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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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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

Poll Suggests that Majority of Hong Kong Residents Willing to Return to Britain

On March 12, 2013, the Hong Kong English newspaper South China Morning Post posted the following question on “Today’s Poll” on its website: “Given the option, would Hong Kongers vote to return to being a British overseas territory?”  By March 16, several thousand people had voted. The results showed that 91 percent voted yes. Since Saturday March 16, that vote has been the most popular topic on the newspaper’s website. It has generated heated discussions and many commentaries in other social media websites as well.

Some readers’ feedback was that they did not like the poll. Some thought the poll was biased, as the majority of the newspaper’s readers are the 600,000 Hong Kong residents who hold passports issued by Western countries or they are foreigners who live in Hong Kong. Some commented that the results will shock the government of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Beijing.

The South China Morning Post has over 100,000 readers each week. It just introduced the new edition at the end of August 2012.

Source: BBC Chinese, March 16, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/03/130316_scmp_poll.shtml

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

SASAC: Not Being Able to Layoff Makes SOE Reform Difficult

Huang Shuhe, a deputy director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) spoke about the difficulty of State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) reform. Huang said, for an enterprise to develop, it has to travel light. SOEs still carry many heavy burdens, such as retired workers and companies running social security. Huang said that during the 2008 financial crisis, none of the central government enterprises laid off employees, although all the Western multinational companies laid people off. This was to maintain social stability. Huang believed that the reform of SOEs still faces many difficulties, as the government has yet to transform its functionalities and the social security mechanism for 5-6 million retired workers is not in place.

Source: China News Service, March 14, 2013
http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2013/03-14/4643414.shtml

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Chinese-funded Enterprises Made Headway in Europe

On March 15, People’s Daily published an article that gave a detailed account about the expansion of Chinese enterprises in Europe. It mentioned such companies as Haier (in Italy), Shanxi Yuncheng Saueressig Plate-making Co., Ltd (in Spain), Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (in the UK), Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd. (in the Netherlands), Huawei, and ZTE Corporation.

According to the article, as of the end of 2012, the number of Chinese-funded enterprises in Spain reached a total of 34, with the main businesses being in communications, financial services, steel, fishing, air transport, and maritime transport. As of the end of November 2012, cumulative investment from China in Spain amounted to $410 million, including $24.21 million from January to November 2012. In 2011 and 2012, China’s new investment projects in the Netherlands numbered 30 and 31 respectively, expanding to the sectors of energy, construction, finance, and advanced technologies. The total number of Chinese-funded enterprises in the Netherlands is more than 300, with a cumulative total investment of about $30 billion, hiring 7,000 local employees.

Source: People’s Daily, reprinted on Xinhua, March 15
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-03/15/c_124460827.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

People’s Daily: What Does It Tell You When Kids All Want to Be Government Officials?

Wang Jingwu, a member of the National People’s Congress and Director of the People’s Bank of China, Guangzhou Branch, commented [during the 2013 National People’s Congress], "Today’s kids all want to be government leaders or officials. Those who want to become a scientist are few and far between." 

Wang stated, “Children’s ideal future careers represent the most straightforward projection of the social atmosphere. When the adults are all talking about careerism and how to become government leaders and make money, it will inevitably get into the children’s heads and influence their developmental thinking.” 

In support of Wang’s statement, the article cited a survey about primary and secondary school students’ dream jobs, mentioned at the 13th annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology held in 2012. That survey showed that nine occupations could be selected, including teacher, civil servant, and scientist. Scientist ranked in seventh place. The best occupations turned out to be "government official" and “high-level leader.” 
Source, People’s Daily, March 14, 2013 
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2013/0314/c1003-20788025.html

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Xinhua: How Could a Cold Shoulder and a Big Stick Break the North Korea Nuclear Deadlock?

In a Xinhua headline report regarding the North Korea nuclear issue, the editor added the following note:

“On the 5th of this month, North Korea issued a statement declaring three things: first, that the Korean Armistice Agreement would be ‘invalid’ from the time that the U.S.-ROK joint military exercises began on the 11th; second, that the the non-aggression agreement between the two Koreas was totally abolished; and third, that the hot-line between the two Koreas was cut off. At the same time, Korea and the U.S. held a ‘vulture’ and ‘key decision’ joint military exercise and said they would increase their monitoring of the DPRK. 
“After North Korea carried out a third nuclear test and the United Nations announced a new resolution on North Korea, the tension between the DPRK and the ROK-US heightened further. However, the ball is now in the United States’ court. A cold shoulder plus a big stick are not going to resolve the current impasse.”
“How the … can the Peninsula get out of this vicious cycle?" 
“Only by improving relations with the DPRK and making North Korea feel secure, can [the U.S.] help settle the DPRK nuclear issue. It is better than doing the opposite, asking the DPRK to abandon its nuclear program as a precondition to improving U.S.-DPRK relations. This up-side-down policy logic can only lead the relationship to a dead end. Whether it should put down its ‘cold shoulder’ and break the deadlock, or continue the same way, is up to the United States.”
Source: Xinhua, March 12, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2013-03/12/c_124444019.htm
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Huanqiu: The U.S. Is Steadfastly Preparing for a Cyber War

On March 11, Li Jian, Director of the Zhiyuan Strategic and Defense Research Institute, and Li Daguang, a Professor at the  National Defense University, published an opinion article on Huanqiu (Global Times) in response to two events. The first was a remark that the U.S. President’s National Security Adviser, Tom Donilon, made that China should stop hacking U.S. computer systems and stealing commercial secrets. The second was the U.S. network security company Mandiant’s report, "APT1: to expose one of the Chinese cyber espionage units." The article said that this was by no means a simple matter. “The United States has formed a relatively complete strategic structure of "National Security Strategy – the defense strategy – the national military strategy. The U.S. has become habitual in its strategic thinking. Everything is well articulated: planning, assessment, and step-by-step moves. 

“Such a well-designed [act] by the United States serves nothing more than to achieve the following purposes: the first is to test its rival’s bottom line; the second is, through communication channels, to tie ‘the Chinese military’ to the act of ‘stealing business intelligence’ so as to hinder the Chinese military’s normal development in cyberspace; the third is to act as a deterrent, warning other countries or groups that the United States can use the same means to carry out targeted strikes.” 
“The U.S. has made itself the ‘Cyber guard’ of international Internet security. The purpose is to achieve two parallel and overlapping effects through its use of information warfare: the first is to enhance the credibility and legitimacy of all the activities of the United States’ Internet system in cyberspace; the second is to undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the non ally countries’ network group, including China.” 

Source: Huanqiu, March 13, 2013 
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2013-03/3727113.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations