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US-China Relations - 106. page

BBC Chinese: State TV Report Labelled the iPhone “Dangerous”

BBC Chinese recently reported that, on Friday (July 11), as part of its national news program at noon, China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast news that labelled the Apple iPhone a "national security threat." CCTV criticized the "frequent locations" function of the Apple’s iOS 7 operating system, saying that researchers believe data points recorded by the feature could give those with access to this data knowledge of Chinese intelligence and even "state secrets." The TV report said, “The location data are very sensitive.” BBC Chinese mentioned in its report that official Chinese media have frequently criticized Apple about such issues as the “poor customer service” incident that occurred not long ago. [Editor’s note: On July 13, Apple responded to the CCTV report stating emphatically that the company has never and, in the future, will not obtain users’ “frequent locations” data and that the firm has never created a "backdoor’ in any of its products.”]
Source: BBC Chinese, July 11, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2014/07/140711_china_cctv_apple_iphone.shtml
South China Daily, July 13, 2014
http://tx.southcn.com/tongxin/content/2014-07/13/content_104130252.htm
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Global Times: No U.S. Conspiracy? Kerry Please Prove It with Action

China’s state media the Global Times published a special invited commentary article about U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s remark in an interview with CCTV. Below is an excerpt from the article. 

“Recently, in an exclusive interview with CCTV, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry said that China really should abandon the so-called American conspiracy theory, which is to say that the U.S. Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy is not against China or to contain China. Many [Chinese] netizens questioned whether that is true.”  
“Chinese netizens did not take this statement seriously. Many responded to Kerry: [It is] ‘deceiving,’ ‘adding insult to injury,’ ‘The villain is obvious,’ ‘Comrade Kerry, you got the wrong manuscript,’ ‘Every time China wants to give up the American conspiracy theory, the United States always hits your face with the facts,’ ‘Whenever the United States abandons its conspiracy, we will abandon the American conspiracy theory,’ and so on.” 
 “Americans [always] give [the best] explanation of the American conspiracy theory with their actions. U.S. officials, including Obama, have claimed on several occasions that the Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy is not aimed at China. However, since the start of this year, the United States has frequently created troubles for China.” 
“Sino-U.S. relations are quite grim. The Washington Post reported on the 7th that some experts believe that China-U.S. relations are currently facing the most severe test since President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. On June 26, the U.S. National Interest magazine website published an article by Michael Vlahos stating that history reminds people that the outbreak of a Sino-U.S. war is indeed possible. Some Internet users believe that if the United States does not change its policy of containment against China, talk will only be negotiations about some of the little specific things and it will not solve the Sino-U.S. friction and the deep-level contradictions.” 
“We really hope that the ‘American conspiracy theory’ is just ‘hearsay.’ We really hope that the U.S. realizes that ‘the containing China’s theory is wrong, a hundred percent wrong.’ It is of no use if the United States only says it. The key is to come up with action. Establishing new relations between big powers, one has to start bit by bit, rather than shout with exaggerated, empty words.” 
Source: Huanqiu (Global Times), July 10, 2014 
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2014-07/5057164.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Global Times: Overly Exaggerating the Strength of the U.S. Is Not Good for China

In an article recently published in Global Times, Han Xudong, a professor at the National Defense University, stated that China has overly focused on the United States. Below is a partial translation of the article. 

"Today, Chinese in every profession all pay close attention to the United States’ every move. With its increasing international influence, China is bound to meet head-on with the United States in many ways. To study and pay attention to the United States is quite necessary. However, overly exaggerating the issues of the United States, engaging in some meaningless matters, or exaggerating China’s own things will only be detrimental to China’s development." 

"In fact, China’s ‘feverish’ focus on the U.S. originated during the Gulf War. In this war, the United States, for the first time, applied high-tech weapons to fight the first high-tech war. Subsequently, the Chinese territory started its own ‘Gulf War research fever,’ trying to ascertain how the United States won the Gulf War. Due to the use of precision weapons, China began to characterize the war as an information war. People began to overstate constantly the extent of informationization in the U.S. In fact, the level of information in the U.S. and the U.S. military is not as high as what the Chinese have imagined."　　　　 

