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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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Sharp Drop in Donations to Chinese Charities

Jinghua News recently reported that there has been s sharp drop nationwide in charitable donations. In the past couple of months, Chinese media gave extensive coverage to the “the Guo Meimei Incident,” in which large scale corruption was reported in the state-managed Chinese Red Cross. According to official statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Chinese charities received RMB 6.26 billion from March to May this year. However, after the Incident, for the period of June to August, donations dropped to RMB 0.84 billion. The sharp drop is believed to have resulted from the loss of confidence in the charity system. At the same time, individual-to-individual direct donations have risen from RMB 38.87 million to 127 million. In Shenzhen, the largest city for donations, the amount of recent donations dropped to near zero. Xu Jianzhong, a senior official of Ministry of Civil Affairs, made the observation that extensive media coverage is destroying Chinese charities.

[Ed: A Sina Weibo user, Guo Meimei, claiming she was with the Red Cross, flaunted her wealth on-line. In response, tens of thousands of Weibo users a day posted objections to the corruption involved in personal use of donated funds.]

Source: Jinghua News, August 27, 2011
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2011-08/27/content_694600.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Forbidden City Museum Responds to Reports of Scandal

In a recent interview with Beijing News, the Chief of the Forbidden City Museum offered acknowledgements and apologies regarding widely reported scandals. In the past three months, the national museum was reportedly involved in at least ten scandals. The scandals were mainly about stolen treasures that had been on display, the incorrect use of words as an academic authority, secretly using part of the Palace as a private club, breaking several historic relics, lying about wrongdoings, bribing informants, selling museum-owned collections for profit, the loss of hundreds of historic books, and tax evasion. The Museum promised that it will continue to investigate some of these issues internally and will plug some of the holes discovered. The Museum is cooperating with the police department on some leads and legal investigations.

Source: Beijing News, August 20, 2011
http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2011-08/20/content_266817.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Microblogs Used to Manage Government Affairs

More and more government agencies and officials are building their own microblog sites to communicate about day to day affairs. Xinhua reported that by August 1, 2011, government agencies and officials had built over ten thousand microblog sites on qq.com, a popular mainland based Chinese web portal. The number included 266 high ranking officials above the bureau level.

Xinhua also reported that Party schools or cadre colleges, including the Party schools in Zhejiang Province, the City of Beijing, the Party School of the Central Committee, and the Chinese Academy of Governance, carry microblogging as a required training course. 

Source: Xinhua, August 27, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-08/27/c_121916001.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

CRN: A Precondition to Discussing the South China Sea Conflict: Sovereignty Belongs to China

In responding to divergent views about the South China Sea conflict, Qiushi Theory, the online version of Qiushi Journal, published a commentary stating that the precondition to any discussion is that China has sovereignty over the area. After that is agreed upon, there can be discussions among the countries involved on putting aside conflicts and collectively exploring resources.

Recently, there have been different views in China on how to handle the South China Sea conflict. One side thinks China should exercise self control and continue to find the strategic opportunity, while the other side thinks China should stand firm with the option of resorting to war. The commentary stated, “To those who disagree that sovereignty belongs to China, no matter who they are, China should hold a firm position and maintain its options, including war, to guard China’s rights. … For China to exercise self-control does not help to solve the problem.”

The commentary also stated, “China is firmly against those countries who are not part of the conflict getting involved. China is also against any action that will spread the conflict further in international society.”

Source: China Review News, August 27, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1018/1/3/1/101813174.html?coluid=169&kindid=0&docid=101813174&mdate=0827002412

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Blue Book Published on Overseas Chinese Media

Huaqiao University and Social Sciences Academic Press recently published the first “Blue Book on Overseas Chinese Media.” According to the Blue Book, there are over 300 overseas Chinese media in 50 countries, including 20 in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Malaysia and Australia alone.

Based on a survey collected from the oversea’s media, the Blue Book disclosed that 55.7 percent of the media have built their own websites while 12.9 percent have plans to launch a website; 60 percent of the media think that the major challenge they face is market competition; some have business operational issues including that 50.8 percent lack funding; and 47.7 percent are short of professional editorial staff.

Among the suggestions the survey collected were requests that the Chinese government provide funding; provide free news and various programs; support local Chinese language education; build networks and collaboration between domestic and overseas media; and encourage the local government to use the overseas media channels to advertise foreign investment opportunities and policies.

The Blue Book also suggested that two critical factors shape the future of overseas Chinese media: the immigration of millions of Chinese from the mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong provides a strong market; the arrival of the digital age poses a challenge when the traditional print market is shrinking and online media continue to grow.

Source: Huanqiu, August 26, 2011
http://china.huanqiu.com/hot/2011-08/1951267.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

A Chinese Scholar on China’s Financial Security Strategy

[Editor’s Note: Economic Information, a publication under Xinhua, published a research paper on China’s Financial Security Strategy. The author, Jing Naiquan, is an Associate Professor in the Finance Department of Zhejiang University and is Director of the China Gold Investment Institute. In his paper, Jing stressed that China should insist on the managed floating exchange rate system and diversify its reserve holdings into gold. He offered the theory of the “U.S. dollar’s three privileges” and suggested that this theory be used to counter U.S. pressure on RMB appreciation and that the U.S. be asked to lift its ban on high-tech exports to China. He also outlined 13 measures to improve financial security. The following is a translation of the article.] [1]

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Reports | | |   Report

Ministry of Railways Demands Party Members Promise û No Accidents before Year-End

To learn a lesson from the “7.23” (Wenzhou high speed train wreck) accident, the Ministry of Railways of the PRC issued a notice demanding that no violations of regulations, no violations of discipline, and no accidents (the three NOs) occur before the end of the year. The notice requires that every Party division and member working in the front line promise publicly to achieve the goal of the “three NOs.” Additionally, they should do so in the form of having a public promise ceremony or setting up an open poster board, so that the people can monitor them. The Surveillance group of the Political Division at the Ministry of Railways will examine the performance of the Party division and the members’ security work.

Source: People’s Daily, August 25, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/15502282.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

People Daily: What Is Our Grand Vision for China-Japanese Relations?

Zhao Qizhen, the dean of School of Journalism at People’s University of China wrote an article for People’s Daily (overseas edition) titled “In Our Grand Vision, What Kind of China-Japanese Relations Do We Want?” The author’s question arose from a public opinion poll that indicated the people of both countries had a negative impression of each other. China Daily and Genron NPO of Japan jointly conducted the poll in preparation for the seventh Beijing-Tokyo Forum. According to the poll, 28.6 percent of Chinese had a positive view of Japan, while over 70 percent had a negative view. The Japanese general public’s view toward China was even worse. Only 20.8 percent of respondents said they had a favorable view of China. The author lamented that the poor feelings the two country’s people have toward each other is readily seen and that the fragile relations between them is worrisome. The author stated that Sino-Japanese relations are a manifestation of both countries’ multiple and complex relationship (from ideology to national interests to history) and proposed to develop a relationship from the grand vision. The proposal includes looking into the common interests of both sides; striving to develop common interests and complementing each others economic structure; coordinating the common views of geopolitics; calmly handling territory disputes; and cautiously dealing with unanticipated sudden incidents. At the same time it involves avoiding “abusive language, forceful action, and hard injuries” such as what happened in Japan’s handling of the boat collision incident at the Jiaoyu (Senkaku) islands.

Source: People’s Daily, August 25, 2011
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2011-08/25/content_907017.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend