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China’s Reaction to Trump’s Election Win

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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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Civil Servants Complain about Pressure from Work, Life, and Negative Publicity

Civil service has always been viewed as a profession that enjoys a high social status, is relatively stable, and offers a high income. Statistics show that, currently, 26 percent of civil servants are 35-years-old or younger. People’s Daily recently carried an article, originally published in Outlook Weekly, that was about civil servants’ lives. The examples used in the article suggested that there are misconceptions about this profession. Many civil servants complained that they suffer from pressure at work, from life, and from publicity. Many of them have to work overtime, are unable to afford housing, and face negative publicity in general about their profession. Moreover, a survey conducted recently in Guizhou Province showed that, of 900 civil servants surveyed, only 15.42 percent said they were very confident while 23.91 percent stated they did not have confidence in themselves.

Source: People’s Daily, June 2, 2013
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2013/0602/c1026-21703599.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

200,000 Missing Children Per Year; Art Exhibit Raises Awareness

Xinhua carried an article on an art exhibit held in Beijing; the subject was China’s missing children. Li Yueling, an artist who assists families in finding their children was the organizer. A total of 61 paintings were on display at the exhibit. The artwork was for those children who have been missing from one to 22 years. Reports indicate that over 200,000 children go missing in China each year. Of those, only 0.1 percent are ever found. Zhang Zhiwei, director of the international anti-human trafficking center of the University of Political Science and Law was at the exhibit and said that those who buy children suffer little punishment. He called for harsher legal punishment.

Source: Xinhua, June 2, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2013-06/02/c_115997624.htm

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Party Membership Development Program Recruits Members from National Defense Students

The China Military website carried an article that described how the PLA in the Nanjing district has been recruiting party members from among students currently enrolled in the national college defense students program. The article said that the PLA in the Nanjing district had hired experts in Party ideology, veterans of the red army, and those well-known in the Party to teach classes in Party theory, arrange field trips to the Party’s historic sites, and set up Party branches in every class in every university to ensure that a branch manages every member. The director in charge of training at Tongji University and the East China University of Science and Technology reported statistics that stated that, in the past three years, 86 training classes have been organized at 11 universities that held national defense training programs. Through these programs, they identified 2,200 candidates who then became active Party members.

Source: China Military, June 2, 2013
http://chn.chinamil.com.cn/zgjq/2013-06/02/content_5362094.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Why Has China Emboldened Diplomatic Statements on Foreign Affairs?

People’s Daily (overseas edition) published an article commenting on China’s new look in its diplomatic stance on foreign affairs. The article said, “China has always been low-key and subtle, but observers have found that China’s voice on foreign affair is becoming increasingly clear and strong. Especially in the matter of its core interests, China’s diplomatic stance is strong and bold.” 

The article listed several reasons for China’s emboldened diplomacy. “The first reason comes from its ever-increasing national power. …The United States can dictate and boss people around in the world. It relies on its unparalleled military hegemony… For the current Chinese diplomacy to be strong and speak with more and more weight, the premise is that comprehensive national power, including military strength, is becoming stronger day by day.” 
The article continued, “More importantly, China’s boldness in diplomacy comes from the tremendous spiritual energy to defend its legitimate rights and national interests.” “Currently, the Japanese continue to provoke in China’s Diaoyu Islands issue; they try to subvert the Far Yalta system by confusing the definition of ‘aggression’; U.S. politicians, intentionally favor and defend Japan out of their own self interest; they constantly incite and intensify the conflict. … In recent years, maritime security has become the focus of China’s national security. Therefore, facing the challenge of those acting against China’s core interests, our natural reaction in diplomacy is particularly ruthless.”
Finally, “On a deeper level, that China’s new diplomacy is so comfortably under control is also a manifestation of the increased level of China’s diplomatic strategy. Simply put, we have a more clear consciousness of ‘enemies and friends’ in diplomatic strategy.” 

Source: People’s Daily (overseas edition), May 14, 2013 
http://theory.people.com.cn/n/2013/0514/c136457-21472437.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Additional Efforts to Tighten Political Ideology

On May 28, People’s Daily published the full text of a new “Opinion.” The Organization Department, the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, and the Communist Party leadership of the Ministry of Education issued the Opinion jointly.

The Opinion contains 16 requirements that focus on the enhancement of the “ideological and political” training of the nation’s younger educators. It mandates that Party organizations at all levels must “strengthen the development of young university teachers so that they will improve their ideological and political qualities in order to better implement the spirit of the Party’s 18th National Congress.”

“A few young teachers are lost in their political beliefs. They have fuzzy ideals and beliefs, their occupational and professional ethics are fading. … They cannot serve as role models for others." In addition to strengthening the Party’s leadership and control at all levels, the Opinion requires that all must “strengthen their study of political theory, deepen their education in the theoretical systems of Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and socialism with Chinese characteristics, and engage in in-depth study and practice of the concept of scientific development.

