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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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The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.

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CCP, Master of Hostage Diplomacy

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Huanqiu: No Big War Will Break Out over the Diaoyu Islands Dispute

On February 8, 2013, Huanqiu (the Chinese edition of Global Times) published an editorial on the possibility of a war between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands dispute (known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan). According to the article, neither China nor Japan is willing to get involved in a major war, yet both countries want to display their strength and determination, hoping the other will retreat at a critical moment.

“It is almost certain that a full-scale war will not break out between China and Japan. However, no one can estimate to what level it may advance and what damage it may cause once the two countries start to fire at each other. The dispute over the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan has actually become a contest of wills.”

Source: Huanqiu, February 8, 2013
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2013-02/3630648.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

CRN: Safety of Food Supply Calls for New Strategy

China Review News (CRN) recently published an article discussing the growing risk of managing the availability of food. China’s food self-sufficiency rate has been on a continuous decline. Chinese Customs has provided statistics which show that, in 2012, China’s food imports increased by 25 percent over the year 2011. Imported food now constitutes almost 14 percent of all of China’s food supply. In 2012, China’s food importing demands accounted for 20 percent of the global food exporting market. This means any fluctuation in the international food market will have a major impact on China’s food supply. China is currently the second largest food buyer in the world (after Japan). The article suggested that China must have a significant policy focus as well as implementation on domestic agricultural development. In the meantime, China should invest internationally to secure food supply sources on a nation-to-nation level. Lastly, the author called for serious action to be taken on activities that waste food, such as having no control over public funds spent on meals. 
Source: China Review News, February 8, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1024/3/3/9/102433990.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102433990&mdate=0208072923
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CRN: Capital Market Firewall Required for RMB Internationalization

China Review News (CRN) recently published an article discussing risks and risk remediation of the internationalization of the Chinese currency, the RMB. The article expressed the belief that, if the RMB is to compete head-to-head against the US Dollar and the Euro, then opening up capital accounts for free exchange will be required. However, without proper protection, that openness may result in a major disastrous outcome. The article focused on three primary risk areas as well as their “firewall policies”: (1) A complete market based floating exchange rate is required for full internationalization and a corresponding rate fluctuation risk control must be in place. (2) Free capital inflow may cause a major domestic financial bubble in areas such as the housing market. Comprehensive administrative and tax policies can help. (3) A free currency market may allow a massive capital outflow like the one in the 1990s that triggered the Asian Financial Crisis. Action must be taken to increase the rate of return on investments. The article concluded by emphasizing the importance of firewall-building to improve the readiness for RMB internationalization. 
Source: China Review News, February 9, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1024/3/5/0/102435073.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102435073&mdate=0209074017
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Japanese Embassy: Living in Beijing is Like Taking Part in an Experiment on Animals

People’s Daily recently reported that, on February 8, 2013, the Japanese Embassy held a discussion forum with the Japanese people who live in China. The forum focused on the topic of the recent widely discussed air pollution issue. The Embassy commented that people who currently live in Beijing feel as if they are part of an experiment on animals. Around 150 Japanese citizens attended the forum. Environmental specialists explained the negative impact of the PM2.5 pollution sources. They also conducted a demonstration of the use of masks. All attendees expressed deep concern regarding their own health. Many of them are seriously considering returning to Japan. Embassy medical officers at the forum provided medical advice. The Embassy also arranged display booths so that a number of air purifier vendors could provide information on their products.
Source: People’s Daily, February 8, 2013
http://gongyi.people.com.cn/n/2013/0208/c152509-20467590.html
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

An Estimated 80,000 Prayed at Yonghe Temple on the Chinese New Year

According to CCTV, an estimated 80,000 people went to Yonghe Temple, a Buddhist temple located in the northeastern part of Beijing, to burn incense and pray on Chinese New Year’s Day. According to People’s Daily, people have established a pattern of going to Yonghe to burn incense and say their prayers every Chinese New Year’s Day. Some of them even lined up overnight in front of the temple so they could be the first to burn the incense.

Due to the large number of incense-burners, the metro stop at the Yonghe Temple in Beijing was shut down. People had to walk an additional three kilometers to get to Yonghe Temple. By midnight on New Year’s eve, there were more than a thousand policemen on site. Each four of them stood hand in hand to form a “human wall divider” to cut the long lines of the crowd into small groups of about one hundred people each. There were about 10 meters distance between each of the “groups.”

Source: People’s Daily, February 11, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0211/c70731-20478188.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Chinese Railway Ministry Refused to Disclose the Available Number of Chun Yun Train Tickets

Chun Yun, the Chinese New Year’s travel season, usually starts 15 days before the Lunar New Year and ends 25 days afterwards. It is China’s busiest travel season of the year. Between January 8 and February 16 of 2012, the total volume of tickets using all means of travel was over 3 billion. One of the major issues in railway transportation is the difficulty of purchasing train tickets.

Two Beijing lawyers recently requested that the Ministry of Railways disclose the available number of railway tickets for sale during the Chun Yun period. The Ministry of Railways refused the request, claiming that information about railway ticket sales falls under the domain of the railway transportation enterprises and is therefore not applicable as government information. Some people questioned the black-box operations of the Ministry of Railways.

One economist questioned the logic of the response. "Generally speaking, Chun Yun is a major social issue. The government has a greater responsibility than corporations do to be transparent to the public. The enterprises subordinate to the Ministry of Railways are monopolistic enterprises; they are thus different from normal private companies in a highly competitive sector. The response is very strange and does not pass the logic test. … Information of this kind should be open and there is no reason to hide it."

A lawyer told Radio Free Asia, "It is a problem with the whole system. All authorities shirk their responsibilities. It is not just one single ministry; it is the whole government system that is shirking its responsibilities."

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 8, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/zg-02082013112753.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Canadian Singer Sang a Revolutionary Opera Piece at CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala

Thomas Glenn, a Canadian opera singer who won a Grammy Award in 2012 for best Opera recording, sang a Revolutionary Beijing Opera piece at Chinese Central Television’s (CCTV) 2013 Spring Festival Gala.

The Spring Festival Gala, also known as Chun Wan, is one of the government TV network’s flagship programs. It provides a live broadcast every year on the Chinese New Year’s Eve to billions of Chinese people, domestically and overseas, who are celebrating the Lunar New Year at home, most of whom have their TV turned on. The four-plus-hour-long gala, put together after almost a year-long preparation, with the programs carefully selected and heavily censored, served the purpose of propagandizing the ruling regime’s accomplishments over the past year while entertaining the audience.

At CCTV’s official website that hosted the program, a subtitle identified Glenn as a student of the Confucius Institute, a language-teaching facility sponsored and driven by the Chinese government. According to the Confucius Institute’s website, since 2004 it has launched over 300 Confucius Institutes and 500 Confucius Classrooms in five continents. The Revolutionary Opera Piece, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, is one of the eight Revolutionary operas, or model operas, (Chinese: 样板戏; pinyin: yàngbǎnxì) planned and engineered during the Cultural Revolution by Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s wife. They are commonly viewed as typical propaganda pieces for the Communist Party.

Source: China Central Television, February 10, 2013
http://chunwan.cctv.com/2013/02/10/VIDE1360474568955538.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s State Media Closely Follow the Cyber-War Strategy of the United States

China’s state-run media Xinhua published a news article on February 6, 2013, about U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta’s speech at Georgetown University. The article particularly focused on Mr. Panetta’s answer to a question regarding cyber attacks. It said that Mr. Panetta issued a warning about the threat of a cyberwar and said cyberspace would inevitably be one of the future battlefields. 

The article reported that Panetta called on Congress to strengthen the Defense Department’s cyberwar capability and warned that the next “Pearl Harbor” might very well happen on the battlefield of cyberspace. 
The article also stated that the “cyber warfare capability is one of the [U.S.] Defense Department ‘s priorities in the area of development. U.S. media have reported that the Defense Department approved an expansion of the manpower in Internet security by five times over the next few years in order to deal with Internet security challenges and launch cyber attacks against foreign targets. At the same time, the U.S. is reviewing the legal procedures and policies involving the application of Internet weapons.” 
Source: Xinhua, February 6, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2013-02/07/c_124333555.htm?prolongation=1

http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5189
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations