Chinascope – Page 1061

China’s Cities Must Still Deal with Sludge Disposal

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

Briefings | | April 29, 2011 | Economy/Resources

Xinhua Summarizes Five Topics the Overseas Media Addressed about China’s National Defense

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

Briefings | | April 29, 2011 | Defense/Military

Global Times: China-U.S. Human Rights Dialogue Should Not Be Like a Negotiation

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

Briefings | | April 29, 2011 | US-China Relations

Media Campaign Initiated to Glorify Chinese Communist Party on Its 90th Anniversary

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.”

At the conference, Liu also gave instructions on the roles and tasks of the central and local Party newspapers, radio, TV stations, metropolitan newspapers, and online media.

Source: People’s Daily, April 23, 2011
http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64093/64094/14463702.html

Briefings | | April 28, 2011 | Government/Politics

China’s Diplomatic Predicament in Middle East

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.

“This is exactly what makes it difficult for China to play an independent role in the Middle East. The West calls China’s economic expansion without security protection ‘putting all of its eggs in the basket of the United States,’ meaning China has put its interest in the Middle East in the hands of the United States.” The article noted that China presently has warships in the Gulf of Aden all year round to ensure its oil supplies. The "Xuzhou" Destroyer entered the Mediterranean during the chaos in Libya, and its air force cargo planes fly over the Middle East. The article concluded that China should establish a long-term strategic vision for the Middle East.

Source: International Herald Leader, April 26, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-04/26/c_13846289.htm

Briefings | | April 28, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Understanding China’s Economic Reform

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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.

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Analyses | | April 27, 2011 | Opinion

VOA: Nearly Half of Australians View China as a Military Threat

While Australian Prime Minister Gillard is on an official visit to China for four days, from April 25 to 28, on April 25, the Lowy Institute, a leading international think tank, released a new poll. According to the poll, 44% of the respondents believed that China may become a military threat to Australia within the next 20 years; 87% of the respondents believed that, if China were to start a fight with the U.S., Australia might get involved because it is a close ally of the U.S.; 52% of the respondents said that they would support Australia to fight alongside the U.S. if a conflict explodes between North Korea and South Korea due to a North Korean provocation.

Although Gillard recently criticized China’s human right record when Jia Qinglin, a Politburo standing committee member and Chair of The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference visited Australia, 58% of the respondents think Australia has not done enough to pressure Beijing on human rights.

Source: Voice of America, April 25, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20110425-poll-shows-Australian-see-China-as-Military-Threat-120611044.html

Briefings | | April 27, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

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

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”