A plan put forth by the Ministry of Environmental Protection suggests that the next 10 years will be the “golden period” for the development of sewage disposal in China. Thousands of sewage disposal factories will be developed. However, thousands of tons of sludge from each of these facilities will need to be disposed of, a big problem that must be handled urgently. Currently, a majority of the cities in China are equipped with sewage disposal facilities, but sludge disposal has still not been addressed. “Secondary pollution” is quite serious. On November 26, 2010, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a notice demanding the prompt development of methods for sludge disposal. The notice requires that sewage and sludge disposal units be planned, constructed, and put into use simultaneously in future development; existing sewage disposal factories must complete the sludge disposal requirement within two years.
Source: Economic Information, April 25, 2011
http://www.jjckb.cn/2011-04/25/content_303901.htm
On April 28, Xinhua summarized five topics that the overseas media has discussed about China’s national defense. The topics are: 1) China’s first aircraft carrier will come into being. Speculators have two views. One says it will enhance China’s ability to apply pressure to neighboring countries. The other argues that it is too early [for the aircraft carrier] to have effective combat capability. 2) About China’s military power, one faction believes that China is militarily powerful and should be considered in connection with war. An opposite opinion suggests that China cannot surpass the United States, particularly in the ability to deal with remote distances 3) Regarding China’s Stealth Jet Fighter J-20, the article asks the [media] not use the word “threatening.” 4) About future cyber warfare, the article describes that [the Western media’s reports] are a reflection of a relapse into “paranoia.” 5) As to China’s missile technology, the article asks [the media] not to make any connection between “threat” and “War.”
Source: Xinhua, April 28, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2011-04/28/c_121353528.htm
The website Global Times, published an opinion article commenting on the ongoing human rights dialogue between China and the U.S. The article says that it has been 21 years since the dialogue started in 1990, but the two sides have never found it to be a truly satisfactory conversation. On the contrary, it is a testing exercise to confirm the two countries’ differing values and political disagreements. The article says, “The U.S. is always very imposing. This time it gave us a long list of prisoners and demanded that China release them ahead of the dialogue. The U.S has made similar requests before and has criticized China for not complying with the requests.” The article comments, “China hopes it’s a real ‘dialogue,’ and understands the other side’s meaning of human rights through communication. … China and the U.S. human rights dialogue should not become a negotiation. It is a prerequisite that no one has the right to lecture the opposite side. … The U.S. government often pressures China using human rights as a diplomatic tool or an answer to the domestic media’s radical voice, and hopes to get China’s ‘cooperation.’ China has no obligation to perform in accordance with Washington’s expectations.”
Source: Global Times, April 28, 2011
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-04/1659020.html
According to an Economic Observer article, there are two reasons why wealthy Chinese people choose to move to countries such as the United States and Canada: One, living standards, including education, welfare benefits, lower taxes, clean air, a stable investment environment, and healthy food. Two, a knot in their hearts related to concerns for personal safety, wealth security, and a lack of confidence in the future. “Many rich people are in a vile environment, where if they do not do evil, they cannot survive, so they have to do evil. As they continue to do evil, they fear that one day they will be caught and lose everything. Hence they choose to leave home and start over again in a different country. However, their departure has left the society with an empty hole: they left because of dissatisfaction with society and yet their departure has generated a lot of resentment toward them.”
Source: Economic Observer, April 22, 2011
http://www.eeo.com.cn/observer/shelun/2011/04/22/199565.shtml
Liu Yunshan, a Politburo member and head of the Party’s Propaganda Department, spoke at a working conference in connection with the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party, “[We] should vigorously sing the praises of the Communist Party, socialism, open reform, the great motherland, and all nationalities. … [We] should interface with international communities and widely introduce them to the extraordinary history of how our Party has led the people through the revolution, development, and reform, and explain to them the core values of our Party as the ruling party to serve the public and the people so that the world better understands China and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Source: People’s Daily, April 23, 2011
http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64093/64094/14463702.html
Xinhua’s International Herald Leader published an article titled “How Can China Get Out of Its Diplomatic Predicament in the Middle East?” The article quotes from an Arab source that China’s Middle East policy is widely viewed by many Arab countries as “sitting on the fence.” It wants to have access to the oil but does not want to give up cooperating on technology with Israel, let alone offending the United States. The article predicts that, as China expands in the Middle East, sending Chinese troops to the Middle East to protect its workers may become inevitable, given times of chaos and the economic loss in the Libya crisis.
Source: International Herald Leader, April 26, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-04/26/c_13846289.htm
In the late 1970s China embarked on economic reform, gradually transforming what was originally a centrally planned system into a more liberal one. As a result, in 2010 China stood as the second-largest economy in the world. Many aspects of a market-oriented system are now in place: competitive commodity and labor markets, the development of stock exchanges, a rapid growth of the private sector, and opening up to foreign trade and investment. Some observers believe that China is on the right track toward a market economy. They also believe that economic reform will finally bring about political reform – that a Taiwan style democratic China will emerge in the mainland. However, this is not what the initiator of reform – the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – wants.
This article shows that the Communist Party initiated economic reform for its own survival and the continuation of its one-party governance. The Party used private ownership, foreign capital, and a competitive market to strengthen the socialist system instead of deviating from the socialist path, and it is now using its economic success to justify the one-party political system.