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Ministry of Defense Official: There Is No Such Thing as Absolute Transparency

Colonel Major Qian Lihua, director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Defense Ministry, published an article after Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited China on July 10-13, 2011. In commenting on the transparency of China’s military, Qian said, “It must be pointed out that the openness of China’s military is an orderly openness, one that is equal, reciprocal, and in accordance with China’s security and interests. We will gradually increase the extent of openness based on the level of China’s military development and the need for military diplomacy; we will oppose blind openness that does not consider the realities. We advocate equal treatment and oppose forced and involuntary openness. We advocate mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, and oppose unilateral openness seeking self interest. We insist on gradual openness on the premise of ensuring national military security, appropriately handling the relationship between openness and confidentiality. There is no such thing as ‘absolute transparency.”

Source: People’s Daily, July 16, 2011
http://military.people.com.cn/GB/1076/115150/15179956.html

Xinhua: European and U.S. Debt Crises Represent a Failure of the Western System

Xinhua republished a commentary by Jinua Times, a daily newspaper in Beijing, arguing that the current international financial and debt crisis represent a failure of the Western system. The article states, “The financial crisis and the current ongoing European and U.S. debt crises represent … the failure of the current European and U.S. systems. These crises have shaken people’s faith in these nations’ sovereign credit and have also shaken people’s faith in the current system being able to ensure that the financial (system) can fully perform its function.”

The article laments, “World economic recovery is slow; old financial crises are not over, yet new debt problems have arisen. It makes one worry about the current system’s effectiveness.” The author listed three worries: (1) Europe and the U.S. may be trapped into paying old debts with new debts, creating a “Ponzi scheme”; (2) the U.S. may try to solve its debt problem by printing money, depreciating the dollar, and inducing inflation; (3) the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating will make the countries holding U.S. debt suffer losses in their foreign currency reserves.

The article concludes, “The current European and U.S. system won’t eliminate these worries. The crisis is with the current system and is not just a credit crisis. Since the current system cannot solve the problem, it is logical and inevitable to establish a new world order and a new national system.”

Source: Xinhua, August, 15, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2011-08/15/c_121859517.htm

China’s Ministry of Agriculture: The Best Practices in the Party’s Ideological Work on Farmers

Red Flag Manuscript published a research paper from China’s Ministry of Agriculture that discussed the best practices in the Party’s ideological and political work in the countryside. The article stated that the victories that the Party achieved in the past were the result of taking resolving agricultural and farmers’ issues as the number one priority, adopting and implementing agricultural policies, and targeting the hearts of farmers in the Party’s ideological and political work, all of which won the support of the vast majority of farmers. The practices that have proved best include 1) always consider the farmers’ issues as the most important; 2) always tie the core task of the Party with the ideological work on farmers; 3) always treat the resolution of land problems as the foundation of the Party’s work on farmers’ issues; 4) implement the Party’s agricultural policies along with its ideological and political work.

Source: Red Flag Manuscript reprinted by Qiushi, August 10, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/hqwg/2011/201115/201108/t20110810_101111.htm

China’s Vice Premier: Government Credibility Tied to Safety of High-speed Railway

On August 15, 2011, at a State Council’s kickoff on safety issues, Zhang Dejiang, China’s Vice Premier, said that safety checks on China’s high-speed railway network must be conducted to raise the government’s credibility. “An extensive safety check has become … an urgent need in order to raise government credibility and public satisfaction.” Zhang said that if major safety threats are found during the month long inspection from now to mid September, train operations and construction should be suspended immediately.

Source: The Beijing News reprinted by People’s Online, August 17, 2011
http://scitech.people.com.cn/GB/15434283.html

China Youth Daily: China Must Walk Its Own Path

China Youth Daily published a commentary titled “China Must Walk its Own Path.” The commentary stated that, from identifying Marxism as its core to applying Marxism to China, the Communist Party has blazed a Chinese style socialist path. It pointed out that the Communist Party has done three major things and has had three major achievements. The three major things are 1) completing the new democratic revolution, national independence and people’s liberation; 2) completing the socialist revolution and establishing the socialist system; and 3) engaging in open-door reform and developing Chinese style socialism. The three major achievements are 1) blazing a Chinese style socialist path; 2) founding Chinese style socialist theory; and 3) establishing the Chinese style socialist system.

