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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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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

People’s Daily: University Instructors Should Not Be ‘Announcers’ Who Defame China.

On November 14, 2014, Liaoning Daily, a provincial Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper, published an article (reprinted in Sohu) titled, “Teacher, Please Don’t Talk about China Like That: An Open Letter to Teachers of Philosophy and Social Science.” Liaoning Daily’s reporters sat through about 100 classes in 20 universities in big cities in China and concluded that university teachers in China 1) disagree with the Chinese Communist Party’s innovative theories and expose the dark sides of Marx, Engels, and Mao Zedong in class; 2) disagree with China’s political system and praise the “separation of powers” in the West; 3) do not love the Chinese Communist Party and do not encourage students to join the Party using themselves as role models.

On November 17, 2014, the Chinese Communist Party News website under People’s Daily published a commentary article titled “University Teachers Should Not Be ‘Announcers’ Who Defame China.” The article criticized university teachers for spreading Western views and disparaging China’s political system in class. The article said, “University teachers must correct their world views, conscientiously implement the Party’s education policy, and inject positive energy into the development and dissemination of (China’s) socialist core value system.”

On November 19, 2014, Huanqiu published a commentary on the debate that the Liaoning Daily’s article initiated (“If Any Country Is Criticized, the Target Must Be China”). According to Huanqiu, university instructors’ speeches in class must be restricted by a higher political and moral bottom line. “If instructors in European and American universities promote values that are highly contradictory to those of mainstream society, they will get into big trouble.”

Finally, the Xinhua blog published an article (not necessarily representing Xinhua’s views) saying, “First of all, do not underestimate the intelligence and judgment of college students." "Second, do not overestimate the teachers’ influence in the university classroom." "Third, the openness and freedom of the university classes have a self-purification function." "Fourth, we should believe in the capable outcome resulting from university autonomy.”

Source: Sohu, People’s Daily, Huanqiu, Xinhua Blog, November 14 – 19, 2015
http://news.sohu.com/20141114/n406046000.shtml
http://cpc.people.com.cn/pinglun/n/2014/1117/c241220-26037053.html
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2014-11/5207179.html
http://sike.news.cn/article.do?action=articleDetail&id=218598439

Briefings | | |   Grapevine

Chinese Steel Exports See Rapid Growth

Well-known Chinese news site Sina recently reported that, according to the China Steel Industry Association, China’s steel exports for this year could reach 80 million tons. China’s steel production level is half of the world’s total. With the slowdown of the Chinese economy, the Chinese steel makers are trying their best to export, maintaining very low prices. This has caused China’s international competitors, from South Korea to South Africa, to drop their prices significantly. According to Tokyo Steel Manufacturing CEO Kiyoshi Imamura, the level of China’s annual steel exports is the same as the level of Japan’s entire steel production. Japan is the second largest steel maker in the world. Chinese steel exports to the United States increased by 50 percent in September, while exports to Taiwan and India increased 400 percent. Based on Chinese customs reports, China’s steel exports this year set a historic record, enjoying a year-over-year jump of 73 percent. Experts and even the Chinese manufacturers all expressed the belief that the situation for trade disputes will significantly worsen, for sure. 
Source: Sina, November 12, 2014
http://finance.sina.com.cn/money/future/fmnews/20141112/155320798415.shtml
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources