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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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People’s Daily Opens Special Column to Expose Japan’s Militarism, Invasiveness, and Destruction

In its January 5 edition, People’s Daily initiated a special column on its third page to “expose Japan’s militarism, its invasiveness, and its destructive nature.” The column consists of articles on the history of Japan’s war of aggression and expansion during the Second World War. In the opening remarks, the column stated that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent visit to the shrine that honors soldiers including war criminals during the Second World War is a clear signal that he intends to revoke the historic facts. It identifies that action as a part of the Abe administration’s political moves and observes that Japan has no intention of improving its relationship with its neighboring countries.

Source: People’s Daily, January 5, 2014
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2014/0105/c1002-24024362.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xinhua: Abe Enshrines the “Ghosts;” Japan and U.S. Play Duet again

Shortly after Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni war shrine on December 26, Xinhua wrote a commentary on the visit. Below is an excerpt from Xinhua’s commentary:

The Japanese Prime Minister’s “out of line” action was premeditated. It indisputably shows that the Japanese right-wing militarism has a deep root and has a big market. There are two main reasons for this: 
First, Japanese society has been making a right turn. Its purpose is, through wiping out the history of aggression and revising the pacifist constitution, to remove the hat of being the defeated nation and get rid of the shackles of the post-World War II international order so that it can become a "normal state" with the ability to develop a regular army, send troops overseas, and realize the goal of being a "big political power." 
Military expert Peng Guangqian said, "In the past (many) think there were only a handful of Japanese right-wingers, but the facts show there are a large number." 
Zhang Huanli, a researcher from the International Affairs Institute of Xinhua News Agency and a senior reporter residing in Japan for many years, said, "China has always advocated ‘Sino-Japanese friendship,’ and ‘good-neighborliness.’ The Japanese did not believe in this. [We] must be realistic and carefully look at the real Japan.” 
Second, the United States has shifted its strategic center eastward. Japan believes that this is an opportune time. As America’s most effective ally, Japan diligently collaborates with the United States, strengthens the Japan-U.S. alliance, and vigorously promotes the policy of containing China. It shows an unprecedented tough diplomacy toward China and carries out military deployment and exercises against China. 
Although the United States expressed disappointment following Abe’s enshrining the "ghosts," anyone with a clear mind can see that the U.S. and Japan are actually “singing a duet.” 
Source: Xinhua, December 29, 2013 
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2013/1229/c1002-23969901.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Vice Minister of Finance: Current Economy Unsustainable

Wang Baoan, Vice Minister of Finance, wrote an article at Qiushi on challenges the China’s economy faces. He summed up the problems into “four highs” and “four lows:” high input, consumption, pollution and speed; and low output, efficiency, efficacy and tech content. 

Wang wrote, “The ‘current version’ of China’s economy is unsustainable.” He cited a few examples to support his conclusion. China’s use of resources is inefficient. The energy consumption of the gross domestic product (GDP) is 2.6 times the world average. The GDP per capita is only 21 percent of the U.S. and 32 percent of Japan. One U.S. dollar increase in GDP needs five U.S. dollars in investment. “This growth relying on and supported by investment is unsustainable.” 
Other examples include excess production capacity in steel, flat glass and shipbuilding. The excess capacity in solar photovoltaic modules and wind power equipment hit over 40 percent. Commenting on lack of innovation in China, Wang wrote, “When one fish died in the pond, it is an accident. If the majority of the fish died, it indicates that water is the problem.” 
Source: Qiushi, January 1, 2014 
http://big5.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2014/201401/201312/t20131230_307459.htm
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Changes to Two-Child Policy

On December 30, Xinhua released the full text of a directive issued by the China Communist Party Central Committee and State Council on changing the one-child policy to a two-child policy. 

According to the directive, if a spouse is the only child, the spouse may have two children.  This change to the two-child policy will, among other things: 
(1) “Help to sustain healthy economic development. At present, China’s low birth rate has declined steadily; the total working-age population for 15 to 59 year old has been decreasing; the average age of the labor force continues to increase. The aging of China’s population has been accelerating and the aging trend is obvious.” 
(2) “Help to bring family happiness and social harmony. In recent years, with structural diversification, the family size has been shrinking; one-child families and elderly people living alone are on the rise; births, support to the elderly, and other basic functions of the family have been weakened.” 
(3) “Help to promote the balanced long-term development of the population. In the early 1990s, China became one of the low birth rate countries. With economic and social development, improvement in the level of urbanization, and a change in the public attitude toward childbearing, women now have fewer total births.” 
Source: Xinhua, December 30, 2014 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-12/30/c_118770640.htm
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s Local Government Debt Climbed to 17.9 Trillion Yuan

China’s National Audit Office (NAO) announced on Monday that, by the end of June 2013, local government debt had increased to 17.9 trillion yuan, soaring 67 percent over the figure for three years ago.

