In Xinhua’s World News section on April 6, 2008, the state-run media published an article that quoted an Associated Press’s report of U.S. Congress officials’ investment in
Source:
Xinhua, April 6, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-04/06/content_7927594.htm
He Kaiying, Agricultural expert from Anhui Province is predicting that 18 percent price increase in Agricultural commodities since the beginning of the year will cause increase in processed food products in the upcoming months. He also warns that the grain price increase might lead to the inflation in the second half of the year. According to He, the grains cost has gone up 15 percent from last year while the grain price only increased by 6 percent. Cost Benefit Ratio has dropped to 16 percent from 21 percent a year ago. The recent survey suggested that over 10 percent of the surveyed farmers will reduce grain production this year. “Reduction in grain production is a dangerous signal. The reduction could cause grain price increase and the consequence can be very serious.” He said.
Source: Jing Ji Can Kao Bao, April 7, 2008
http://jjckb.xinhuanet.com/yw/2008-04/07/content_91911.htm
On April 8, Council for Rectifying Malpractice held a national conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The conference requested all levels of government agencies under the Development and Reform Commission as well as the price bureaus to completely follow and execute the measures developed by the central government. Peng Seng, Senior Inspector of the People’s Prosecution Service of National Development and Reform Commission, called for a need to establish a plan which will be used in response to the abnormal price fluctuation in certain region. “We need to firmly prevent the abnormal price fluctuation in small regions from growing to a nationwide price increase.” Peng said.
Source: Xinhua, April 8,
2008 http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-04/08/content_7941273.htm
On February 29, 2008, the Chinese Ministry of Defense signed an agreement on setting up a direct confidential telephone line with its U.S. counterpart in Shanghai. It was widely believed that the Sino-U.S. military hotline would be opened within a month, and that it would be the first military hotline between the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and another country. However, to everyone’s surprise, it was Russia that became the first country to which the PLA wanted to make a direct phone call. The International Herald Leader, a newspaper under Xinhua, published an article called “The Chinese and Russian Military Hotline.” [1]
Sino-Russia Military Hotline Successfully Set up
While the Sino-U.S. military hotline still waits to be finalized, the phone line connecting Beijing and Moscow is already open.
On March 14, the day when China’s Ministry of Defense and the Russian Ministry of Defense formally established a direct phone line, China’s Minister of Defense General Cao Gangchuan had a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Serdyukov for the first time.
It was 14 days after an agreement on setting up a direct confidential military telephone line between China and the United States in Shanghai. It was widely believed that the Sino-U.S. military hotline would be opened within a month, and that it would be the first military hotline between the PLA and another country. However, to everyone’s surprise, it was Russia that first connected China by phone line.
A Manifestation of Political Trust between Two Countries
“The launching of a hotline before the Sino-U.S. direct phone line shows the closeness of relationship between China and Russia,” Teng Jianqun, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association told the International Herald Leader, “The launch sent a signal, implying that everything including the military hotline is built upon the foundation of mutual trust.”
On March 3, the U.S. Department of Defense released the “2008 China Military Power Report,” which, as usual, disseminates the “theory of Chinese military threat” by charging PLA for lack of transparency.
“In my impression, there has not been any ‘theory of Chinese military threat’ in Russia.” Teng added that it was obvious China and Russia have a much deeper mutual trust. As said by Minister Cao in the telephone conversation with Serdyukov, the direct phone line between China and the Russian Ministry of Defense is a reflection of bilateral trust and strategic cooperation.
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Major Difference from Sino-U.S. Hotline
Mutual trust is determined by a bilateral diplomatic relationship. “Whether in mutual trust, or level of maturity, the Sino-Russian strategic cooperative partnership is more constructive than that between China and the U.S.,” Major General Luo Yuan, the deputy director of the World Military Research Division of China Academy of Military Science, told the reporter.
These differences directly affect the attitudes toward the two major military hotlines. In Teng’s opinion, “China and Russia share common positions on issues such as arms control, national security, and U.N. disarmament talks. Therefore, communications between the two countries are easier. The Sino-U.S. communications, however, is shadowed with more precaution because China does not feel assured because of the actions of distrust from the U.S. side.”
The strains are felt in the negotiations of the technical aspects of the Sino-U.S. hotline. “How should the hotline be placed? Where to put it? When should the line be connected? What is the duration? Who is responsible?” Teng said, these are all technical barriers that the Sino-U.S. hotline needs to overcome, while none of them exist between China and Russia.
The two hotlines also differ on the goal of communications. The purpose of the Sino-Russia hotline, as stated by Cao, “is to the advantage of prompt communications of important issues related with bilateral military contacts and cooperation, and of timely exchange of views and coordination of positions on international and regional hot issues.”
Teng explains, a major issue of “important issues related with bilateral military contacts and cooperation” is to strike terrorist and separatist groups on the border so as to jointly safeguard border security. The goal of the Sino-U.S. military hotline, however, “is in a hope of solving the crisis by means of dialogue, avoiding antagonizing each other,” according to Luo.
Nevertheless, the two hotlines do have something in common. “It is clear that the establishment of Sino-Russia and Sino-U.S. military hotlines have special meaning during the dangerous periods across the Taiwan strait,” Major General Luo Yuan explains. “President Hu Jintao recently stressed that separatist activity for ‘Taiwan independence’ has become the largest danger to the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the largest obstacle to the development of cross-strait relations, and the biggest threat to the regional peace and stability. Under these circumstances, China certainly needs to exchange views and coordinate positions with other countries to safeguard peace, stability, and strategic benefits.”
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What is Behind ‘Sudden’ Open Is Inevitable
What impress people are not only the vast differences in the attitude toward the two military hotlines, the contents of communications, but the suddenness of the opening of the Sino-Russia hotline. It is hard to trace the origin of the negotiations either by searching the documentations or consulting experts. In Teng’s view, it is not unexpected. The hotline is “actually an extension of the mutual trusts of Sino-Russia military.”
The bilateral military trust wass built starting in April 1990, when China, Russia, Kazak, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan signed an agreement on mutual reduction of military forces in border areas. Two years later, when then Russian President Yeltsin visited China, China and Russia issued The Joint Declaration on the Foundation of Bilateral Relationship, confirming the friendly status between the two countries.
The following two years, the bilateral military relationship continued to advance. In 1993, the Ministry of Defense of both countries signed a cooperation agreement. In 1994, both countries announced to develop “equal and trustable strategic cooperation partnership geared toward the 21st century” by signing a joint declaration that neither country would be the first to use nuclear weapons against each other and would target their strategic nuclear weapons at each other. China, Russia, Kazak, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan also signed an agreement on strengthening military trust in border areas.
In 2007, the joint military exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization pushed the Sino-Russia military relationship to a new height. Teng said that the relationships between the two countries are both “bilateral” and “multilateral”. It is obvious from the bilateral military exchanges that the launch of the hotline is a natural result.
Endnote:
[1] International Herald Leader, 2008 March 18
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/200803/18/content_7812332.htm
On April 5, 2008 Xinhua reported a U.S. Senate hearing at which Army Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Gen. Sharp was quoted by Xinhua as saying, "In the near term, the Republic of Korea must develop a systematic missile defense solution to protect its critical civilian and military command capabilities, critical infrastructure and population centers." Xinhua calls the statement “pouring oil on fire” in light of the threat of military retaliation made by North Korea against South Korea on April 3, 2008.
Source: Xinhua, April 5, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-04/05/content_7922071.htm
World Journal (A Chinese daily newspaper based in North America) reports on April 8, 2008: CCTV’s “Economics 30 Minutes” Program was stopped from broadcasting after airing a comment on April 2 by an economic expert in its program that criticized central government’s inactivity of rescuing the stock market crash and the high capital gain tax. This is the first time the program stopped broadcasting without notice since it was first aired 18 years ago. It is said that two producers of the programs are being investigated.
Source: World Journal, April 7, 2008
http://www.worldjournal.com/wj-ch-news.php?nt_seq_id=1698046
People’s Daily posted an article on April 2, 2008 to comment the recent decline U.S. dollars, under the title of “The United States Plotted Dollar’s Depreciation to Reduce China’s Foreign Currency Reserve.” The article quoted a comment by Li Liangzhong, the director of the Economics Bureau of CCP Policy Research Institute, in a public forum. Li said that U.S. dollar’s depreciation and the above US$100 per barrel of oil was an elaborately plotted conspiracy by the United States, with the purpose to reduce the purchasing power of China’s foreign currency reserve.
Source: People’s Daily, April 2, 2008
http://finance.people.com.cn/GB/1045/7075088.html
On March 16, 2008 the State TV, China Central TV, held an online poll on direct election of city mayor.
“Do you agree that mayors should be elected directly by votes of local residents, instead of by representatives of the People’s Congress? Do you agree a mayor may be removed by votes of local residents if the mayor acts against the will of the people?”
The poll closed on April 5, 2008, with a total of 180,771 votes. No results were available. According to a voter’s blog, as of 11pm April 4, 2008, 2,029 (1.49%) voted “Disagree” and 133, 417 (98.20%) voted “Agree,” with 419 (0.31%) voting “Do not care.”
Source:
CCTV, March 16, 2008
http://fuxing.bbs.cctv.com/viewthread.php?tid=11507030;
Lao Mo, April 4, 2008
http://blog.cat898.com/boke.asp?Userid_301341.showtopic.152005.html