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Global Times: The U.S. will lose, if there is a trade war with China

On March 25, 2010, Global Times, one of China’s official websites, published the article “China advises the U.S. regarding ‘Trade War’: the U.S. will be a loser if it challenges (China).”

The article cited Western news reports to present its point, such as the Washington Post’s article on March 22, 2010, (“China’s commerce minister: U.S. has the most to lose in a trade war”); the Reuters’ article on March 21, 2010, (“China vows to hit back if targeted by U.S. on yuan”); an article from the Boston Globe; and another article from Singapore’s "Lianhe Zaobao".

Yuan Peng, director of the Institute of American Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations told Global Times that it would be a lose-lose situation if the U.S. launched a trade war with China.

Source: Global Times, March 25, 2010
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-03/755601.html

Global Times: Google incident overstated by the West

Global Times, one of China’s official websites, reported on March 25, 2010, that the Google incident is overstated in the West and some Western media such as the “San Francisco Chronicle” and “The Wall Street Journal,” are maliciously discussing “how to deal with China.” Chinese analysts believe that, when conflicts occur, Westerners are united by these media to pressure China.

Global Times also reported that the U.S. government’s attitude is actually backing down on this matter except for Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton’s initial pressure on China’s Internet freedom. Now, the Google incident is only Google’s challenge to the Chinese government. Chinese netizens are now becoming calmer and calmer about the Google incident. Those sympathetic voices toward Google are weakening and the words are not as sharp.

Source: Global Times, March 25, 2010
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-03/755597.html

Ministry of Public Security’s Great Intelligence System

At a recent training session for chiefs of nationwide Public Security Bureaus, the Deputy Minister of Public Security, Zhang Xinfeng, called for a “deep understanding of the significance of the ‘great intelligence’ system for facilitating the reform and innovation of public security work.” He instructed to “speed up developing a ‘great intelligence’ system, and comprehensively improving the capabilities to defend national security and social stability.” 

Zhang pointed out that “a variety of information and communication infrastructures have been built. By storing rich information on the Internet, the police authorities have adopted information technologies in most key areas.”The “great intelligence” system, part of the “Golden Shield Project,” is an integrated nationwide intelligence sharing platform for all public security workers. 
Source: www.gov.cn, March 25, 2010
http://www.gov.cn/gzdt/2010-03/25/content_1564794.htm

Hu Jintao Ordered Military to Fight Drought

On March 24, the PLA’s General Staff Department and General Political Department issued a joint directive, requiring the army and armed police force to “resolutely implement the important instructions from President Hu Jintao to spare no effort to support local governments in winning the tough battle over drought relief.” 

One day before, Hu Jintao, President of China and also Chair of Central Military Commission, instructed, “The local garrisons must think what people think, help people meet their needs, and solve people’s difficulties. (They should) closely cooperate with the local party committees and governments to actively join the fight against drought in order to make greater contributions to winning the tough battle.” 
Source: Guangming Daily, March 25, 2010
http://www.gmw.cn/content/2010-03/25/content_1078851.htm

Xi Jinping Speaks at Russia’s Chinese Year

While visiting Russia on March 23, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping joined Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin for the opening ceremony of Russia’s “Chinese Year.” 

“The current Sino-Russia strategic partnership has become a mature, stable, and healthy bilateral relationship. The recent year’s humanitarian and cultural exchanges have played big roles in facilitating the strategic cooperation.” said Xi, who is also a member of Politburo Standing Committee. The opening ceremony marks the beginning of Russia’s “Chinese Year,”  while 2009 was China’s “Russian Year,” when over 260 cultural events were held. 
During the visit, Xi also stopped by the Confucius Institute at the Russian State University for the Humanities.
Source: China News Service, March 24, 2010
 http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2010/03-24/2186458.shtml

Party Building: Public Security Officials Under Intensive Training

March 20 saw the opening of boot camp training for 472 regional and municipal public security directors at the People’s Public Security University in Beijing. The Minister of Public Security taught the first lecture. The 10 day training will address social stability, the rule of law, and corruption, among other topics. The training was touted as the first since the Communist Party came to power as an important endeavor to safeguard national security and social stability. In 2009, the Ministry of Public Security held similar training for county public security directors to implement a new directive from the Communist leaders to improve party building.

Source: Xinhua, March 22, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2010-03/22/content_13220070.htm

China and US: Friend or Foe?

China and the U.S. are more foes than friends, says Yan Xuetong, a Chinese international relations scholar. In an interview with the State’s International Herald Leader, Yan stated that while the two do share some economic interests, they have much greater conflicting strategic interests in term of security. While the U.S. continues to support the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence and East Turkistan independence, China will not allow these groups to succeed. Thus, on the political front, conflicts dominate the Sino-US relationship with few common interests. He expressed that cooperation does not mean China and the U.S. are friends and that the two will continue to pretend to be friends during the Obama administration.

Yan received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1992.

Source: Xinhua, March 22, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2010-03/22/content_13221096.htm

Xinhua Editorial: Yuan Appreciation Will Not Help

Xinhua published an editorial on international affairs addressing yuan appreciation. It stated that trade deficits that some countries have with China are caused by their domestic structural and policy factors, not the exchange rate with China. The editorial questioned the magnitude of the reported trade deficits, suggesting the increase in Chinese exports may be attributed to the foreign companies in China exporting back to their own home countries.

“From whatever angle, to pressure a substantial appreciation of the yuan within a short time is unwarranted, unfounded and even, it is more useless. Some Western politicians have tirelessly speculated a ‘yuan appreciation’ theory. Its underlying motive is questionable. The financial crisis has brought people to see that the current world economic imbalance is mainly attributed to excess consumption in some developed countries, and to the economic contraction. To pressure for yuan appreciation does not help resolve these issues. In fact, it is developed countries that should make positive policy adjustments to reform their economic structure in order to fulfill their international responsibilities.”

Source: Xinhua, March 18, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-03/18/content_13197957.htm