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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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CRN: The Value of Chinese Currency Is a Long-Term Concern

China Review News (CRN) recently reported that the Chinese currency (RMB) is suffering a very unusual valuation problem. It is depreciating internally and appreciating externally at the same time. All economists seem to agree that this is an obvious sign that demonstrates a loss of balance between China’s domestic economy and its exports. In the past eight years, the RMB to U.S. Dollar has appreciated over 35 percent. Meanwhile, for many years, the Chinese government has been maintaining a “monetary easing” policy. It has supported the government-investment driven growth model for more than a decade. With an aging Chinese society where savings are declining, coupled with high debt and manufacturing over-capacity, China’s currency policies are facing more and more challenges. The article’s author expressed the belief that the top priority for now is to control domestic inflation tightly and to increase the application of the market mechanism to the RMB exchange rate.
Source: China Review News, November 24, 2013
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1028/8/3/8/102883850.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102883850&mdate=1124074319
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

BBC Chinese: U.S. Ambassador’s Resignation Triggered Widespread Discussion

BBC Chinese recently reported that the announcement of the resignation of Gary Locke, the U.S. Ambassador to China, immediately triggered a massive discussion on the Chinese Internet. Many netizens joked that Mr. Locke’s decision was largely based on the air quality in Beijing. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing started offering local PM2.5 pollution readings, which pushed the environmental protection topic to the top of China’s agenda list. Many netizens also “strongly complained” that Mr. Locke played a key role in major incidents that involved helping well-known human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng flee China and in allowing the Chongqing Deputy Mayor Wang Lijun to enter the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu. Mr. Locke is also famous for his low profile style of spending taxpayer money, which contrasts significantly with the behavior of Chinese government officials. Some suggested that Mr. Locke might be getting ready to run for U.S. President, since he has accumulated enough experience in foreign relations, state governance, and running the federal-level Commerce Department. 
Source: BBC Chinese, November 20, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/11/131120_locke_resignation_weibo.shtml
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Xinhua: China Announced East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone

Xinhua reported on November 23 that the Chinese government officially announced the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. All aircraft that enter the Zone are required to identify themselves by providing their flight itinerary, always-on two-way radio, always-on radar transponder, and visual external identification of nationality and registration. The Zone is governed by the Chinese Defense Ministry. Any aircraft violating the rules will face the Chinese military’s “emergency handling procedures.” 
According to Global Times, the new Identification Zone covers the Diaoyu Islands, which are involved in a sovereignty dispute between China and Japan. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a “solemn protest” to the Chinese ambassador to Japan.
BBC also reported that the United States Defense Ministry immediately issued an official statement expressing “deep concern” about this new development, calliing it an attempt to undermine regional stability. The statement also proclaimed that the U.S. will make no change in its military plans in the region.
Sources: 
Xinhua, November 23, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-11/23/c_125750439.htm
Global Times, November 23, 2013
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2013-11/4594681.html
BBC Chinese, November 24, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/11/131124_us_china_japan.shtml
Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Anti-Monopoly Bureau Gears up to Focus on Six Major Industries

Xinhua recently published an article about an upcoming investigation into monopolies on pricing. The Anti-monopoly Bureau, which is under the State Development and Reform Commission, stated that it will focus on an investigation of the pricing monopoly in the following industries: the airlines, household chemicals, automobiles, electronic communication, drugs, and electrical appliances. According to the Commission, at the beginning of 2013, the State Development and Reform Commission issued 353 million yuan (US$58 million) in fines to six companies that make Liquid Crystal Panels. It was the first time a foreign company had been targeted. In August of this year, the Commission fined six domestic milk powder companies in the amount of 670 million yuan (US$110 million) for violating the anti-monopoly law. It was the largest fine in China’s anti-monopoly history.

Source: Xinhua, November 25, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-11/25/c_125754705.htm

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Guangming Daily: China’s Culture Industry Lacks Original Programs

Guangming Daily published an article that criticized the Chinese culture industry because it lacks creativity and hasn’t produced any original programs. "Shanzhai" or imitation, low quality products, plagiarism, and copyright infringement have been common phenomenon in the industry. These low cost programs have overpowered those who wish to produce original programming. The article stated, “Our culture products lack original programs and are weak in their ability to compete in the international market. … In the culture industry, motivating people to be creative is a difficult task.”

Another article that Guangming published discussed how domestic entertainment programs tend to copy programs from foreign countries. The stations duplicate these programs’ format and then compete with each other. In the first six months of 2013, ten different reality singing competitions, similar to American Idol, were launched in China. The Ministry of Press and Publications, Broadcasting, Film, and Television had to issue an order to limit singing competition programs. Then the stations shifted to make reality family shows similar to programs from Japan and Korea. The article stated that, currently, three quarters of the television programs with high ratings are copied from a similar program in a foreign country. The article said the current path that the entertainment programs follow will not last long. Efforts should be made to focus on creating original sources.

Source:
Guangming Daily, November 15, 2013
http://culture.gmw.cn/2013-11/15/content_9498861_2.htm
http://culture.gmw.cn/2013-11/15/content_9498660.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Outlook Weekly on Short Lived Urban Buildings

Sohu carried an article that Outlook Weekly had originally published about the phenomenon of short lived urban buildings. Li Shaorong, a Professor of Economics at Beijing University told Outlook Weekly that those short lived buildings are not just a serious waste of social expenditures. They also cause damage to the urban culture and historic relics, as well as increasing environmental pollution.

According to the article, China has the largest amount of new construction in the world. Each year it builds 2 billion square meters (21.5 billion square feet) of new construction and consumes 40 percent of the world’s steel and cement. However, the life span of these buildings is short. They last only 25 to 30 years, as compared to the average life in developed countries, which is 80 to 132 years.

The end result of waste pollution is also alarming. Each year, architectural waste in China accounts for 30 to 40 percent of all urban waste. Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that 1.5 billion tons of architectural waste was produced in 2012, while the waste recycling rate was less than 5 percent compared to 95 percent in developed countries.

The article stated that some of those buildings were taken down because of their poor quality or their inadequate condition. However more were taken down because of poor urban planning or because certain city officials sought short term benefits. China Youth Daily conducted a survey in which it interviewed 4,916 people. Over 85 percent of those surveyed said that there were short lived buildings in their city. Over 50 percent of those surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the urban planning in their city.

Source: Sohu.com, November 18, 2013
http://news.sohu.com/20131118/n390312173.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Yan Xuetong: China Will Be a Superpower within 10 Years

In an article recently published on the People’s Daily website, China Economic Weekly interviewed Yan Xuetong, the Dean of the Tsinghua University Institute of Contemporary International Relations. Yan predicted that China will become a superpower by the year 2023 and the world will celebrate the Sino-U.S. bipolar structure. 

Yan said, “In the next decade, the main theme of Sino-U.S. relations will be competition, but the core content of this competition is different from the past competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This is why Chairman Xi Jinping proposed to establish new Sino-U.S. relations among major powers. This new type of relationship among major powers, although different from U.S.-Soviet relations, is not exactly a friendly relationship. I will call it a ‘fake friendship.’”
Yan also said that China’s foreign policy change from the original one of hiding its intention to the new one of playing an active role is actually a change in direction. “In the past, our attitude was almost not getting involved in any international issues. We only engaged in economic cooperation with other countries and set diplomatic issues aside. Now we talk about both economic and security issues. Security issues have become even more important.” 
“Our country’s foreign policy in the past was to take the United States as the top priority. The relationship with the neighboring countries had to give way to the Sino-U.S. relations. From now on, relations with neighboring countries will be the top priority in our country’s foreign relations. Sino-U.S. relations should be subordinate to the periphery relations. … It is a fundamental change in our foreign policy.” 
“To prevent being isolated from the international community, China needs to adjust to the non-alliance policy. Strategic alliances can help China increase the number of its true strategic partners. By 2023, China will likely have established about 20 allies or strategic partnerships worldwide. While this is far less than the number of U.S. military allies, it is already beginning to take shape as a stable strategic alliance system.” 
Source: People’s Daily, November 19, 2013 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/1112/c1011-23509340.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

Economist: Another 20 Years Needed to Absorb China’s Real Estate Surplus

According to Jiangnan Times, a publication under People’s Daily, Professor Li Daokui from Qinghua University, one of the most influential economists in China, predicted that it will take another 20 years to absorb China’s existing real estate surplus. 

“Currently, only 140 million urban residents are without housing. However, with existing land reserves [for housing], we have the capacity to provide housing for 200 million people. That means it will take at least another 20 years to assimilate these land reserves. China has a very serious housing surplus problem. China’s real estate bubble has grown to be so appalling! [It is unbelievable that] local governments actually are daydreaming about the sale of their land so they can pay up to 20 trillion yuan of the local governments’ debt!” 
Source: Jiangnan Times reprinted by People’s Daily, November 21, 2013 
http://house.people.com.cn/BIG5/n/2013/1121/c164220-23617892.html
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources