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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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Shanghai Monitors Commercial Buildings and Cyber Space

On March 1, 2011, the Shanghai government started to enforce “Regulations for Comprehensive Management of Shanghai’s Public Security,” which, for the first time, included overseeing commercial and residential buildings and the Internet.

The Regulations subjected the owners of commercial buildings, companies providing affordable housing, and property management to neighborhood Comprehensive Management Committees (an agency at lowest level of China’s national system of social control) and local police authorities. The regulations provided that “public security authorities, state security agencies, and other government organs in economic and information technology, culture, radio, television, and communications shall strengthen their supervision over the Internet, establish and improve the comprehensive prevention and control system for network security, and stop and punish related illegalities and criminal activities.”

Source: Jiefang Daily, March 2, 2011
http://newspaper.jfdaily.com/jfrb/html/2011-03/02/content_521814.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Chongqing’s Red Channel Goes Commercial Free

Chongqing Satellite Television (CQTV), a “red channel,” based in Chongqing city, and famous for broadcasting revolutionary movies and Communist cultural programs that remind the audience of the Mao Zengdong era before the 1970s, will no longer have any commercial ads and will receive government sponsorship.

“If Capitalist countries, when propagandizing their mission and providing social services, can assure a TV channel free from commercials, why can’t we?” asked the city mayor, Huang Qifan, referring to Japan’s NHK and the UK’s BBC.

CQTV’s 2010 advertising revenue was 300 million yuan (US$45.8 million). To make up for the loss, the city government will cover half and have 11 other local TV channels and the Chongqing Broadcasting Group cover the other half.

Source: China News Service, March 4, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/03-04/2885625.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

NPC: China Faces Serious Shortage of Farmland

The Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) recently revealed that the total amount of farmland in China is approaching the “red line” of 1.8 billion Chinese acres (1 Chinese acre is 667 square meters), which is considered the minimum required acreage to sustain China’s population. Available farmland has been on the decline for the past 15 years. The committee noted that some of the key causes for the decline include real estate development, urban renewal projects, and industrial park construction. The committee called for “the strictest” implementation of farmland protection regulations.

Source: China Review News, February 25, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1016/0/9/9/101609940.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=101609940&mdate=0225083838

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Civilian Security Forces in Beijing Reached 700,000

According to the Population Management Corps of the Beijing Public Security Bureau, the city government mobilized more than 700,000 civilians living in 2,902 communities to join the public security forces for the “Two Conferences” (the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) currently taking place in Beijing. These civilian residents serve mainly in the areas of community patrol, security protection, parking management, transient population administration, monitoring key traffic routes, and watching company doors.

Source: Jinghua Times, March 2, 2011
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2011-03/02/content_636380.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua: China’s Interests in the Middle East Severely Impacted

Xinhua recently republished an article discussing how the current round of political volatility in the Middle East has impacted China’s commercial interests in that region. The article made a few key points: 1) Normal trade activities have been heavily disrupted in the areas of the import and export of goods, including the export of labor, engineering and technology, and intellectual services; 2) China’s energy supply is clearly endangered, because 50% of the oil consumed in China is sourced from the Middle East; 3) Compared to the U.S., Europe, and Russia, China does not have “a card in hand to play” under the current circumstance to effectively influence the situation in the Middle East. The article called for establishing a strategic precautionary system.

Source: Xinhua, February 28, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2011-02/28/c_13753746.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing’s Efforts to Maintain Socio-political Stability and Crush a Potential Jasmine Revolution

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Starting in January 2011, popular protests erupted in some Middle East countries, leading, within weeks, to the removal of the authoritarian presidents of Tunisia and Egypt. The shock waves continue to spread across the region and reached Zhongnanhai in Beijing, where the Communist dictators are deeply apprehensive about their own future.

This article explores some of the Chinese regime’s responses, as of early March 2011, in the following areas: misinformation and propaganda; the tightening grip of the military and the police; the exercise of social control; and Internet censorship and arrests. While the timing of Zhongnanhai’s actions suggest they are a clear attempt to avoid a Middle East style crisis, these methods used are not new; they have long served the purpose of handling China’s own social instability. The collected facts may offer interesting insights into the regime’s maneuvers in its attempt to survive and continue its rule.

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Analyses | | |   Opinion

China to Conduct over 20 Space Launches in 2011

The chief designer of the Chinese "Shen Zhou" spacecraft recently disclosed that China intends to conduct over 20 space launches in 2011, compared to 15 in 2010. The missions include its first target spacecraft “Tian Gong No. 1,” the “Shen Zhou No. 8” space shuttle, as well as the first unmanned space docking test. In November, China’s first Mars exploration space probe is to be sent by Russian carrier rocket.

China’s five-year (2011-2015) space plan focuses on space detection, earth observation, information utilization, and breakthroughs in space technology and applications. The year 2020 will see the accomplishment of the exploration of the Moon and Mars, the establishment of a high resolution earth observation system, and a global positioning system.

Source: Xinhua, March 2, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-03/02/c_121137814.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

CASS: Yellow Book on China Model and Warning on Collapse of Russian Communist Party

On March 1, 2011, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published its World Socialist Yellow Book. The book attributes China’s economic success to its own development model. It points out that China will neither accept any forms of foreign intervention nor export its development model or value system.

On the same day, CASS released a new book "Ju An Si Wei (Preparing for Danger in Times of Safety) – Recollections on the 20-Year Anniversary of the Collapse of the Russian Communist Party." The book concludes that the root cause of the collapse of the Russian Communist Party was not the Russian socialist system, but rather the corruption within the the Russian Communists. It pointed out that during the late 1970s and the early 1980s, corruption went uncurbed and reached an alarming level, resulting in an “elite class” that gained absolute control over the army, Party, and government organs at both the central and local levels.

Source: China News, March 1, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2011/03-01/2875689.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics