Chinascope – Page 799

New Leadership Groups Have More Authority to Crack Down on Special Interest Groups

On January 26, 2014, Qiushi Theory, the Chinese Communist Party Central Party School and the CCP Central Committee’s political theory periodical, reprinted an article from “Consensus Network.” The article analyzed the new power relations of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government that have developed since the establishment of the Central Leading Team for Comprehensively Deepening Reform and the new National Security Committee. As the Chinese Communist Party oversees the Chinese government, it is hard to distinguish whether the power is in the Party’s hands or in the government’s hands, but the two new leadership groups have a higher authority to crack down on special interest groups that were formed in the past.

The new National Security Committee is responsible directly to the Politburo. It is chaired by the General Secretary and Vice Chairmen, representing the Party, the government and the National Congress. Its power is much greater than the U.S. National Security Council. Therefore, the new power structure in China is a strengthened combination of the Party and the Government.

Source: Consensus Network, January 26, 2014
http://www.21ccom.net/articles/zgyj/ggcx/article_2014012699727.html
http://www.qstheory.cn/zz/wwtj/201401/t20140128_317204.htm

Briefings | | January 29, 2014 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: Around Ten Thousand Students Took the SAT in Hong Kong

Xinhua recently reported that, on January 25, around ten thousand students from mainland China participated in the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) offered by the U.S. College Board and hosted by the Hong Kong AsiaWorld-Expo. The U.S. SAT is widely recognized in China as the equivalent of the Chinese National College Entry Exam. Over the past several years, more and more Chinese students have decided to go to the United States for their undergraduate college education. It has become a “hot trend.” The SAT currently has no designated testing location in mainland China. Therefore, Hong Kong became the nearest and the top location choice to take the test. Hong Kong AsiaWorld-Expo is the largest location and it is the only location that can house ten thousand test-takers.

Source: Xinhua, January 27, 2014

http://news.xinhuanet.com/gangao/2014-01/27/c_126067287.htm

Briefings | | January 28, 2014 | US-China Relations

BBC Chinese: Most Illegal Miners Ghana Expelled Were Chinese

BBC Chinese recently reported that Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Information announced that the government expelled 4,700 illegal gold miners last year. The majority of these illegal miners were Chinese citizens. Ghana’s Special Forces had arrested all these people. In Ghana, small scale gold mining is legal. However, this rule does not apply to foreigners. Over the past several years, with the increase in the international price of gold, a large number of foreign miners have gone to Ghana to mine for gold. The Chinese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, visited Ghana last month. Wang promised that the Chinese government will assist in resolving the issue of the large number of Chinese gold miners. In addition to the Chinese, those expelled also included people from Nigeria, Russia, and South Africa.

Source: BBC Chinese, January 23, 2014

http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2014/01/140123_brief_ghana_china_workers.shtml

Briefings | | January 28, 2014 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Social Security Benefits Becoming the Worst Gap between Urban and Rural

People’s Daily published an article on the gap between the urban and rural areas in China. The article said that the gap in income has always been considered the major gap between the urban and rural areas. In 2012, however, that gap was reduced to 3.10:1, the lowest in ten years. This was mainly due to the central administration having a policy that supported agriculture and to the urbanization that has brought surplus labor from rural to urban areas.

However, the article predicted that the gap in social security benefits will become the worst hidden gap. Taking pension funds as an example, according to the 2014 Blue Book of China’s Society, on that issue, the difference was as large as 24 times. For farmers, the social security benefits issue was never as sensitive as the income disparity issue because they used to own their land. According to the article, as urbanization has continued, farmers have been losing their land and have been moving to urban areas where the fair share of social benefits they have been able to gain has not matched that of the urban residents. The statistics from the Ministry of Statistics suggest that, in 2012, the urbanization rate was 52.57 percent while only 35 percent of the migrant workers have gained urban residential status or Hukou which would enable them to sign up for the same residential welfare benefits that urban residents are entitled to receive.

The article explained that, if 250 million farmers were to be included in the social security system, there would be a shortfall of 30.69 trillion yuan (US$5.07 trillion) in pension funds alone which neither the business enterprises nor the local government bodies would be able to cover. It concluded that, in order to close the social security gap, it will require the attention, active intervention, and responsive measures from the government.

Source: People’s Daily, January 26, 2014
http://finance.people.com.cn/money/n/2014/0126/c218900-24227557.html

Briefings | | January 27, 2014 | Social Stability

Yu Zhengsheng: Religious Groups to Play Active Roles in China’s Comprehensively Deepening Reform

On January 26, Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, held a Chinese New Year celebration conference and invited representatives from a number of religious groups to attend. Yu praised the religious groups’ efforts for being closely united with the Party and the government and for persistently demonstrating their patriotism. Yu hoped that the members of the religious organizations would become an important driving force in China’s development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He also wished that the religious organizations would strengthen their organization, ideology, behavior, and talent development and guide their religious members to “conduct religious activities that comply with the rules of law and with the government’s policies.”

The participants attending the conference included Liu Yandong, the Vice Premier; Ling Jihua, head of the United Front Work Department; and directors from the Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic, Catholic, and Christianity Associations of China as well as the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches.

Source: Xinhua, January 27, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-01/27/c_119142267.htm

Briefings | | January 27, 2014 | Government/Politics

PLA Daily: Military Incidents Have Been Politicalized to Damage the PLA’s Image

PLA Daily carried an article saying that there have been a number of cases in which military incidents or military family members involvement in illegal activities have been exaggerated on the Internet resulting in serious damage to the PLA’s image. The article stated that the parties behind it are the “Internet water army” or experts backed by western hostile forces who intend to win the battle of Internet public opinion.

According to the article, the PLA must learn to fight with such invisible enemies, give immediate responses to those damaging remarks, fight against wrongful ideology, and win the “war without smoke.” It said that the PLA should actively create microblogs and web chat platforms to broadcast positive messages online in order to gain the discourse right while patiently clarifying any misunderstandings, rectifying incorrect public opinions, and firmly cutting off any source that will cause damage to the PLA.

Source: PLA Daily, January 26, 2014
http://www.chinamil.com.cn/jfjbmap/content/2014-01/26/content_65230.htm

Briefings | | January 27, 2014 | Defense/Military

Huanqiu: The Possibility that Sino-Vietnamese Relations Will “Derail” Has Increased

Huanqiu (Global Times), which is under People’s Daily, published a commentary that discussed recent developments in Sino-Vietnamese relations. The following is a summary of the commentary. 　　

Starting on January 18, Vietnam organized a series of activities to commemorate "the 40th anniversary of the Paracel Islands maritime war" including photo exhibits of how the "Paracel Islands belong to Vietnam," "naval martyrs of the Paracel Islands maritime war," a candlelight vigil," and an international forum on the subject of how the "Paracel Islands belong to Vietnam." In addition to a handful of media directly under the central government, most domestic media reported on related activities. It is said that the Vietnamese side will host activities to commemorate "the 35th anniversary of the northern border Battle [against China]." The above facts show that the possibility that Sino-Vietnamese relations will "derail" has increased.

It is worth noting that nationalist sentiment in Vietnam is increasing. Sino-Vietnam relations are facing more and more severe challenges. In recent years, the differences between China and Vietnam have been increasingly focused on the South China Sea issue. On the South China Sea, Vietnam’s officials and the public’s views have been consistent: that it is "a matter of national survival." According to its maritime strategy planning, Vietnam expects to raise its maritime economic output to 53 to 55 percent of GDP by 2020. Therefore, advancing into the South China Sea is its inevitable choice. On the other hand, many Vietnamese worry that China will become an obstacle for Vietnam to achieve its goal. They believe a more powerful China will eventually endanger "the survival of the Vietnamese nation."

As long as China continues to defend its rights in the South China Sea and as long as the Vietnamese need to maintain their "national unity," it will be difficult for its [hostile] domestic sentiments towards China to subside.

Source: Huanqiu, January 21, 2014　

http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2014-01/4773631.html

Briefings | | January 24, 2014 | Geo-Strategic Trend

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

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”