From April 4 to 15, the United States and the Philippines will be holding "shoulder to shoulder" joint military exercises in Philippine territory. Australian troops are also participating in the exercises. Japan is participating as an observer. Military expert Yin Zhuo, in an interview with People’s Daily, thought that the United States is attempting to transform the mechanism of joint exercises into a "quasi-military alliance" to contain China.
China Imposes Restrictions on Trade with North Korea
On April 5, 2016, the Ministry of Commerce of China announced that, in order to implement relevant Security Council resolutions [prohibiting nuclear weapons development and ballistic missile activity], it was imposing an immediate ban on imports of North Korean coal, iron ore, gold, titanium, vanadium and rare earths. Some imports for civilian use would be allowed so long as they were not connected to nuclear or missile programs or U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013) and 2094 (2013) and 2270 (2016).
Caijing: How Big Is China’s Debt?
According to the McKinsey Global Institute, in 2015, China’s debt, including the financial industry’s debt, increased to US$28.2 trillion, or 282 percent of its GDP level. Its debt was US$7.4 trillion in 2007, as reported in a Caijing article.
"In a few years, real estate development, local government’s heavy borrowing, and the rapid expansion of "shadow banks" (institutes that function as banks but without a government permit) have turned China into a country of heavy debt. Most worrisome is that much of the money that is owed will never be paid back. Local governments have taken on so many projects that not only are they unable to pay the interest, but they are also unlikely to give back the original principle that was invested."
Source: Caijing, April 1, 2016
http://blog.caijing.com.cn/expert_article-151640-89838.shtml
No Solution for China’s Economic Problems
An article that spread widely on the Internet argued that, without human rights and a system of law, there will be no economic prosperity. Therefore, there is no solution for China’s economic problems.
"A mainstream of belief in finance is that currency is created by credit. "How is credit created? ‘Human rights create a market and the rule of law creates credit.’ The foundation of a market economy is equal exchange. Without human rights how can you and I accomplish an equal exchange?
"Only when the king cannot take over your property at will can he be forced to buy it from you. Then a market economy will exist. If there is a super power, not only will the super power not trade with you equally, but neither will anyone in the market. If the king can just confiscate people’s property at will, why should a person try to work hard to make money? Wouldn’t it be faster if that person just flattered the king so he would confiscate some other people’s money instead? Therefore, without human rights, the order of a market economy will be damaged. People will go after power. They will not use the means of fair competition to make money.
"Human rights creates equal trade; trade creates a market. It is just that equal trade is not enough. If people trade with each other equally, then they can cheat each other equally, too. This will make the cost of trade too high. How can they expand credit? They can’t just rely on conscience; they must also rely on the rule of law. The rule of law can create a modern financial system. China’s financial system is not fully developed. The main reason is it lacks the rule law.
"China’s law system is not just unable to support the modern financial system; it is unable to support even basic credit activities."
Source: Amazon
https://s3.amazonaws.com/letscorp_archive/archives/103240
Global Times: Should We Thank Bin Su?
According to a March 23 press release that the U.S. Department of Justice issued, Bin Su, a Chinese citizen, "admitted to conspiring with two persons in China from October 2008 until March 2014 to gain unauthorized access to protected computer networks in the United States, including computers belonging to the Boeing Company in Orange County, California. The purpose was to obtain sensitive military information and to export that information illegally from the United States to China." Bin’s cyber thefts of U.S. military secrets included the C-17 Globemaster, and the Lockheed F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters. He was arrested in Canada in July 2014.
Global Times published an article that praised Bin Su.
"As a media in China, we can’t tell if Bin Su really stole data on three major U.S. planes and handed the data over to the Chinese authorities. If that is true, we are willing to express our gratitude to him and even salute him. As a real security fight is going on between China and the U.S., China obviously needs those intelligence experts who can deliver the key information from the U.S. Whether China sent him or it was someone who did it for commercial gain, we think they are great.
"If he was wronged and forced to admit guilt under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department, we express our deep sorrow for him. We believe that, as the ‘intelligence war’ between China and the U.S. continues, more people will be wronged, called ‘Chinese spy,’ and put into prison. We hope all Chinese who work in the sensitive fields in the U.S. are careful, so they avoid having the U.S. intelligence agencies target them."
Source: Global Times, March 24, 2016
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2016-03/8766854.html