Chinascope – Page 1245

China Official on Financial Support for Economic Growth

Study Times published an article by Jiang Dingzhi, the Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party and Deputy President of the China Banking Regulatory Commission. In the article, Jiang listed six areas to focus on when using the financial system to support economic development during the financial crisis. A few of the six areas along with Jiang Dingzhi’s points are as follows:

Promote agricultural industrialization. (We) should have both policy financing and commercial financing. (We) should construct a financial support system for large agricultural enterprises, establishing a credit and insurance system to solve the financing problems for these enterprises; fully utilize the Agricultural Development Bank’s function of administration and financing to raise investment funds to support the agricultural industrialization base and agricultural products development; improve savings institute’s services to offer more business loans, adjusting the amount of capital entering the agriculture industry; and establish cultural industrialization investment funds to effectively organize and direct private investment there.

Promote the concept of everybody doing business. (We) should actively research the “small secured loan + start business training + credit community construction” model, steadily pushing the long-term effect of establishing businesses to create employment opportunities; using circular secured loans, joint liability secured loans, and multi-guarantee secured loan methods to solve the financing challenge for small to mid-sized companies; establish funds for everybody to do business, provide loan guarantees, cover interest points, offer business rebates and awards, conduct training on starting a business, and provide services for businesses.

Source: Study Times, the 495th issue, published on July 20, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2801&nid=10204&bid=1&page=1

Briefings | | July 23, 2009 | Economy/Resources

Xinhua: US Wants to Regain its Loss in Southeast Asia

Xinhua reported that, according to several foreign affairs documents, the U.S. proposed to establish a new cooperative framework with four Mekong River Basin countries, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will discuss this proposal with the foreign ministers of those countries at the ASEAN meeting in Thailand. The U.S. will also sign ASEAN’s base treaty, “Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.” All these indicate the Obama administration desires to strengthen the U.S. relationship with ASEAN, and recover the loss of influence to China over ASEAN during the Bush administration.

Xinhua quoted a Singapore researcher, “U.S. adjusts its ASEAN policy, to better ‘deal’ with Myanmar and North Korea, and also to deter other large countries (China – Ed) from increasing influence in this region.”

Source: Xinhua, July 21, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-07/21/content_11741632.htm

Briefings | | July 23, 2009 | US-China Relations

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

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

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”