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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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“U.S. Gets into the Habomai and Pinnacle Islands Conflicts for Its Own Self-interest”

An article posted on the People’s Daily website and many other webistes in China accuses the U.S. of getting involved in Russia and Japan’s conflict over the Habomai Islands (in the southernmost Kuril Islands) and China and Japan’s conflict over the Pinnacle Islands (called the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China). According to the article, the U.S. said it “will side with the Japanese on the Habomai Islands;” and in a conflict “will expel the Chinese from the East and South Sea.’’

The article noted that the U.S. will not get militarily involved in the Habomai issue, but will militarily intervene if China takes military action in the Pinnacle conflict. Commenting on U.S. involvement, a scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said, “U.S. overall power is disappearing; its original strategic position is also rapidly declining. In order to keep its military presence and leading position in the Asia Pacific, it has to use Japan and South Korea, making them shoulder more strategic tasks.” A professor from China’s National Defense University pointed out that U.S. involvement in the Pinnacle Islands is consistent with the “U.S. National Military Strategy Report” issued more than a week ago. The report indicated that the U.S. will shift its military emphasis to the Asia Pacific region.

Sources: People’s Daily, March 2, 2011
http://military.people.com.cn/GB/14040232.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

A Segment from an Interview about China’s Foreign Policy

[Editor’s Note: The following is an interview with a senior Chinese diplomat about Beijing’s foreign diplomacy, published on Xinhua’s International Herald Leader. Interviewee Lu Shiwei is the News Division counselor of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1989 and used to work in the policy research office of the policy research department (now called the policy planning department) at the Chinese Embassy in Thailand and was the Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Regional Government office in Hong Kong.] [1]

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Reports | | |   Report

China to Establish Its Own GPS by 2020

According to Qi Faren, an expert in Chinese space technology, China will establish its own global navigation system, called Beidou-2, by 2020. It will be done in three steps. The first step is to build a regional navigation system. This has already been completed through the launch of the first Beidou system, officially called the BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System, also known as Beidou-1. Beidou-2 will be completed in the second and third steps. The second step is to launch about 12 to 14 satellites in the early part of the twelfth five-year plan period (2011 to 2015) to form a regional and autonomous navigation positioning system. The third step is to have over 30 satellites covering the entire earth by 2020. Beidou-2 will provide navigation services to China and its neighboring countries, said Qi. “Beidou-2 will be the equivalent of the U.S. GPS. Wherever the U.S. GPS is used, one will be able to use Beidou-2.”

Source: Xinhua, March 1, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/it/2011-03/01/c_121136735.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Spokespersons Trained to Improve the Party’s Image

From February 21 to 23, 2011, more than 200 Communist Party spokespersons from across the country met in Beijing for the first time for a three-day intensive training course to learn how to handle the media. The topics covered included “understanding the responsibilities of a Party spokesperson, how to better explain the Party’s policies and major decisions to the public, and the best way to present China’s ruling party to the world. …” The Party’s International Communications Office and the State Council Information Office sponsored the training. As of the end of 2010, the 13 departments under the Central Committee of the Party and Party committees at provincial levels had spokespersons in place. “2011 is the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party, the first year of the twelfth five-year plan, and the year when the Party secretaries at the provincial, municipal, county, and township levels will change. This will provide sufficient press content to the Party spokespersons.”

Source: Xinhua, March 1, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-03/01/c_121136112.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Liberation Army to Receive Pay Raise

This year, the PLA will see its third pay raise in the past six years. The pay raises range from 5% to 40% and will be retroactive to the second half of 2010. Non-commissioned officers will receive a 40% raise, while the average raise for officers will be 1,000 yuan (US$152). For example, a platoon lieutenant’s monthly pay will increase from 3,500 to 4,500 yuan (US$685) and a general’s monthly pay will increase from 21,000 to 22,000 yuan (US$3,348). Salaries vary in different services. For example, Army salaries are the lowest, followed by the Navy and Air Force, with the Second Artillery Corps, also known as the PLA’s Strategic Missile Forces, being the highest.

Source: Guangming Daily, March 2, 2011 reprint from Chongqing Morning
http://mil.gmw.cn/2011-03/02/content_1666423.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Claims to be World’s Top TV Series Producer and No. 3 in Film Making

On February 28, 2011, the Propaganda Office of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee announced that China has become the world’s third largest film producer and No. 1 in TV series. For the past six years in a row, each year’s growth of box office income from film productions has exceeded 30%.

 

Recent years have seen tremendous government support for the cultural industries by providing preferential policies in financing and investment. In 2010, newly added mid-and-long-term loans in cultural industries amounted to 27.6 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion); special funds at the central and provincial level add up to 5.2 billion yuan (US$0.79 billion). So far, special investment funds or investment corporations have emerged in seven provinces, with total capital of over 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion). 26 companies in culture related businesses are now listed on the Shanghai or Hong Kong stock markets. In 2010 alone, they raised capital of 10.4 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion).

 

Source: Xinhua, February 28, 2011

http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-02/28/c_121130553.htm

 

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Xiamen University’s Joint Conference of its European Confucius Institutes in Malta

Xiamen University, located in China’s southeast city of Xiamen in Fujian Province, has launched 13 Confucius Institutes in five continents along with local partners. Six of them are in Europe. These Confucius Institutes are at Cardiff University in the UK, at the University of Malta in Malta, at West Paris-Nanterre-La Défence University in France, at Trier University in Germany, at the University of Wroclaw in Poland, and at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. 
Recently in Malta, Xiamen University held a two-day inaugural conference with the presidents of the six Confucius Institutes, discussing issues including resource pooling, experience sharing, and areas of joint development. The conference intends to create a platform for inter-institute communication and cooperation. The second joint conference is set to be held at the University of Wroclaw in Poland in 2012.
Source: China News Service, February 28, 2011
http://www.chinanews.com/hwjy/2011/02-28/2873433.shtml
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

The People’s Bank of China Officially Joined the South East Asian Central Banks

Effective January 25, 2011, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank of China, formally joined the South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Group as its 17th member. The governor of PBOC, Zhou Xiaochuan, will be a member of the SEACEN Board of Governors. Zhou attended the 46th SEACEN Governors Conference and the 30th SEACEN Board of Governors Meeting in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo from February 25 to 27, 2011. 
SEACEN, established in 1966, “reviews and analyses financial, monetary, banking and economic developments in its constituent member countries and in the region as a whole. It initiates and facilitates co-operation in research and training relating to the policy and operational aspects of central banking.”
Source: Xinhua, February 28, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-02/28/c_121130953.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend