Chinascope – Page 1052

NPC: No Legal Grounds for Independent Candidates

According to the official China Central Television, by the end of 2012, 2 millions seats in the grassroots versions of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber stamp legislature, will be chosen by 900 million voters in more than 2,000 counties and over 30,000 villages.

Recently a handful of citizens decided to run in local elections as self-proclaimed independent candidates. However an official at the Legislative Committee of the NPC asserted that the so-called “independent candidates” have no legal grounds. “Candidates at counties and villages can only be nominated by various political parties, people’s groups, and voters via legal procedures, and then determined as ‘official deputy candidates’ after discussions, negotiations, or pre-elections. There are no so-called ‘independent candidates,’ and there are no legal grounds for ‘independent candidates.’"

Source: CNTV, June 8, 2011
http://news.cntv.cn/program/xwlb/20110608/112225.shtml

Briefings | | June 10, 2011 | Government/Politics

Guangming Daily: Challenges for the Ideological Work

[Editor’s Note: Guangming Daily published an article about the challenges that China’s mainstream socialist ideology is facing: “cultural infiltration from the Western hostile forces,” “the new technological revolution,” “the pluralistic value system in the market economy,” “the tortuous development of the international socialist movement,” and “the mode of communication in the Internet age.” The entire article is translated below. ] [1]

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Reports | | June 9, 2011 | Report

China’s Oil Drilling in Cuba

On June 6, 2011, during his visit to Cuba, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited an oil drilling field where Great Wall Drilling Co. (GWDC), a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), is arranging to provide drilling services to Cuba. Upon completion, the oil well will be the largest land drilling well in South America with a depth of 7,000 meters, and 6,200 meters of horizontal displacement. Since August 2005, GWDC has drilled 63 wells along the coast from Havana to Varadero, Cuba. The total output of petroleum and natural gas from these wells has reached 13 million barrels.

Source: Xinhua, June 9, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-06/09/c_121509938.htm

Briefings | | June 9, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily Warns Google over Its Gmail Hacking Statement

On June 6, 2011, a tough warning appeared in the overseas edition of People’s Daily, rebutting Google’s statement that Chinese hackers may have organized attacks on U.S. and Asian government officials using the company’s Gmail service. “In fact, it is not the first time that Google has defamed China,” the official newspaper said. Such a statement by Google “strongly insinuates [without evidence] that the Chinese government directed the alleged cyber attacks. As such, for Google to point to China is baseless, with ulterior motives and sinister intent.” People’s Daily further states that Google has fallen into the role of a political tool to vilify others, and warns, “The market may abandon Google and it may become a political victim once the political climate changes.”

Source: People’s Daily, June 6, 2011
http://world.people.com.cn/GB/14837225.html

Briefings | | June 9, 2011 | US-China Relations

Red Flag Manuscript: The U.S. Exports Inflation and Political Instability

A researcher on Marxism from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences wrote an article for Red Flag Manuscript that was the reprinted in Qiushi (both are leading Communist Party publications). The researcher asserted that United States monetary policy “is causing global inflation and leading to political instability” to its own advantage. “In the past two years, food and fuel prices in many countries rose enormously. As the expenditures for the consumption of food and fuel account for a greater share in developing countries, the Federal Reserve’s expansionist monetary policy inevitably has a great impact on developing countries. Volatile international situations stimulate risk aversion and are conducive to maintaining the U.S. dollar’s hegemony.” According to the Red Flag article, that is the reason that, on the one hand, the U.S. is actively exporting its expansionist monetary policy and inflation, and, on the other, is trying to shift off its losses in the financial crisis by promoting "universal values” and exporting color revolutions and political turmoil.

Source: Red Flag Manuscript, reprinted by Qiushi, June 7, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/hqwg/2011/201111/201106/t20110607_85300.htm

Briefings | | June 9, 2011 | US-China Relations

China Shuts Down 55 Websites

China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) recently shut down 55 websites that “engage in illegal online promotions.” The operation was based on public tip-offs sent to the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC), a self-claimed non-governmental organization that lists “receiving public reports and complaints about illegal and harmful information on the Internet within the border of China” as one of its key functions.

The is part of a two-month campaign that the State Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce launched jointly in mid April. The CINIC spokesperson describes “illegal online promotion” as “using improper means against competitors, distorting or fabricating facts for extortion, sensationalizing hot topics to hype up online public opinion, engaging in private transactions to seek illegal profit, causing serious damage to the online environment and the market economy, harming the public interest, and receiving strong dissatisfaction from the people.”

The Xinhua report lists the names of the websites; some carry the word Weiquan, or civil rights.

Source: Xinhua, June 7, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-06/07/c_121504947.htm

Briefings | | June 8, 2011 | Information/Technology

China’s Land Purchases in Brazil

The cheap land in Brazil has attracted massive investment from foreign individuals and companies, including Chinese. By October 2010, China’s state-run Chongqing Grain Group Co., Ltd. had developed 800,000 mu (131,790 acres) of soybean plantation farmland in Brazil. It plans to reclaim one million mu (164,736 acres) more farmland, for a total investment of over 5 billion Chinese yuan (US$771 million), making Brazil China’s largest overseas soybean oil production base. In addition, Zhejiang Province’s Fudi Agricultural Co., Ltd. has invested 200 million yuan (US$31 million) in the purchase of 16,800 hectare of Brazilian land for a soybean plantation. Meanwhile, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), China’s largest state-owned food giant, has also shown interest.

Ye Anping, an official from China’s Ministry of Agriculture, denied that the purchase is a land grab. “Local business enterprises’ land purchases overseas have nothing to do with the policies of the Ministry of Agriculture,” said Ye. At the same time, the Brazilian Embassy in China stated, “We welcome Chinese investment in Brazil.”

Source: China Review News, June 6, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/crn-webapp/doc/docDetailCreate.jsp?coluid=10&kindid=255&docid=101722385&mdate=0606122946

Briefings | | June 8, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China Rejects Accusation of Violating the Philippines’ Jurisdiction in the South China Sea

On June 7, 2011, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei refuted the Philippines’ accusation that Chinese vessels were increasing their activities in the South China Sea and violating the Philippines’ sovereignty. Hong said, “For Chinese vessels to cruise and carry out scientific studies in waters under China’s jurisdiction was proper and legal. China does not accept the Philippines’ groundless accusations.” “China urges that the Philippines stop unilateral actions that harm China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, broadening and complicating the South China Sea disputes, and that the Philippines no longer make irresponsible remarks that do not tally with the facts.”

Source: Xinhua, June 7, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-06/07/c_121505087.htm

Briefings | | June 8, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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