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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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Study Times on Handling Internet Crises

Study Times recently published an article on how to improve the handling of crises that spread over the Internet. The article recommended that China should develop an Internet security and information control mechanism, strengthen its monitoring and emergency response capability for such crisis, develop new technologies, improve communication between the government and the people, and educate the media and the people about how to be cautious. The article suggested that the government initiate efforts in the following areas:

1. Strategy and institutional structure: The government should include Internet crisis management as part of its national security strategy and develop a proper institutional structure and laws on Internet information management. Also the government should clarify the structural relationship between the National Security Commission, the Central Internet Security and Information Leading Group, and local governments.

2. Early detection of and emergency response to Internet crises: The government can establish Internet information collection teams to monitor news discussion groups, forums, and search engines’ search results; it can also collect information on the hot issues and events as well as on people’s opinions on these issues and events.

3. Internet technology: The government should put the R&D of Internet technology in a core position and strive for China’s own innovations of core Internet technology.

4. Crisis management: The easiest way is for the government to tell the truth, so as to gain people’s trust and weaken the impact of negative opinions.

5. Education: The government should educate media professionals on professional ethics and professional “discipline.” It also needs to educate the general public about Internet crisis – to train citizens on how to tell, criticize, and evaluate information on the Internet. It can do this through the use of television, newspapers, the Internet, school, and special education programs.

Source: Study Times, March 24, 2014
http://www.studytimes.cn/shtml/xxsb/20140324/4272.shtml

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

People’s Daily: Volume of Swiss Watches Exported to China Fell

People’s Daily recently reported from the Basel Watch Fair, the World Watch and Jewellery Show that is taking place from March 27 to April 3 in Messe Basel, Switzerland. It is the largest watch fair in the world. The Swiss Exhibitors Committee Chairman, F. Thiebaud, reported the statistics for the Swiss watches that were exported to Mainland China. He stated that the total value of the exports in 2013 was 1.2 billion Euros, which represents a 12.5 percent decline from the previous year. The exports to Hong Kong were 3.4 billion Euros, a decline of 5.6 percent. All other key export markets enjoyed growth. China is the primary market for Swiss watches and jewelry, and China is also a primary partner in the Fair. Since last year, the Chinese government has been vigorously cracking down on corruption, which is widely recognized as the key force behind the luxury watch sales in mainland China. However Ms. Ritter, the Chief Executive of the Basel Watch Fair, pointed out that China still remains a very important market even after the “adjustments to the consumer structure.”
Source: People’s Daily, March 29, 2014
http://lady.people.com.cn/n/2014/0329/c382558-24770444.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

BBC Chinese: China and Britain Signed Agreement on RMB Settlement

BBC Chinese recently reported that the British government signed an RMB Clearing and Settlement Agreement with China. This is the first agreement of its type outside of Asia. It further strengthened London’s position as the primary RMB exchange center in the Western world. After Hong Kong became the first offshore trading center for the Chinese currency (RMB) in 2009, several other cities such as Singapore and Tokyo competed to be the second primary RMB trading market. The Chinese government is trying to make the RMB a key player in the competition to challenge the U.S. dollar as the dominant currency in the global economy. The Bank of England signed a currency exchange agreement with the People’s Bank of China in June last year; that agreement expires in three years.
Source: BBC Chinese, March 26, 2014
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/uk/2014/03/140326_china_uk_rmb.shtml
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

WTO Ruled against China on Rare Earths Export Restrictions

Well-known Chinese online news site Sina recently reported that the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled against China on China’s quota-based rare earths export restrictions. This ruling was based on a complaint filed jointly by the United States, the European Union, and Japan. This is the second time China has lost in WTO filings on natural resource export restrictions. China’s quota-based export management system may be approaching its end. Experts from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce suggested that one-third of the WTO experts assigned to this case supported China’s position, while some other members, such as Russia, also sided with China. However some legal experts expressed the belief that the probability is low that China’s would win the case on appeal. Officials from the China WTO Research Organization called for establishing a protection system for China’s strategic natural resources.
Source: Sina Net, March 27, 2014
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2014-03-27/012929799448.shtml
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Guangming Daily: Strengthening Think Tanks is an Important and Urgent Strategic Task

On March 31, Guangming Daily published an article on the importance of China’s think tanks. The following is an excerpt from the article.

"The Third Plenary Session of the Party’s Eighteenth Congress emphasized the task of strengthening new think tanks with Chinese characteristics and of building a sound decision-making and advisory system. Currently, high-level and internationalized think-tanks have become an important symbol of a country’s soft power and influence in international discourse."

"To achieve the goal of two hundred years and the China dream of the great rejuvenation of the nation, we must strengthen the new think tanks with Chinese characteristics. At present, China is in a critical stage of building a moderately prosperous society and of facing an increasingly complex international environment with new things, new problems, new conflicts, and new challenges emerging one after another. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation should be a comprehensive revival. Practical and effective policies and strategies needs to be made in all fields including the economy, politics, culture, society, ecological civilization, Party buildup, national defense, and foreign affairs. Such policies and strategies are inseparable from the advice emanating from high-level think tanks."

Source: Guangnming Daily, March 31, 2014
http://news.gmw.cn/2014-03/31/content_10842073.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

PLA’s General Political Department: Tough Battle between Espionage and Counter-espionage Activities

From March 24 to 28, the People’s Liberation Army’s General Political Department (GPD) held a meeting in Beijing on protecting secrets and also a training session. The meeting stressed that the current battle between espionage and counter-espionage is complicated and grim. The GPD should have a strong sense of urgency and responsibility, and should not slack off.

The training focused on conveying instructions from the upper-level authorities; analyzing the current situation of the work of protecting secrets; inviting officials and experts from the government, the PLA Committee for Protecting Secrets, and National Defense University; and demonstrating anti-theft technologies.

Source: People’s Liberation Army Daily, March 31, 2014
http://www.chinamil.com.cn/jfjbmap/content/2014-03/31/content_71655.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Sino-Russian Youth Friendship Exchange Year Launched in St. Petersburg

The opening ceremony of the "Sino-Russian Youth Friendly Exchange Year" was held on March 28 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin each sent a letter of congratulations.

In his letter, Xi Jinping said that, "President Putin and I jointly decided to hold the ‘Sino-Russian Youth Friendly Exchange Year.’ Year 2014 is a ‘Sino-Russian Youth Friendly Exchange Year’ and year 2015 will also be a ‘Sino-Russian Youth Friendly Exchange Year.’" The initiative will promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Russia at a high level and will promote the China-Russia friendship for the coming generations. The leaders of the two countries have undertaken this major initiative with an eye toward long-term bilateral relations.

In his letter, Putin expressed that large humanitarian events such as Russia’s "Year of China" greatly expand bilateral cooperation in many fields, including education, science, culture, tourism and sports. The "Youth Friendly Exchange Year" will further strengthen the China-Russia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Source: Xinhua, March 29, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2014-03/29/c_126330401.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Dai Xu: The Only Type of Warfare That Could Destroy China

[Editor’s Note: Dai Xu, a renowned Chinese social commentator, who is President of the Marine Institute for Security and Cooperation, a Professor at the National Defense University, and Senior Colonel in the People’s Liberation Army Navy, wrote an article for Xinhua about the danger to China of information infiltration. Dai observed that an information war in Cyberspace is the only type of war that could destroy China.] [1]

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Reports | | |   Report