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PLA Daily: The Dual Character of U.S. Policy toward China

People’s Liberation Army Daily published a commentary on the upcoming U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. According to the commentary, if the U.S. proceeds with the arms sale to Taiwan, “it will seriously interfere with China’s internal affairs and will endanger China’s security and core interests.” It will further demonstrate the dual character of the U.S. position on major issues affecting China’s core interests. Such a dual character “has its root cause in its self-proclaimed global hegemony.” “On the one hand, it wants China to share responsibility and handle crises. On the other hand, it is afraid that China will challenge the U.S. It has thus been inconsistent to such an extent that it sells arms to Taiwan and sabotages its normal bilateral relationship with China. The white paper that China recently released indicated that any concerns the U.S. has about China amount to much ado about nothing.”

Source: People’s Liberation Army Daily reprinted by Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China, September 12, 2011
http://www.mod.gov.cn/big5/opinion/2011-09/12/content_4297235.htm

Video: Government Training of the 50 Cents Party Staff

A video about how the government trains spokespersons and Internet commentators was posted on the Internet. The Internet commentators are commonly known as 五毛黨 (the 50 cents party, or 50 centers), because they are paid 0.5 yuan for every article they post on the Internet to praise the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and denigrate those the CCP opposes." The video reported that, on September 8, the Xishui County Party Propaganda Department in Hubei Province provided a training session for all government spokespersons and Internet commentators in the county to prepare them “to actively respond to sudden public events and correctly guide public opinion.” The propaganda department stressed that “the Internet has become a major battlefield in the war of ideologies.” It requested that the “governments’ spokespersons and Internet commentators continuously increase their sense of responsibility and mission” and improve their capabilities in five areas: “to make sure the Party and the government maintain a positive image, to manage their work, to handle sudden events, to guide public opinion and public relations, and to use and manage the Internet.”

Source:
1. Youmaker.com, September 15, 2011
http://www.youmaker.com/video/svb5-f784c018d27d4a4ea31337044d0e46f5001.html

What Does China Tell the World in Its Peaceful Development White Paper?

On September 6, 2011, China issued the “China’s Peaceful Development” white paper. On September 8, Qiushi Journal published an article on the significance of the white paper. It tells the U.S. and other "hostile" countries not to interfere with China’s Core Interests. China’s white paper defines China’s core interests as: national sovereignty, national security, territorial integrity, national unity, the stabilization of the political system defined by the Constitution (Ed: the Chinese Communist Party’s reign), and the basic protection of sustainable economic development.

The Qiushi article praised the white paper as a clear declaration. “For many years, the U.S.-led Western countries have viewed socialist China as a thorn in their side and tried in every way to topple China. Their desire to destroy China has never died. Politically, they promote ‘democracy, freedom, and human rights’ and develop Tibetan separatists, Xinjiang separatists, and ‘democracy activists’; economically, they pressure for renminbi appreciation and attempt to stop China’s economic growth; militarily, they drag Japan, India, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries to form an anti-China C-circle. Defining our national core interests is to tell the U.S. and other Western countries: Don’t touch my cheese!”

The Qiushi article pointed out that China is prepared to go to war to defend itself, saying, “(In its wars) China fights the invaders furiously. … The white paper unmistakably warned a number of countries: the increasingly strong Chinese people will never tolerate anyone’s attempt to damage China’s core interests.”

The white paper itself declared that “China conducts a defensive defense policy.” “China faces complex and non-traditional challenges and is threatened by separatist and terrorist forces. Defense modernization is a legitimate security requirement for China. … China’s defense spending is reasonable and appropriate. It matches the need to safeguard our national security.”

Sources:
1. Qiushi Journal, September 6, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/zywz/201109/t20110906_108413.htm
2. Qiushi Journal, September 8, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/lg/rpzm/gj/201109/t20110908_108915.htm

Huanqiu: Chinese People Support Punitive Retaliation against U.S. for Arms Sale to Taiwan

Regarding the current situation involving the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, Huanqiu (the Chinese name for Global Times, a newspaper under Xinhua) surveyed the residents of seven cities from September 8-11, 2011. The results were that 84.1 percent of those surveyed oppose the U.S. selling advanced weapons to Taiwan; 76.1% support the Chinese government’s taking strong action to stop the U.S. arms sale; more than half support the government in retaliating by punishing the American companies involved in the arms sale.

