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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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

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Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

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Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

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Study Times: Too Much Deregulation May Lead to Problems

The government and local authorities have been trying to deregulate in order to stimulate the economy, but they have over-done and set up potential problems, warns Study Times. The authorities have adopted measures to expedite processing of permits and deregulated certain restrictive policies. “However, there has been a tendency to over-relax.” “Some cognizant departments have approved projects outside their authority, have turned a blind eye to violations of regulations originally implemented to increase economic efficiency and employment, have done absolutely nothing to stop the resurgence of programs already eliminated, and have excused serious violations of law that would protect workers rights and interests.”

Source: Study Times, July 6, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2766&nid=10035&bid=4&page=1

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Study Times: From Financial Security to National Security

Financial security is a matter of national security to China, according to Study Times. An instability in the financial system may ultimately lead to a social political crisis. “Loss of financial control means loss of control of the economy.” “By building a financial security network, we can guard against the technical attack of financial risks to China’s financial security, strengthen public confidence in China’s financial security, and safeguard our financial stability and financial security.”

Source: Study Times, July 13, 2009
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=1&id=2790&nid=10103&bid=10&page=1

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Qiushi: Hu Jintao’s Instruction to Military on Safety and Stability

Qiushi Journal published an article by Fang Fenghui, the Commander of the Beijing Military Area Command, on studying President Hu Jintao’s instruction on using the military to maintain social stability. Some of Hu’s instructions are quoted as: “Development is the hard truth, the number one mission; stability is the hard mission, the number one responsibility. Development is achievement, maintaining stability is also achievement.” “(We) must always take it as a critical mission for the military to maintain society’s stability.” The Military should “consciously follow the big picture, to actively contribute to the steady and fast economic development and the harmonious and stable society (of the nation).”

Fang stated that in the past, the PLA has been a critical force during political turmoil and offered strong safety protection in complex situations, and thus has become the most reliable force of the Party when dealing with a crisis.

Source: Qiushi Journal, the 13th issue of 2009, published on July 1, 2009
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20090701/GB/qs%5E506%5E0%5E19.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Central Military Committee Modifies the Sergeant System

The Central Military Committee recently published “The Revolution Plan to Deepen the Sergeant System” for the military and armed police. Out of the seven areas of reform, two are to increase the intellectual level of the soldiers. The first one is that, while keeping the total number of military staff unchanged, the number of sergeants will be increased to 900,000 and the increase will be allocated primarily for those with high-tech specialties. The fourth one is to increase the number of direct recruits from college graduates and recruit them as sergeants.

Source: Xinhua, July 13, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/13/content_11699069.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

From the Authorities: Praise Both Mao’s Era and the Current Time

According to Xinhua, as the media increases its coverage of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Communist China, “some politically sensitive issues are surfacing.” It is a convention to separate the 60 years of the  communist regime into the first 30 years (Mao Zedong’s era, with strong ideological control and poor economic development, but little corruption and social problems) versus the second 30 years (the Revolution and Opening up era, with strong economic growth but uncontrollable corruption and social problems). Xinhua stated that the authorities have informed the media that they should not use the first 30 years to belittle the second 30 years, and vice versa. Reports should use each period to justify the other one.

Also, each of the 30 years has its own theoretical basis. The Mao Zedong Thought vs. the Chinese Characteristic of Socialism (and they are in nature different from each other). According to the Party’s Central Committee’s request, reports should handle well the relationship between the two theories. The top leader has instructed that in-depth research should be done to find the connection between the two.

Source: Xinhua, July 13, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/13/content_11700924.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

PLA Daily: Improve Regional Stability with International Military Cooperation

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily reported that a joint security exercise of the PLA and the Singapore military took place between Jun 19 and June 24 somewhere in the Guangzhou Military Region. This was the first joint exercise with Singapore, and this was the first security exercise with a foreign military.

The exercise reflected the developing military relationship between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In recent years, Chinese military has extended international military cooperation on a strategic level – which is a national defense policy that has been listed in the Defense Whitepaper since 1994.

Source: PLA Daily, June 30, 2009.
http://www.chinamil.com.cn/site1/xwpdxw/2009-06/30/content_1818160.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Should Have More Say in International Affairs

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences recently published an article arguing about “Discourse Power.” The article mentioned the Chinese proposal of reforming the IMF and the World Bank. The author believed that many countries supported the idea, but it seemed China did not have much say in these organizations, which are primarily controlled by Europe, US and Japan.

The author found that, in order to conduct important reform, many international academic organizations usually provide a large amount of research help. Chinese scholars rarely participate in these processes. The article identified the lack of English skills as the primary reason.

Source: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, May, 26, 2009.
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20090526235133.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: New Challenges after 60 Years in Power

Xinhua recently published a report quoting experts’ opinions, suggesting that it’s time for Chinese leaders to establish a global vision of overall strategy covering both domestic and international aspects. The recent global financial crisis offered a major opportunity in the reshuffling process of the international financial order.

When the Reform started 30 years ago, China could only join the “games” and obey the established rules. Now China is the third largest economy and feels more and more about the restrictions set by those existing rules. Facing today’s international rule-changing opportunity, China should stand up for Chinese interests and build a strong base for the decades to come.

Source: Xinhua, July 1, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/01/content_11633180_1.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics