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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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

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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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China’s Overseas Investments Receive Attention

VOA published an article on concerns over China’s overseas investments. The article said that as demand for raw materials increases in China, many Chinese companies have gone overseas and signed contracts with local companies. However, China’s foreign expansion has raised concerns over the direct impact on the world’s economic development, environmental issues, and compensation to workers in those countries.
 
In VOA’s interview with J. Peter Pham, Director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center, Pham said that since China’s loans are paid in the form of investment in the infrastructure or soft loans, the cash that those foreign countries were to receive would have been a lot less than expected. David Sean, a former official with the Department of State, told VOA that the trade relationship between China and African countries often lacks transparency and involves environmental concerns. Moreover, local hired workers often complain about their treatment and compensation. However Chinese government officials denied all of the above allegations and explained that, unlike other foreign investors, Chinese investors don’t get involved in local politics.

Source: VOA, July 1, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110701-china-global-investment20110701-china-global-investment-124886109.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

International Herald Leader: China Should Compete with the U.S. for Friends

[Editor’s Note: On May 21, the Pacific Research Institute of the China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) held a forum on “The Strategy of China’s Rise – Theory and History.” Issues discussed included foreign diplomatic strategy, cooperation among countries in the region, and internationalization of the Renminbi. The International Herald Leader reported on several representative points of view. Excerpts from the article related to diplomatic and cooperative strategies are translated below.] [1]

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Reports | | |   Report

Study Times: How to Increase Cultural Power

Study Times, a publication of the Central Party School, published an article on the importance of cultural power. The article suggested that (China) should increase cultural power in six different ways. 1) Enhance the cultural education of children and adolescents, using culture to shape their value system. 2) Integrate and consolidate cultures of different ethnic groups and establish a core national value system. 3) Learn from the West’s creativity. 4) Advance the study of philosophy and other branches of the social sciences. 5) Increase investment in cultural industries. 6) Strengthen cultural exportation. 

To back up the last point, the article explained that “military and economic power will no longer be the major parameters to evaluate national strength. In the 21st century, the control of culture will be the focus of power struggles. If a country’s cultural and value systems are attractive, other countries will move towards it. If a country takes the lead in global cultural development, it will occupy an advantageous position in future development. If a country’s values (ideologies) can dictate the international political order, it will inevitably be the leader of international society.”
Source: Study Times, July 4, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/07/04/06/06_52.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

New Characteristics of Sino-U.S. Security Relations

A scholar from the Research Center of World Affairs under Xinhua News Agency, published an article discussing the new characteristics of Sino-U.S. security relations. As China’s comprehensive power increases, China’s national interests are surpassing its national boundaries, its international influence is expanding, and the conflicts with the U.S. in its strategic goal and its interest in dominating the globe are increasing. Due to their increasing inter-dependence, however, the content and scope of co-operation in their common security interests, particularly in dealing with the challenges of global issues, are also broadening. 

The article believes that Sino-U.S. security relations are becoming more and more complicated. In geographic security, they have surpassed the area of East Asia; in space, they have expanded into air space; in security, they have surpassed military areas and broadened to the economy, energy, resources, and the Internet. 
It concluded: 1) Complications come from two factors. First, as China’s power increases, the U.S. is getting more wary and suspicious of China and structural conflicts are becoming more prominent. Second, the contradictions due to their different strategic goals (affect relations). 2) Due to the rapid development of economic globalization, both countries are not only economically inter-dependent; in security relations, the area that requires cooperation is also increasing.

Source: Xinhua, July 7, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-07/07/c_121635114.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: Watch Out as the U.S. May Repudiate Its Debts.

A Xinhua commentary cautioned about the possibility that the U.S. may default on its debt. The article said, “No one wants to see the U.S. breach its debt obligations, but (everyone) has to be prepared (in case it happens). As long as no one can shake the U.S.’s (global) hegemony in military, currency, and media, any U.S. ‘action to repudiate its debts’ will benefit itself at a cost to others.” “In the current situation, only by ‘repudiating its debts’ can the U.S. rapidly decrease its debt ratio and reduce its heavy debt burden, so as to have ‘consumption recover.’” 

