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Global Times: To Rise, China Needs to Fight another 30 Years of “Protracted Battle”

Wang Wen, Executive Dean of the Chongyang Finance Institute at Renmin University of China, published an article evaluating China’s rise relative to the current world powers. The article said, “Over the past decade, the most popular academic view of the world’s changing situation is the rise of emerging countries and the decline of established developed countries. However, judging from the share of the total national economy in the global total, the actual situation is more complicated and subtle.”

“The so-called ‘readjustment of the global economic and financial structure’ in the past decade is actually a structural adjustment between China and the established powers of Western Europe and Japan. It has not shaken the status of the United States.”

“Although there is no real shake-up of the U.S. economic status, it is undeniable that the global financial crisis has hit the soft power of the United States. Over the past decade, the world has constantly criticized the loopholes in the U.S. financial regulatory system and reflected on the shortcomings of the democratic and liberal system in the United States. In the course of criticism and reflection, the self-confidence of the Chinese society has gradually recovered. Especially in recent years, China has hosted the G20 Summit, the Summit on the International Cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the BRIC Leaders’ Summit, and the Summit of the Chinese Communist Party and the World Political Parties, prompting more and more countries to recognize and adopt the ‘China proposal.’ There are even many countries that try to follow China’s example.”

“However, the Chinese people must be soberly aware that the gradual recognition of the ‘China proposal’ is only the first step toward the ‘great march of longevity’ for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and does not mean that the road to rejuvenation has come to an end. China’s overall strength is still far behind the United States, the only superpower in the world. It will still take a long time to catch up and surpass it. It will take time for China’s rise to be convincing to the world.”

“The real remodeling of the international system is subtle and difficult and is entering a long ‘protracted battle,’ meaning that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has also entered into a ‘protracted battle’ that will go on for about 30 more years.”

Source: Global Times, January 9, 2018
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/hqpl/2018-01/11506801.html

Duowei: Another Case of a Local Chinese Government’s GDP Data Fraud

Duowei news reported that, following the three northeastern provinces, another act of “cheating the Party Central Committee” had occurred. In recent days, one of China’s local governments was exposed for committing GDP data fraud. Officials from Inner Mongolia admitted that they had committed massive falsification of financial and economic data. Those responsible had artificially increased the industrial added value in 2016 by 40 percent. The falsified accounts amounted to an addition of 290 billion yuan (US$44.69 billion), which was the equivalent of the total GDP of Inner Mongolia’s capital city Hohhot. On January 7, Chinese media reported that Inner Mongolia, after the financial department’s repeated auditing corrections, had to reduce its income from its public budget in 2016 by 53.0 billion yuan (US$8.16 billion), accounting for 26.3 percent of the total. The industrial added value in 2016 should be reduced by 290 billion yuan, accounting for 40 percent of the industrial added value for the entire region.

Source: Duowei, January 8, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/china/news/2018-01-08/60034109.html

British Research Showed a Large Number of ISIS Weapons Originated in China

Duowei, a Beijing controlled Chinese media based overseas, recently reported on three years of British research into the sources of ISIS weapons. The research found that around 90 percent of ISIS weapons came from either China or other former communist countries (including Russia). Among all of the weapons that ISIS has, 43.5 percent were made in China. Romania made around 12.1 percent, Russia made 9.6 percent and Hungary made 7.2 percent. ISIS used to claim their weapons were mostly looted goods originally made in the United States. Now it appears that was a lie and only less than two percent were U.S.-made weapons. The British research was based on over 40,000 pieces of weaponry collected from ISIS over the past four years. Its report concluded that China has played a dominant role among the sources where ISIS weapons were made.

Source: Duowei, January 3, 2018
http://news.dwnews.com/global/news/2018-01-03/60033306.html

The Second Chinese Naval Carrier Barracks Ship Will Be in Service Soon

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Chinese Navy’s second carrier barracks ship is very close to completion and will serve the Navy soon. A carrier barracks ship is generally to support an aircraft carrier as part of the fleet. This type of vessel is an invention of the Chinese Navy. It is typically used to support the long testing phase of a new aircraft carrier, or to transport a large number of citizens home from aboard in an emergency such as a rescue mission. China currently has one barracks ship that accompanies the only aircraft carrier in service. The delivery of this second ship signals the near-completion stage of the second aircraft carrier which is fully made in China. The Chinese barracks ships are designed based on civilian cruise ships. A barracks ship travels with an aircraft carrier that is typically in the testing phase. It provides more comfortable accommodations for non-military staff and offers room for special equipment as well as helicopters.

Source: Sina, January 2, 2018
http://mil.firefox.sina.com/18/0102/10/6EDV9Z7HB35AWG4Q.html

CNFOREX: China May Become World’s Largest Natural Gas Importer in 2018

China’s largest online portal for foreign exchange related news, CNFOREX, recently reported that, in 2018, China may surpass Japan to become the world’s largest importer of natural gas. China is currently the world’s largest importer of oil and coal. China is also the third largest natural gas consumer, after the United States and Russia. However, China’s domestic supply cannot meet its consumption needs. Today, around 40 percent of China’s natural gas depends on foreign suppliers. Thomson-Reuters-Eikon data showed that China’s combined pipeline and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports in 2017 showed a year-over-year increase of 25 percent. In 2017, to remedy air pollution issues, the Chinese government has been pushing hard on the “Coal to Natural Gas Conversion.” If the movement continues, and based on the fact that China surpassed Japan in September and November on natural gas imports, it is reasonable to expect China will become the largest natural gas importer (pipeline and LNG combined) in 2018.

Source: CNFOREX, January 3, 2018
http://www.cnforex.com/news/html/2018/1/3/02cb9e6d56a5d2e49cea5d13dcfd3aa2.html

RFA: Fearing a Spread of the Rights Movement, Chinese Authorities Blocked News Coverage on Iranian Protests

According to an article that Radio Free Asia (RFA) published, the Ministry of Publicity reportedly circulated a notice on the Internet which stated that no media outlet is allowed to report on the Iranian people’s protests. The notice ordered that no media should have news coverage on anything about Iran or on anything about the protests. It also requested that the Office of Cyberspace Affairs launch its plan to monitor Internet activity on any forum discussions about the protests; it should also consider a shutdown of any online discussions, comments, and forwarding functions, if needed, and detain those who violate the order. The article reported that, even though it was hard to verify the authenticity of the notice, it did find that there has not been much news coverage on the protests in the official media. It also appears that any online discussion on this topic has not been widely censored.

The RFA article reported that, since the protests broke out in Iran, over three million people went to the streets to protest. At least two protesters died and over 200 were arrested. The Iranian government also shut down a number of social media platforms, accusing the protesters of using the social media platforms to organize protest activities.

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 1, 2018
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/media-01012018073646.html

VOA Media on China Program: “Big Brother” Has Arrived

The VOA “Media on China program” published an article on China’s surveillance capability. It refers to how China is just like the totalitarian society in the fiction story 1984 written by George Orwell in which “Big Brother” monitors every move, spoken word, and thought of all members of society while it uses the same monitor to broadcast its propaganda. Below is a partial translation of the article:

In the western world the law often prohibits the government from launching surveillance of its citizen. The government is not allowed to arrest or sentence its citizens using information that has been obtained illegally. In China the government can use its resources to monitor or arrest its citizens. To many people, China is best known for its Internet surveillance efforts because the resources that the Chinese government has invested in Internet surveillance surpass those of any other country in the world. China has the capability of monitoring its citizens 24 hours a day because it has the largest surveillance network in the world. In 2017, there was one surveillance camera for every eight citizens; by 2020 there will be one surveillance camera for every two citizens. These camera heads are equipped with the capability of facial recognition. With the help of tech companies such as Ten Cent, the Chinese authorities control and screen a large amount of surveillance information. We Chat, which Ten Cent developed, assists the Chinese authorities in censoring sensitive political information or social media while sharing the customer’s information with the police. Meanwhile people can no longer remain anonymous online. Starting in 2013, when the Chinese authorities required that every cell phone should be under each citizen’s real name, every We Chat account had to be linked to a cell phone number.

Source: Voice of America, January 3, 2018
https://www.voachinese.com/a/china-big-borther-comes-20180103/4191187.html

RFA Commentary: What It Means When China Limits the Outflow of Currency

Radio Free Asia published a commentary reporting that the State Administration of Foreign Exchange recently issued a notice that, starting January 1, 2018, each year, a Chinese citizen, when in a foreign country, will only be able to withdraw 100,000 yuan (US$15,415) cash using a debit card or credit card that a Chinese bank has issued. They will also be limited to a cash withdrawal of 10,000 yuan (USD$1,541) each day and will be prohibited from using other people’s cards or letting other people borrow their card to withdraw the cash. The article said that the tightened cash policy is an indication that the Chinese economy may appear strong from the outside but it is weak on the inside. The article stated that forcing the “low end” population to leave big cities and to limit the cash flowing out of country, are both indications that China’s political climate is far more serious than what has been reported. The article said, “There was a prediction that the bubble in China’s economy might burst soon. Even though it has not happened yet, it could only be a matter of time and will catch people off guard because some of the real issues are being pushed aside and have still not been resolved.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, January 1, 2018
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/commentaries/kl/com-01012018081148.html