Yuan Peng, an American expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that the survey results demonstrate that the Chinese people are willing to cooperate if the government takes action on this issue; it is an expression of patriotic sentiment. If the U.S. does not change its decision, the Chinese people’s resentment toward the U.S. will not be satisfied with mere lip service.

Source: Huanqiu, September 14, 2011
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2011-09/2001813.html

China Review News: Ten Years of U.S. Counter-Terrorism Enabled China’s Speedy Rise

On September 13, 2011, China Review News published a commentary stating that the United States’ 10 years of counter-terrorism has shaken and weakened its dominant position in the world. Meanwhile, those 10 years of counter-terrorism enabled China, Russia, and other so-called “post-communist” countries to rise rapidly and join the global system.
 
The commentary concluded, “Those 10 years of counter-terrorism were 10 years over which the United States declined. What matters more is that, even if the United States can recover and find its lost self, the world around it will surely be quite different.”

Source: China Review News, September 13, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1018/3/2/1/101832146.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=101832146&mdate=0913000715

Chinese Scholar: 9/11 Gave China the Opportunity for Rapid Development

On September 11, 2011, China Review News (CRN) published an article titled “After 10 Years of Struggle, the United States Has Lost the Anti-Terrorist War.” Shao Yuqun, an Afghanistan expert and deputy director of the South Asia Research Center, Shanghai Institute of International Studies, told CRN that the United States rushed into the wrong war, misjudged the nature of the enemy, ruined its international image, consumed enormous human and material resources, and still has not curbed the terrorists. To the contrary, the United States has gotten itself into “an endless war with no resolution in sight.”

According to Shao Yuqun, when President Bush took office, he viewed China as a strategic competitor and was preparing to focus fully on dealing with China. However, 9/11 diverted the United States’ attention away from China. Over the past 10 years, while the United States was busy dealing with the terrorists, China developed rapidly, increasing its power in diplomatic discourse.

Source: China Review News, September 11, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1018/3/0/8/101830808.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101830808&mdate=0911002539

The Loss of Media Control in the Soviet Union Accelerated the Death of the Soviet Communist Party

On September 9, 2011, Huanqiu, the Chinese edition of Global Times, published an article titled “The Loss of Media Control in the Soviet Union Accelerated the Death of the Soviet Communist Party.” The author, Zhu Jidong, is executive director of the World Socialism Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zhu blamed Mikhail Gorbachev for abolishing media censorship and inviting Western media into the Soviet Union.

“As the Soviet Union’s media surrendered themselves to the West, the people (of the Soviet Union) gradually lost both their trust in the Party and the country and their faith in socialism. In just two years, from January 1989 to January 1991, over 2.9 million Soviet Communist Party members denounced the Party. Relinquishing leadership over the media resulted in the loss of control that destroyed the foundation of Soviet ideology, did away with the Soviet Union’s core value system and idealistic beliefs, and accelerated the death of the Soviet Communist Party.”

Source: Huanqiu, September 9, 2011
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-09/1990652.html

Global Times: HK Media Speculates on the Chinese Navy’s Fourth Fleet

Global Times, which is under the state’s People’s Daily, recently published an article which referred to a report from the HK newspaper Ming Pao. The report included information that the Chinese Navy is planning to establish the Fourth Fleet, which will be headquartered in Sanya, Hainan Province. It also said that the Fourth Fleet will include at least two aircraft carrier combat groups, that the future aircraft carriers will be placed directly under the Central Military Committee, and that the carriers will have their own independent Command Headquarters. The Chinese Naval fleets’ command structure is similar to Russia’s. The extent to which this information may change in the future remains unclear.

Source: Global Times, September 10, 2011
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Exclusive/2011-09/1993689.html