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Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

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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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Guangming Daily on the China (Shenzhen) International Culture Industries Fair

In a recent article, Guangming Daily featured the China (Shenzhen) International Culture Industries Fair (ICIF) for its role in "stimulating the development of China’s culture industry and promoting Chinese culture in the world."

According to its website, the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China; the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China; the State Administration of the Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television; the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade; the Guangdong Provincial People’s Government; and the Shenzhen Municipal Government hosted the ICIF. The ICIF serves as a platform for Beijing to promote its own culture products to the world.

The 10th ICIF, taking place between May 15 and 19, 2014, has over 2,000 exhibitors with 17,000 overseas buyers in attendance. It is said to be the largest such fair to be presented in the last 10 years. The total trade value of the previous nine fairs amounted to US$85 billion.

Wang Jingsheng, the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda chief in Shenzhen, said, "Chinese Culture’s ‘going global’ is the symbol of our national rejuvenation."

Ye Jianqiang, CEO of the Fair, expressed the belief that "the key is to have the products which carry the cultural ideology and values that meet the demand of the international market."

According to the article, the Shenzhen culture industry has become an important import and export base. The annual volume of culture products exported is 20 percent of the national total and the import volume is 18 percent. The products include original animated movies and 3-D movies that have penetrated the market in 40 countries, including the U.S. and Canada.

Source: Guangming Daily, May 18, 2014
http://news.gmw.cn/2014-05/18/content_11346311_2.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

People’s Daily: The U.S. Showcase of Aircraft Carrier Is a Scare Tactic

People’s Daily Online wrote an article about the U.S.’ invitation to PLA’s Chief of General Staff Fang Fenghui to visit the aircraft carrier "Ronald Reagan" and the Littoral Combat Ship "Colorado" and to tour the North Carolina Army base during his coming visit to the United States. China’s state media expresses the belief that the U.S. has the intention of scaring China with its advanced weapons. A Beijing’s military expert Yin Zhuo said that the arrangement of Fang’s visit to the U.S. advanced battleships is intended to remind China that it should not overestimate China’s own strength and underestimate that of the U.S. Yuan Zongze, Deputy Director of the China Institute of International Studies, expressed his opinion that Sino-U.S. military relations still face obstacles and China should respond with a two-sided policy, namely, to continue the communications and, at the same time, not to give up the fight.

Source: People’s Daily Online, May 14, 2014 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0514/c1011-25016299.html
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2014/0515/c1011-25020179.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Housing Market: Mortgage Defaults and Foreclosures on the Rise

China Securities reported that, since the beginning of 2014, people have been defaulting on high-end real estate loans or have simply abandoned their property. Some bank staff members have said that they no longer make housing loans. Real estate auction announcements frequently appear on the homepage of major auction websites. It will take a couple of years for banks to auction off their foreclosed properties. Few banks are interested in offering low interest loans; they prefer to keep the interest rate at 10 percent or above. However, some investment professionals indicated that those who are willing to pay 10 percent interest for loans are more likely to default. Typically, they have secured emigrant status and bought properties overseas. They are the high risk groups for defaults on loans. 

Source: China Securities reprinted by Xinua, May 15, 2014 http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/www.cs.com.cn/ssgs/fcgs/201405/t20140515_4390839.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Politburo Group Study on Safeguarding State Security

On April 25, the Politburo held the 14th group study on safeguarding the State security. Xi Jinping spoke again to repeat his emphasis on the issue. Earlier, on April 15, at the first session of China’s newly established State Security Committee, Xi had hosted the meeting and given a speech on State security. 
A Study Times article described the concept of State security as "a complete system including State security in eleven main areas: politics, homeland, military, economic, culture, social, technology, information, ecology, resources, and nuclear."
The article continued that China’s State security has its "domestic and foreign elements that are more complicated than at any other period in the history." "China is facing a dual pressure. Internally, it’s about political security and social stability; externally, it includes pressure on national sovereignty, state security, and its interests in development."
Source: Study Times, May 12, 2014 
http://www.studytimes.cn/shtml/xxsb/20140512/4927.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Confucius Institute Inaugurated Its Latin American Center in Chile

The Confucius Institute, the government-backed Chinese language teaching program, hit another milestone in its overseas expansion. On May 12, it held an opening ceremony in Santiago, Chile, for the Regional Center of the Confucius Institutes for Latin America. Xu Lin, the Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and the Director-General of Hanban, the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, inaugurated the center together with former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle.
Xu Lin said that the establishment of the Regional Center in Latin America marks the regular cooperation and exchange mechanism and a new service platform for all Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms in the region. It will contribute greatly to promoting the development of the Confucius Institutes in Latin America. Xu Lin also said that, over the years, China and Latin American countries have always maintained s good cooperative relationship in the fields of politics, the economy, culture, and education. Currently, 14 countries in Latin America have a total of 31 Confucius Institutes and 10 Confucius Classrooms. The Latin American Center, the second regional center overseas after the U.S. Center, aims to coordinate the work of the entire Latin American region and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between all Confucius Institutes in the area.
Former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle pointed out in his speech that the inauguration of the Latin American Center is the result of good bilateral political, economic, and cultural relations. The two governments should further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of culture and strive to see that language is no longer a barrier of communication between the two peoples.
Source: Xinhua, May 13, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-05/13/c_1110665413.htm
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Huanqiu on Corrupt Chinese Officials Hiding in the U.S.

Huanqiu published a report on corrupt Chinese officials who have fled China. The report was titled, “U.S. Media: China Has Provided a List of a Thousand Corrupt Chinese Officials Who have Fled to the U.S.”

“Since the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, China’s anti-corruption and clean government measures have attracted attention both at home and abroad. One hot topic is how to bring those criminals who are corrupt officials and have fled China to justice. The U.S. media said that China has provided the U.S. with a list of such corrupt officials. The list contains the names of more than 1,000 people. Although from time to time the United States publishes the so-called news that ‘the U.S. will help China arrest corrupt officials,’ due to the lack of an extradition treaty and because of the complexity and the lengthy judicial procedures, apprehending those corrupt officials hiding in the United States faces numerous difficulties. In the past 10 years, only two people were repatriated from the United States to China, while recently, the exodus of corrupt officials has been speeding up. Some U.S. law enforcement officials and legal professionals have told the Global Times reporter that China and the U.S. should truly carry out judicial cooperation through diplomacy and bring these corrupt officials to justice. At the same time, China and the U.S. should pay attention to the new characteristics of the funds from corruption that are fleeing China and close the loopholes in surveillance and control that have allowed these corrupt funds to escape from China.” 
Source: Huanqiu reprinted by Xinhua, May 12, 2014 
http://zgws.xinhuanet.com/info.aspx?id=48790&typeid=20
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua: Capital for Real Estate Companies Is Drying up

Xinhua recently reported that, according to the E-House Real Estate Research Institute’s "Report on Real Estate Enterprises’ Capital in the First Quarter of 2014," China’s real estate companies are tight on money.

For the first quarter, the year-on-year increase in the rate of fully-funded capital was 6.6 percent, a significant drop from last year’s 26.5 percent. On the source of capital, year-on-year foreign investment decreased 33.9 percent, while money from domestic lending and self-raised capital increased by 20.4 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.
The year-on-year increase in the rate of money lent domestically, foreign investment, self-raised money, and other sources of capital also dropped by 12.7 percent, 66.7 percent, 11.7 percent, and 30.8 percent respectively.

Unlike the tight money in real estate, the land market was still hot. Ten typical cities’ land transfer fees totaled 269 billion yuan (US$44 billion), an increase of 83.1 percent from a year ago. The total in land transfer fees from first tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen) was 175 billion yuan (US$28.6 billion), which was 35 percent of last year’s annual amount.

As both overseas capital and domestic capital are drying up and as land prices keep increasing, the real estate business faces a severe money challenge. "Mid-level and small companies need to prepare for bad times. Some companies that can only tolerate a low risk may be forced out of the market."

Source: Xinhua, May 13, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/house/bj/2014-05-13/c_1110654420.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Global Times: There Is No Person in the Military That We Can’t Touch

Global Times published an article promoting the anti-corruption campaign in the military. The article stated that, although the public received the Xi Jinping-headed anti-corruption campaign very well, recently some voices have suggested that this kind of anti-graft action will create chaos in the military. The fallacy was even put forth that "the military can lead the spiritual civilization campaign, but not the anti-corruption campaign."

The article rebutted these views by stressing that only a clean army can defend the country well. "There is no person in the military that we can’t touch [with a corruption charge]."

The article acknowledged that the anti-corruption campaign is a tough job and suggested three areas to focus on: (1) the officers, (2) the two fields where corruption is intense – personnel management and military property management, and (3) the cause of corruption – low moral standards and wrong ideology.

Source: Global Times, May 12, 2014
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2014-05/4992407.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics