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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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Xinhua: Cautious about RMB Internationalization

Outlook Weekly, a magazine by Xinhua News, published an article suggesting that “there is a strongly rising public opinion that the Chinese currency RMB should become an international currency to match China’s world power status.”

The article cautioned that although the world suffered the damage brought by the US Dollar monopoly in recent years, there are still a great deal of risks for RMB internationalization. Risks mentioned in the article are: reduced capability for the central government to control Chinese macro economy, lowered stability of the economy, much heavier international responsibilities.

Source: Outlook Weekly, April 4, 2009.
http://news.sohu.com/20090408/n263256840.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Weighing International Settlement in Chinese Currency RMB

Outlook Weekly, a magazine by Xinhua News, reported on China’s effort to restructure its international financial strategies. The core strategy is to reduce the dependency on the US dollar. This strategy consists of three aspects: internationalization of RMB, currency and financial cooperation within East Asia and international currency system reform.

The Chinese State Council decided on April 8 that Shanghai and four cities of Guangdong Province will start a trial on international settlement in RMB. Another action taken by the Chinese government was currency exchange with six countries or administrative regions.

Source: Outlook Weekly, April 15, 2009.
http://news.sohu.com/20090415/n263396439.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Xinhua: Canadian Prime Minister Wakes Up on Visit to China after Three Years

The International Herald Leader, a branch of Xinhua News, published an article which reflected China’s state view analyzing Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s intention of his trip to China. The article quoted Globe and Mail to describe Harper’s China policies as “childish”.

The article stated the belief that the Canadian Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day’s recent visit to China signaled an important policy adjustment to seek more trade opportunities with China to survive the current economic crisis. The article mentioned that Harper has consistently criticized China on human rights issues since he was elected.

Source: Xinhua News/International Herald Leader, April 16, 2009.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-04/16/content_11193852.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Statistics Suggest Millions of Falun Gong Practitioners Remain Active in China

According to the statistics released by Minghui or Clearwisdom, an overseas website recording daily updates about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, there are about 200,000 active underground material production sites throughout mainland China. Their daily operation is to download materials from Minghui using software to get around censorship, then print and assemble those into booklets which will then reach a minimum of 40 million practitioners in China through an internal network.

Additional data released by Minghui include the number of experience sharing articles received by Minghui Annual Mainland Online Experience Sharing Conference increases from 2200 to 2600 articles between 2004 and 2007 to 11,000 articles in 2008. Since July 20, 1999, Minghui received, confirmed, and published 254,000 torture cases of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

According to Minghui, Minghui website was created and is maintained by Falun Dafa practitioners.  It is designed to serve both fellow practitioners and the general public with daily articles that provide insights into Falun Dafa cultivation practice, expose the harsh persecution in China, and report the news of Falun Dafa activities around the world.

Source: Minhui, April 19, 2009
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/4/19/199284.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Jia Qinglin: Exercise the Party’s Direction and Explore New Opportunities on Religion Work

On April 17, Jia Qinglin, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, spoke at a forum on the Party’s religion work attended by provincial level party leaders.

Jia emphasized that all levels of party committees and government bodies should understand the overall and strategic importance of religion work under the current environment. They should further strengthen and exercise the Party’s leadership in religion work; strengthen research and investigation of the current status of various religions; pay attention to religion work at the ground level; strengthen the support of patriotic religious organizations; fully encourage and utilize personnel within those organizations to play active roles to bridge the connections between the government body and religious believers to ensure stability among religions.

Jia also instructed that it is required that they should actively engage in building friendly relations with religions from overseas and be on guard against foreign forces using religion for espionage. 

Source: Xinhua, April 17, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2009-04/17/content_11200560_1.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

International Herald: How Effective is Obama’s “Smile Strategy?”

"After Obama’s smile (during his G20 trip and Europe/Asia tour), if no concrete action follows up, maybe comic cartoons is the only place for his ‘signature smile’." Stated a commentary by the International Herald Leader on April 14.

The article said that Obama’s signature smile was successful but failed to solve problems. "The smiles cover up the embarrassment of the US and its unwillingness to take additional responsibilities," the article commented on the change of the body language of the current president,"… we will expect to see the US to be more modest and self-restrained as well as being flexible and smart… How long can his smiles last under the current domestic situation?" The article asks, "In the eyes of those conservative forces in the US, US interest takes superiority over others. It will not allow its hegemony to be challenged … The attack from the conservatives against Obama’s bow to the King of Saudi Arabia at G20 shows that it is not easy for the US to set down its haughty airs and smile with sincerity to the world."

Source: Xinhua, April 14, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2009-04/14/content_11183659.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Public Calling for Resignation of Party Officials Over Abuse of Power

Netizens in China voiced strong support for victims of abuse of power, calling for the resignations of top Chinese leaders over incidents of police brutality, reported Trend, a Hong Kong magazine. On March 8, 2009, a 19 year-old student died during police interrogation in Shanxi Province. Within three days of the incident, online postings calling for the resignations of Zhou Yongkang and Meng Jianzhu reached 70,000 at websites, including official websites such as Xinhuanet.com and people.com.cn.

Zhou currently serves as the 9th ranked member of the Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee and is the the head of the Party’s Central Political and Legislative Committee, an organ directing central government legal policy and the legislative agenda. Meng Jianzhu is the Minister of the Public Security.

Source: Trend, April 2009 Issue
http://www.chengmingmag.com/t284/select/284sel01.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

China’s Steel Industry Set For Tough Times

Xinhua reported that China’s steel exports were a mere 1.91 million metric tons in January, a drop of 54.6% from a year earlier. Exports in February went down further to 1.56 million metric tons. China Iron and Steel Association warns that China may soon import more steel than export. Slack domestic demand, reduced international orders, trade barriers in the West and competition from other countries are said to have contributed to the downturn.

On April 8, 2009, seven US steel companies and trade unions filed an anti-dumping petition against Chinese steel products with the US government. On the same day, the European Commission announced its decision to impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 15.6% to 24.2% on Chinese seamless steel pipe.

Source: Xinhua, April 14, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-04/14/content_11183107.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources