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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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No One Helped an Old Man Who Fell on the Street and Suffocated from a Nosebleed

On September 2, 2011, Chutian Metropolis Daily, a newspaper in Wuhan, Hubei Province, reported that an 88-year-old man fell on the street in Wuhan and onlookers watched him dying.

The old man fell over near a vegetable market, less than 100 meters from his home. Though more and more onlookers surrounded him and watched, no one helped him up. After his wife and son came, more than an hour later, he was taken to the hospital. He died of suffocation from a nosebleed. “If someone had helped him by turning him over and letting the blood flow out from his nose, he might not have left … ,” cried his wife.

Source: Chutian Metropolis Daily, September 3, 2011
http://www.cnhubei.com/news/ctdsb/ctdsbsgk/ctdsb12/201109/t1818246.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

People’s Daily Online: China Should Increase Its Gold Reserves

On September 6, 2011, People’s Daily Online published an article suggesting that China should increase its gold reserves when the time is right.

“The strategic significance of increasing gold reserves is to relieve the risk to our foreign exchange reserves. China’s foreign exchange reserves exceed US$3 trillion, of which 70% is in U.S. dollar denominated assets. Due to the current structure of our foreign exchange reserves, the security of our national wealth is highly dependent on the United States. If the U.S. dollar continues to depreciate, our foreign exchange reserves will shrink dramatically. At an appropriate time, (we should) convert part of our foreign exchange reserves into gold reserves. When the U.S. dollar depreciates, the price of gold will rise, which will make up for our loss due to the depreciation of U.S. dollar assets, ease the risk to our foreign exchange reserves, and safeguard our national wealth.”

"According to World Gold Council (WGC) data on every country’s gold reserves, in August, the United States’ gold reserves were 8,133.5 tons, which amounts to 74 percent of all of its foreign currency reserves; China’s gold reserves were a little more than 1,000 tons, which amounts to only 1.6 percent of China’s total foreign reserves, ranking it sixth in the world."

Source: People’s Daily Online, September 6, 2011
http://finance.people.com.cn/GB/15595252.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Study Times: Improve Battlefield Power

Study Times, a newspaper of the CCP Central Party School, published an article that discussed transforming weapons and equipment to increase power on the battlefield. The transformation model is very important because the correct use of weapons and equipment directly determines their effectiveness in combat. The author believes the direction for changing the model for today’s military is to merge weapons into information systems. A key approach in doing that is to integrate military technology with the civil market to ensure both low cost and sustainability. To speed up the model’s transformation, full system engineering must be introduced into all layers of society, which includes designing top level strategy, establishing operational systems and rules, as well as managing the industrial structure.

Source: Study Times, August 29, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/08/29/07/07_52.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Xinhua: The West Never Gave Up on Dominating West Asia and North Africa

Xinhua recently published an article offering a different angle on the Libya situation. The article expressed the belief that the key issue now in the Arabic region is that the young generation is expecting change, which should involve the mission of exploring and finding the right path that best fits their own country. The West is using this opportunity to package its own selfish interests (such as oil) along with so-called “universal” values such as democracy. The author tried to establish that, at this moment, there is no “ready-made example” that these West Asian and North African countries can use as a model. A new political system should adjust to and match the nation’s history and traditional culture. Otherwise, the world will have new “Afghanistans and Iraqs.”

Source: Xinhua, August 29, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-08/29/c_121923004.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Study Times: An Internet Age with Information Openness and Public Participation

Study Times, the CCP Central Party School’s newspaper, recently published an article on the relationship between government, organizations, and individuals. The article established a model for society in the information age. Instead of the traditional hierarchical social structure, today’s Internet based society is a mesh of nodes, which represent organizations and individuals. The difference in each node’s acceptance of the level of technology has caused society to have an “out-of-sync” situation. The author called this the “digital gap.” In the “mesh world,” the nodes that adjust faster and connect to more other nodes will be the ones having more influence. The article suggested the government should reform itself to become the “core node,” which would replace its current “top of the pyramid” role in the hierarchical model. In addition to employing new technology, the government should introduce and encourage openness and public participation to enhance the government’s power to influence.

Source: Study Times, August 29, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/08/29/10/10_20.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Study Times: China Must Pay Attention to Foreign Control of China’s Internet Companies

[Editor’s Note: Study Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published an article that a professor from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences wrote, along with one of his students. The article warned that most of China’s Internet companies are controlled by foreign investment. This includes foreign companies, foreign investors, and companies that the Chinese have registered overseas. It held that the common practice for establishing an Internet company in China is to first register a controlling company overseas. This overseas company then either sets up a subsidiary company in China or finds an agent to register a company in China and then signs a contract to establish effective control over this China-registered company. Though Chinese own many of these overseas controlling companies, individual ownership is still different from state ownership. Also, it is easy for foreign capital to acquire these companies and thereby control China’s Internet business. The following are the main points of the article.] [1]

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Reports | | |   Report

People’s Daily: Reflecting on the Negative Effects of the Libyan War

A People’s Daily article analyzed the effects of the Libyan War. It said, “The war forcefully altered many factors affecting the situation in West Asia and North Africa.” “The Libyan war was started to effect UN resolution 1973. … On the surface, the war appears to have been a battle between Libyan opponents and the government. In reality, it had a strong shadow of big Western countries’ manipulation. If it weren’t for NATO’s large-scale and long-term air strikes, it would not have lasted over five months.”

“Gaddafi voluntarily gave up large-scale weapons of mass destruction in 2003, surrendering to the West both politically and economically, but the West still attacked militarily. [Therefore,] Iranian top leader Khomeini publicly stated that Iran’s decision not to give up its nuclear plan was absolutely correct. Russian leader Putin also claimed that the Libyan war showed how Russia had to focus intensely on developing its military force and enhancing its national defense. These examples show the negative side of the Libyan war and transmit a strong signal to countries and leaders not friendly to the West. Once on the opposite side of the West, the only way to be secure is either to give in completely or to develop one’s own “powerful weapons.” The later choice is advancing. As such, the risk of returning to ‘Jungle Politics’ will increase greatly.”

Source: People’s Daily, August 24, 2011
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/15492253.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Qiushi: The West’s System Is Experiencing a Deep Crisis

Qiushi, a monthly Journal of the CCP, published a commentary emphasizing that the Western financial crisis is a result of capitalism’s ultimate demise. A number of state-run media such as Xinhua and People’s Daily also published the article.

The article said, “What the financial crisis has brought to the Western world is not only an economic problem, but also a political, social, and directional problem in national development. The financial crises shows that the economic, political, and social development model that the West is so proud of and tries to sell to other countries has lost its shine.”

The article concluded, “More and more intellectuals have pointed out that the capitalist system is moving further away from balance. It has brought about a structural crisis that will result in economic, political, social, and cultural turmoil. The current system can no longer continue. The current financial crisis has caused the ‘Washington Consensus’ to lose its leading position, and has exposed the inherent instability of the capitalist system. The American style of capitalism has fallen from the altar. The capital accumulation model of capitalism’s pursuit of maximum interest has run into a stalemate. The five “escape routes” of neo-liberalism, globalization, issuing debt, fiscal deficits, and military expansion have not only been unsuccessful; they have made things worse. Capitalism has reached its limit. The Western political model and its ideological hegemony have come to an end. The rise of China and other emerging countries is not only a new economic and political force; it also brings international competition of ideology and models. It is an undeniable fact that the Western system faces more and more pressure for change.

Source: Qiushi, September 1, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2011/201117/201108/t20110830_106441.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics