US-China Relations - 160. page

The radio station KGBC near Houston, Texas has become China’s official mouthpiece. Sina.com republished an article by the Australia Chinese Newspaper Group on April 29, reporting that the radio station has become the home base in the U.S. of China Radio International (CRI). KGBC, at AM1540, is based in Galveston, 50 miles from Houston. It has 67 years of history and had financial difficulties for years. Recently, a U.S. company made a very attractive offer and bought it. It then started broadcasting CRI’s programs around the clock. The previous owner was not aware of the purchasing company’s deal with CRI. KGBC’s loyal listeners found that they were listening to “Asian music and political forums,” instead of the traditional and hot music and talk shows that they enjoyed in the past.

Source: Sina.com, April 29, 2010
http://dailynews.sina.com/bg/chn/chnnews/ausdaily/20100429/00211400610.html

Beijing News reported on April 24 that around 20 “bureau chief level” US officials from the Federal Executive Institute recently completed a week-long training session at Tsinghua University on topics such as Chinese political, economic and military management and decision making. Most of the US officials are from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. The teachers are Chinese government acknowledged experts specializing in various fields. It took China two years to settle on the course contents with the US side. One Chinese expert believes that the training may soften the atmosphere during the tough times of the China-US relationship.

Source: Beijing News, April 24, 2010
http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2010-04/24/content_92210.htm?div=-1

On April 22, 2010, www.chinareviewnews.com published an article, “Sino-US dispute over the exchange rate will be a long-term one” by Wang Dong, a Chinese researcher in Beijing.

Wang said that Obama’s government has never given up on pressuring China to increase the RMB (Chinese currency) value, resulting in the current Sino-US trade friction and a growing number of disputes. Wang further said that the depreciation of the U.S. dollars will cause drastic shrinkage of China’s foreign currency reserve assets, lead to global inflation, and make China’s exports more difficult.

However, Wang pointed out that RMB appreciation will increase Chinese people’s confidence in domestic assets calculated in RMB and thus ease inflation pressure. In addition, a stronger RMB will inevitably speed up the internationalization of the RMB and thus diversify the international currency pattern.

Source: www.chinareviewnews.com, April 22, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1012/9/8/0/101298092.html?coluid=123&kindid=0&docid=101298092&mdate=0422163437

China has established sixty Confucius Institutes in the U.S., but the US hasn’t formed a single formal culture institute in China. On April 9, 2010, VOA discussed the disproportionate nature of culture exchange institutes between the two countries. Some US politicians were concerned and working on improving the situation. China recently "graciously" agreed to have the US establish four “culture centers” in China as “independent organizations” which may be sponsored by the US government. China’s Confucius Institutes are under the domain of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, an organization under the Ministry of Education. The Chinese government grants US$1 million as startup cost for each institute.

Concern that the US would promote human rights was given as the major reason that China limits U.S. cultural centers.

Source: VOA, April 9, 2010
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/special-reports/us-china-relations/20100409-Confucius-90346234.html

China’s official Global Times published an exclusive military report on April 16, “Nuclear super powers will not lead China by the nose,” countering some media critics on China’s nuclear capacity. 

In an April 13 article published on China’s official newspaper Global Times, a China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) scholar, Zhang Jiye, considered the U.S. government’s inflationary economic policy to be a measure to contain the rise of China. 

The International Herald Leader under Xinhua published an article recommending that China should follow the example of Russia and take the lead in China-US relations. “Although China now has greater room to maneuver and is taking more initiative, it is still in the mode of defensive diplomacy. At best, it has changed from ‘passive defense’ to ‘active defense.’” China cannot force the United States to work on a topic that is of concern to China in situations and through means that China is familiar with. The article concludes that China should learn from Putin and proactively create some “new topics” so that the United States will feel the need to seek us out and talk.

Source: Xinhua, April 12, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2010-04/12/content_13340595.htm

Xinhua recently republished an article by PLA Life Magazine, authored by popular military commentator, Zhang Zhaozhong, on who will be the next U.S. war target. The article started with the story that the CIA helped Saddam Hussein obtain the ruling power and pushed the war against Iran. Then, after a failed war against Iran, the U.S. tacitly agreed to Saddam’s plan to invade Kuwait as a trap. The Bushes attacked Iraq to sustain control of the region by having a pro-US government. The war in Afghanistan afterwards was to completely remove Russia’s influence and to “put a knife in China’s back.”

The author considers Obama’s peaceful look to be a “political smoke bomb.” The article looked back into U.S. history and concluded that there was no US president that never had a war. Therefore Obama will not be an exception. Zhang predicts the U.S. will not let Iran be the strongest military power in the Middle East.

Source: Xinhua, April 6, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2010-04/06/content_13308134.htm