US-China Relations - 170. page

According to International Herald Leader, a newspaper under Xinhua, American media openly reported more than ten “Chinese Espionage Cases” from March to October 2009. The most recent took place on October 14 when former Ford engineer Yu Xiangdong, a Chinese citizen, was arrested at a Chicago airport for using Ford Motor Company’s trade secrets to get a job in China. Almost every “spy case” is related to sensitive technologies.

A Chinese military expert said, “Since the financial crisis, China’s growth has become a highlight in the world. Some interest groups in Europe and the United States fabricated ‘China Spy Cases’ to restrain China." Some groups in the U.S. even worked on “manufacturing” Chinese spies by offering tempting bait to lure Chinese to become spies.

Source: Xinhua, October 30, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-10/30/content_12359866.htm

Asian countries want to leverage the U.S. to balance China’s growing power and the U.S. wants to strengthen its influence there, too, comments Study Times regarding U.S. Secretary of State Clinton’s signing of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. The article dismissed the speculation that this is a major challenge to China. "The current economic interdependence of China and the U.S. has gone beyond the economic relations between any two great powers." But then it said, “However, undeniably, recently the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries that have intensified disputes and conflicts with China over the ownership of the South China Sea Islands want to leverage the power of the United States to balance China’s influence. The U.S. is more than willing to participate.”

Source: Study Times, October 26, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=3003&nid=10940&bid=2&page=1

Zhang Zhixin, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, wrote an article about President Obama’s China strategy. Zhang indicated that the US recently came up with a new concept called:"strategic reassurance," which was first mentioned by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who also suggested on September 24, that the US invites China to be a prosperous nation as long as the growth is not at the cost of other nations’ safety and welfare. According to Zhang, the message from the US seems to be that Obama is willing to acknowledge China’s status as a rising world power – if China honors the status quo and does not challenge the leading position of the United States. Zhang’s article also asks: what can the US "assure" China of, when they are seeking a promise from China?

Source: Xinhua, October 15, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-10/15/content_12237086.htm 

According to Xinhua, Major General Qian Lihua, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of Defense of China commented on the upcoming US visit of General Xu Caihou, the Deputy Chairman of the Party Central Military Committee. Qian specifically pointed out that in the past several years the actions of the US have created severe interference to and have had a negative impact on the military relationship between the two countries. These actions of the US included substantially increasing the military relationship with Taiwan, advancing weapon sales to Taiwan, the US Congress’ restriction of the Sino-US military exchange into twelve areas in the “2000 National Defense Authorization Act,” the questioning by the US of China’s military strategic intention and development, and the frequent activities of US airplanes and ships in the air and water space that China claimed as its own economic zone.

Sources: Xinhua, October 23, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2009-10/23/content_12310337.htm

China should proactively strive for fair treatment, tit for tat, says Outlook Weekly a publication under Xinhua. The statement was made in reference to an October 8 letter from the U.S. Alliance for American Manufacturing to U.S. trade officials that the Chinese government spends billions of dollars subsidizing the glass industry’s energy costs. The contract to manufacture blast-resistant glass for the new World Trade Center’s first 20 stories was awarded earlier this year to a Chinese company that underbid U.S. competitors. Song, director of a government think tank, the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is worried, “The U.S. has set a bad example and other countries will follow suit.” Song recommended enforcing and expanding diplomatic and cultural ties to reduce trade friction to the maximum extent.

Source: China News Service, October 20, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/cj/news/2009/10-20/1919399.shtml

Ma Chaoxue, the spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) to stop interfering with China’s internal affairs and cease engaging in actions that will damage US-China relations.

Ma’s remark was made on the CECC’s release of its "2009 Annual Report on Human Rights and Rule of Law in China." “The CECC repeatedly releases its annual report with distorted facts which interfere with China’s internal affairs. The annual report was full of ignorance and one-sided opinions.” Ma claimed.

Source: Xinhua, October 16, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-10/16/content_12247243.htm

Obama will always put the US interest first, says Study Times about the tariffs on Chinese tires. “When US interests are at stake, he inevitably plays the role of the U.S. President.” “Obama approved the punitive tariffs on Chinese tires in spite of the fact that he appears to be friendlier to China than his predecessor and that he met with Chinese leader Wu Bangguo the day before.” “From this, we can see that only interests are eternal and friendship does not belong to this category.”

Source: Study Times, September 21, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2925&nid=10692&bid=1&page=1

The International Herald Leader, a newspaper under Xinhua, published a commentary about the “U.S. National Intelligence Strategy.” It noted that the U.S. identifies China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as its “imaginary intelligence enemies” and stressed China and Russia’s capability of Cyber War against the U.S. The commentary said that the U.S. changes its face toward China, from cozy relationship at the G2 to punitive taxes on Chinese tires, and then to directly pointing to China as its “main challenger.” The U.S. did a complete turn-about.

The bottom line is, that it is unimportant that they claim China to be their imaginary enemy or praise the G2; it all is an outgrowth of the U.S. national interest. At certain times, the U.S. might need to ask for favors from China, but in reality, it is on high alert concerning China.

Source: International Herald Leader, September 21, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-09/21/content_12087872.htm