[Editor’s note: Analysts observed that the Opinion is one more example of the Xi government’s recent proactive efforts to exert tighter control over ideology. This Opinion came on the heels of the list of the seven taboo topics that the General Office of the Party’s Central Committee established. The list was reportedly distributed to universities across China. The seven topics that teachers cannot mention in class are: universal values, press freedom, civil society, citizens’ rights, the historical mistakes of the Party, the financial and political elite, and judicial independence.]

Source: People’s Daily, May 28, 2013
http://edu.people.com.cn/n/2013/0528/c1053-21643996.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

How Residents Become Creditors of Local Governments

Time Weekly published an article on how residents can become creditors of local governments when city commercial banks act as the middleman.

In China, only the central government can issue bonds. Local governments do not have the authority to issue bonds. However, there is a proven and popular mechanism that local governments use the enable residents to become the creditors of local governments.

First, the local government establishes an investment company; this is the “Local Government Financing Platform.” Then the local government announces new infrastructure programs such as highways, airports, or office buildings. The financing platforms proceed to contact local city commercial banks for loans to fund these programs. Because the financing platforms are government backed and the loans fund government programs, the loans are issued smoothly. However, fully aware of the risks, the city commercial banks turn around and sell the debts to trust companies which re-package the loans into “financial products.” The trust companies ask the city commercial banks to promote these “financial products” to customers of the banks. The salespersons at the banks review resident’s bank accounts and then start making sales calls. Soon residents find that they themselves have become creditors of the local government.

[Editor’s note: The city commercial banks are a significant group in the Chinese banking market. Most of them used to be urban credit cooperatives. In 1998, the People’s Bank of China ordered that all urban cooperative banks change their name to city commercial banks. These banks have strong ties to their local government, are majority or wholly state owned, and are known for financing local infrastructure and other government projects.]

Source: Time Weekly, May 30, 2013
http://time-weekly.com/story/2013-05-30/129859.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Expert Blames SOE’s Privileged Status for New College Graduates’ Low Employment

The year 2013 has seen the largest number of college graduates since 1949. With 6.99 million new graduates, there were 190,000 more that last year. However, the rate of employment for these graduates is less than 30 percent. In fact, a large number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) need college students, but many students do not want to work at SMEs.

Zhang Weiying, a prominent Chinese economist and  head of the Guanghua School of Management at Beijing University, attributed the mismatch in the Chinese job market to the ingrained notion that only a job at a state-owned enterprise (SOE) is secure; it is called the "iron rice bowl," whereas a job with a private enterprise is only good for a temporary situation. Zhang believed that the government has set up a large number of SOEs; they receive more resources and better treatment than private enterprises. If SOEs did not have such an identity, employment opportunities would be relatively fair and students would not have to pick and choose.

A media survey found that many students use personal connections to hunt for jobs at SOEs. Many employers’ hiring decisions are based upon the applicant’s connections rather than their capabilities. The students who get into SOEs through personal connections create a new form of nepotism. Beijing News conducted a recent survey which showed that about 21.5 percent of those surveyed admitted this regarding the question, "Have you used personal connections when looking for a job?"

Source: Beijing News, carried by Caijing magazine, May 30, 2013
http://economy.caijing.com.cn/2013-05-30/112843978.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Military Think Tank: U.S. Accelerating Asia “Re-Balancing” Is Targeting China

In the report, "Strategic Assessment 2012," published on May 28, 2013, in Beijing, China’s military think tank, the Research Center for Military Defense Policy at the Academy of Military Science (AMS), pointed out that, in accelerating its Asia-Pacific "rebalancing" strategy, the United States has a clear intention of targeting China. This has added a lot of variables to China-U.S. relations, but the possibility of a complete confrontation between the two countries remains modest. 

The annual report "Strategic Assessment 2012" is the second book the Center has published on the strategic assessment. In last year’s "Strategic Assessment 2011,"the report indicated that, in this new round of post-Cold War major strategic adjustments, the U.S.’s core goal was to ensure its ‘global leadership’ and its main task was to revive the economy, focus on the Asia-Pacific region and cope with the rise of emerging powers. It was clearly targeting China." 
Based on this assessment, this year’s report said the U.S.’s strategic adjustment of focusing on promoting the Asia-Pacific "rebalancing" gives the impression, not only to China but also to its neighboring countries, that it is “targeting China” and “containing China.” This has resulted in China’s peripheral security environment becoming increasingly complex. The mutual suspicion between China and U.S. only exacerbates the issue. The possibility of third-countries causing tensions has also increased. The prospect of maintaining the overall stability of Sino-U.S. relations now faces new uncertainties. 
Source: People’s Daily, May 28, 2013 
http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/0528/c1011-21644649.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations