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

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British FT Chinese on the Reform of China’s State-Owned Enterprises

On March 5, 2013, the Financial Times Chinese website published an article on how the Chinese state-owned enterprises should be reformed. The article suggested to 1) gradually break up the monopolies and create a market environment for fair competition; 2) manage and share the State-owned enterprises’ huge profits with the entire society. 

By the end of 2012, there were 10.8572 million national private enterprises, with 31.1 trillion yuan of registered capital and 20.1 trillion in sales revenue; there were 120 central government enterprises attributable to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), with total assets of 31.2 trillion yuan and 22.5 trillion in operating income.

Source: The Financial Times Chinese, March 5, 2013
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001049183?full=y

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Chinese Scholar Criticizes the U.S. for Launching Iraq War

On March 20, 2013, People’s Daily published an article titled “A Typical ‘Multi-Failure’ War.” Li Shaoxian, Vice President of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) authored the article. According to Li, there have been no winners in the Iraq War that was launched on March 20, 2003. Ten years have passed; thousands of civilians have died in the terrorist bombing; and the nation is seriously split apart, which restricts the reconstruction and development of post-war Iraq. The war led to a serious geopolitical power imbalance in the Middle East. The cost of the war to the U.S. was both the huge military expenses and several thousand lives of American officials and soldiers. As to the evidence to start the war (Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and had connections with terrorist organizations), it turned out to be fabricated. The United States suffered a significant loss to its international reputation.

The article concluded that the Afghanistan War, Iraq War and Libya War, which the U.S.-led Western countries initiated, all brought serious consequences to those countries.

Source: People’s Daily, March 20, 2013
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2013/0320/c1002-20845492.html

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

China Has Become the World’s Fifth Largest Arms Exporter

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a respected think tank based in Sweden, China has become the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter. Pakistan is the largest recipient of Chinese arms, accounting for 55 percent of Chinese arms exports.

“China replaced Britain in the list of the top five arms-dealing countries for the period between 2008 and 2012. According to SIPRI, the United States and Russia dominated the group, accounting for 30 percent and 26 percent of weapons exports.” Germany and France ranked third and fourth on the list of arms exporters.

China is also the world’s second largest arms importing country. The number of arms China imported from 2008 to 2012 accounted for 6 percent of the global total. The top arms importers between 2008 and 2012 were India, China, Pakistan, South Korea, and Singapore.

Source: Reuters Beijing and BBC Chinese, March 17 – 18, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/17/us-china-arms-exports-idUSBRE92G0L120130317
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/03/130318_china_arms.shtml  

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

People’s Daily: Xi Jinping Will Soon Visit Russia

People’s Daily recently reported that the new Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, said at a press conference that the new Chinese President, Xi Jinping, will soon visit Russia. This will be the first country Xi visits as President. Li suggested that this planned visit itself represents the importance of the China-Russia relationship. Li expressed the belief that the political relationship between the two countries is currently “very good, so that the focus should be on actionable cooperation plans.” Li also suggested that the China-Russia trade volume could easily increase several times more “without a problem.”
Source: People’s Daily, March 17, 2013
http://cpc.people.com.cn/n/2013/0317/c164113-20816833.html
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xinhua: Li Keqiang Commented on Pollution and Food Safety

Xinhua recently reported that, in his first press conference as the Premier, new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang discussed his views on pollution and food safety. Li expressed deep regret about the recent massive air pollution covering Beijing and a large part of eastern China. He suggested that action had already been taken to deal with known sources of air pollution, as well as water and soil pollution. Li also emphasized the importance of fighting the illegal activities that threaten food safety. He promised to enforce the laws that govern the food supply industry. Additionally, Li also suggested four new actions: (1) raising environmental protection requirements; (2) replacing outdated manufacturing equipment; (3) holding the government responsible; (4) improving information transparency.
Source: Xinhua, March 18, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/tech/2013-03/18/c_124469231.htm
Briefings | | |   Social Stability

CRN: Chinese Currency Supply Causes Concern

China Review News (CRN) recently published a commentary that discussed the newly released currency supply level number. According to China’s central bank, February’s M2 number reached RMB 99.86 trillion, which represents a 15.2 percent increase over last year. M2 is a broader classification of money supply. Economists use M2 when looking to quantify the amount of money in circulation. The Chinese central bank expressed a strong intent to manage the risk of inflation. The new number set a record for the money supply in Chinese history. It is also the highest in the world, which is 1.5 times higher than the U.S. Dollar. However the author of the commentary suggested that China needed to print more money to satisfy the rapid increase in currency demand in the services industry, which includes the financial sector that historically has suffered low-efficiency. In spite of some special cases that temporarily created currency demand, the article called for more conservative money supply policies.
Source:  China Review News, March 16, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1024/7/1/2/102471261.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102471261&mdate=0316072620
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

RFA: Scholars Challenge China’s WTO Commitments

In a press conference held during the National Congress, Chen Deming, Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce denied the claims that China has not come forth with any new initiatives since it joined the WTO. Chen insisted that China has fulfilled the commitments it made when it joined the WTO. As to the requirement for the Chinese government to break up its monopolies and the other special rights it holds, Chen insisted that there will be reforms in state owned enterprises with the condition that the status of the socialist economic system of public ownership is maintained.

Many Chinese scholars believe that issues remain with China’s open door policy where China should make further efforts to open its doors in both domestic and foreign markets, break up the monopolies of the State Owned Enterprises, and return the gains back to the people. Hu Xindou, an economist from Beijing, told RFA that, since China joined the WTO, its monopoly in the finance industry has remained an unsatisfactory condition, especially in the banking industry and in the free exchange of currency. Sun Wenguang, a retired professor from Shandong Province stated that there are many issues in terms of whether China has been following the common regulation since it joined the WTO. For example, there is unfair trade because Chinese movies and cultural products are exported overseas while many Hollywood movies are banned in China. Sun stated that China is not an economic market country. Its telecommunication, coal mine industry, and railroads are state owned. This results in corrupt interests that only benefit special classes.

It was reported that the Agreement on Government Procurement that China submitted in December 2012 was said to be protective of its domestic enterprises, since state owned enterprises’ procurements are excluded from the agreement, while the total coverage in the agreement only accounts for 2-3 percent of China’s total procurement market.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 8, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/xl-03082013110340.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Report Suggests that, in 2013, Real Estate Remains Top Choice for China’s Wealthy

People’s Daily carried an article which was originally published by Dongfang Daily. According to the article, the “2013 Personal Wealth Investment Report” issued by the Agricultural Bank of China to its personal banking clients advised that wealthy Chinese, who have personal asset over 100 million yuan (US$16 million), should consider investing in real estate and the stock market. It also recommended investing in art collections and the red wine market. The report indicated that if China’s domestic real estate policy continues to change, wealthy Chinese may shift to investing in the overseas real estate market such as Hong Kong or the U.S. The report suggested that the least favorite investment option is the gold market.

Source: People’s Daily, March 13, 2013
http://finance.people.com.cn/money/n/2013/0313/c218900-20770252.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources