Chinascope – Page 611

Xi Jinping’s Recent Speeches Published in Full Text

On April 30, 2016, Qiushi, a semi-monthly publication of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), published the full text of Xi Jinping’s speech given at the CCP Central Party School on December 11, 2015. Other speeches published recently in full text include Xi’s speech at the Sixth Plenary Session of the CCP Central Discipline Inspection Commission in January 2016, and his speech at the Internet Security and Information Technology Forum on April 19, 2016. Analysts observed that the purpose of such publications is to avoid the State media’s manipulation of Xi’s words when quoting from his speeches and to allow a full understanding of his intent within the context of the entire speech.

During his speech at the Party School in December 2016, Xi mentioned a number of the Party School’s problems. “The Party School is a school, but it is not an ordinary school. It is the school where the Party educates and trains its backbone personnel to govern the country. Thus it must meet higher political expectations. In the past, I heard reports that some people spread Western capitalist values when delivering lectures at the Party School; some with loose lips made improper comments about the Party and about State policies; some did nothing but nitpick and complain without having any basis; and others inappropriately participated in social events in the name of the Party School Although these phenomena occur among a small group of people, the impact is very bad. Problems like these cannot occur in the school!” Xi asked that the Party School abide by the Party’s political discipline and rules, and said it should be in line with the CCP Central Committee. “If the Party School cannot be in line with the CCP Central Committee, how can it guide students to be in line with the CCP Central Committee?"

Source: Qiushi, April 30, 2016

http://www.qstheory.cn/dukan/qs/2016-04/30/c_1118772415.htm

Briefings | | May 5, 2016 | Government/Politics

Beijing Experiments with Textbooks for Peking Opera

To maintain and expand the heritage of Chinese culture, the Beijing Middle School Peking Opera Textbook Writing Committee and the Beijing Chinese Culture Heritage Association jointly created a set of textbooks to teach students Peking Opera. The set, designed for students taking Peking Opera as an elective, contains three books: The Peking Opera That You Can See, The Peking Opera That You Can Listen To, and The Peking Opera That You Can Learn.

The textbooks are currently undergoing a pilot test in the Fengtai District.

Source: Xinhua, May 3, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2016-05/03/c_128950735.htm

Briefings | | May 4, 2016 | Government/Politics

Mingpao: Politburo Met to Discuss Economic Issues

"The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Politburo normally holds two special meetings each year to discuss economic issues. One is usually in July and one is in December. Mingpao reported, however, that it added one in April of last year because, since last year, the economic slowdown has become the new norm."

This year the Politburo met again in April to discuss economic growth. "[China’s] GDP grew at 6.7 percent in the first quarter of this year. The announcement of the Politburo’s economic meeting stated that there is relatively high pressure for the GDP growth rate to drop even further. It is usually rare for China’s annual GDP growth rate to beat its first quarter’s growth rate, so China faces a major challenge in trying to meet its targeted growth rate of 6.7 percent."

"The Northeastern region is of particular concern. Liaoning Province recorded a negative growth, becoming the first state to post such a record. The three provinces in the Northeastern region (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang) were among the bottom four provinces having the slowest growth."

Source: Mingpao, April 30, 2016
http://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20160501/s00013/1462038853619

Briefings | | May 4, 2016 | Economy/Resources

Guangdong Writer: Stop Government Funding of the Communist Youth League

Hang Yiwei, a writer from Guangdong Province, posted a blog on Phoenix regarding the Communist Youth League’s budget.

Hang said, "The Youth League Central Committee recently published its budget for fiscal year 2016. It receives a fiscal appropriation of 306 million yuan (US$47 million), or 50.93 percent less than the 624 million yuan from 2015. However, it means that the Youth League Central Committee still enjoys state funding of over 300 million yuan. It is not a very normal situation for the Youth League, a non-government organization, to live on the state’s funding. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for the Youth League Central Committee to further reduce another 300 million yuan from its FY 2016 budget [which will end up as 0 yuan of the taxpayer’s money]."

Source: Phoenix, May 2, 2016
http://blog.ifeng.com/article/44662026.html

Briefings | | May 4, 2016 | Government/Politics

People’s Daily: China’s State-Owned Enterprises Reported a Decline in Profits

People’s Daily recently reported, based on data from the Chinese Ministry of Finance, that state-owned enterprises suffered an overall decline in profit of 13.8 percent (year-over-year) in the first quarter. Further drilldown shows that the central government owned enterprises declined 13.2 percent in profit and local government owned enterprises declined by 15.8 percent. For first quarter revenue, overall state-owned enterprises saw a three percent year-over-year decline, with the drilldown number for the central government owned enterprises at 4.6 percent and 0.1 percent for the local ones. By the end of March, overall state-owned enterprises suffered a debt increase of 18.1 percent. In particular, the enterprises that the central government owns saw an increase in debt of 22.4 percent.

Source: People’s Daily, April 26, 2016

http://energy.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0426/c71661-28305979.html

Briefings | | May 3, 2016 | Economy/Resources

The Paper: The U.S. May Lift the Vietnam Arms Export Ban

Well-known new Chinese news site The Paper recently reported that the U.S. Defense Secretory testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, expressing the current administration’s intent to lift the arms export ban on Vietnam. No details are yet available; however this statement was made before President Obama’s planned visit to Vietnam. The United States partially lifted the ban in 2014 to help Vietnam patrol the seas. U.S. officials said then that, in the future, the U.S. might consider selling Vietnam weapons that can be mounted on aircraft. Last year when U.S. Defense Secretory Carter visited Vietnam, he made the promise to provide Vietnam with a US$18 million loan. In the meantime, Tom Malinowski, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, explained that multiple things need to be considered before lifting the ban, including human rights conditions.

Source: The Paper, April 29, 2016

http://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1462671

Briefings | | May 3, 2016 | Geo-Strategic Trend

China Refused U.S. Aircraft Carrier’s Hong Kong Visit

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the Chinese government refused to allow the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) aircraft carrier to stop in Hong Kong. After the carrier completed its exercises in South Korea, it hosted a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and the Defense Minister of the Philippines. Now the USS John C. Stennis is at the U.S. naval base in Singapore. Both the U.S. State Department and the Department of Defense confirmed China’s refusal. According to the news report, this carrier has been “particularly enthusiastic” recently about the activities in the South China Sea and observers around the world now consider it to be a symbol of “U.S. hegemonism” in the region. Analysts expressed the belief that the Chinese refusal was a response to Mr. Carter’s last-minute cancellation of a visit to China. The spokesperson for the Chinese Defense Ministry commented that the so-called U.S. “freedom of navigation” is a “military provocation against China” and it is “very dangerous” since it may trigger unexpected accidents.

Source: Sina, April 30, 2016

http://mil.news.sina.com.cn/china/2016-04-30/doc-ifxrtztc3077967.shtml

Briefings | | May 3, 2016 | US-China Relations

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

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

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

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”