Chinascope – Page 1207

CCTV: US Hegemony Leads to Nuclear Proliferation

CCTV recently broadcast a program in which military theorist and commentator Zhang Zhaozhong discussed the US nuclear proliferation prevention strategy. Zhang is a professor at the National Defense University’s Military Logistics and Technical Equipment Department.

Zhang said the current US strategy is too passive and is just chasing incidents one after another. If the US stops its hegemonic practices on smaller countries that have developed a few nuclear warheads to safeguard themselves, they will feel much safer and will halt their nuclear plans. He suggested that a few nuclear warheads should not be considered a “threat” compared to the tens of thousands owned by the US. The US should respect smaller countries and base relationships on equality, so that these countries will have a better political attitude and won’t be forced into developing nuclear plans.

Source: Boxun, July 10, 2009.
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/army/2009/07/200907102024.shtml

Briefings | | July 22, 2009 | Defense/Military

21cbh.com: Loss of Structural Economic Balance Intensified

21cbh.com, a branch of the Nanfang Daily Media Group based in Guangdong Province, recently published a commentary on the macroeconomic data for the first half of 2009. Although the government reported a 7.9% increase in the Q2 GDP, the primary force behind the growth is still government investments in fixed assets. Consumer spending is still sliding both domestically and internationally. Trade surpluses kept dropping. While there has been a loss of balance in the domestic private economy, manufacturing and service industries are intensifying.

The commentary is primarily concerned with the bubble of asset prices. Since the 2008Q4, China has had the most accommodative monetary policies to date. In the first half of 2009, new loans reached RMB 7.4 trillion yuan, a large amount of which flowed into the stock and real estate markets instead of fixed assets. Combined with international hot money, the second half of 2009 can be considered the start of the new round of the asset price bubble.

Source: 21cbh.com, July 17, 2009.
http://e-news.21cbh.com/html/2009-07/17/content_100605.htm

Briefings | | July 22, 2009 | Economy/Resources

Study Times: Difficulties With Food Safety Control

Study Times, a newspaper by the CCP Central Party School, recently published an article on food safety. The article mentioned frequent food safety accidents that have occurred in recent years, which became a problem of wide concern for the entire society.

The article concluded that the government lost control of the issue and that the loss of control had three aspects: supervisory organizations were behind the offending technologies; the government’s control was not effective and credible due to limited resources; usually the local government gave some level of protection to offenders.

Source: Study Times, July 6, 2009.
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2766&nid=10036&bid=4&page=1

Briefings | | July 22, 2009 | Government/Politics

International Herald: In Order to Fight Against the Separatists, We Must Win the Internet War

Xinhua carried a commentary by the International Herald which reaffirmed the policy to maintain overall control of the Internet. It referred to the recent “July 5 Riot” as an example and attributed the cause of the riot to overseas separatists who used the Internet to stir up and control activities inside of China. It also suggested a need for domestic developed online communities such as “Google,” “Facebook,” and “Twitter,” so that the government (the party) can systematically and actively manage the Internet’s contents.

Source: Xinhua, July 17, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-07/17/content_11723116.htm

Briefings | | July 21, 2009 | Government/Politics

China Radio International to Expand its Worldwide Coverage

On the 60th anniversary of China Radio International (CRI), Wang Gennian, the station manager, revealed the station’s growth plan for the next ten years. He said CRI will establish more FM and multi-media channels in 60 cities around the world. It will grow to be a platform that carries hometown news for the Chinese people living in other countries, as well as an information center for the Chinese consulate and embassy in foreign countries and an interactive network with other Chinese language media.

Source: Xinhua, July 16, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/16/content_11718720

Briefings | | July 21, 2009 | Information/Technology

CNNIC Released 24th Statistical Report on Internet Development

Statistics released by China Internet Network Information Center suggest that by the end of June 30, 2009, Chinese personal blogs and my space users had grown from 19.7 million to 182 million.

The study suggests that Internet users access information mainly through search engines and Internet news. The survey also suggests that 84 percent of the users feel the Internet is the most important information channel and 48 percent of users have more trust in the Internet than in television.

Source: Xinhua, July 16, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/16/content_11719076.htm

Briefings | | July 21, 2009 | Information/Technology

Google Was Set up and Yielded Once Again

Epoch Times reported that, in an effort to justify the forced use of Internet filter software, China used faked evidence against Google and even shut down Google China for a few hours. On June 18, the host of the popular prime time show, “Focus Report,” on state-run CCTV demonstrated that a large number of pornography terms could be found in a Google search. On June 25, network traffic analysts found that a week before the CCTV program, some people had deliberately searched lots of pornography terms on Google. The daily pornography terms search rose 5950 percent, in a linear fashion as opposed to a smooth curve that would occur in normal situations. Those searches came from Beijing. Netizens also found out that the student who appeared on the "Focus Report" program accusing Google China of linking to pornography information was actually an intern for CCTV’s “Focus Report” program.

As a result, Google was forced to stop the suggestion and translation features on Google China, which had given it a competitive advantage over some other search engines operating in China. Those features also made it easy for individuals inside mainland China at least to see links that the government had blocked. There is also a report that Google China agreed to install server filtering software (the so called server version of the "Green Dam" filtering software) on its servers.

Source:
[1] Epoch Times, June 29, 2009
http://epochtimes.com/gb/9/6/29/n2572846.htm
[2] Epoch Times, July 8, 2009
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/19317/

Briefings | | July 20, 2009 | Information/Technology

Xinhua: The Beijing Police Target Gangsters

Xinhua reported that, in order to create an absolutely secure environment during the 60th anniversary celebration of the Communist Regime, on June 30, Beijing Police initiated a 60-day Operation, “Frightening Thunder.” The operation employs a large number of police in plain clothes, to target gangsters in entertainment facilities (though normally the police protect gangsters, the police operation serves the higher political purpose of protecting the security of the 60th anniversary celebration – Ed). Xinhua reported that, in 10 days, the Beijing police solved 1519 criminal cases, arrested 1095 suspects and cracked down on 51 gangster groups.

Source:
[1] Xinhua, July 1, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2009-07/01/content_11630725.htm
[2] Xinhua, July 15, 2009
http://bj.xinhuanet.com/bjpd_bjzq/2009-07/15/content_17102396.htm

Briefings | | July 20, 2009 | Government/Politics

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.

CCP, Master of Hostage Diplomacy