{Editor’s Note: The International Herald Leader recently published an exclusive report covering the "South China Sea Situation and the Media’s Responsibility Forum," a July 13 event jointly hosted by Yunnan Provincial Television and the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. [1] The Chinese scholars invited to speak at the forum suggested strategies for multiple ways that China could use to deal with its South China Sea disputes with other countries: taking a hard diplomatic position with military backup, guiding international public opinion to favor China, and using "marauding pirates" as grounds to enter the disputed waters and assert China’s leadership. The following are excerpts from the article.]
Xinhua Editorial: The End of the Gaddafi Era Does Not Mean the End of Unrest in Libya.
On August 22, 2011, Xinhua published an editorial about the end of Gaddafi’s Rule. The article criticized the West for taking advantage of the unrest in Libya and constantly conducting air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces even though, since the beginning of the century, Gaddafi had adjusted his foreign policy to be favorable to the West. “As far as the West is concerned, smiling or swords are only tools to achieve their own strategic interests.”
The article pointed out that internal strife has started among Libyan rebels, concluding, “The end of the Gaddafi era does not mean the end of unrest in Libya. The power vacuum caused by the fall of a political regime tends to lead to factional conflicts, which will result in social turbulence.”
Source: Xinhua, August 22, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-08/22/c_121894757.htm
Be on Guard against the West’s Insistence on ‘China’s Responsibility’
On August 12, 2011, Xinhua’s International Herald Leader published a commentary titled, “Be on Guard against the West’s Insistence on ‘China’s Responsibility.’” The article started with an apologetic statement that a German commissioner for African Affairs made, saying, “China is not responsible for the famine in the Horn of Africa.” The commentary stated that the West has launched a “media attack,” which is a “soft war,” against China for the purpose of driving China out of Africa. “With the rise and global influence of China, the so-called ‘China’s international responsibility’ has become a new weapon and a new means for the West to suppress China.”
The article acknowledged that “China’s responsibility” has misled some developing countries and created obstacles to China’s international cooperation. Therefore, it suggested that China must seize the earliest opportunity to spread the word in its loudest voice that favors China in the international media, so as to win the world’s understanding.
Source: International Herald Leader, August 12, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-08/12/c_131043110.htm
The Only Right Strategy to Avoid the Trap of the U.S. Debt Is to Internationalize the RMB
Qiushi Journal, a flagship publication of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, republished an article from People’s Forum, which was originally published on the Caogen website. The article claimed that the only way to keep away from the pitfall of “the U.S. dollar hegemony” and the U.S. debt is to “create an alternative to replace the U.S. dollar and the U.S. debt.” “If China wants to get away from its over-reliance on the U.S. dollar and debt, the only right strategy is to internationalize the RMB (the Chinese yuan).”
The article explained in detail “the pitfall of the U.S. dollar hegemony and the U.S. debt”:
“The pitfall of the U.S. dollar hegemony and the U.S. debt is the core of the U.S. global strategy (‘the U.S. dollar + the U.S. army’ strategy). Due to the special status of the U.S. dollar, the world’s leading reserve currency, other countries have to accumulate large amounts of the U.S. dollar reserves. Since the U.S. bond market is the most liquid and most secure bond market in the world, other countries have no other choice but to buy large amounts of the U.S. debt. The deficit and debt help the U.S. to raise huge amounts of military expenditures, which lets the U.S. maintain its global military expansion and control the global strategic resources (mainly oil). The control of global strategic resources, in turn, strengthens the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status. ‘The U.S. dollar hegemony – the U.S. debt pitfall – the military expansion – a control of strategic resources – strengthening the U.S. dollar hegemony’ is the basic logic of the United States as the global superpower.”
Source: Caogen, People’s Forum and Qiushi Journal, August 20 – 22, 2011
http://www.caogen.com/blog/Infor_detail/28899.html
http://www.rmlt.com.cn/News/201108/201108201032026335.html
http://www.qstheory.cn/jj/jjyj/201108/t20110822_104001.htm
People’s Daily: Half of U.S. People not Satisfied with Obama
People’s Daily recently reported on a Gallup poll, which showed that 54% of those responding were dissatisfied with Obama. The poll also showed that Obama’s job approval rating was at 39%, which is a record low for a U.S. President. The report suggested that the poll result was related to S&P recently dropping the U.S. rating to AA+ for the first time in history. The report also referred to a recent Reuters’ poll which indicated that over 70% of U.S. people believe the country is heading the wrong direction. The report mentioned a few other numbers to prove its point: In July, the U.S. unemployment rate remained above 9% and the second quarter economic growth rate was merely 1.3%. Although Obama just started his bus tour in the Midwest to sell his new plan, the report hinted that might just be “a show for his reelection.”
Source: People’s Daily, August 20, 2011
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2011-08/20/content_902415.htm
Global Times: U.S. Media Covered Chinese Satellite Mission Failure
Global Times, under the Chinese state’s People’s Daily, recently reported that U.S. media covered the news that China had a satellite launch failure on August 17, 2011. NASA believed that the failure was proof that China’s three launch missions in one week overloaded its capacity. It seems that China is in a hurry to build an orbit satellite group. This was the first time the Long March II C rocket failed. This failed mission was the 146th orbit launch in Chinese space history and the 9th this year. The U.S. website space.com also reported that this was the third launch within seven days. The previous one was on August 15, 2011, from a different space center.
Source: Global Times, August 19, 2011
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-08/1927152.html
Tight Security at Universiade 2011
The 2011 Summer Universiade is under way in Shenzhen, China. The government arranged highly tightened security for the event. For the opening ceremony, 500 families near the stadium were prohibited from staying home. They were required to leave their houses for 5 hours – for security reasons. Meanwhile, they had to leave their lights on – so the area would be well-lit for better views. If the home owners refused to leave, security officers would stay in their homes for that period. The government also established three areas in Shenzhen for security inspections. Hundreds of security inspection stations were established to allow civil-military joint checks on vehicles arriving from nearby towns and provinces. Regular helicopter patrols were scheduled and all purchases of cooking knives required the registration of the buyer’s real name. Shenzhen international airport was closed during the opening and closing ceremonies.
Source: NetEase, August 15, 2011
http://help.3g.163.com/11/0815/08/7BG3G75R00963VRO.html
The Blue Book on Oversea’s Chinese Language Education
Huaqiao University and Social Sciences Academic Press recently published the first “Blue Book on Overseas Chinese.” According to People’s Daily Oversea’s Edition, the Blue Book highlighted the development in recent decades of Chinese language and cultural education outside of China, along with the challenges it faces. According to the statistics in the Blue Book, there are currently over 5,000 Chinese language schools and 20,000 Chinese language teachers overseas, including 3,000 Chinese schools in Asian countries alone, and 500 Chinese schools and 68,000 students in the U.S.
The Blue Book highlighted the challenges oversea’s Chinese educational development faces. "There is an imbalance in the allocation of resources; the quality of teaching is inconsistent in different regions; effective coordination can be improved; and communication between foreign Chinese language promotional agencies and education entities is lacking. … The challenges have affected the branding of ‘China’s image’ … and diminished China’s ‘Cultural soft power’" The Blue Book suggested there is a need to increase the efforts and resources devoted to the development of Chinese language education and to the development of a global Chinese language education system.
Zhao Yang, the Deputy Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council disclosed that China will increase its investment in training oversea’s Chinese language teachers and will support the development of a Chinese language education system. According to the article, currently there is a training class held in Kunming University for Chinese language teachers from Burma. Another will be held in Wuhu City of Anhui Province in December to train teachers from Indonesia.
Source: Xinhua, August 19, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2011-08/19/c_121882177.htm