According to the NAO’s last figure, for the end of 2010, the total debt of local governments in China was 10.7 trillion yuan. China’s local governments cannot borrow directly from banks. Their debt is built up mainly by establishing some financial entities and using these entities to borrow money for infrastructure projects. Government debt also includes financial guarantees for some projects.

If the debt of the central government is included, the Chinese government’s overall debt is 30.3 trillion yuan, accounting for 53.3 percent of GDP. Some analysts worry that the economic slowdown could lead to an increase in bad debts, thus putting pressure on large state-owned banks. The NAO report also points to an over-reliance on land related fiscal revenue as a cause of the rapid increase in local government debts.

Source: Voice of America, December 30, 2013
http://www.voachinese.com/content/china-local-government-20131230/1820431.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

The 12th Politburo Collective Study: Xi Jinping Stresses Improving China’s Cultural Soft Power

On December 30, the Chinese Communist Party Politburo conducted the12th collective study (of 2013) on the topic of how to enhance China’s national cultural soft power. Xi Jinping presided over the study, stressing that improving China’s national cultural soft power is a matter related to the realization of the "bi-centennial" goals and China’s great rejuvenation – the China Dream.

Professor Shen Zhuanghai from Wuhan University and Professor Huang Zhijian from the National Publicity Cadre Institute gave lectures on the subject. 
Xi said that to enhance national cultural soft power, [we] should strive to spread the values of contemporary China, namely, the values of socialism with Chinese characteristics and strive to increase China’s international discourse power. 

Source: Xinhua, December 31, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-12/31/c_118788013.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Luo Yuan: China Is Not a Lamb That Others Can Slaughter at Will

Chinese Strategic Culture Association Executive Vice President and Secretary-General Luo Yuan had a discussion online on People’s microblog [under the website of People’s Daily] with the Netizens about the recent developments in the situation of the Diaoyu Islands.  

Some asked: "Recently, it has not seemed to be peaceful in China’s surrounding waters. How do you think about the China-U.S. naval confrontation incident in the South China Sea earlier this month? Does it mean that China will no longer just tolerate everything blindly in its territorial waters?" 
Luo Yuan said that, in dealing with the surrounding hot issues, China has maintained a great deal of restraint and tolerance. It can be said that we have been tolerating again and again. Now it is becoming intolerable. While we were conducting normal naval training in the Western Pacific, a Japanese missile frigate intruded into our exercise area for reconnaissance at a close distance. While our aircraft carrier battle groups were in the South China Sea for normal research and training, the U.S. cruiser also came close to our aircraft carriers. No sovereign state allows this. It was a legitimate defensive measure that we sent amphibious landing ships to drive them away and guard ourselves. We didn’t cause any threat to any country. The issue now is that the United States came close to our doorstep with its cruiser; it was not China’s warships going to the United States to provoke. It is the United States interfering with China’s normal military training, not China interfering the U.S.’s normal navigation. The U.S. cannot be too tyrannous and cannot go too far bullying people. China is no longer the lamb to be trampled upon and insulted. 
Source: People’s Daily, December 24, 2013 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/1224/c1011-23934591.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Communist Party Issued Five Year Anti-Corruption Work Plan

According to Xinhua, on December 26, 2013, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued a “2013 to 2017 Work Plan to Establish a Sound System for Punishing and Preventing Corruption.” 

The Party’s notice announcing the Work Plan stated, “Moving forward with the establishment of a system to punish and prevent corruption is an important implementation of the Party’s 18th Congress and its 3rd Plenary Session. It is a major political task of the Party and the common responsibility of the whole society. … The Work Plan is an important basis that will guide the clean government and anti-corruption campaigns for the next five years.” 
The Work Plan states, “[We must] uphold that there should be no exception before the law of the country and the discipline of the Party, no matter who it is and no matter how high his rank. As long as the law of the country or the discipline of the Party is violated, [we] must conduct a thorough investigation to track it down all the way and will absolutely not tolerate it.” 
The work plan also stated that if the problems of corruption are not handled properly, “they will critically harm the Party, and even lead the Party or nation to perish." 
Source: Xinhua reprinted by People’s Daily, December 26, 2013 
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/1226/c1001-23947118.html
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics