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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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Xinhua: Over 93% of Imports and Exports Rely on Sea Transportation

Xinhua recently reported on The Symposium Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of China’s Sailors’ Union in Beijing. The article stated that China now has over 1.55 million sailors; of those, 650,000 are seamen. Today, 93% of the transportation used for Chinese import and export industries is sea-based. Over 95% of all oil and 99% of all ironstone rely on water transportation. Currently, the scale of China’s water transportation fleet is the fourth largest in the world. It includes 184,000 vessels, which translates into a transportation capacity of 124 million tons. Mainland China now has 12 out of the world’s top 20 ports with an annual freight handling capacity of over one-hundred-million tons.

Source: Xinhua, April 6, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-04/06/c_121273093.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

State-owned AVIC buys US-based Nexteer

China’s State-owned parts manufacturer, AVIC Automobile Industry Holding Co. Ltd. recently became the majority stockholder in Nexteer Automotive, the Michigan-based maker of steering and drive-line systems. The merger is said to be the largest acquisition that the China’s auto parts industry has made. 
Last November, Pacific Century Motors (PCM) bought Nexteer from General Motors. PCM is a joint venture; the Beijing E-Town International Investment & Development Co Ltd, the financial and investment arm of the Beijing municipal government, owned the majority of PCM. In March, AVIC Automobile then acquired a 51 percent stake in PCM, becoming the controlling stockholder in Nexteer. Beijing E-Town and its partners own the remaining 49 percent.
Based in Saginaw, Michigan, Nexteer is the world’s third-largest company in sales of drive-shaft components and the fourth-largest for steering systems. It had more than $2 billion in revenue last year.

Source:
Xinhua, April 8, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-04/08/c_121283512.htm
http://www.nexteer.com

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Huanqiu: Who Is Seriously Breaching the Spirit of the Law?

Huanqiu recently published a provoking  article in response to Western countries’ criticism of China’s arrest of artist Ai Weiwei. The article said that Western media are “using their own logic to interpret (the facts) and try to influence China.” “It is precisely their (the West’s) approach that breaches the basic spirit of the law in a serious confrontation, and that tries to portray (Ai as) a legally ‘sacred and inviolable’ ‘democracy fighter.’”
“Since the ‘Middle East revolution,’ the U.S. and European countries haven’t been able to put a brake on pointing fingers and interfering in other countries’ internal affairs.” “The interference in Ai Weiwei’s case is a total negation of China’s law. It is no different from a group of Westerners assembling to burn down China’s supreme court building.” “Chinese law is the skeleton of this country; the Western attempt to influence the trial of Ai Weiwei is like installing a remote control for the skeleton. With the control in their hands, they are making China a large and obedient puppet.”

[Ed: Ai Weiwei，a well known Chinese artist, designed the Olympic’s Bird’s Nest stadium and has also focused on government corruption, especially in the construction of schools that collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The police recently arrested him and charged him with "economic crimes."]

Source: Huanqiu, April 8, 2011
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-04/1615335.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Asks the U.S. to Stop Being a Self-styled Human Rights Preacher

Following the U.S. State Department’s April 8 release of the 2010 Annual Human Rights Report, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei responded in a press briefing, “The U.S. should reflect more on its own human rights issues, stop acting like a ‘Human Rights Preacher,’ and stop using its Human Rights Report to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries.” Hong also touted the Chinese government’s protection of human rights.

Source: China News Service, April 9, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/04-09/2961757.shtml

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Made in China Handicapped by Six Weaknesses

An article in Study Times listed six weaknesses that affect China’s manufacturing industry. They are: 1) An over-reliance on a low-cost production environment; 2) Being locked up in low-end markets; 3) An overcapacity in low efficiency production; 4) Chinese companies are not competitive; 5) The cost advantage is gradually diminishing due to growing labor costs; 6) The trade model based on processing raw materials cannot be sustained.
 
Source: Study Times, April 4, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/04/04/12/12_38.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CCTV Airs “100 ‘Red Songs’ by 100 Singers”

2011 is the 90’s anniversary of Chinese Communist Party. The state-run China Central Television (CCTV) is airing a special program — "100 ‘Red Songs’ by 100 Singers" — from April 4, 2011, for seven days in a row. The program is to remind the audience of their “red memories” (of the revolutionary years before 1978) with these songs.

Source: Xinhua, April 4, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newmedia/2011-04/04/c_121267120.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CASS Professor: Marxism Is the Banner of the Chinese Communist Party

Chen Enfu, director and professor of the Marxist Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said in an interview that any political party should have goals and principles, also called the “banner” of the party. The banner of the Chinese Communist Party is Marxism. He explained that, from the ideological perspective, Marxism is a scientific system of belief; it is the core value of one’s life. In present-day China, only by adhering to Marxism as the guide can one correctly solve the problem of how to pass down and reform Chinese values, promote the development of the socialist core values, and effectively resist the influence and invasion of wrongheaded theories and ideologies. If (we) neglect or give up Marxism as the only guide, the mainstream ideology of the Western ruling class will break in, influence China’s main ideology, and interfere with the development of socialist core values. Chen also said that the current financial crisis in the Western countries was evidence of the attractiveness and value of Marxism and, at the same time, the bankruptcy of Western neo-liberalism.

Source: Qiushi, March 31, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/dj/djyj/201103/t20110331_74844.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: Five Warnings from the Chaos in Libya

Xinhua published an article on the Libya situation, which stated, “Western hegemony, colonialism, and military intervention in others’ internal affairs have not changed; only their means and methods of intervention have changed.” The article highlighted “five warnings”: 1. The Western hegemonies’ use of gangster logic continues; 2. The coalition’s air-strikes are the latest trend in colonialism 3. The West is still obsessed with the use of force; 4. The U.S. has changed its way of command; 5. Global economic uncertainty has increased.
 
Source: Xinhua, March 28, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-03/28/c_121234937.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics