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Changing the Public Image of the Chinese Military — Show a Soft Side

The Chinese military should improve its image in the international community "to attract and convince a global audience [of its peaceful intent]," says a Study Times article. The key is to adopt a soft approach when disseminating information about the military. 
 

The suggestions are: 1) Focus on civilian readers and progress from readable” to “pleasantly readable,” rather than preaching. 2) The content should include soft peripheral stories appealing to the public, along with hard, main messages, so as not to trigger resistance. 3) Narrate stories gently and charmingly – be up close and personal when explaining military actions. Through the soft approach, “the pleasant image will gently sneak into the mind of the audience. It is beneficial to narrow the communication gap, bring the audience into the military’s fold, and help them understand the real intent behind the communications."

Source: Study Times, September 6, 2010
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2010/09/06/12/12_47.htm

Government Scholar on Cross-Strait Mutual Military and Security Trust

[Editor’s Note: Research fellow Zheng Jian, the Secretary General of the Chinese government’s think tank on Taiwan affairs, the Association for Development and Promotion of Chinese Culture, published a special article in the August issue of China Review magazine. The title of the article was "Achieving Mutual Military Trust across the Strait through the Use of Strategic Cooperation." He stressed that "to establish cross-strait mutual military trust, the primary condition and the most difficult issue come from the words ‘mutual trust.’" "Mutual trust has at least three meanings: The first is that we must insist on the principle of ‘one China’; the second is that we must be firmly against ‘Taiwan independence’; and the third is that we have to be firm in walking toward the general direction of unification." The author said, “What we can do right now to establish strategic cooperation involves military means, to jointly safeguard the common strategic interests of the Chinese people across the strait. This includes jointly safeguarding the Diaoyu Islands (which Japan calls the Senkaku Islands), the East China Sea, and the territorial and maritime sovereignty of the Nansha Islands (which some other countries call the Spratly Islands) in the South China Sea, and jointly maintaining airspace security, livelihood interests, overseas interests, and so on." With the article there was also a picture of retired generals from China and Taiwan playing golf together. The following is a translation to selected parts of the article.] [1]

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Hu Jintao Mentioned Political Reform

At the 30th anniversary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on September 6, Hu Jintao discussed persisting in reform. Hu stressed that, amid the complicated international environment and challenging internal missions about reform, development, and stability, the country must persist on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, persist in the socialism theory with Chinese characteristics, and persist in reform. Hu stated (the necessity of) resolutely deepening reforms and advancing reforms in the economic system, political system, cultural system, and social system.

[Ed: Wen Jiabao stressed political reform in Shenzhen on August 21 (http://chinascope.org/main/content/view/2849/81/). Hu’s speech was widely awaited to see if it would echo Wen’s appeal. In Hu’s speech, political reform was only touched lightly and set in the context of being under the CCP’s leadership. How much Hu is going to do remains to be seen.]

Source: China Review News, September 7, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/3/8/8/101438816.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=101438816&mdate=0907092338

China’s Scholar: Major Issues in Income Disparity

China Review News republished a People’s Daily article by Yang Yiyong, Director of the Social Development Institute, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In the article, Yang listed the major issues of income disparity in China:
– Disparity between urban income and farmland income;
– Disparity in farmland income between developed regions and under-developed regions;
– Disparity among different industries.

The gap in the initial income distribution is widening because state-owned enterprises’ monopoly power enables them to seek high profit and thus high income, and lower income and inadequate social protection to laborers who have a lower social status. The government also lacks an effective mechanism to achieve a balance in income distribution. That’s due to the lack of a well-established personal income tax system and social security system and the disparity in social welfare among different groups of people.

Source: China Review News, September 7, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/3/8/6/101438691.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=101438691&mdate=0907080330

Top 10 Largest Chinese Enterprises All State Owned

Lianhe Zaobao reported that, in a recently published list of the 500 largest Chinese enterprises, state-owned enterprises occupied all of the top 10 positions. With 1.39 trillion Yuan ($207 billion dollars) in revenue, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation continued to hold the top position for the sixth year in a row. State owned companies dwarfed their privately owned counterparts. Among the 60 largest companies with over 100 billion Yuan ($15 billion dollar) in revenue, only five were privately-held, while all others were state-owned.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, September 5, 2010
http://www.zaobao.com/zg/zg100905_001.shtml

Cai Wu: China’s Soft Power Is Still Weak

China News Net reported that Cai Wu, the Chinese Minister of Culture, recently suggested there has been no fundamental change in China’s weak position in the “Soft Power Competition.” He believes that cultural soft power is becoming an important aspect of international competition. Western culture is aggressively penetrating developing countries. The recent world financial crisis is introducing more thoughts on development models, and China’s soft power position does not live up to China’s international status as a world power. He suggested that the Chinese government should push for a change.

Source: China News Net, August 30, 2010
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/2010/08-30/2499702.shtml

Xinhua: The Compass Navigation Satellite System Is Unique

Sun Jiadong, an Academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, recently gave a speech at the Shanghai Expo. Sun is the Chief Architect and Designer of China’s self-developed GPS system – the Compass Navigation Satellite System (CNSS). Sun emphasized a unique feature that all other GPS systems do not have: CNSS allows ground devices to transmit short text messages to the satellites, thus establishing two-way communication. Sun also mentioned that although the CNSS is being built rapidly, the real world usage, or even preparation for usage, is minimal. Other than some central government branches, the entire domestic market is still asleep. The Chinese market is still dominated by foreign technologies and products. He believed that the general public needs to be educated about the Chinese space industry’s achievements.

Source: China Review News, September 2, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/3/4/0/101434065.html?coluid=45&kindid=0&docid=101434065&mdate=0902093423

CRN: New Cold War between China and the U.S. at Sea

China Review News (CRN) published a review of an analysis on the recent frequent naval exercises that the U.S., South Korea, and China have been conducting. The author expressed the belief that the U.S. has an obvious intent to contain the Chinese military within the “first chain of islands.” China has tried to respond to the situation with a series of escalated exercises to demonstrate its capabilities to break the blockade. The analysis cited “the West,” using the name of “A Cold War at Sea.” The U.S. was blamed as the troublemaker, since the U.S. has significantly heightened its participation in military activities around China, especially on the east and south sides. However, at the end of the analysis, the author softened his tone by suggesting that a “serious confrontation” was very unlikely.

Source: China Review News, August 28, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1014/2/8/0/101428094.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101428094&mdate=0828005921