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Xi Jinping: If a Great Famine Occurs, Money Will Be Useless.

On February 1, 2015, China Gate published two articles on the No. 1 Official Document of 2015, which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee had released. The first article included the original content of the document with the title, “The Release of the CCP Central Committee No.1 Official Document of 2015; One Picture (the Table of Contents) Tells You All.” The second article was an analytical article about the message included in the No. 1 Document. It had the title “Zhongnanhai (the headquarters of the CCP) Is Hiding a Big Problem behind the CCP No.1 Document.” The No.1 Document focused on China’s agriculture issues. Some Chinese scholars told the media that, “Something must be wrong with China’s grain reserves. The CCP Central Committee just does not want to admit it openly. They are hiding the problem.” Actually, Xi Jinping openly expressed his worries about food safety on multiple occasions back in 2013: “If a Great Famine Occurs, Money Will Be Useless.”

Rice, wheat, and corn have been China’s staple food. This year, potatoes will be included as the fourth-largest staple food in China. According to a Chinese scholar, either industry has used up China’s surface water or it is severely polluted. Groundwater is also very limited now. Potato’s production is relatively high and can sustain drought. Using potatoes as a staple food will help to alleviate the food crisis." The article concluded, “Almost all of the downfalls of the dynasties in China’s history started with a Great Famine.”

Source: China Gate, February 1, 2015
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2015/02/01/3998139.html 
http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2015/02/01/3996483.html

NBD: State Council Pushes Industrial Exports

National Business Daily (NBD), one of the three major comprehensive financial and economic dailies in China, recently reported that the State Council Executive Meeting just passed the decision to push industrial level exports in the areas of railway building, nuclear power plants and construction material assembly lines. The goal is to lift the level of international industrial cooperation and to identify new export growth channels. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang suggested that China should push hard on industrial upgrades and the Chinese exports should expand on the sides of medium and high end large equipment. Also in the plan of the “new international cooperation models” are high speed railways and trains, aviation, and telecommunications. The State Council expressed the belief that, in addition to “product exports” and “capital exports,” it is time for “industrial exports.”
Source: National Business Daily, January 29, 2015
http://www.nbd.com.cn/articles/2015-01-29/894243.html

Shanghai Gave up Its Official GDP Goal

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that the City of Shanghai officially announced it was giving up on the 2015 GDP growth goal it had set earlier. This is the first large city in China to stop using GDP as one of the primary indicators to measure its economy. The mayor set a new goal, which is to maintain “stable growth” and to continue with economic optimization and quality improvements. The Chinese GDP growth rate used to be one of the highest in the world. However the rate has been declining in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested last year that China cannot continue measuring economic growth simply by looking at GDP numbers. In the past, GDP had become the single most important measurement of the government’s performance. This resulted in a large number of inefficient investments and in the loss of balanced development. The Chinese central government typically announces its GDP goal in March at the National People’s Congress conference.
Source: Sina, January 26, 2014
http://finance.sina.com/gb/wsj-ftchinese/ftchinese/20150126/01461200323.html

Guangming Daily: Western Values Shall Not Be Allowed in College Textbooks

On January 31, 2015, Guangming Daily published a commentary rebutting criticism of the remarks China’s Minister of Education made about Western values in Chinese universities. 

Recently, Yuan Guiren, the Minister of Education, remarked that no Western values shall be put in any classroom textbooks. According to the commentary, “Although most people applauded and praised the remarks, some deliberately misinterpreted, distorted, and even attacked him.” 
“A few university faculty members openly approve of the anti-Party and anti-socialist forces. Foreign hostile forces engage in ideological penetration among college teachers and students. Some university leaders, to a great extent, ignore ideological work. Leaders and teachers at other universities keep silent to protect themselves, and do not ‘show their swords,’ thus … losing ground. … We must fully recognize the importance and urgency of ideological work. “ 
According to the commentary, “In today’s China, ‘Western values’ mainly refers to erroneous ideas from the Western capitalist world. It especially refers to the erroneous doctrines of political thought and Western political values such as constitutional democracy, ‘universal values,’ civil society, and neo-liberalism … of the Western capitalist countries as represented by the United States."  
Source: Guangming Daily reprinted by People’s Daily, January 2015 
http://theory.gmw.cn/2015-01/31/content_14701183.htm

Xi Jinping’s Overall Strategy for the Communist Party to Rule China

On January 29, 2015, the Communist Party website published an article supporting Xi Jinping’s December 2014 speech and the 2015 New Year’s greetings on building a moderately prosperous society throughout China, comprehensively deepening reforms, comprehensively promoting the rule of law, and fully tightening the Party’s discipline. The article stated that this is the high-level overall strategy for the Communist Party to rule China. 

According to the article, “building a moderately prosperous society” is the goal and “deepening reforms” is the driver to reach the goal. “Promoting the rule of law” provides the legal framework for reaching the goal. “Tightening the Party’s discipline” is the organizational measure and the control mechanism to ensure that the goal will be reached. The article stated that the history and the people in China have chosen the Communist Party as the ruling party in China, and that under the current circumstance in China, there is not a single political force that can replace the Communist Party. 
Source: The Communist Party of China website, January 29, 2015 http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2015/0129/c40531-26474275.html

Three Goals of Beijing’s Military Diplomacy

Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on January 29th that, as part of its overall foreign diplomacy, China will pay more attention to its military diplomacy. Xi’s remarks were made at a meeting with the military attaché and other military diplomats.
China Review News (中国评论通讯社), a Hong Kong based and Beijing backed Chinese language news organization, lists three goals of China’s military diplomacy.
First, Beijing’s military diplomacy certainly includes deterrence. When Xi advocated the expansion of military diplomacy, he also called for military officers "to make new and greater contributions to the China dream and dream of a strong army." Instead of showcasing military might, it is perhaps more important for China to become a military leader – not only technically but also ideologically. In other words, Beijing’s military diplomacy is a natural consequence of the ever growing role of leadership it has been playing in the international arena.
In addition to showcasing its military strength, agenda setting is an equally important goal. For this reason, Beijing has been attempting to upgrade the Xiangshan Forum (香山论坛) to a channel equivalent to the Shangri-La Dialogue as the primary platform for regional security issues. The official media have listed the upgrading of the Xiangshan Forum as one of the top ten "breakthroughs" in military diplomacy.
A third goal is to eliminate the "China threat" theory and to dispel the outside suspicions of the People’s Liberation Army’s intentions and strategies. By letting its military communicate with the outside world, China’s ultimate hope is to convince its neighbors (and potential opponents) that its "peaceful rise" is sincere.
Source: China Review News, February 2, 2015
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1036/0/2/2/103602217.html?

Chinese Military Expert Proposes to Train Navy and Air Force Double-Category Military Officers

Li Dapeng, an associate professor at the Naval University of Engineering (Wuhan, China), published an article on China Youth Daily, which was then republished on the websites of People’s Daily and Xinhua, proposing to train Navy and Air Force double-category military officers in order to counter the U.S. "Air Sea Battle." Below is an excerpt from the article: 

"The “U.S. ‘Air Sea Battle’ concept was formed to deal with new political, economic, and technological situations. … The United States declared that the ‘Air Sea Battle’ is not directed against a specific opponent. However, the U.S. Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Center released a report called, ‘Why is there an air Sea Battle?’ The report said, ‘With the proliferation of advanced military technology and military use by other countries, particularly when it is being applied to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the Iranian army, the ability of the U.S. military to enter the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf regions is being challenged.’" 
“Therefore, the purpose of the ‘Air Sea Battle’ concept is to ensure that the U.S. will be able to execute its military power in certain areas in the face of China and Iran’s military challenges.” 

“In recent years, the United States has continued to increase its investment in the Asia-Pacific strategy. Through joint military exercises, optimizing the systems of overseas military bases, troop redeployment, and strengthening strategic channel control, the U.S. has formed a strategic encirclement of China and has been preparing for the implementation of the ‘Air Sea Battle’ against China.”

“The U.S. military has been considering the training of military officers who fall within the ‘double military categories’ of both the navy and the air force. … Currently, the ‘Air Sea Battle’ has already transformed from the strategic planning phase into the implementation phase. Whether it is for responding to the ‘Air Sea Battle,’ or to adapt to the requirements of the development trend of the war, we should actively plan to train Navy and Air Force ‘double military categories’ personnel.” 

“To this end, we should, on the basis of an in-depth study of the ‘Air Sea Battle,’ implement the transition mechanism of naval and air force institutions and personnel training programs.” 

“Facing the current situation, we should boldly act to build more efficient and capable combat forces, train naval and air force double-category personnel, and accelerate and deepen the revolution in military affairs so as to take the driver’s seat in the possible future ‘Air Sea Battle,’ and win the war.” 
Source: China Youth Daily, August 22, 2014 
http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2014-08/22/nw.D110000zgqnb_20140822_3-09.htm http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0822/c1011-25515926.html 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2014-08/22/c_126904004.htm?prolongation=1

Five Economic Challenges that China Faces

Daily Economic News predicted five macro-economic challenges in 2015; these will come primarily from external pressure and from internal economic drivers losing steam. 

First, an increase in money supply may not be sufficient to help revive businesses. Second, exports continue to decline. Of the economic drivers, exports have been the first to lose power. Third, as banks tighten credit, the demand for credit will be difficult to satisfy. Thus the probability of default will increase. Fourth, real estate developers will not reap the high returns that they did before and will be very cautious. A high inventory in the housing market also de-incentivizes new starts. Fifth, the central government is tightening local governments’ programs so as to reduce local government’ debts. Without the endorsement of local governments, private investment in city infrastructure will not be able to obtain favorable extensions from the bank to handle their debt servicing, thus increasing the likelihood of default. 
Source: Daily Economic News reprinted by Study Times, January 26, 2015 http://www.studytimes.cn/shtml/xxsb/20150126/9265.shtml