US-China Relations - 15. page

Cai Xia, a former professor at the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who now lives in exile in the United States, tweeted on March 27 about Fu Ying, who served as China’s vice foreign minister from 2010 to 2013 and is now director of the Center for Strategic and Security Studies at Tsinghua University. Cai tweeted that Fu recently posted an article on WeChat commenting on U.S.-China relations. Fu urged the Chinese to think clearly: “If China and the United States break up or go their separate ways, will any country side with China? What do we really want? What should we do?”

Fu Ying stated that there are talks in China that the United States is declining. “Whether the United States is declining or not is the United States’ own concern. China cannot make the decision on whether the US is declining and repeating the belief that the US is in decline will not make it a reality. China has its own problems to focus on and should not expend all its energy on criticizing the United States. It is unnecessary for both nations to belittle each other continuously. Instead, China and the United States need to resolve their respective issues and cooperate with one another to benefit the world. This is the hallmark of great powers.” Fu concluded the article by expressing her hope that China and the United States can reconcile their differences and work together.

Fu’s comment was deleted shortly after it was posted. Fu’s WeChat page said, “This content is not viewable due to a violation.”

‘Source: Liberty Times (Taiwan), March 27, 2023
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/4252829

The University of California, San Diego library told Voice of America that it received notice on March 17 from the administrator of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) that it would be unable to access some databases as of April 1. Other affected libraries include the City University of Hong Kong Library, the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, and at least a dozen other research institutions.

Founded in 1999, CNKI is the largest academic database in China. It contains Chinese government reports, academic journals, and papers from 1915 to the present, covering a wide range of fields, including politics, economics, humanities and social sciences, and science and technology. For researchers who do not have physical access to Chinese libraries, the resources provided by the CNKI are particularly important to their research.

Donald Clarke, a professor at George Washington University Law School, said in his tweet, “It is unfortunately China that is by far the most active in decoupling — the most recent example being the closing of foreign access to many important CNKI databases.”

Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, told Voice of America (VOA) that “CNKI has not indicated which databases may never be reopened. He added that researchers outside China could still access these resources by visiting research institutions in China.

“That means, however, that they have to be vetted by Chinese academic institutions before they can be accepted as visiting scholars. Under Xi’s rules, all these institutions are under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” Tsang noted this, suggesting that the CCP hopes to influence how foreign academics portray China by controlling information.

Perry Link, a U.S.-based China scholar, says this reflects the mindset of the Chinese leadership. “Chinese Communist Party spokesmen often accuse the United States of having a ‘Cold War mentality. In today’s information age, there is nothing more indicative of Cold War thinking than preventing the free flow of government reports and academic papers across borders,” Link told VOA.

Source: Voice of America, March 28, 2023
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-academic-database-slashes-foreign-access-20230328/7025597.html

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia, the official Xinhua News Agency published a commentary saying that Western countries were worried about the Chinese leader’s trip to Russia and that China needed to say four “don’ts” to the U.S. and the West.

“Don’t make irresponsible remarks about the normal interactions between sovereign states.” The article said, “Friendship and cooperation between China and Russia are growing. Since 2013, the top leaders of China and Russia have met 40 times; Chinese leaders have visited Russia eight times. Whether the United States and the West like it or not, whether there is a crisis in Ukraine or not, normal contacts between the two countries should not be interrupted.”

“Don’t compare China-Russia relations with those between small groups of U.S. allies.” He added, “The U.S. is stuck in the Cold War mentality, drawing in one faction and isolating the other, forming various alliances and coterie. China and Russia,however, are not allies. It makes no sense for the U.S. and the West to tie China and Russia together at every turn.”

“Don’t undermine China’s efforts to promote peace talks on Ukraine.” The article boasted, “China has recently brokered a successful resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two of the Middle East’s oldest enemies. This has drawn waves of praise from the international community and made the United States envious and jealous. It is now worried that the Ukraine issue will be turned around in the same way.”

“Stop using the Ukraine crisis as an excuse to attack and sanction China. The writer criticized, “The U.S. has the military, financial and technological hegemony to slander and oppress China. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is another ‘China containment card’ in the hands of the U.S., which links China and Russia and labels them as authoritarian states and an axis of evil in an attempt to tarnish China’s image. The U.S. has also sanctioned some Chinese companies for suspected support of terrorism.”

Source: Central News Agency, March 21, 2023
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202303210125.aspx

Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that, according to data released by the US Department of Commerce, last year, China lost its position as the largest trading partner of the U.S. It was replaced by the European Union. In 2022, U.S. imports rose sharply, and the foreign trade deficit reached a record high. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. imported $537 billion in products from China in 2022, lower than the U.S. imports of $553 billion from the European Union. However, overall U.S. imports from China increased from the previous year’s $505 billion in 2021. China’s loss of its status as the largest trading nation of the United States has been blamed largely on Covid-19, as well as the diversification of U.S. supply sources. Particularly supplies from other Asian countries have increased. In the meantime, data shows that the trade dependence between China and the United States remains high. In 2022, the total import and export volume of the two countries broke the historic record again after three years, reaching $690.5 billion. During the same period, the U.S. deficit with China expanded by eight percent to $382.9 billion, the second highest in history after 2018. In 2022, U.S. businesses and consumers had strong demand for foreign-made goods and services, and international trade was recovering from the pandemic. China has not benefited significantly from this recovery.

Source: NetEase, February 9, 2023
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HT6175KF0553LKHX.html