Source: China Youth Daily reprinted by Xinhua, August 15, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-08/15/c_131049185.htm

The Brand Name Chteau Lafite Rothschild at Chinese Officials’ Dinner Table

Lafite is a trademark not registered in Mainland China. Château Lafite Rothschild, a wine estate in France, produces 15,000 to 25,000 cases of wine annually, or about 200,000 bottles. China’s annual quota of Lafite wine imported from France is only 50,000 bottles. However, the annual sale of Lafite in China exceeds 3 million bottles, meaning 80 to 90 percent of Lafite sold in China is fake. In less than 10 years, the price of Lafite has risen 857%.

Over time, Lafite in China has gradually lost its original nature and now serves a social function. It is used to judge someone’s economic situation. To show off their status, people dare not to comment on Lafite. Even if they have bought fake Lafite, they silently accept it, fearing ridicule for not being able to recognize true Lafite. Lafite’s high price and the reputation of the wine of kings satisfies the proclivity of government officials, who, at a party, must drink the best wine. The rising demand has resulted in a higher price for Lafite, which, in turn, makes Lafite more popular among government officials and elite groups. “Lafite,” a symbol of status, has become the “official wine.” The taste and color are no longer important. A businessman observed, “I cannot take the risk of not providing Lafite at the dinner table.” 

Source: news.163.com, August 15, 2011
http://news.163.com/11/0815/01/7BF99J6O00014JHT.html

Chinese Netizens Discuss the Relationship between Wealth and Students’ Classroom Success

Recently, an Internet posting titled “Nowadays Children from Poor Families Have Few Opportunities to Achieve Excellence” has attracted over 400,000 hits and more than 2,900 replies. A “teacher with 15 years of teaching experience” posted it. The posting said that students from rich families tend to have better grades because their parents have the money for extracurricular classes and even private tutors. Compared to 20 years ago, a student’s achievement is in inverse proportion to his family’s economic condition (Ed: Twenty years ago, China’s higher education provided a way for poor students to improve their social status.) Nowadays, studying hard is far from enough. Money produces good grades. Children from poor families lose from the start.

One reply said, “Due to the increased pressure to survive, poor people are no longer interested in a long-term investment in education.” Another reply said, “Education has been industrialized. Schools need to make money. Thus, children from wealthy families have more advantages. Many people are born into social classes.”

Source: Yangcheng Evening News, August 5, 2011
http://www.ycwb.com/ePaper/ycwb/html/2011-08/05/content_1179040.htm

Xinhua Blames State-owned Enterprises for Rising Prices

On August 9, 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released data showing that the CPI rose 6.5 percent in July, the biggest increase in 37 months. On August 16, 2011, Xinhua News Agency’s Outlook Weekly published an article pointing out that when state-owned enterprises raise prices, the government has difficulty regulating inflation. The article referenced several interviews that emphasized the responsibility of state-owned enterprises to stabilize prices. 

One interviewee said, “Many commodities have higher prices because of higher labor and raw material costs. It is the monopolies in the electric, oil, and petrochemical industries that charge more for raw materials. These industries earn high profits, but still raise prices several times a year. It is clearly neither reasonable nor fair to request private enterprises and consumers to bear the consequences of higher prices.” Another interviewee said, “Since state-owned enterprises use China’s national resources and enjoy state subsidies, they should assume the important task of stabilizing prices. They cannot stress their state-owned background when they want subsidies, but emphasize the market mechanism when they want to increase prices.”

The article concluded, “Many experts believe that it is the people who own state-owned enterprises. In the more and more severe circumstance of managing inflation, state-owned enterprises should take more social responsibility.”

Source: Xinhua News Agency’s Outlook Weekly, August 16, 2011,
http://www.lwgcw.com/NewsShow.aspx?newsId=22795