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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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Huanqiu: U.S. Debt Negotiation is Holding Other Countries Hostage

Huanqiu published an editorial on the current negotiation between the U.S. President and Congress to increase the national debt ceiling. “Although analysts believe that Obama and Congress ultimately will ‘definitely’ reach an agreement, they dare to use their sovereign credit as a rubber ball on a playing field, and dare to hold hostage China, Japan, Germany, and the many countries that have bought U.S. Treasury bonds. Imagine how unbalanced this world is!”

“There must be more restrictions placed on the prerogatives of the United States. It would require that the world join hands in fighting the U.S. as well as that the United States awaken. The self-serving nature of the U.S. dollar as the sovereign currency is incompatible with the role of internationalism that it plays. … Wall Street used to be the recharger of the U.S. economy and has now become a smoke-filled common gaming house and a school for thieves. Power cannot sustained unreasonable things for long. The United States should awaken.”

Source: Huanqiu, July 16, 2011
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-07/1826399.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Outlook Weekly’s Comments on Mullen’s China Trip

Outlook Weekly, a magazine under Xinhua, published an article commenting on the visit to China by Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The article claimed that the Sino-U.S. relationship has entered a period in which both sides accommodate each other. It stated that there are still several legacy issues (caused by the U.S.) impacting the Sino-U.S. relationship: U.S.’ arm sales to Taiwan, military surveillance of China under China’s nose, restrictions on Sino-U.S. military exchanges, political discrimination against China, restrictions on high-tech exports to China, criticism of China’s political system, military alliances in Asia, and involvement in its ally’s territorial disputes with China.

It also warned that new issues may emerge. “Along with China’s continuing to rise in power and expand its national interests, … the chances of friction or collision developing between the two countries are increasing.”

Source: Sohu, July 18, 2011
http://news.sohu.com/20110718/n313762556.shtml

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: The Provincial vs. National GDP

Xinhua reprinted an article from Yangcheng Evening News, which reported that the GDP numbers that each province in China reported did not match the GDP number from the central government. For the past several years, the sum of GDPs reported at the provincial level has always been greater than the national number. In 2010, the provincial sum was 3.5 trillion yuan (US$540 billion), or 8.8%, greater than the national number. The report listed the reasons for this inconsistency as double counting, calculation errors, and false claims at the provincial level. “For example, an economic review of the previous two years found significant gaps in some provinces’ GDPs numbers. As a result, those GDP numbers underwent a major correction.”

Source: Xinhua, July 19, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2011-07/19/c_121690132.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xi Jinping’s Speech at China’s Celebration of Tibet’s Peaceful Liberation

Xi Jinping, China’s Vice President, the expected incoming paramount leader of the Chinese Communist Party, led a central government delegation to Lhasa to attend the celebration of “the 60th anniversary of China’s peaceful liberation of Tibet.” In his speech at the celebration, Xi called for the promotion of advanced socialist culture and a patriotism-based national spirit, as well as sticking to, consolidating, and expanding the patriotic united front and “carrying the struggle against the Dalai group’s separatist activities to a deeper level.” Xi praised all those who are stationed in Tibet – the PLA, the armed police, and law enforcement – as “loyal guards and strong pillars who defend the country, safeguard Tibet’s socialist development, and maintain Tibet’s social stability.”

Source: Xinhua, July 19, 2011
http://tibet.news.cn/xwzt/xzhpjf60/qzdh/wzzb.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China Launched Tian-Lian One-02 Satellite

According to China Manned Space Engineering Online, China recently successfully launched a second data relay satellite named Tian-Lian One-02. The satellite is to be used for China’s first space docking mission planned for the second half of the year. The satellite was developed by China Academy of Space Technology, under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. This new satellite works in conjunction with the Tian-Lian One-01 satellite, launched three years ago, to form a network to support space data relay and to provide monitoring and control services. The Tian-Lian One-01 satellite served the manned space mission Shenzhou VII to increase the coverage of monitoring and control services from 15% to 50%. 

Source: China Manned Space Engineering Online, July 12, 2011
http://www.cmse.gov.cn/news/show.php?itemid=1485

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Beijing Daily: Dongcheng District Builds Grid-Based Party Structure

  Beijing Daily recently reported that the Communist Party branch in Dongcheng District was building a grass roots structure based on a grid format, dividing the District into grid cells. The 17 streets in the District have 589 cells in which 822 Party units were created. These units further include 1,565 Party Groups that reach 37,452 Party members. The grid structure is designed to do better “social service management,” enabling Party members to have a deeper reach. Party members in each grid cell are to note down detailed information about the resident families in the cell, such as some family’s low-income status or whether some household has a water leak. It is believed that this is a new model for community self-management. 

Source: Beijing Daily, July 17, 2011
http://bjrb.bjd.com.cn/html/2011-07/17/content_426162.htm?div=-1

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Sinopec Tops Fortune 500 China

Jinghua Times, a Beijing based daily newspaper under Chinese state media People’s Daily, recently reported on the newly released 2011 Fortune 500 China list. China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) remains number one on the list with a revenue of RMB 1.91 trillion, followed by PetroChina as second and China Mobile as third. The total revenue of all 500 companies on the list reached RMB 18.9 trillion, which is 47% of the nation’s GDP. This total represents a growth of 38% over last year. State owned capital still holds the vast majority of the Fortune 500 China list. This year, 45 new companies joined the list. Only 9 out of the 500 reported financial losses. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Sinopec and China Construction Bank are the top 3 most profitable companies on the list.

Source: Jinghua Times, July 14, 2011
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2011-07/14/content_679703.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Communist Party Members in Foreign Invested Companies

Xinhua published an article featuring stories of how Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and branches inside foreign invested companies in Shanghai helped the companies pull through difficult times during the global financial crisis. A few large corporations including the U.K.’s Hamworthy, the U.S.’s Medtronic, Walmart, and Hamilton Sundstrand, Korea’s Samsung, and Finland’s Nokia Siemens Networks, have CCP branches in place in their China subsidiaries.

According to the article, “In 2004, Shanghai Foreign Service Co., Ltd, (abbreviated SFSC, a subsidiary company of Shanghai World Expo Group, which specializes in human resource management for foreign investment companies in Shanghai) assumed the function of manageing its 3,900 Chinese Communist Party members. Among the 550,000 employees of foreign invested companies, almost 10,000 are CCP members. As of end of March this year, under SFSC, there awere 407 stand-alone CCP branches in individual foreign invested companies and 88 CCP branches jointly across foreign invested companies.”

“There are more than 6,000 foreign invested companies in Suzhou City, with over 1,000 CCP organizations in place. Statistics indicate that, at the end of 2010, there were 7,300 CCP organizations in ‘two new’ types of organizations, managing 110,292 CCP members, accounting for one third of the city’s total membership.”

[Ed. note: The “two new” types of organizations refer to new economic and social organizations. Before the economic reform, CCP organizations existed in virtually all units of Chinese society. Since the reform, many new economic and social organizations, such as foreign invested companies, appeared and there were originally no CCP organization in place.]

Source: Xinhua, July 15, 2011.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-07/15/c_121671880.htm.

Briefings | | |   Social Stability