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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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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
Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

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
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

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
Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

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

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

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

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

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

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Xi Jinping’s China Dream

The “China Dream,” or “Chinese Dream” as some others have translated it, is currently the most fashionable term in China’s media. When Xi Jinping was formally “approved” as China’s president at the National People’s Congress (NPC) last Sunday, he used the “China Dream” as the main theme in his NPC keynote speech. Xi repeatedly stated the term “China Dream,” using it on nine occasions and vowed to lead the nation to realize the “China Dream.”

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Perspectives | | |   Opinion

Editorial: U.S. Uses Rogue Means against China to Pave the Way for Its Cyber Army Development

Huanqiu (Global Times), a division of People’s Daily, published an editorial accusing the U.S. of preparing for a cyber war by smearing China. The article has also been republished on the websites of People’s Daily and Xinhua. Below are excerpts from the article: 

“Keith Alexander, Commander of the U.S. Military Cyber Warfare Command, reported to Congress on Tuesday that he was building 13 cyber offense brigades and 27 squads in order to safeguard the United States and in retaliation against those countries using cyberspace to attack the U.S. This is the first time that the Obama administration has publicly acknowledged the development of Internet offensive weapons and means.” 
“This reminds everyone of the U.S.’s recent accusations that the Chinese military supports hacker attacks against the United States. A U.S. organization fabricated a report. First, the American media hyped it. Then senior U.S. officials up to Obama also got involved, putting on a show that the United States is suffering from Chinese government-backed hacker attacks. All of this is to pave the way for the United States to announce its plan to establish an offensive army using cyber warfare!” 
“This is really a manifestation of the U.S. government’s lack of moral integrity; it smears China’s reputation as part of its opening ceremony in the formation of its offensive cyber warfare forces. The action shows a lack of the most basic respect for China.” 
“China faces a choice; China should not be naive, nor does it need to be shy. We should immediately start to set up a cyber war army and build an online Great Wall to defend China’s national security. We must not be limited by the double standard that the United States is bound to have, being left far behind the advanced countries in cyber warfare techniques.” 
“The United States taught a lesson to the whole Chinese society, including the Chinese government. The United States is a country whose government and people have a high degree of institutional coordination capacity. For the U.S. national interest, non-governmental organizations and associations are highly motivated to cooperate with the government. The United States government is also very professional and skillful in manipulating social resources.” 
“The cyber warfare structure is far from fixed. It will continue to evolve in the future. China should not only make a great effort to build its cyber warfare capabilities; it should also be mindful not to weaken the research and development of advanced weapons of conventional warfare.” 
Source: Huanqiu, March 15, 2013 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2013-03/15/c_124463692.htm http://military.people.com.cn/n/2013/0315/c1011-20799794.
html http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2013-03/3734812.html
Briefings | | |   US-China Relations