Chinascope – Page 1142

Internet: Freedom Chinese Style

The Information Office of the State Council of China issued a white paper on June 8, stating that Chinese citizens, in accordance with law, enjoy full freedom of expression on the Internet.

Gao Hongming, a rights activist, sought to define that freedom and the lack of it.

According to Gao, Chinese netizens may praise the Party, Chinese style socialism, and totalitarianism, critique artists, scientists, doctors, academia and athletes, and criticize general civil servants’ misconduct on corruption and the abuse of power. They may comment on major domestic and international events that the Party doesn’t care about and speak out about food, lodging, sickness, hatch/match/dispatch, and local community gossip, among other things.

Gao found that Chinese netizens don’t have the freedom to speak against the Party, Chinese style socialism, and totalitarianism, or comment negatively on Party leaders, or artists, writers and celebrities that support the Party. They can’t criticize institutional corruption and deficiencies or disagree when the media follows the Party line and government policies. Assembly and associating as well as demonstrating or protesting on the Internet are forbidden. These are just a few of the forbidden topics and situations.

Source: Boxun, June 16, 2010
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2010/06/201006110719.shtml

Briefings | | June 17, 2010 | Information/Technology

Law and Regulations Expected to Further Control Media

China’s State Administration of Radio, Film And Television published an article in the Party’s journal Qiushi to underscore the significance of the Party’s control of media. The article states that reining in the media is a major issue that warrants urgent attention. “First, we should control the media according to the law, and (we should) further standardize and institutionalize the mechanism of control.” The Party’s Charter should guide control of the media, and govern the relationship between the Party and media. The article also urged that a law be passed to “regulate the conduct of the media,” so that the Party organizations at all level can follow and implement it.

Source: Qiushi, June 11, 2010
http://www.qstheory.cn/hqwg/2010/201011/201006/t20100611_32983.htm

Briefings | | June 17, 2010 | Government/Politics

Characteristics of New US Strategy

China Review News (CRN) recently republished an article from Outlook News Weekly discussing the newly published U.S. National Security Strategy. The article compared the new strategy with the Bush version published four years ago and summarized four new adjustments: (1) Anti-terrorism strategy has been significantly adjusted and the phrase “War against Terror” has been dropped; (2) The new strategy has a strong taste of multilateralism instead of the “cowboy foreign relations;” (3) The new strategy focuses on the domestic economy; (4) There are higher expectations on China to play a “responsible leadership role.”

The author senses strong worry by the Obama Administration about the decline of U.S. power. However, the article stated that the ultimate goal of the U.S. to dominatie the world remains unchanged.

Source: China Review News, June 8, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/4/6/4/101346460.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101346460&mdate=0608091347

Briefings | | June 15, 2010 | US-China Relations

Global Times: The Nonalignment Concept has Past

Global Times, under Chinese state daily news Renmin, published an article calling for the establishment of a Security Alliance with surrounding countries. The author is a Japanese who is currently the deputy director of JCC New Japan Research Institute. The article claimed that the Nonalignment Movement was the result of the Cold War era, when smaller countries did not want to align with either the Soviet Union or the United States. Today, the author believes, the situation has changed significantly and the concept should change too. It was suggested in the article that China should introduce various types of “alignments” depending on the degree China wants to cooperate with different countries. It should be considered as an innovation in foreign policy.

Source: Global Times, June 8, 2010
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Exclusive/2010-06/850508.html

Briefings | | June 15, 2010 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Global Times: Chinese Netizens Launched 6-9 Jihad against South Korea

Global Times reported that, by June 10, more than 100,000 Chinese netizens had jointly attacked South Korean web sites and dozens of them were hacked. Meanwhile many QQ (China’s most popular instant messaging platform) groups and Baidu forums about South Korean pop stars were overloaded. The movement is called the “6-9 Jihad,” which was caused by the recent chaos that happened in Shanghai regarding a show by South Korean pop star group named Super Junior. Chinese hackers demonstrated their capabilities in this event. However, many netizens remained neutral and called for a rational attitude towards social events.

Source: Global Times, June 10, 2010
http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-06/850947.html

Briefings | | June 15, 2010 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Chinese Netizens’ Comments on Tension between the Two Koreas

[Editor’s Note: On Thursday May 20, the South Korean government announced that a torpedo attack by North Korea had sunk the warship Cheonan that it had lost in March. While South Korea, Japan, and the United States discuss punitive action, North Korea has threatened "all-out war" if new sanctions are imposed.
As of
May 29, “although the Chinese government’s response to the incident has been ambiguous, and it has not yet taken a clear stand on the incident,” Chinese netizens have vociferously expressed their attitudes on Internet forums. The following are excerpts from the Chinese netizens comments on the website of Huanqiu, a government newspaper.] [1]

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Reports | | June 14, 2010 | Report

China’s Rise with a More Hardline Diplomacy?

[Editor’s Note: On December 30, 2009, the International Herald Leader, a Xinhua newspaper, published an article titled, “Diplomatic Strategy: China Can Assume More International Responsibility.” The article advocates, “China should not only seek a greater and independent international voice for its own interests, but undertake more international obligations so that the international community can share the fruits of its ‘rise.'”

After 1989, Deng Xiaoping gave 24 characters as a guideline for the CCP’s handling of international relations: 冷静观察, 站稳脚跟, 沉着应付, 韬光养晦, 善于守拙, 绝不当头, which translate as, “Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership.” When Jiang Zemin took power after Deng died, he attached four more characters 有所作为, translated as “do something.”

In China, there are very few independent academic institutions or think tanks. The regime usually approves scholars’ views that are published in high profile official publications such as the International Herald Leader, so they should not be taken as mere individual insights.

The following are excerpts from the article.]

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Reports | | June 14, 2010 | Report

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.