“Currently, as to the United States’ action in the Asia-Pacific region, people tend to use their preconceived notions of ‘rebalancing’ to analyze and interpret the U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy. Americans say that its Asia-Pacific strategy is a ‘rebalancing’ strategy. So far, the substance of this ‘rebalancing?’ is something for which the Americans have not given an official explanation. Nevertheless, the Chinese people continually try to interpret its meaning. The Chinese people are currently doing what the Americans should do. In fact, the U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy should be a much more profound and broader strategy than a ‘rebalancing’ strategy. Because the United States has preset China as a ‘global strategic adversary,’ the concept of a mere ‘rebalancing’ presents difficulties in covering the strategic initiatives in the Asia Pacific region that the U.S. might take.” 

Source: Global Times, July 7, 2014 
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2014-07/5050149.html 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2014-07/07/c_126719716.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Global Times: Who Is the Black Hand behind the “Hong Kong Independence Forces?”

China’s state-run media Huanqiu (Global Times) published an opinion article claiming that the U.S. is the black hand behind the Hong Kong people’s demonstrations against Beijing’s 2014 White Paper on Hong Kong, which reinterprets Hong Kong’s ‘one country, two systems’ policy.

The article stated, "Recently, the ‘Hong Kong independence forces’ have become quite active. [Note: This is in reference to the people who protested Beijing’s 2014 White Paper on Hong Kong, after which an estimated 740,000 Hong Kong citizens voted in Occupy Central’s "civil referendum."] The background is that the U.S. is trying to push the ‘Hong Kong independence forces’ to grow in size, thus inciting the ‘Taiwan independence forces,’ the ‘East Turkistan separatists’ and ‘the Tibetan separatists’ to join forces to launch an attack on China together. China would then not be able to focus on the competition between big countries and the United States.

"In 2017, Hong Kong will conduct a general election. The United States is trying to take advantage of this opportunity to promote the ‘Hong Kong independence forces’ so that they get bigger and thus create trouble for China. Even if it ultimately fails, once Hong Kong is in chaos, it will have the same influence on China. In particular, [the U.S.] can use this opportunity to attack China in the international media. This strategy is much like the one in which the United States spent billions of dollars to get rid of Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych regime, making Russia very passive strategically in the international media." 

The article named the NED (the National Endowment for Democracy) and the Soros Foundation as the sources supporting the "Hong Kong independence forces." 

Source: Huanqiu, June 25, 2014 
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_china/2014-06/5033949.html http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2014-06/25/c_126667254.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Qiushi: We Have Taken the U.S. Too Seriously

On June 25, 2014, Qiushi published an article questioning whether China has taken the U.S. too seriously. The article noted two features in China’s study of the United States. One is that China believes that the Sino-U.S. relationship is the core of China’s diplomacy; if China does a good job in that regard, everything else will be settled. Two, Chinese researchers want to believe from their heart in the U.S. point of view and think many of the U.S. views are reasonable and justified. The U.S. voice has significantly influenced some Chinese researchers. 

The author of the article stated, “I think, on the South China Sea dispute, we have taken the U.S. factor too seriously. The truth is that the United States is in relative decline, which is reflected in what the U.S. has been saying and doing in the past few years.” For example, during the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, Hagel was very tough in his remarks. “I think that is a sign of U.S. weakness.” Also, the United States is in the process of a global contraction. Although the United States announced its return to Asia, what it has done in Asia has no practical effect. “The U.S. says there will be more military deployment in the Asia-Pacific, but we only see more military contacts, some so-called military cooperation, and military exchanges. In particular in maritime disputes, such as maritime disputes in the South China Sea, the U.S did not take any real action.” 

Source: Qiushi, June 25, 2014 
http://www.qstheory.cn/international/2014-06/25/c_1111313407.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

BBC Chinese: U.S. Professors Jointly Challenged the Confucius Institute

BBC Chinese recently reported that the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) called for a cancellation or a renegotiation of the agreements between the Confucius Institute and around 100 U.S. universities. The AAUP expressed the belief that the agreements must abide by Western values. It suggested that the Confucius Institute “is a branch of the Chinese government” and “is allowed to ignore academic freedom.” AAUP was founded in 1915 to defend academic freedom. It currently has 47,000 members. The AAUP announcement urged the U.S. universities to stop cooperating with the Confucius Institute unless it undergoes major reform. The Confucius Institute is an organization funded by the Chinese Ministry of Education. By the end of 2013, it had established 440 institutes across 120 countries around the world. In May 2014, over 100 professors at the University of Chicago, including seven deans, jointly asked the university to discontinue its contract with the Confucius Institute, citing lack of freedom to discuss “sensitive issues” such as the Tiananmen Massacre and the issue of Tibet. The Confucius Institute also controls the hiring and training of its teachers. 
Source: BBC Chinese, June 18, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2014/06/140618_confucius_institutes.shtml
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: U.S. Intends to Hit “Three Birds” by Placing Anti-Missile Defense in East Asia

Xinhua published a commentary on the U.S. deployment of its anti-missile system in East Asia. The following is an excerpt from the Xinhua article:

 
“Recently, the United States media disclosed, one after another, that the United States is considering deploying its terminal high altitude area defense (THAAD) system in Korea. The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has publicly vowed to strengthen missile defense cooperation with Korea. Seeking to strengthen anti-missile deployment in East Asia is another major trend for the United States."
“From the current situation in the Asia-Pacific region and the background of the U.S. promoting a ‘rebalancing Asia’ strategy, the United States is trying to achieve three main objectives.” 

“First, through deploying its anti-missile facilities in Korea, it can advance the layout of its East Asian missile defense systems, thus boosting U.S.-Japan-Korea trilateral military cooperation. 

“Second, the United States can defend any ‘missile threat’ from related countries [North Korea and Russia]. 

“Third, the United States is using cooperation on missile defense in the region in an attempt to sell arms.” 

“The U.S. deployment of an East Asia anti-missile network will have multiple negative impacts in the region. “The biggest impact will be the destruction of strategic stability in Northeast Asia and the subversion of China’s national security. Since 2013, the United States has been advancing East Asian missile defense deployment continuously. Compared to the other military measures of the U. S. ‘rebalancing Asia’ strategy, deploying its anti-missile system, if it continues, will present China with more real and more profound pressure on its national security.” 

Source: Xinhua, June 11, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/globe/2014-06/11/c_133394093.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Chinese Military Experts Say U.S. reports on China’s Military Developments Show U.S. Anxiety

On June 6, the U.S. Department of Defense released the "2014 Annual Report on Military and Security Developments Involving China." Chinese military experts commented that the report continued the "China threat theory" platitudes and the "Cold War" mentality from previous years. It reflected the United States’ two-pronged strategy of both "contacting" and "guarding against" China; it was filled with "anxiety" about China’s development of its military defenses. 

Zhao Weibin, Colonel from the Research Center of Sino-U.S. Defense Relations at the Academy of Military Sciences, said that the report reflected the United States’ suspicions about China’s strengthening of its defense forces. The U.S. will also use that as an excuse for its own development of information warfare, cyber warfare, and space warfare. 
Zhao said, "As the development of China’s armed forces becomes more diversified, the United States will go from ‘concern’ and ‘worry’ to a state of ‘anxiety’ about China’s military modernization. Through the publication of the report on Chinese military power, the United States aims to damage China’s international image and even demonize China so as to enhance the international community’s concerns and fears about China. The intention to suppress and contain China as part of its global strategy is very clear.” 
Major General Peng Guangqian, Deputy Secretary of the National Security Policy Committee of the China Association of Policy Science, said that the more irresponsible the remarks the United States makes about China’s national defense, the more China should stay calm, quietly pursue peaceful development, and adhere to a defensive national defense policy. "After all, the U.S. provocations will never have a significant effect." 

Source: People’s Daily, June 9, 2014 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0609/c1011-25120199.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations