Luo Yuan, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the China Strategic Culture Promotion Association (CSCPA), published an article in Global Times (a division of People’s Daily) expressing his opinion about the U.S. military strategy against China. In the article, Luo stated, “The United States, which has long been leading the hype of the ‘China threat,’ has, since the Obama administration, been promoting the implementation of the ‘Asia-Pacific rebalancing’ strategy. Although the intention is quite obvious, the United States vows that it is not against China. However, the facts speak louder than words. The recently released CSCPA ‘2016 U.S. military assessment report’ revealed that the United States had completed the 2016 edition of its “national military strategy.” It proposed to focus on the ‘4 +1’ threat, namely the four countries of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and one other non-State form, the “Islamic State.”

“In fact, in the U.S. Defense Department’s report, the 2017 national defense situation report, is titled Look to the Long Term and Invest in the Future.’ Published in February 2016, it had already proposed that the United States was facing the five challenges of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and the ‘Islamic countries.'”

“In line with these strategic objectives, the U.S. military will further reduce its size but strengthen its power. The main goal will be a change to dealing with China, Russia, and other major strategic challenges from dealing with the war on anti-terrorists and non-traditional security threats.”

The article concluded, “After all, is China a ‘threat’ or is the United States a ‘threat’? I am afraid that it is crystal clear. If the United States cannot abandon its fantasy and try to have a mutually beneficial and win-win situation with China, then China will walk its own way and strengthen its power until it is strong enough to be a bargaining chip and for there to be a balance between China and the U.S.”

Source: People’s Daily, August 30, 2017
http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0830/c1011-29503616.html

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, although U.S. economic growth can only be called “modest,” it seems the U.S. unemployment rate has, unexpectedly, been going down over the past seven months. The job market numbers saw growth in the last five months. The rate of job growth is double the required rate to sustain long-term stability. Even those who are not actively looking for a job have gotten “sucked into” the working population. The market analysts have been expecting a slow-down in job growth since the unemployment rate was already at a low level. Experts are trying to explain the “unexpected” good news for the U.S. job market. The generally agreed upon explanation is that there has been steady consumer spending, high expectations of results from of the Trump tax-cut, stable oil prices, and the growth of U.S. exports. However, according to Bloomberg, the latest unemployment statistics did not include the impact of Hurricane Harvey.

Source: Sina, August 31, 2017
http://finance.sina.com/bg/usstock/sinacn/20170831/04251644853.html

Two Chinese media, Xinhua and Caixin reported with much different attitudes on Trump’s speech made in Phoenix on August 22. The Chinese Communist Party Propaganda Department heavily controls Xinhua. It is the traditional mouthpiece of the state. Caixin is a relatively new media, commonly believed to have a close connection to Wang Qishan.

Xinhua Report: A Split America – Trump’s Speech at a Gathering Caused Controversy

In his near 80-minute speech, Trump spent about half of his time raging at the media. He defended his position on the violent incident in Charlottesville.  …

When Trump scoffed at the media, the audience booed. His supporters shouted, “CNN sucks!” The TV news reporter while shaking his head and sighing said, “This is the President we elected.”

Later Trump moved to immigration, the border wall and NAFTA. …

About 4,500 people said on Facebook that they participated in the protest event next to Trump’s gathering. Over 3,000 more people said that they participated in the anti-Trump event that a local immigration rights group had organized in downtown Phoenix.

After the gathering, the anti-Trump protesters clashed with the police. Police used tear gas on the protesters and smoke was everywhere. At least three protesters were arrested. No injuries were reported.

Afterwards, some U.S. media commented that Trump’s speech, “increased the split in American society.”

Caixin Report: “Trump Criticized the Media for Quoting Him out of Context and Threatened to Shut down the Government if Congress Does not Fund the Border Wall”

On August 22, Trump countered the external criticism (of his position on the Charlottesville clash) and criticized the media for quoting him out of context.

Trump said, “It’s time to expose the crooked media’s deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions.” “(A)nd yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that.”

Trump took out a few (copies of) his statements on Charlottesville’s violence incident and criticized the media for quoting him out of context.

“These are truly dishonest people. It’s not all of them. Not all of them. You have some very good reporters. You have some very fair journalists, but for the most part, honestly, these are really, really dishonest people, and they’re bad people. I really think they don’t like our country.”

While he made those statements, the audience booed at and shouted at the reporter area, “CNN sucks! CNN sucks!” About 19 thousand people participated in the gathering. Many of them waved the banners of “Drain the Swamp,” “Make America Great Again,” and “Women Supporting Trump.”

Trump said that the media ignored his statement on unity. “Just like they don’t want to report that I spoke out forcefully against hatred, bigotry and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the White Supremacists, and the KKK.” …

Arizona is one of the states that strongly supported Trump during the Presidential election. A few hundred people gathered to protest Trump outside the rally. Phoenix’s Mayor, Greg Stanton, a Democrat, had asked the White House to cancel the gathering and warned about potential violence. However, in reality, the pro- and anti-Trump people didn’t have a direct confrontation that day.

Sources:
1. Xinhua, August 23, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-08/23/c_1121532170.htm
2. Caixin, August 24, 2017
http://international.caixin.com/2017-08-24/101134637.html
3. Time, August 23, 2017
http://time.com/4912055/donald-trump-phoenix-arizona-transcript/