The article argued that, in the short term, the U.S. cannot expand its economy through investments or exports. “In the short run, the U.S. must continue to walk the path of ‘relying on consumption’ to improve its economy. In fact, the Republicans, the voice for the oil and financial conglomerates on the East Coast, are very aware of the reality. Therefore, they are not afraid of the U.S. defaulting on its debt, and have even proposed a ‘technical default.’” 
“The world’s countries will have nothing to say but acknowledge their bad luck if the U.S. ‘defaults on its debt’ or ‘engages in disguised debt default’ in order to reduce its fiscal deficit. If the default causes the collapse of bond prices and the skyrocketing of commodity prices, those who suffer will be countries with foreign exchange reserves and industrial manufacturing countries. To avoid their capital loss and remedy their economies, these countries will have to unconditionally agree to the U.S debt restructuring. Historically, the collapse of the Bretton Woods system was a typical case of the U.S. ‘repudiating its debt.’ This is also why the author worries about the ‘U.S. repudiating its debt.’”

Source: Xinhua, July 7, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-07/07/c_121635675.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Ex-Party Chief Rumored Dead, Web Search Censored

On July 6, 2011, rumors about the death of Jiang Zemin, the ex chief of the Chinese Communist Party, became popular in China’s local searches, but within half an hour, the country stretched out the heavy hand of China’s censors to block Chinese language searches about Jiang’s death. If people search for words related to Jiang’s death, the search pages return a message saying: "According to relevant policies and laws, the search results are not shown below." A posting on Weibo stated, "About the news that Jiang Zemin has passed away, news organizations can’t do reports on their own, all news reports should be in accordance with news releases from Xinhua [the official state news agency]."
On July 7, the official Xinhua quoted "authoritative sources" in its report denying the rumor. 

Source: AFP, July 8, 2011
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iIlw8Muhmt8qfu3Znm9HQQxV0HBg?docId=CNG.9df3894d3c61df966b0d7c129418e270.5a1

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Study Times: Universities Should Give a High Priority to Party Build-up

Liu Xiping, Director and Party Chief of the Education Department of Zhejiang Province, wrote on Study Times, the official publication of the Central Party School, about the need to beef up the Party organizations at the grass roots level in universities. 
“In China, the Chinese Communist Party is the ruling Party. As an integral part of the ruling Party, Party Committees at universities should use the ruling power well and play a core role in leadership so as to fully implement the Party’s education policies. There is no doubt about it. We must unswervingly adhere to it. At the same time, we should also strengthen the Party’s grassroots organizations. By playing the role of the Party’s grass-roots organizations, we should consolidate and strengthen the Party’s leadership in colleges and universities to promote the implementation of the Party’s principles and policies in colleges and universities. There is also no doubt about this. We must unswervingly adhere to this.” 
Liu believes that the fall of the former Soviet Union was due, in part, to the fact that the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU)’s grassroots organizations existed in name only and had no cohesion to attract new members. “A large amount of data indicates that most CPSU members calmly identified themselves with the disintegration of the CPSU.”

Source: Study Times, July 4, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/07/04/10/10_26.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Outlook Weekly: Peaceful Development Needs Military Support

An Outlook Weekly article states that China should leverage its military forces. “Peaceful development means that growth is not accomplished through war. However, peace does not necessarily exclude the use of military means. If in the course of peaceful development there were no military means to support it, there would be no peaceful development to speak of. Development will not take place in peace.” The author favors China’s recent practice of using military force, citing the ‘Peace Ark’ hospital ship, part of the East China Sea Fleet of the PLA, which left China on August 31, 2010, and visited five Asian and African countries. Author Han Xudong is a professor at China’s National Defense University.

Source: Outlook Weekly, July 4, 2011
http://big5.chinanews.com:89/gn/2011/07-04/3155353.shtml

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military