Chinascope – Page 851

Xi Jinping: Maintain Party’s Key Leadership and Build Gigantic High-caliber Cadre Team

On June 28 and 29, prior to 92nd anniversary of Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping spoke at the central Organization Department meeting held in Beijing. Xi emphasized that the Party and the Party members are the key components in accomplishing the goals and tasks set by the Party’s 18th National Congress. According to Xi, the Party must “maintain the key leadership role” while the Party members must be “a group that has high caliber cadres.” Xi’s talk also covered other areas, including the qualities a cadre should have, the selection and development of a cadre, as well as the roles that the organization department should play during the process. Liu Yunshan, President of Central Committee, was present and also spoke at the meeting.

Source: Xinhua, June 29, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/29/c_116339948.htm

Briefings | | July 1, 2013 | Government/Politics

Xinhua Special Interview: U.S. Didn’t Just Harm China a Little Bit

On June 26, Xinhua conducted a special interview with military expert Wang Changqin, a Professor at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences. Xinhua used the Snowden incident to continue its anti-American propaganda. In the more than one hour interview, Wang harshly attacked the U.S. while commenting on the “Prismgate" incident.

Wang said, “The United States has a lot of different faces. In the network area, they include the so-called ‘safety victims,’ ‘moral persons’ and ‘freedom defenders,’ but, after all, these are ‘disguises.’ We the people have a saying, however: no matter how well you disguise yourself, there will always be a time when your ‘true face will be exposed.’ ‘Prismgate’ let the United States expose its ‘true face.’”

"Now we have evidence. Everyone clearly understands now: it is not others that ‘harm’ the U.S.; it is the U.S. that harms others, especially China." “Not long ago, they were still shouting: PLA hackers attacked us. … Even the ‘big boss’ Obama also claimed that this was ‘stealing American property.’ Now we understand: the purpose of their screamingly and shouting was to conceal their act of ‘theft’!”

“From the revelations of Snowdon, the United States didn’t just harm China a little bit [it harms China a lot instead].”

“This kind of hegemony, which is an apparent violation of human fairness, justice, and conscience has met opposition from most of the countries and people in the world, including some Americans. … Therefore, as the saying goes: He who is unjust is doomed to destruction. If the United States does not learn its lesson and stop its hegemonic acts, it will eventually ‘shoot itself in the foot,’ fall in the no-return path of ‘imperialism’ and will never be able to get up.”

Source: Xinhua, June 26, 2013

http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/26/c_116297101.htm

Briefings | | June 28, 2013 | US-China Relations

State Media: The Moral Decline of the United States

One of China’s state media, the International Herald Leader, published a commentary stating that morality in the United States has been declining, particularly since September 11, 2001, although there are still “righteous people” stepping forward.

“The United States asks others to abide by international law, while the U.S. itself has repeatedly violated international law. Recently, however, a series of events occurred, indicating that there are righteous people in the United States who come forward.”

The commentary cited Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden. “The fact that Manning disclosed how the U.S. has violated a large number of U.S. laws and the laws of other countries undoubtedly demonstrates that the U.S. system is in a serious moral decline. Likewise, in his daily work, former CIA [sic] employee Snowden also became extremely unhappy with the U.S. government’s abuse of power, excessive monitoring of its own citizens, and vigorous violations of the cyber security of other countries. He has been exposing such acts of the U.S. government so that other countries not only understand how fragile their own cyber network is, but also understand how the U.S. government plays the thief who cries ‘stop thief,’ and to what extent its morality has degenerated.”

Source: International Herald Leader, June 24, 2013
http://ihl.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2013/0624/228922.shtml

Briefings | | June 28, 2013 | US-China Relations

Xi Jinping Seeks Unity and Discipline among Politburo Members

Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday, June 25, that, at a special meeting of the Politburo, the Chinese Communist Party’s chairman Xi Jinping said, "To see whether the Politburo is strong or not and whether the Politburo members are strong or not, one has to look first at whether they are politically strong or not. To strengthen the work of the Politburo, we must give top priority to ideological and political development."

Xi urged the Politburo to "strengthen the study of Marxist theory, in particular, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the thoughts of the ‘Three Represents,’ and the scientific concept of development, so as to grasp the scientific world view and methodology, be equipped with ideological weaponry, remain firm with the ideals and faith, and strengthen political sensitivity and discrimination," in order "to understand correctly and to firmly safeguard the bigger picture of the Party and the state, of reform, development, and stability, of the Party’s leadership and the security of the socialist regime, and of the unity of the Party and the whole nation."

He also asked the Politburo members to play an exemplary role in "strictly disciplining their relatives and staff members, refraining from abusing power, and not seeking personal privileges."

Source: BBC Chinese, June 25, 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/06/130625_xijinping_speech.shtml

Briefings | | June 27, 2013 | Government/Politics

Xi Jinping Strips the Amnesty Privilege from Politburo Members in the Anti-Corruption Campaign

An article, originally published by a Hong Kong monthly magazine QianShao, is being spread widely on the Internet. The article speculates that former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang might be the targeted “big tiger” in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. China’s State media reported that Zhou’s crony, former secretary Guo Yongxiang, is being investigated.

The article reports, “at an expanded meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi Jinping said that he drafted an anti-corruption proposal together with Premier Li Keqiang. The proposal requires that anti-corruption actions must target “Tigers” [high-level, heavy-weight officials]. Xi also defined "big tiger" and upgraded it to the level of a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.”

“Meanwhile, Xi proposed to abolish the internal rule that ‘no investigation should be initiated on a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.’ Instead, Politburo Standing Committee members, whether incumbent or retired, must accept a criminal investigation as long as the evidence is solid and it has had a negative influence at home and abroad.”

Source: Wenxuecity, June 25, 2013

http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2013/06/25/2476767.html

Briefings | | June 27, 2013 | Grapevine

China: U.S. Remarks about Snowden Leaving Hong Kong Are Unacceptable to China

At a briefing given by China’s Foreign Ministry on June 25, 2013, government spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the accusation that the United States made about China allowing Edward Snowden to depart from Hong Kong is groundless and not acceptable to China.

“The Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR) Government has handled this case entirely in accordance with applicable law, which is beyond reproach, and should be respected by all parties. For the United States to question whether the Hong Kong SAR Government is acting in accordance with the law does not make sense. The U.S. accusation about China’s central government is groundless and is unacceptable to China."

Hua stated, “Even today, the U.S. still makes these remarks, which really puzzles people. I’d like to advise these people to look at themselves in a mirror, reflect, and take care of their own situation first.” When asked about reports that the U.S. is investigating whether Snowden is a spy for China, Hua said, "[T]his is nonsense and extremely irresponsible."

Source: Xinhua, June 25, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2013-06/25/c_116286549.htm

Briefings | | June 27, 2013 | US-China Relations

Chinese Scholar: China Needs to Reform Its Entire Financial System Completely

On June 24, 2013, Securities Daily published an article titled “(China) Needs to Reform Its Entire Financial System Completely.” According to the article, in recent years, China’s capital assets reserve has been increasing too fast. China has become the country with the largest currency reserve in the world. As of late last year, China’s broad money (M2) balance was 97.42 trillion Chinese yuan, 1.5 times that of the United States’ M2 and close to a quarter of total global money supply. By the end of May 2013, China’s broad measure of money supply (M2) reached 104.21 trillion yuan. However, the effect of increasing loans to stimulate the economy is getting worse as domestic enterprises are facing high costs and a sluggish external demand from overseas.

China has separated its financial system from the real economy for years. A bubble has been growing in the virtual economy as China’s commercial banks have been loaning money to large enterprises that have the government’s backing. On the other hand, the private SMEs (small and medium enterprises) that do not no have such backing and collateral have to rely on the private lending market, a “shadow” lending market that charges high interest rates. Burdened with such high interest loans, the SMEs have a low return on investment and are thus declining.

Source: Securities Daily, June 24, 2013
http://zqrb.ccstock.cn/html/2013-06/24/content_362891.htm

Briefings | | June 26, 2013 | Economy/Resources

China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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