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

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

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

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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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Big Fight May Be Going on between Zeng Qinghong and Wang Qishan

As the dispute between Guo Wengui and Hu Shuli continues [as discussed in recent briefings], analysts are discussing who is the back-up behind each of them. Ma Jian, former vice minister of state security, used to be a back-up who supported Guo Wengui. Ma Jian’s top leader was Zeng Qinghong, who is former top leader Jiang Zemin’s top advisor. Hu Shuli has been close to Wang Qishan, who is in charge of the CCP Central Commission for Discipline. Hu’s Caixin media outlet has been viewed as a media outlet that is assisting current top leader Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. Does this mean that a big fight may be going on between Zeng Qinghong and Wang Qishan?

Sources: Duowei, China Gate and Epoch Times, March 30 – April 1, 2015
http://china.dwnews.com/news/2015-04-01/59644856.html
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2015/03/30/4146179.html
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/15/4/1/n4401839.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: The Belt and Road Initiatives

On March 28, China unveiled its vision for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Initiatives (the Belt and Road Initiatives). 

The National Development and Reform Commission along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce released the initiatives jointly. The information released shows that the Belt and Road initiatives route runs through Asia, Europe, and Africa, connecting the East Asia economic circle at one end with the developed European economic region at the other. 
In the past year or so, Chinese leaders visited over 20 countries to build a consensus on the impact of the Belt and Road Initiatives. China has since signed an MOU and other agreements with neighboring countries on cooperation to build the Belt and Road. A few joint projects have been established. 
Domestically, the authorities have adopted policies to raise the financial resources needed to fund the initiatives; they have also promoted banks in funding cross-border settlement and payment transactions. A number of forums, summits, and expos have been held to deepen the understanding of the significance of the Belt and Road Initiatives. 
Source: Xinhua, March 28, 2015 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2015-03/28/c_1114793986_2.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Caixin Sues Guo Wengui and Hong Kong Media for Defamation

Although a number of Chinese media outlets exposed Guo Wengui’s “power play” that enabled him to accumulate a fortune, when Guo decided to fight back, he just chose Caixin’s editor-in-chief, Hu Shuli, as the sole target. On March 29, 2015, Guo Wengui published an open letter to Hu Shuli on his own company website denying all accusations related to a plot. He then stated that, according to Boxun, Hu has an illegitimate child. According to Global Times, Guo’s letter, which had been posted Sunday on Guo’s company Pangu Plaza’s official Weibo, had been taken down by Monday. In response, Caixin’s legal team decided to file lawsuits in Hong Kong against Guo Wengui, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Apple Daily, and the media outlets involved in disseminating Guo’s slander.

According to the Epoch Times on October 22, 2013, Hu Shuli has played a key supportive role in Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign since the beginning of 2013. “The liberal magazine that she founded, Caixin, has acted as a weather vane on the political direction of the top leadership. It has posted lengthy and detailed investigative reports regularly presaging the Party authorities’ vigorous action against officials and factions caught in the crosshairs of the new campaign.”

Source: Caixin, Boxun, Global Times, the Epoch Times
http://www.caixin.com/2015-03-31/100796597.html
http://www.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2015/03/201503300910.shtml#.VRyoi2dgi3M
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/914712.shtml
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/325285-chinas-most-dangerous-woman-knows-which-way-the-wind-blows/

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China Launches an Upgraded Satellite for BeiDou System

A Long March-3C rocket carrying a new-generation satellite for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) left the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday, March 30, 2015. China launched an upgraded satellite into space for its own global navigation and positioning network at 9:52 p.m. Beijing Time. It is the 17th satellite for the BDS. The official Xinhua news reported that the launch marked the beginning of the expansion of the regional BDS to global coverage.
According to the center, the latest satellite is tasked with testing a new type of navigation signaling and inter-satellite links, providing the basis to start building the global network.
China launched the first BDS satellite in 2000. The BDS began providing positioning, navigation, timing and short message services to civilian users in China and surrounding areas in the Asia-Pacific in December 2012.
Source: China News Service, March 31, 2015
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2015/03-31/7170962.shtml
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

People’s Daily: Japan Should Get Used to China’s Air Force Exercises in the Far Sea

On March 30, 2015, the Chinese Air Force conducted a military training exercise in the Western Pacific ocean. In response to a Western media report, Zhang Junshe, a researcher at the Naval Research Institute of Military Science, published a commentary on People’s Daily overseas edition. 

The article said, “Regarding the Chinese Air Force’s routine training in accordance with its annual training plan, Japan and some Western media had ulterior motives when they interpreted the events. A Japanese news agency claimed that the training had the purpose of showing off China’s air force to its neighbors. Some individual media also claimed that the move of the Chinese Air Force will likely exacerbate tensions in the South China Sea.” 
Zhang argued, “Japan’s Self-Defense Air Force fighter and reconnaissance aircraft frequently hold activities in the Western Pacific and the East China Sea. U.S. Air Force fighter planes fly over the Western Pacific ocean all year long. [So why can’t China do the same?] ” 
“China is a big maritime country, but not a maritime power. … Now, the Chinese navy and air force badly need to use far sea training to improve their sea defense combat capability. It is one of the objective needs in order for China to safeguard its national maritime security.” 
“With the improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength and international status, China’s international responsibilities and the obligations required by the international community are also increasing. So it also requires China’s navy and air force to go to the far oceans and improve the capability of their ocean activity.” 
“Finally, I hope some countries can look rationally at the development of China’s military power and the Chinese military’s normal training activities. … The concerned countries should gradually become accustomed to Chinese air and sea vessels’ conducting similar trainings in the far sea, instead of continually finding fault.” 
Source: People’s Daily, April 1, 2015 
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2015-04/01/content_1549197.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2015-04/01/c_127646887_2.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Caixin and Other Chinese Media Exposed How Guo Wengui Conspired to Make a Fortune

For a week, several Chinese media outlets, including Caixin and Finance.QQ, have published lengthy investigative reports on the shady dealings that real estate developer, Guo Wengui, has used to accumulate a fortune. Guo has complicated relationships with Chinese Communist Party officials, including former vice minister of state security Ma Jian. Ma is presently under investigation during the nation-wide anticorruption movement that leader of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping started.  

Back in 2006, in order to get a development authorization for some Olympic park land in Beijing, Guo Wengui conspired with Ma Jian in a plot that removed Beijing’s former vice mayor Liu Zhihua from office. They used “a 60-minute video of Liu engaging in under-the-table dealings and extra-marital affairs.” According to Caixin, “Several sources said that Ma, then assistant to the minister of state security, helped Guo get the video of Liu.” Liu had refused to help Guo get the development permit he needed to build the Pangu Plaza by the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium in Beijing. “The fight over the Olympic park land proved Guo had a successful partnership with officials like Ma, a strategy he repeatedly used to build his fortune in the following years.”

Sources: Caixin and Finance QQ, March 24 – 30
http://china.caixin.com/2015-03-30/100796183.html
http://weekly.caixin.com/2015-03-27/100795235.html
http://finance.qq.com/original/lenjing/gwg0324.html
http://finance.qq.com/original/lenjing/wlht.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: Volume of Railway Freight Declined as Did PMI

On March 26, People’s Daily reported that, according to the numbers that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released, the combined January and February railway freight volume saw a year-over-year decline of 9.1 percent. February is the 14th consecutive month that suffered a decline. Railway freight volume is one of the well-known indicators on which Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has focused. In February, another favorite indicator of his, total electricity consumption, also saw a 6.3 percent year-over-year decline. In addition, HSBC reported China’s February manufacturing sector PMI to be 49.2, far less than the expected number, a PMI of 50.5. PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) is an indicator of financial activity reflecting purchasing managers’ acquisition of goods and services. A PMI number below 50 typically reflects a decline.
Source: People’s Daily, March 26, 2015
http://history.people.com.cn/peoplevision/n/2015/0326/c371452-26753376.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Indonesian President: The Chinese Lines in South China Sea Have No Legal Basis

BBC Chinese recently reported on the comments that Indonesian President Joko Widodo of Indonesia made when the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun interviewed him before his visit to Japan. During the interview, Widodo discussed the South China Sea "Kau Line." He thought that most of what the Chinese asked for in the South China Sea lacked any basis in international law. This was the first time, since he was elected last October, that President Widodo explained his position on the issue of the South China Sea. The South China Sea enjoys an annual commercial traffic valued at around US$5 trillion. Based on the “Kau Line," China claims sovereignty over 90 percent of the South China Sea. The government of the Republic of China had originally drawn that line before the Communists took power. However a number of countries in the region, such as Vietnam and the Philippines disagree. President Widodo expressed his willingness to be an “honest bridge builder” to mediate the resolution of this long-lasting regional conflict. China maintains that the core issue of the conflict is that “some countries are occupying islands illegally.”
Source: BBC Chinese, March 23, 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2015/03/150323_indonesian_china
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend