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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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China’s Forestry Industry Suffers Major Losses Due to Alien Insects

Xinhua reported on the recent forest pest control conference held in Changshai City of Hunan Province. A major issue discussed at the conference was that the infected forestry in China has grown from 120 million mu (19.7 million acres) in 2000 to 180 million mu (29.6 million acres) in 2013. The direct economic loss has grown from 80 trillion yuan (US$13 trillion) to 110 trillion yuan (US$18 trillion). The article said that, currently, there are over 8,000 types of alien insects in China and over 40 million trees die from as of result of insect infestation with two-thirds of the loss due to alien insects. According to the article, in the year 2000 foreign insects were intercepted at the border 500 times. By 2013 the number had grown to 610,000. At that time, 25 types of pests had invaded China; by 2013, the number grew to 38 different types.

Source: Xinhua, November 22, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2014-11/22/c_1113359472.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

National Defense Reference: The True Intention of the U.S. in Handling the Islamic State”

National Defense Reference, a magazine under the PLA Daily, published a commentary talking about the U.S.’s intention in handling the "Islamic State." Below is an excerpt from the article: 

“More and more facts prove that, for the ‘Islamic State’s organization to be able to develop to where it is today is inseparable from the United States’ indirect support.” 
“Why has ‘Islamic State,’ an extremist organization, been able to grow so rapidly in recent years? In fact, the rise of the "Islamic State" is mainly due to the following four factors. First, the years of war and unrest in Syria and Iraq, that the United States supported and plotted provided the soil for its religious extremist ideology. Second, the ‘Islamic State’s new generation of leaders in the ‘base’ organization have a higher IQ. Most of them received their education in the United States and Europe. The U.S. and its allies trained the key members. Third, the U.S. and its allies have been supporting Syrian opposition groups all along. Many of the personnel and weapons have flown into the ‘Islamic State’ organization. Fourth, many members from foreign countries joined the organization, including European and U.S. citizens.” 
“In fact, as early as 2003, when the U.S. launched the Iraq war, it already anticipated the rise of terrorist forces more dangerous than the ‘base’ organization in the region. Because the U.S. was too eager to overthrow Saddam, it did not develop effective countermeasures to prevent and suppress the terrorist forces, which allowed the ‘Islamic State’ organization to flourish and grow.” 
“In the current situation, despite the fact that the ‘Islamic State’ poses a huge threat to the United States and other Western countries, the United States will not use all of its forces to deal with the ‘Islamic State’ and slow down its ‘Eastward Strategy.’ Its eyes are still on the Eastern part of the world. There is reason to believe that, regardless of the past, present, or future, the United States will not really want to completely eliminate the ‘Islamic State.’ Its real purpose is to break up the extremist groups through air strikes and let the members of the extremist organizations further flock to Syria and Turkey and to return to Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, which serves its "strategic Eastward" and ‘Asia-Pacific rebalancing.’” 

Source: National Defense Reference, November 15, 2011 
http://reader.chinamil.com.cn/gfck/2014-11/15/content_6224730.htm

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

New Urban Planning Guidelines Mean Fewer Super Large Cities

On November 20, 2014, the State Council announced new guidelines on the classification of cities based on the size of their population. 

According to the new classifications, cities with a population of over 10 million are "super large cities." Those having a population between 5 million and 10 million are called "extra large cities." "Large cities" have a population from 1 to 5 million; "medium cities" are between 500,000 and 1 million; and "small cities," have a population under 500,000. As a result, most cities will be downgraded. The number of super large cities will be reduced from the current 140 to 16. The new classifications are meant to redirect the flow of migrants from large cities to smaller cities. 

Source: Beijing Times, November 21, 2014 
http://epaper.jinghua.cn/html/2014-11/21/content_145671.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Huanqiu: The UN Attempt to Bring Kim Jong Un to Justice Is Absurd

On November 21, 2014, Huanqiu published an editorial titled, “The UN Attempt to Bring Kim Jong Un to Justice Is Absurd.” The editorial stated that bringing the North Korean human rights problems to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and trying its leader is a very extreme approach. It would provide new excuses for North Korea to re-enforce its hostility toward the international community. Rather, the key may be to encourage it to open up to the world. To this end, “the United States, Japan, and others must change their posture of intimidation and endeavor to assure Pyongyang that it is safe.” The editorial expressed that, since he has less than three year in power, holding Kim Jong Un accountable for North Korea’s problems is not fair. 

Source: Huanqiu, November 21, 2014 
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2014-11/5210224.html
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China Signed a $12 Billion Railway Project in Nigeria

On November 20, China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) signed a formal commercial contract to construct the Nigerian coastal railway project in the Nigerian capital city Abuja. The contract is for a total amount of US$11.9 billion.
It is understood that the coastal railway starts from the Nigeria "economic capital" of Lagos in the west, crosses 10 states including Lagos, Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River. It ends at Calabar in the east. The railway, passing the oil producing Delta region, has a total distance of 1402 km, including 22 stations, with a designed speed of 120 km per hour.
On May 5, 2014, the day before Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s official visit to Nigeria, the two sides signed a framework contract for the project with an amount of US$13.1 billion. Later Nigeria adjusted the design and modified the contract amount to US$11.9 billion.
In the past decade, Nigeria has maintained an annual average economic growth of 6.8 percent, becoming Africa’s largest economy. Analysts have noted that the Nigerian coastal railway project marks the Chinese railway construction’s overseas expansion on a larger scale and at a higher level.
Source: China News Service, November 20, 2014
http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2014/11-20/6796906.shtml
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s Energy Strategy from 2014 to 2020

On November 19, the State Council released the Energy Development Strategy Action Plan (2014-2020). In an effort to restructure China’s energy consumption and production, it has adopted a four-point approach.

The first is to reduce consumption. The plan includes placing a ceiling on the annual energy consumption at 4.8 billion metric tons of the standard coal equivalent until 2020. The second is to be self-sufficient. By 2020, the domestic production of energy will reach 4.2 billion metric tons of the standard coal equivalent. Energy self-sufficiency will be around 85 percent. The third is to go green. By 2020, the share of non-fossil fuels in the total primary energy mix will rise to 15 percent. The share of natural gas will be above 10 percent and that of coal will be reduced to under 62 percent. The fourth is to adopt an innovation-driven strategy. The goal is, by 2020, to build an open, competitive and orderly energy market system. 

Source: Xinhua, November 19, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2014-11/19/c_127228804.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: New Anti-Corruption Policy – Target and Objective of the Investigation Must Be Clear

On November 19, 2014, People’s Daily published a news report on a new anti-corruption policy. It was based on a speech that Wang Qishan, who is a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee, the head of the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the leader of the CCP Central Commission Inspection Patrol Group delivered on November 18. Wang said that the next phase of the anti-corruption patrol (or tour) inspection will shift to specific targets. It will target only one issue, one person, one subordinate workplace of a project or one particular fund. Unlike the regular tour inspection, the target-focused tour investigation must have a clear objective, follow the elements of a problem, focus on the problem, stress the important matters, and dig deeply into the problem.

Approved by the CCP Central Committee, the third round in 2014 of the nationwide inspection tour will focus on the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, China’s Association for Science and Technology, the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce, China Radio International, China Southern Airlines, China State Shipbuilding Corporation, China Unicom, the China Shipping Group, China Huadian Corporation, Dongfeng Motors, the Shenhua Group, and Sinopec.

Source: People’s Daily, November 19, 2014
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/1119/c1024-26049971.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Huanqiu: People Want the Police to Clear the Occupy Central Sites

Huanqiu reported that, on November 18, the Hong Kong government cleared the barriers at Admiralty, a site where Occupy Central protesters had been stationed.

The article stated "clearing the [Occupy Central] site is what the public wanted. Some commentaries said that, not only did the majority of Hong Kong’s citizens want the students to retreat completely, but the students also wanted the government to clear the site so that they can take it as a step calling for them to retreat."

Huanqiu interviewed a Beijing University professor who gave three reasons for the clearing at Admiralty to have gone smoothly. The first was that the overseas democracy promoters suggested the "Occupy Central" activists not have a conflict but instead plan for a long-term struggle. Second, the "Occupy Central" activists realized that the "Occupy Central" [movement] had reached a hopeless stage. Third, the court staff performed the site clearing. They represent the law and if the "Occupy Central" activists resisted, they would "nakedly" (without any coverage) have violated the law.

Source: Huanqiu Online, November 19, 2014
http://china.huanqiu.com/article/2014-11/5207114.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics