Chinascope – Page 1030

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

Briefings | | August 18, 2011 | Government/Politics

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

Briefings | | August 18, 2011 | Government/Politics

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

Briefings | | August 17, 2011 | Grapevine

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

Briefings | | August 17, 2011 | Grapevine

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

Briefings | | August 17, 2011 | Economy/Resources

China Needs to Optimize the Structure of the Cultural Industry

Qiushi, a flagship publication of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, republished an article from People’s Daily on the topic of pushing the cultural industry forward. The article suggested improvements needed in four areas: (1) the investment structure needs to be optimized to allow more investors; (2) the technological structure needs to be optimized in order to utilize more cutting-edge technologies; (3) the cultural industry product structure needs to be optimized for better branding and design; (4) the industry’s organizational structure needs to be optimized to introduce more enhancements to state owned cultural enterprises. The article expressed the belief that, to meet the requirements of the Party, the industry must successfully unify both ideology attributes and economic attributes .

Source: Qiushi, August 3, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/wh/whcy/201108/t20110803_99214.htm

Briefings | | August 16, 2011 | Economy/Resources

PLA Daily: Dare to Use the Aircraft Carrier in Territorial Disputes

On August 11, 2011, PLA Daily published an article suggesting China should “dare to” use its aircraft carrier to solve territorial disputes. The article is no longer available on the official web site, but several other sites have picked it up. The article pointed out that China made a large investment in building the aircraft carrier, and it was not built “just for display.” The author expressed that putting a military warship into a field of combat is the logical next step when China’s territorial seas are under threat or attack. The article also suggested that China is ready to fight the challenging countries even without the aircraft carrier. However the new aircraft carrier “only reinforces and enhances the confidence and the determination” of defending China’s territory. The article did acknowledge that there might be a long way to go before the new aircraft carrier can obtain actual combat capability; it has more political value that military value at the moment.

Source: DWNews, August, 12, 2011
http://china.dwnews.com/news/2011-08-12/58006109.html

Briefings | | August 16, 2011 | Defense/Military

CRN: China’s Strategy for Sustainable Growth in the Post US Debt Era

China Review News (CRN) recently published an article discussing the strategy for China’s sustainable growth after the U.S. debt crisis. The article pointed out two main challenges: (1) the investment-based growth model needs adjustment; (2) the export-oriented economy must change its focus to a unified domestic market. The article suggested that China has a similar debt risk from its large local government debt total of RMB 10.7 trillion. Meanwhile, currently, Chinese exports concentrate on sectors that have a thin profit margin; the large trade volume does not generate a high profit. The author concluded that, unless the current growth model switches to the domestic market, it will be hard to recover from the damage caused by the U.S debt crisis.

Source: China Review News, August 10, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1017/9/4/6/101794661.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=101794661&mdate=0810071138

Briefings | | August 16, 2011 | Economy/Resources

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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

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

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