Chinascope – Page 667

Global Times: Russia and Japan Will Not Get Close Together

Recently, news about Russian-Japanese relations has repeatedly appeared in the media. Talking about whether a closer relationship between Russia and Japan will damage China’s interests, Wang Haiyun, senior adviser at the Chinese Institute of International Strategic Association, expressed the belief that Russia and Japan will not really come together. He listed the following reasons as the basis for his opinion:

First, the strategic interests of Russia and Japan are in conflict. Russia is an emerging big non-Western country, while Japan is a developed country which has boasted that it is an important member of the Western powers. Russia’s biggest security threat comes from the U.S.-led military alliance system, while Japan plays a very active role in the alliance system.

Second, there is a huge difference between Japan and Russia’s strategic ideals. Russia values a multipolar world, democratization of international relations, and a diversified world civilization. It strongly advocates the establishment of a just and rational international political and economic order and safeguards the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states and the principle of an independent development path. Japan, on the other hand, has closely followed the U.S. which has repeatedly and brutally been destroying these major principles.

Third, there are many strategic contradictions between Japan and Russia. The territorial dispute between Russia and Japan is a dead knot.

All in all, there are many structural contradictions between Russia and Japan. Although relations between the two countries may be easing, they definitely will not get very close. It is reasonable to be vigilant to the risk that closer Russia-Japan relations may harm China’s interests, but there is no need to worry too much.

Source: Huanqiu (Global Times), July 29, 2015

http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2015-07/7129964.html

Briefings | | July 31, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Anti-corruption Campaign Has Recovered 38.7 Billion Yuan

On July 29, 2015, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) announced that from November 2012 to June 2015, it had recovered 38.7 billion yuan (US$16.1 billion) from corrupt officials.

As part of its investigation of corruption, CCDI determines the amount of funds the corrupt official has obtained in violation of the Party’s discipline. CCDI then collects and returns such funds to the State coffers through confiscation, recovery, and restitution. CCDI has been confiscating gifts, rebates, and remunerations; it has recovered public property and gifts to the State that had been misappropriated; it has also ordered the restitution of spendthrift State-owned assets and unauthorized fines and fees.

Of the 38.7 billion yuan collected from corrupt officials, CCDI returned 20.7 billion yuan (US$3.26 billion) to the State coffers and the remainder to the courts for judicial proceedings.

Source: Xinhua, July 29, 2015 http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2015-07/29/c_1116075349.htm

Briefings | | July 31, 2015 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: Japanese Media Are Turning Right

Xinhua published a commentary stating that, since the beginning of this century, Japanese media have been turning right, following the political right-wing development. They exaggerate the “China Threat” and advocate populism, thus providing excuses for Abe to amend the Constitution to allow military expansion.

The commentary alleged that the Japanese media make misrepresentations when reporting on China related events. It cited the September 2010 incident in which a Chinese fishing boat collided with a Japan Coast Guard patrol boat near the Diaoyu Islands and also the news reporting on the South China Seas dispute.

The commentary further alleged that, since 2013, books that criticize China and South Korea have been selling fast. It has become a fashion in the publishing business to publish such books.

Lastly, the commentary stated that new online media have also been following suit and are increasingly vocal about their dislike of China. In particular, the online media dedicated to China news are keen on picking negative news about China to demonstrate “their superiority over China or their hatred of China.” These reports are often reproduced on Yahoo in Japan, further amplifying the adverse effect.

Source: Xinhua, July 31, 2015

http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2015-07/31/c_128076805.htm

Briefings | | July 31, 2015 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Doomsday Fever

[Editor’s Note: Cheng Guangcheng is the renowned blind Chinese human rights activist who is self-taught in the law. He is best known for his class-action lawsuit against the authorities for excessive enforcement of the one-child policy. After over four years in prison, he was kept under house arrest and closely monitored. His daring escape from the police, after which he fled to the U.S. Embassy, gained him international attention. After intense negotiations with the Chinese government, Chen, his wife, and their two children, came to the U.S.. He has been publishing ever since and recently wrote a blog on Radio Free Asia, commenting on the Chinese Communist Party’s recent massive arrests and defaming of human rights lawyers in China. The following is the translation of his article.] [1]

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Reports | | July 30, 2015 | Report

Xi Jinping’s Brother: My Father Never Made a Leftist Mistake

With the recent round up of rights lawyers, critics have voiced their concerns over whether leftist hardliners have been gaining the upper hand in Beijing’s decision making circles. Xi Yuanping, the younger brother of China’s top leader Xi Jinping, gave a speech last week in which he stated that, throughout his life, their father had never made a leftist mistake.

On July 27, 2015, The Study Times, a newspaper that the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) publishes, carried the full transcript of Xi Yuanping’s speech. In addition, China’s major Internet portals have publicized it widely.

Xi pointed out that, even during the "fanatic Great Leap Forward movement," the Xi brothers’ father Xi Zhongxun remained cool-minded and voiced opposing views.

Citing a participant who attended the meeting with Deng Xiaoping and Xi Zhongxun, Xi Yuanping gave a detailed description of how the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was formed. Deng told Xi Zhongxun, when Xi proposed the establishment of a special economic zone in the coastal province of Guangdong, that the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia area which Xi was in charge of before 1949 was itself a special zone. In a subsequent meeting with the then leader of the State Council, Deng again reiterated his affirmation by using the term "special economic zone."

Source: The Study Times, July 27, 2015

http://www.studytimes.cn/shtml/xxsb/20150727/13357.shtml

Briefings | | July 29, 2015 | Government/Politics

People’s Daily: U.S. Commander’s Blatant Comment on South China Sea Is a Reflection of Hegemony

The head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry B. Harris, gave a talk on the South China Sea issue at the Aspen Security Forum on July 24. Jia Xiudong, an invited commentator for People’s Daily and a distinguished scholar at the China Institute of International Studies, published an article commenting on the talk Harris gave. Below is an excerpt from the article:

“Harris’s irresponsible remark exposed the strategic intent of the United States on the South China Sea issue. Harris was holding a script, which showed he was apparently well prepared; it was not a whim or an improvisational talk.”

“Harris is not the first one to make irresponsible remarks about the South China Sea, nor is he the most senior U.S. military official to criticize on the South China Sea. However, it is rare for someone like him to give such a lengthy talk on the South China Sea issue, to slander China, and to mix right and wrong so blatantly and explicitly.”

“Harris claimed that the core of the South China Sea issue is maintaining vs. changing the status quo. Recently, many senior U.S. officials have become very fond of the word ‘status quo’ while talking about the South China Sea and have also proposed an initiative to maintain the South China Sea ‘status quo.’ It seems that China is a ‘status quo’ challenger, changer, and destroyer; while the United States is the ‘status quo’ maintainer. With a little analysis, one can see that the United States’ so-called ‘status quo’ is essentially to allow illegal occupation of China’s islands and reefs and the provocation of China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests by some neighboring countries in the South China Sea. However, the U.S. intentionally avoids or even denies the ‘real’ ‘status quo’ in the South China Sea, which is China having sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters.”

The purpose for the U.S. “hyping up and strengthening its intervention on the South China Sea issue is not to [promote] regional peace, stability, and security in the South China Sea region. Rather, it is to maintain the U.S.’ maritime and regional hegemony. All the U.S. rhetoric serves only to package its pursuit of hegemony.”

“After all, the essence of the fight between China and the U.S. in the South China Sea is one of sovereignty vs. supremacy. Around the South China Sea issue, China desires to maintain its sovereignty; whereas the United States pursues hegemony.”

“In dealing with this fundamental contradiction — that China maintains sovereignty and the United States pursues hegemony — don’t expect the outcome to be that China concedes on the issue of sovereignty. The sovereignty of the South China Sea is China’s core interest. The U.S. challenge to South China Sea sovereignty will eventually end up being in vain.”

Source: People’s Daily, July 28, 2015

http://military.people.com.cn/n/2015/0728/c1011-27370373.html

Briefings | | July 29, 2015 | US-China Relations

China News: Director of the Bureau of Corruption Prevention Arrested for Corruption

China News recently reported that Zhong Shijian, Director of the Bureau of Corruption Prevention of Guangdong Province, was arrested for corruption. Zhong was also the former Deputy Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Communist Party Committee of Guangdong Province and was the former Director of the Supervision Bureau of Guangdong Province. He has been removed from his government positions and Party positions. Zhong was accused of severely violating investigation rules and discipline, leaking secrets to suspects, accepting monetary bribes, as well as other illegal activities. He was also voted to be removed from his seat as the Provincial Member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Source: China News, July 21, 2015

http://www.chinanews.com/m/sh/2015/07-21/7418308.shtml

Briefings | | July 28, 2015 | Government/Politics

China Significantly Increased Its Gold Reserves for the First Time in Six Years

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, according to China’s central bank, China’s official gold reserves reached 53.31 million ounces (1,658 tons) as of the end of June. This is a 57 percent increase from the previous official number revealed in April 2009, which was 33.89 million ounces (1,054.6 tons). The central bank announced the intent to continue the increase of the gold reserves in the future to have better management of financial risks. According to the World Gold Council (WGC), China surpassed Russia to become the world’s fifth largest country in gold reserves (excluding the International Monetary Fund). Analysts have indicated that, according to cost figures, the Chinese central bank did not reach this new gold reserve level with a recent one-time acquisition. China is the largest gold producer in the world and is the second largest gold consumer after India. Since 2009, the central bank has never updated its official gold reserve level.

Source: Sina, July 17, 2015

http://finance.sina.com.cn/money/nmetal/20150717/192622719369.shtml

Briefings | | July 28, 2015 | Economy/Resources

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.”