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Chinese Scholar: Five Non-Military Means to Respond to the Diaoyu Islands Dispute

On March 21, 2013, Cheng Enfu, member of the Presidium of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Academic Division, and director of the Academic Division of Marxist Studies, published an article on Huanqiu (the Chinese edition of Global Times) proposing five non-military means to deal with Japan on the Diaoyu Islands dispute (called the Senkaku Islands in Japan).

1) Mobilize overseas Chinese around the world to launch Diaoyu Islands Protection campaigns and ask Taiwan authorities to take the major responsibility to protect the Diaoyu Islands. 2) Take advantage of Japan’s eagerness to become the new permanent member of the United Nations and make a political deal with Japan. 3) Reduce the export of rare earths and other strategic resources to Japan and tighten the importation of Japanese goods. 4) If Japan does not back off on the Diaoyu Islands dispute, then support Russia and South Korea’s position on the South Kuril Islands and Dokdo Island. 5) Mobilize friendly Japanese people from all walks of life to boycott and split up Japan’s rightist militant forces.

Source: Huanqiu, March 21, 2013
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/opinion_world/2013-03/3753232.html

Wen Wei Po: China and Russia to Strengthen Military Cooperation is of Great Significance

On March 25, 2013, Wen Wei Po published an article titled “It Is of Great Significance for China and Russia to Strengthen Military Cooperation.” Xi Jinping, Chairman of the PRC and the Central Military Commission, visited the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Armed Forces’ Operational Command Center. Xi Jinping is the first foreign leader ever to be allowed inside the Russian Armed Forces’ Operational Command Center, the "heart" of the Russian military establishment.

“In recent years, the United States has implemented the ‘return to the Asia-Pacific’ strategy and instigated Japan to provoke the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands dispute in Asia. Thus the risk of an accidental Sino-Japanese battle is rising; Japan’s attitude on the South Kuril Islands has turned firm. Therefore, China and Russia need to support each other and maintain the international order in the post-World War II era.”

Source: Wen Wei Po, March 25, 2013
http://paper.wenweipo.com/2013/03/25/WW1303250004.htm

People’s Daily: China’s Cellphone Internet Usage Higher than EU and U.S.

People’s Daily recently reported on the findings of the "2012 Chinese Urban Communications Behavior Research" published by the Ericsson Consumer Research Center. The research results showed that 87 percent of Chinese smartphone owners used Internet services. This percentage is higher than the high of an 86 percent usage rate for the U.S. and EU developed nations. Chinese users have a higher rate for phone services, web browsing, and Internet gaming. For instant messaging, Chinese customers are drastically more active than EU and U.S. customers. The research also found that Chinese mobile users are more interested in using smartphones than they are in using laptops or tablets to get onto the Internet. The research is part of a global telecommunication study conducted by Ericsson.
Source: People’s Daily, March 23, 2013
http://it.people.com.cn/n/2013/0323/c1009-20888325.html

Xinhua: Xi Jinping Visited Russian Defense Ministry

On March 23, 2013,  Xinhua reported that new Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Russian Defense Ministry. This was the first time the head of the Chinese government visited Russia’s Ministry of Defense. It was also the first time any head of state paid a visit. The Russian Defense Minister welcomed Xi and guided the tour. Russian President Putin recommended this visit. It was seen as a gesture to demonstrate the close relationship between the two countries. Xi suggested that the military cooperation between the two countries is especially important in the “comprehensive strategic partnership” relationship the two are building. Xi spent quite some time experiencing the live operations of the Russian Federal Combat Command Center.
Source: Xinhua, March 23, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-03/24/c_124495586.htm

CRN: China to Become Russia’s Largest Oil Customer

China Review News (CRN) recently reported that Russia has decided that, over the next five years, it will double the amount of oil it supplies to China. This will make China Russia’s biggest purchaser of oil. A series of agreements will be signed very soon. Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, is reportedly the primary supplier. In addition to oil agreements, more agreements could be reached during China’s new President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow. Other deals may include arms delivery and natural gas contracts. Anonymous sources also suggested that the oil agreements include loans of over $30 billion to Rosneft. In recent years, Russia has been shifting the focus of its oil exports to Asia. Oil that Russia has been providing to Europe has been on the decline while the market saw a fifteen percent increase this year in oil supplied to the Asia-Pacific region. 
Source: China Review News, March 21, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1024/7/6/7/102476758.html?coluid=10&kindid=253&docid=102476758&mdate=0321092533

RFA: Beijing Public Security Bureau Allocated Shocking Amount of Funding for Public Safety

China.com, a website sponsored by the State Council Information Office, issued a report on the 2013 budgets that the Beijing Public Security Bureau and the Transportation Bureau published. The report stated that the total 2013 budget for the Beijing Public Security Bureau was over 3.8 billion yuan (US$610 million). Of that money, 3.2 billion yuan (US$520 million) was allocated to “public safety.” That figure represents an increase of 18.5 percent from the 2.7 billion yuan (US$430 million) that was allocated for 2012.

Hu Jia, an activist from Beijing told RFA that China has never been transparent about its spending on the military and on public safety and the situation in China has worsened compared with last year. Hu said that a politically empowered interest group makes this investment in maintaining public safety in order to maintain its monopoly on power. That group is the “Politics and Law Committee,” the group that Zhou Yongkang used to head. Hu stated, "The ‘Politics and Law Committee’ is not a state organ but rather a Party agency. … Zhou stepped down four months ago, but we felt that the situation in China worsened during the recent Lianghui (two meetings: the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) compared with the 18th National Congress last year.”

Wang Juntao, a Chinese dissident currently living in the U.S., believes that many people in China have hope that the new leadership will bring change to China, but based on what has happened so far, the new leadership is more or less trying to continue the old policy from Deng, Jiang, and Hu, which means to continue the policy of maintaining stability.

Source: Radio Free Asia, March 22, 2013
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/jz-03222013154114.html

Military Scholar: Expand Military Power to Maintain Energy Safety

Zhao Jingfang, a Professor with the National Defense University PLA, wrote an article on the issue of the challenge of energy safety that China currently faces. China relies heavily on energy imports while it is seriously lacking in effective measures to control energy safety overseas. The article listed the following three areas in which the Chinese military can play a key role in protecting energy safety: 1) The PLA can increase military capacity which can effectively stop the outside world from posing a threat to China’s energy safety. 2) The PLA can increase exchanges with other countries: actively participate in UN peace keeping efforts; increase military cooperation with developing countries; organize forums and technology exchange conferences on topics of energy safety with neighboring countries; perform military exercises in key passageways; and increase the presence of China’s naval vessels. 3) China’s combined political, economic, military, and cultural power can be used to maintain active control of the overall situation.

Source: China Review News, March 24, 2013
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1024/6/3/3/102463382.html?coluid=1&kindid=0&docid=102463382&mdate=0324002305

Huanqiu: Close Ties between China and Russia Will Benefit Both in Foreign Policy

On March 23, 2013, Huanqiu published an opinion piece on Xi Jinping’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The article discussed how the two countries can benefit from strategic energy cooperation. It said, "Since China will ultimately become the biggest importer of oil from Russia, it means that, as long as both countries can build a strong basis for trust with each other, China and Russia will have strategic close ties with each other." The article also stated that the cooperation between China and Russia will not harm either country’s relationship with the Western world. It continued, “The strong alliance between the two will not be enough to threaten the Western world, but the strategic partnership would be strong enough for either country to face the isolation and attacks from the outside world.” 

Source: Huaqiu, March 23, 2013
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2013-03/3760782.html