Chinascope – Page 810

Qiu Shi: Directions on How to Manage Public Opinion Online

Qiu Shi, a magazine of the CCP Central Committee, recently published an article discussing a key point the new Chinese President Xi Jinping made in a conference. Xi suggested that those who do propaganda and ideology work should shift their focus toward managing public opinion online. The article analyzed the development trend of the Internet and concluded that it fundamentally changed human society and how public opinion can be influenced. Traditional one-way communication channels like newspapers, the radio and even television are losing ground. China now has a netizen population of nearly 0.6 billion; it has 0.46 billion cellphone users and 0.3 billion microbloggers. China is becoming the largest “new media” country in the world with the “most noisy” public opinion “field.” The author emphasized the importance of the fact that the government must tightly control the online leadership position, administrative power, and the highest right to speak. If the Communist Party does not “occupy the battlefield,” then “someone else will.” The author called for establishing a talent pool to provide the government with qualified government officials and superior technical teams to deliver Internet control in a timely, deep, accurate and effective fashion.

Source: Qiu Shi, November 27, 2013
http://www.qstheory.cn/zywz/201311/t20131127_296081.htm

Briefings | | December 3, 2013 | Information/Technology

CRN: The Emerging Countries Are Good Consumers for China’s Excess Capacity

China Review News (CRN) recently published an article discussing China’s manufacturing overcapacity issue. China’s market demand apparently does not match the volume of current production. China is facing a major problem of excess manufacturing capacity. It is not easy to resolve it without massively increasing the unemployment rate. The author expressed the belief that the Chinese manufacturing structure was not designed for domestic consumption to begin with. Therefore, it is highly possible that emerging economies, whose share of the global market has grown to 29.7 percent (from 15.4 percent), may be a good target market. The article suggested that the Chinese companies take the opportunity of an appreciated Chinese currency and invest in the new markets so that a large percentage of China’s manufacturing capacity can be consumed.

Source: China Review News, November 28, 2013
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1028/9/1/2/102891236.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102891236&mdate=1128074739

Briefings | | December 3, 2013 | Economy/Resources

BBC Chinese: Japan Turned to ICAO to Discuss China’s Air Defense ID Zone

BBC Chinese recently reported that Japan took the issues arising out of China’s creation of the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The Japanese representative asked the ICAO Council to have a discussion on how to deal with the newly established Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone. Japan called the Zone a potential threat to international civil aviation order and safety. The United States, Great Britain, and Australia all agreed with the Japanese on their call for a discussion. However China disagreed. The United States government stated that the U.S. government expects civil airlines to follow the ICAO regulations on issuing NOTAM (Notice to Airmen). However that does not mean that the U.S. government accepts Beijing’s terms for its Zone. Since rounds of foreign military aircraft have ignored the Chinese Identification Zone rules, the Chinese Air Force has started sending fighter jets to identify the aircraft entering the Zone.

Source: BBC Chinese, November 30, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/world/2013/11/131130_japan_icao_china.shtml

Briefings | | December 3, 2013 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Guangming Daily: China’s Scientific Journals Lag Behind

Recently, the 9th Scientific Journal Development Forum was held in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. Over 600 scholars from the domestic and foreign scientific journal industry participated in the forum.

Guangming Daily published an article summarizing the discussion on the topic of how the fact that China’s scientific journals lag behind other countries is incompatible with China’s image as a scientific and economic giant. The article said that China has the largest number of researchers who publish the second largest number of scientific papers and it also holds the third largest number of patents in the world. China has close to 5,000 scientific journals. They account for 50 percent of the total number of journals in China. Thus China ranks second in the world next to the U.S. However, only 239 or 5 percent of those journals are in English. Their quality is considered to be low and they do not have much of an impact in their respective scientific fields. The article disclosed that over 80 percent of the Chinese researchers have chosen to publish their papers in foreign journals rather than in domestic journals. It also said that China’s journal industry is behind in online and digital publishing. Currently scientific groups, research agencies, or universities publish articles, but they have a limited publication size and sales channels and can hardly compete with international publishers.

The article also reported that the General Administration of Press and Publications, Radio, Film and Television has and will continue to introduce policies to assist in the development of the scientific journal industry and to improve its international influence.

Source: Guangming Daily, November 30, 2013
http://news.gmw.cn/2013-11/30/content_9652103.htm

Briefings | | December 2, 2013 | Information/Technology

Head of Propaganda Department: Use Movies to Express Wishes for a Beautiful China Dream

On November 29, the China Film Association held its 9th National Congress in Beijing. Liu Qibao, head of the propaganda department spoke at the meeting. Liu stressed the need to study the speech that Xi Jinping gave during the Party’s 18th National Congress. He stated that the movie industry should use the “China Dream” as an important topic as a movie’s production goes forward. Liu said that the workers in the movie industry should take it as their historic mission to paint a picture of the “China Dream,” to broadcast it, and to express people’s wishes for a beautiful China Dream.

Source: People’s Daily, November 30, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/1130/c1001-23701296.html

Briefings | | December 2, 2013 | Government/Politics

State Internet Information Office: Effort to Combat Internet Rumors has been Successful

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Deputy Director of the State Internet Information Office recently spoke at the Internet Development and Management meeting held in Beijing. He stated that since the effort to attack Internet rumors was launched in May of this year, the end result has been effective. A number of microblog accounts have been closed and the related personnel have been punished because of their involvement in spreading rumors on the Internet.

Liu Qing, a China Human Rights activist told RFA that the “effort to clean up the Internet environment” was meant to make the contents that the Chinese government does not welcome or that provide truth clarification information disappear from the internet. Liu added, “They have done this so many times. … If the censored information were to be made available to the public for open discussion, the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party would face a huge challenge and be threatened. Therefore they will try every means to control the Internet. … The Communist Party has taken control of the Internet and of information as its lifeline. They will not let it go that easily.”

The statistics indicate that, by June 2013, there were 331 million microblog users in China. Since its launch in 2011, the number of micro message users has broken 300 million. According to the top ten most influential Internet sites, over 200 million microblog exchanges take place each day.

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 28, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/nu-11282013141840.html

Briefings | | December 2, 2013 | Government/Politics

Sum of 31 Provincial GDP Stats Was 5.3 Trillion More Than National Stats

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics announced the country’s 31 provincial GDP data for the first three quarters of this year. The total of the 31 provincial GDP was 43.95 trillion yuan, which exceeded the national statistics of 38.68 trillion by 5.3 trillion.

In fact, this phenomenon has been going on for years. The media have been reporting that, since 1985, when the central government and provincial and local level governments started to compile GDP data independently, the sum of the provincial GDP data has been higher than the national statistics, and the gap has been increasing. For example, the total of the 2009 provincial GDP was above the national figure by 2.68 trillion yuan; the gap increased to 3 trillion yuan in 2010, 4.6 trillion in 2011 and 5.76 in 2012.

According to Liu Yuanchun, the Vice president of Renmin University of China, the main cause is that local governments engage in data manipulation. In order to accomplish the tasks such as energy conservation and performance goals, including GDP growth, local governments modify the data to make it look better. When the reporter interviewed a county government fiscal chief in a city in West China, the official affirmed that such data fraud is almost a routine.

source: Xinhua, November 27, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-11/27/c_125766611.htm

Briefings | | November 29, 2013 | Economy/Resources

The Purpose of the U.S. Bombers Flying through China’s Air Defense Identification Zone

On the evening of November 25, two American B-52 bombers flew into the airspace claimed by China as its air defense identification zone in the East China Sea. In an interview, military expert Li Jie told a People’s Daily reporter that the U.S. move serves four major purposes: first, it tests the Chinese reaction; second, they are afraid that their future actions of conducting reconnaissance, patrolling, or spying on Chinese intelligence operations would be subject to interference; third, the United States does not want to lose its leadership and control in the Asia-Pacific region; fourth, it wants to show its allies or "pawns" that it still has the final say, and thus, it dares to provoke China. The message is, "You still have to listen to me in the future."

Major General Luo Yuan said in his article in Global Times that what we declared is an "air defense identification zone," not a "no-fly zone." As long as the United States obeys the instructions of the air defense identification zone management agency or its authorized units, it should have no security worries about flight freedom. However, if, after our repeated warnings, it refuses to obey, China’s armed forces will take defensive emergency measures, regardless of which country’s aircraft it is and for whatever purpose, whether it is an exercise or provocation.

Source: People’s Daily, November 27, 2013

http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/1127/c1011-23669650.html

Briefings | | November 29, 2013 | Defense/Military

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.”