Chinascope – Page 1072

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 | | March 3, 2011 | 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 | | March 2, 2011 | 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 | | March 2, 2011 | 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 | | March 2, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

CRN: the U.S. Is Changing its Propaganda Method against China

China Review News (CRN), a Hong Kong based Chinese government news agency, recently reported that the Voice of America (VOA) is planning to stop its Chinese language short wave, medium wave and satellite broadcasting services. The report expressed the belief that this only represents a strategic change in the propaganda method used against China and that the U.S. is switching to the Internet as the new approach, where U.S. technologies have clear advantages. The article referred to Hillary Clinton’s recent speech on Internet freedom, given at George Washington University, as proof of the strategy shift. The State Department recently announced that it plans to establish Chinese and Russian Twitter accounts as a new means of communication. The report expressed deep doubts about the effectiveness of the “Twitter Approach,” citing that Chinese users have already gotten used to China’s domestically developed microblogging services.

(Editor: The CRN report failed to mention the fact that the “Great Fire Wall” currently blocks Twitter, and that Chinese domestic microblogs are heavily censored.)

Source: China Review News, February 24, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1016/0/7/6/101607644.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101607644&mdate=0224002804

Briefings | | March 1, 2011 | Information/Technology

Scholar Warns of Risks to a Volatile Economy

China Review News (CRN) recently republished an article by the deputy dean of the School of Economics of Fudan University, on the risks to a volatile economy. The article summarized the external elements that may bring risks: 1) unexpected changes in the international environment, such as the recent Arab Revolution; 2) unexpected economic recovery in the developed countries, of which the United States is the leader; 3) the continued existence of some old problems that caused the global financial crisis.

The article also identified the internal causes of risks: 1) complicated pressures leading to inflation; 2) the pressure of economic structural adjustments; 3) pressure caused by domestic market friction. The article concluded that the current approach to controlling inflation, which is based solely on currency policies, needs to be adjusted, and that effective implementation of policies requires understanding and support from the general public.

Source: China Review News, February 25, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1016/0/9/8/101609884.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=101609884&mdate=0225074409

Briefings | | March 1, 2011 | Economy/Resources

Zhou Yongkang Stresses Public Order before the “Two Sessions”

Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee, Party Secretary of the CCP Central Political and Legislative Committee, and Director of the CCP Central Committee for Comprehensive Management of Public Security, called on all Party committees and government organs at various levels do a good job in maintaining public order and stability so as to ensure the smooth convocation of the “two sessions,” the annual Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on March 3, 2011, and the National People’s Congress on March 5, 2011. Zhou made the call on February 25, 2011, at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee for the Comprehensive Management of Public Security. He requested that everyone in the national system of the Comprehensive Management of Public Security conscientiously study and follow the speech that Hu Jintao gave on social control on February 19, 2011.

Source: People’s Daily, February 25, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1024/14009093.html

Briefings | | February 28, 2011 | Government/Politics

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.”

The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.