Chinascope – Page 1191

Thousands of Local Government Representative Offices in Beijing to be Shut down

According to Xinhua, the Beijing authorities just issued a new red-letter directive that mandates the shutdown of several thousand representative offices in Beijing in the next 6 months. Currently there are 52 Beijing offices representing provincial level governments, 520 representing municipal level governments and over 5,000 representing county level governments. The number of representative offices exceeds 10,000 if it includes those for various government organizations, and liaison offices of state-owned enterprises. The assets of these representative offices totaled 10 billion yuan in 2001.

The function as outlined by the new directive for the representative offices includes carrying out tasks assigned by the Communist Party committees from the sending location, and by the Communist Party Central Committee and the State. Notably, these offices should assist the Beijing municipal government in maintaining social stability in Beijing.

Source: Xinhua, January 24, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-01/24/content_12863841.htm

Briefings | | January 29, 2010 | Government/Politics

College Graduates Recruited to Become Military Officers

In 2009 twelve thousand college graduates joined the People’s Liberation Army. For the first time large numbers of college graduates are enlisting to become military officers. A professor at the National Defense University expressed that in the history of the PLA, large numbers of intellectuals or students joining the PLA has always brought about a quantum leap in military talent.

source: Xinhua, January 25, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2010-01/25/content_12869220.htm

Briefings | | January 29, 2010 | Defense/Military

US Air Force Visualizes China as Its Number One Imaginary Enemy

Xinhua republished a China Youth article reporting that the US Air Force visualizes China as its number one imaginary enemy for 2030. According to rhe article, the December 2009 issue of U.S. magazine “C41SR” disclosed that a research team, led by Dr. Werner J.A. Dahm, the Chief Scientist of the U.S Air Force, identified four imaginary enemies for the U.S. The four enemies are: China, Islamic separatists, a country in distress, and Russia.

Dahm’s team suggested that when fighting with a big power like China and Russia, the U.S. must rely on an unsurpassable technological advantage, which puts to the test the enemy’s determination. Therefore, the U.S. Air Force has to maintain a superior technical leadership. Dahm identified three technical areas for the US Air Force to focus on over the next 20 years: modular weapon systems, micro air vehicles, and hypersonic aircraft or missiles.

Source: Xinhua, January 25, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2010-01/25/content_12870424.htm

Briefings | | January 28, 2010 | Defense/Military

Chinese Youth: Hillary Clinton Pushing US Supremacy

The People’s Website republished a China Youth commentary about Hillary Clinton’s “Remarks on Internet Freedom” speech in support of Google’s challenging the Chinese government. The article quoted Clinton’s words “And censorship should not be in any way accepted by any company from anywhere. In America, American companies must make a principled stand. This needs to be part of our national brand.” It ridiculed Clinton for raising a dispute between one company and its host country’s management to the “national brand” level under the “Internet Freedom” label.

The article claimed that the only reason for U.S. politicians to back Google is because Google has spent $3 million dollars on lobbying government officials.

“Ignoring ones country’s information monitoring, but criticizing China’s Internet management is a clear indication that the ‘Internet freedom’ under the U.S. ‘national brand’ is simply U.S. Secretary Clinton’s boasting about U.S. Internet strategy. It represents nothing more than taking advantage of U.S. technology, capital, and market dominance in an effort to sell U.S. ‘universal values.’ The intended result is to gain commercial, cultural, and political interests for the U.S.

Sources:
1. People’s Website, January 25, 2010
http://media.people.com.cn/GB/40606/10832402.html
2. Secretary Hillary Clinton’s Speech Titled “Remarks on Internet Freedom,”
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135519.htm

Briefings | | January 28, 2010 | US-China Relations

IIT’s Spokesperson on Hacker Attacks

After Google brought the issue of network hacker attacks originating from the Chinese government into the open, the spokesperson from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology took reporter’s questions concerning hacker attacks.

The spokesperson said that “China is the largest victim when it comes to hacker attacks.”

“As to the issue of anti-hackers strategy, the Chinese government’s policy is open, transparent, and consistent. Any suggestion of the ‘Chinese government participating in hacking attacks,’ whether openly or indirectly, is groundless. It’s to defame China. And we are determined to oppose such suggestions.”

Source: Xinhua, January 25, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2010-01/25/content_12867854.htm

Briefings | | January 28, 2010 | US-China Relations

Google Incident and U.S. Internet Strategy

Global Times, under the Chinese state’s daily news Renmin, recently published an article on the Google incident. The report stated that the US State Department has been behind the scenes “throughout the event.” It is a reflection of the US strategy of promoting U.S. political, commercial, and cultural values using the U.S. Internet’s competitive advantages in technology, capital and market areas. The report calls the US strategy “coercive selling in the name of ‘universal values.’” The U.S. carefully picked the “Google excuses” of hacking and censorship. The author believed that hacking is happening every day and censorship is also present in the States, France, Germany and India, etc. The conclusion drawn by the article is that, Google is just one chess piece of US Internet hegemonism.

Source: Global Times, January 22, 2010
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2010-01/697246.html

Briefings | | January 27, 2010 | Information/Technology

Xinhua: Recent Energy Shortage Explained

Winter in the year 2009 brought China strong shortages of energy due to unusually cold weather. The National Energy Administration explained the situation giving four primary reasons: (1) the low water level in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; (2) rapid recovery of China’s macro economy in Q4 of 2009; (3) the low stock level of coal, as well as a bottleneck in railway capacities; (4) a sharp increase in consumer demand caused by the fact that most of the regions were attacked by rainy and snowy weather.

Actions being taken by the authorities are: (1) increasing the coal gas production level; (2) increasing the supply of natural gas by expanding the volume of imports; (3) speeding up the construction of Natural Gas Storage and Adjustment Facilities.

Source: Xinhua, January 22, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2010-01/22/content_12858478.htm

Briefings | | January 27, 2010 | Economy/Resources

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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