approving these punishments. The Chinese steel exporters include three steel manufacturers (Benxi Steel, Rizhao Steel, and Hualing Xiangtan Steel) and an international trade company (Jiangsu Shagang). The ITC ruling was based on complaints filed by ArcelorMittal (USA), Charter Steel, Evraz Pueblo, Gerdau Ameristeel, Keystone Consolidated Industries, and Nucor. 
Source: Sina, December 16, 2014
http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/cyxw/20141216/185121091096.shtml
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

WANG Yiwei: China and U.S. Have Different Understanding of the New Model of Major-Country Relations

WANG Yiwei, Director of the International Affairs Institute at Renmin University of China, recently wrote an article that was published on Huanqiu (Global Times, a division of People’s Daily). In the article he discussed the differences between China and the United States as to how they each understand the new model of major-country relations. Below is an excerpt from the article: 

"From the perspective of historical experience and mankind’s responsibility, Sino-U.S. relations, unlike any other great power relations, may not pursue the best, but must prevent the worst. This is impossible without the new model of major-country relations. However, in the establishment of new relations between these big powers, China and the U.S. hold six different understandings of the new model of major-country relations.” 
"1. The Chinese side stresses the concept of "no conflict and no confrontation." The U.S. cannot promise to have no conflicts; at best it promises to avoid unnecessary conflicts and confrontations. Even making such a commitment is too difficult; it fears getting stuck and losing the trust of its allies." 
"2. How the nature of Sino-US relations is established will determine the direction of international politics in the 21st century. The U.S. is inclined to a "new type of relationship" that is more focused on new ways to continue the policy of engagement with China while maintaining the U.S. leadership position. The U.S. is worried that China’s emphasis on "mutual respect" may make the U.S. unable to interfere with China’s internal affairs and is contrary to the American values diplomacy. China, in asking for "respect," is hoping that the U.S. will respect China’s core interests and gradually recognize China’s ‘big country’ status." 　　 
"3. The Chinese side has focused on shaping the nature of the new model of major-country relations between China and the U.S. with no conflict, no confrontation, and mutual respect so as to achieve a win-win effect, but the United States understands it as a kind of cooperation for cumulative effects. For example, if China cooperates with the United States on the Issues of North Korea, Iranian nuclear power, as well as Afghanistan and the ‘Islamic State,’ it will enhance the confidence of the United States to establish the new relations between big powers. Meanwhile, the United States believes that since China publicly rejected ‘Sino-U.S. joint rule’ (G2) in the past and now China uses "win-win cooperation" to lure the United States, China’s purpose is to allow the United States to let down its guard and then catch up and surpass the U.S. without being noticed." 
"4. The U.S. is worried that the new relations are merely China’s transitional arrangement for the eventual replacement of the U.S. The intention is to shake the U.S. leadership. China has emphasized that the new relationship is to reduce strategic suspicion of each other, create strategic consensus, and gather strategic actions." 
"5. The United States believes that the task of the new relations is to manage the bilateral relations, while China believes the task of the new relations is to become a cornerstone to develop the world order. China believes that the Sino-U.S. relationship is the world’s most important bilateral relationship; the U.S. acknowledges that the U.S.-China relationship is only one of the world’s most important bilateral relationships. Compared to China, the United States is becoming more and more short-sighted and sensitive."
"6. The United States is very suspicious of the future of the new relations model and believes that whether such a model can be established does not really matter. The Chinese side fears that if the new China-U.S. relations cannot be established, it is likely to fall into another political tragedy among the great powers in history." 

Source: People’s Daily, November 6, 2014 
 http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2014/1106/c1003-25985623.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations