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Why China Needs North Korea

[Editor’s note: Yang Hengjun is a Western educated prominent blogger in China. His recent article on the China-North Korea relationship was widely circulated in China. Within the first week after it appeared on the Ifeng.com blog on June 10, the article generated nearly 500,000 hits and more than 500 comments.

His provocative view on China’s need for North Korea’s mischief generated numerous polarizing comments from readers. Many were surprised by his analysis. Most readers seemed to have misread his points. He appears to have camouflaged his subtle message to evade censorship, but a small number of sophisticated readers – both hard line communists and pro-democracy netizens – got it, and they expressed their opinions in a heated cyber debate.

Regardless of his real intention, Yang’s analysis offered a unique interpretation of Beijing’s motivation for sustaining its rogue neighbor. The following is the translation of an abridged version of Yang’s essay.] [1]

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Xinhua: Screening of Internet Trade Entities to Start

Starting on July 1, the Interim Administrative Regulations of Internet Trade and Related Services will be enforced. The State Administration of Industry and Commerce is planning a full screening of all online trade entities to establish an “Internet economy registry.” The State Administration is asking all local branches to implement the screening and build a database of the number, scale, distribution and categories of all trade platforms in corresponding local regions. This is becoming the focal point of work in local administrations. The Interim Administrative Regulations were announced and went into effect on June 1, 2010.

Source: Xinhua, June 29, 2010
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2010-06/29/c_12278765.htm

Xinhua: Province Level Spokesman System Established

Xinhua recently reported that the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee announced that 31 provincial level Party Committees, as well as half of the city level Committees, established spokesman systems. The primary functions of these system are: (1) increase the transparency of the activity of government personnel; (2) respond to people’s increased demand for knowledge of public issues; (3) actively respond to media inquiries about news events; (4) actively respond to various public opinion channels, especially on corruption issues in personnel related areas of government work.

Source: Xinhua, June 30, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-06/30/c_12283229.htm

Beijing Expert: Weaken the U.S. by Taking Advantage of US-Europe Discord

China Review News recently republished an article by an expert from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, Center for Strategic Studies. The article pointed out that the typical and wide use of the concept “The West,” which includes the United States, is a mistake. Taking the West as a strategic unity does not reflect the reality of the world’s structure. The author believes that, after the Cold War, the common enemy that the U.S. and Europe shared disappeared, and the U.S. pushed a new round of expansion. The recent EU debt crisis is also proof of the obvious U.S. intention of attacking the Euro. Even the recent U.S. military base conflict between the U.S. and Japan showed the deviation from the Japanese. The article suggested that the situation seems to offer a good opportunity for China to weaken U.S. power by taking advantage of any discord within “The West.”

Source: China Review News, July 2, 2010
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1013/6/9/6/101369692.html?coluid=148&kindid=0&docid=101369692&mdate=0702000656

Xinhua: China’s Floating Population Reached 211 Million in 2009

According to Xinhua on June 26, 2010, a newly released “2010 China’s Floating Population Development Report” said that China’s population of floating migrant workers reached 211 million in 2009 and will hit 350 million in 2050 if the current government policies remain unchanged.

Source: Xinhua, June 23, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2010-06/26/c_12266166.htm

China’s Ministry of Public Security: All Police across China Must Be Trained within 3 Years

Recently, the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China issued “a Public Security Police Training Plan for 2010 to 2012.” “The goal of the plan is to improve the public security organs’ capability to safeguard national security and social stability.” From 2010 to 2012, there will be trainings for the leading cadres, for specialized police in different departments, for lower level police, and for combat police instructors. “The plan ensures that all police across China will get trained within 3 years.”

Source: The Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China website, June 23, 2010
http://www.mps.gov.cn/n16/n1237/n1342/n803715/2449524.html

Qiao Liang Speech: Regional Power with Global Influence

[Editor’s Note: Qiao Liang is a China Air Force Major General, a professor at Air Force Command College, and the Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Policy Study Commission under the China Society for Policy Study, a state-run think tank. In his speech “China’s Strategic Position and Relationship with Big Powers,” he described a “Proxy Containment” strategy adopted by the U.S. toward China, proposed a strategic position for China – regional power with global influence, and ranked the most important international relationships China should deal with. The following are excerpts from the article published on Xinhua. Titles and subtitles were added by the editor.] [1]

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Wang Anshun: Organize the Masses to Patrol Beijing 24 Hours a Day

On June 23, 2010, www.people.com.cn published an article by Wang Anshun regarding “mass prevention and mass control work” in Beijing. This means organizing residents to guard and patrol Beijing so as to guarantee social stability in Beijing. Wang is Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal CPC Committee and Secretary of the Beijing Politics and Law Committee.

According to Wang, Beijing has built up a “mass prevention and mass control” network covering the whole city. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 National Day period, over one million people were mobilized to guard and patrol the bus stops, busy areas, village entrances, road junctions, bridges, and roads, etc. Wang said that members of the “mass prevention and mass control” teams must be registered with their real names to ensure that each job is watched, controlled and done. The city must be patrolled 24 hours a day.

Source: www.people.com.cn, June 23, 2010
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/11943078.html