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Guangming Online: New Strategic Objective for the U.S.: Destroy the Euro

[Editor’s Note: When China’s government controlled media talk about the “chaos” or “turmoil” in the Middle East (they never use the term “revolution”), many of them claim that the U.S. is the “black hand” behind the scenes and that the motive for the U.S. action is not to promote democracy, but its own interests. The theory section (Theory Channel) on Guangming Online, the website for the Guangming Daily newspaper that operates under the direct leadership of the Propaganda Department and the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, recently published an article, offering a new theory on the motive for U.S. actions. As the euro presents a great challenge to the U.S. dollar, the new U.S. strategy is to weaken its European allies and destroy the euro. The following is the translation of the article.] [1]

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Chinese Court To Harshly Punish Criminals Extremely Hostile to the State and Society

The Vice President of China’s Supreme People’s Court, Zhang Jun, recently said in a training session that the “People’s Court should accurately apply the relevant articles in Amendment VIII to the Criminal Law. … (It should) heavily sentence those who should be handed a heavy sentence according to law; and show no mercy in death sentence cases with immediate execution according to law.” The crimes subject to harsh punishment include “crimes that seriously endanger the social order and people’s lives and property such as endangering state security, organized terrorist crimes, and ‘evil’ forces’ crimes, especially those criminals who are extremely hostile to the state and society, who do not target any particular person or population, and who have committed particularly serious offenses.” 

Scholars in the overseas Chinese community have voiced concern over what Zhang meant by “criminals who are extremely hostile to the state and society,” and “any particular person or population,” and anticipate a new round of crackdowns as domestic social conflicts escalate.
Source: Legal Daily, June 13, 2011.
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/leader/content/2011-06/13/content_2742561.htm?node=20950
The Epoch Times, June 15, 2011.
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/11/6/15/n3286539.htm

Military Troops Quell Unrest in Southern Chinese City

Since June 10, the township of Xintang in Zengcheng, a county-level city in Guangzhou nicknamed "Jeans Town" for its apparel manufacturing industry, has fallen into chaos after local police bullied a pregnant woman from Sichuan and pushed her to the ground. Although it was confirmed that the woman was unharmed and did not suffer a suspected miscarriage, protesting migrant workers from Sichuan Province held massive demonstrations out of their anger over local authorities’ unfair treatment and blackmail by law enforcement, a typical manifestation of the widespread social injustice in China. As many as 50,000 protesters attacked and burned government buildings and police vehicles, resulting five deaths and nearly one hundred wounded. The local press reported that nearly 150 migrant workers who were at the demonstration were placed in police custody.

On Sunday (June 12), authorities mobilized a division in the Guangzhou Military Region and deployed nearly 30 combat trucks and 1,500 riot police to quell the unrest. A curfew and military control of the town will be in place for the whole week. As of June 14, the Internet, fax, and phone lines have been cut off. The authorities notified local people not to “cook up stories and spread rumors.”

Source: Voice of America, June 14, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/201210614-Authorities-high-alert-123799564.html

Beijing to Spend Money on Monitoring Environment Emergencies

According to Xinhua, the Ministry of the Treasury is to allocate a budget as high as 190 million yuan for building facilities to monitor environmental related emergencies in key regions in provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

Source: Xinhua, June 13, 2011.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-06/13/c_121528376.htm

PBOC: Newly Added Loans Drop in May

According to People’s Bank of China’s latest statistics, 551.6 billion yuan of newly added loans were issued in the month of May, which is 100.5 billion less than the same period last year. Market experts believe the drop is due to the Bank’s strict control of credit. The total outstanding loans at the end of May amounted to 50.77 trillion yuan, a 17.1% year-over-year increase, 4.4% lower than the last May’s growth. As inflation remains the top economic headache, the tightened monetary policy is expected to continue.

Source: China News Service, June 13, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/fortune/2011/06-13/3106973.shtml

China’s Skyscraper Syndrome

By U.S. standards, skyscrapers are buildings taller than 152 meters. According to a Xinhua article, China now has over 200 skyscrapers under construction, a number comparable to existing U.S. skyscrapers. China already has five out of 10 of the world’s tallest buildings. In the coming three years, China will see one skyscraper finished every five days. Five years from now, the number will be quadruple that of the U.S. 

The concern is overinvestment, as half of the top 50 of China’s skyscrapers are in the real estate business. Skyrocketing housing prices result in pressure to sell or rent the units. Meanwhile, small-to-middle sized cities are leaping forward. The southwest city of Guiyang is planning 17 skyscrapers, and Guangxi Province’s Fangchenggang, with a population of one million, will build a 528-meter-high financial center. 

The article mentioned Andrew Lawrence, a former Deutsche Bank economist, who invented the “skyscraper index.” In his research, Lawrence observed that major downturns in the economy occurred shortly after skyscrapers were completed.

Source: Xinhua, June 9, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2011-06/09/c_121510519.htm

New Regulations on Foreigners Mapping in China

China’s Ministry of Land and Resources released new regulations applying to foreigners who conduct cartographic activities in the country. Foreign cartographic work can only take two forms: a joint venture with a domestic company or a one-time job such as cartography preparing for state-approved events. Foreigners are forbidden from performing activities such as geodetic surveys, aerophotographical surveys, administrative district boundary surveys, hydrographic surveys, topographic mapping, world and national administrative mapping, provincial-and-below level administrative mapping, national school mapping, 3-D mapping, and electronic navigational maps. 

For Internet mapping activities, the regulation has even stricter requirements. A joint venture is a must and the foreign share must be less than half. The report mentioned that, in recent years, a great deal of national security related information has been leaked via Internet mapping.

Source: People’s Daily, June 10, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/14863757.html

China’s Short-Lived Buildings

[Editor’s Note: According to Mr. Qiu Baoxing, vice minister of China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the average lifespan of a building in China is 25 to 30 years. A survey by China Youth Daily shows 83.5% of the interviewees believe the primary reason for premature building demolition is “local government leaders want to build their image and embellish their job performance.” The following abridged translation is from an article appearing on www.163.com, one of China’s largest news portals, titled “Why are China’s Buildings Short-Lived?”] [1]

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