Chinascope – Page 903

Huanqiu: China Has to Get Used to the U.S. Diplomatic Activities in Southeast Asia

On November 20, 2012, Huanqiu (the Chinese edition of Global Times) published an article commenting on U.S. President Obama’s 6-hour visit to Burma. The article said that the Chinese Foreign Ministry is fully confident that China-Burma relations will deepen. “For the greater national interest, Burma is opening to the West. Even an elementary school pupil can see the foolishness of replacing China with the West. The IQ of the Burma leaders will not be so low, whether it is the current leader or ‘the democracy icon’ Aung San Suu Kyi, who is widely supported to be the future leader.”

The article concluded, “The United States has been engaged in big diplomatic activities in Southeast Asia. China has to get used to it. If we think too much, we are looking for trouble.”

Source: Huanqiu, November 20, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2012-11/3292142.html

Briefings | | November 21, 2012 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Xi Jinping: The Party Leaders Must Consciously Safeguard the CCP Central Committee’s Authority

On November 19, 2012, Xinhua published an article by Xi Jingping, China’s new general secretary of the CCP Central Committee, titled “Study the Party Constitution Seriously and Strictly Abide by the Party Constitution.” Xi said that Party leaders are required to “take the lead in implementing the Party’s political discipline, consciously safeguard the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee’s authority, enforce work procedures, carry out orders, and ensure that the CCP Central Committee’s decrees are passed down smoothly.”

The newly amended CCP Constitution incorporated Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, Jiang Zemin’s Three Represents, and Hu Jintao’s Scientific Outlook on Development into its guiding ideology.

Source: Xinhua, November 19, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/18cpcnc/2012-11/19/c_113722461.htm

Briefings | | November 21, 2012 | Government/Politics

China Will Never Take the Evil Road of the Western Multi-Party System

On November 20, 2012, People’s Daily’s Hebei edition republished an article from China Economic Weekly written by the former editor-in-chief of People’s Daily’s Overseas Edition, Zhanguo Shu, who is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, titled, “China Will Never Take the Evil Road of the Western Multi-Party System.”

Zhanguo cited Hu Jintao in his article, “Unswervingly holding high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must not take the old path that is closed and rigid; nor must we take the evil road of changing flags and banners.” Zhangguo explained that the evil road is that of Western parliamentary democracy and the multi-party system.

Source: People’s Daily, November 20, 2012
http://he.people.com.cn/n/2012/1120/c337249-17742793.html

Briefings | | November 21, 2012 | Government/Politics

Xinhua: Beidou System Accuracy Will Surpass GPS

Xinhua recently reported on the new developments related to the Chinese global positioning system named Beidou. Based on the comments made by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the accuracy of the Beidou system’s 10-meter services has already reached the same level as the U.S. GPS system. With the enhancements that are planned, the Beidou system will soon offer better accuracy than the GPS system. It is also expected that the price of the Beidou commercial chip will drop sharply in the near future. As of October 25, the Beidou system included a network of sixteen satellites, which cover all of China and the surrounding regions. The era of commercialized Beidou applications has arrived. The domestic market size of the satellite positioning system is expected to reach RMB 200 billion yuan.

Source: Xinhua, November 18, 2012

http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2012-11/18/c_123966005.htm

Briefings | | November 20, 2012 | Information/Technology

China News: Number of Half or Fully Shutdown Companies Reached a 3-Year High

China News recently reported on research results that the China Entrepreneurs Survey System (CESS) had released. The CESS is a research institute jointly established by the Development Research Center of the State Council, the National Bureau of Statistics, and four other government agencies. According to the research, 23.1 percent of the company owners surveyed claimed that, at the time of the survey, their companies were either “shutdown” or “semi-shutdown.” This number is the highest in three years. The key reasons cited for the situation were a decline in orders, inventory pressure, and dropping prices. The health of privately owned companies was worse than for those that were state-owned. Most of the troubled companies were small to medium sized ones. Over a quarter of the companies expressed the belief that their inventory level was “higher than usual.” Half of the companies suffered a “lower than usual” order level. Most of the troubled companies were in mining, chemical fiber, non-ferrous metals, general equipment, and automobile and other transportation equipment industries.

Source: China News, November 17, 2012

http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2012/11-17/4336528.shtml

Briefings | | November 20, 2012 | Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: China’s Dependence on Foreign Oil Will Reach 60%

People’s Daily recently reported on the First China International Petroleum Trade Conference. According to experts attending the conference, China’s oil consumption is expected to increase to half a billion tons in 2013. Meanwhile, China’s dependence on foreign oil will reach 60 percent next year. China is currently the primary source of demand for global oil market growth. In the year 2002, China became the second largest oil consuming country in the world (after the United States). According to experts, in the next five years, China’s oil imports will maintain a growth rate of eight percent annually, while the average annual growth rate for global oil consumption will remain at 1.2 percent. The decline of oil imports in North America and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East will be the two main factors that will impact the international oil market the most. However, more than half of China’s foreign oil supply comes from the Middle East. This adds a lot of uncertainty to China’s energy safety.

Source: People’s Daily, November 15, 2012

http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2012/1115/c1004-19594376.html

Briefings | | November 20, 2012 | Economy/Resources

Red Flag Manuscript: State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Are the Bellwether for the Rise of the Economy

[Editor’s Note: The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission was mandated in the year 2000 to report to Congress annually on the security implications of trade with the People’s Republic of China. It recently published its 2012 report, "An Analysis of Chinese Investments in the U.S. Economy." [1] Bill Gertz discussed some of the report’s conclusions in an article he wrote for the Washington Free Beacon, "Congressional Report: Chinese government-controlled enterprises threaten U.S., world economy." Gertz summarized from the

report, "The Chinese system of state capitalism or ‘capitalism with Chinese characteristics’ has blocked many of the potential benefits of a free market, not only in China, but among China’s trading partners," "The state-owned sector in China can undercut prices charged by privately held competitors globally due to a variety of subsidies granted by the Chinese government: low-interest-rate loans; below-market-rate land, fuel, and electricity; special exemptions from environmental and labor regulations; tax abatements and preferences." [2]

Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agreed that having the backing of state funding and favorable government policies gives China’s SOEs a huge economic advantage. Hu Angang, Director of the Center for China Studies, Tsinghua University, wrote an article on for Red Flag Manuscript, a publication of the Central Committee of the CCP in which he argued that, although China’s SOEs are a form of enterprise and compete in the global market, they differ greatly from Western enterprises in that they are state-owned and under the leadership of the CCP. China’s SOEs have the advantage of being backed by state-owned capital and, as such, have the ability to generate strong competition to rival the world’s top 500 enterprises. They should be the leading force for China’s "going abroad" strategy. The following are translated excerpts from the article.] [3]

Continue reading →

Reports | | November 19, 2012 | Report

Money Spent on Domestic Production of Satellite Navigation System to Exceed 200 Billion Yuan by 2015

The China Hi-Tech Fair was held in Shen Zhen from November 16 to 21, 2012. The Shen Zhen Beidou Navigation Application Alliance was officially announced at the fair. Based on the estimates from the Shen Zhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Science, the monies spent on the domestic production of its satellite navigation system will exceed 200 billion yuan (US$32 billion) by 2015.

According to the president of the Shen Zhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Science, the development of the Beidou Navigation System broke the GPS monopoly and will be a significant strategic benefit to China. It was reported that the Beidou Navigation Application Alliance will achieve the development and industrialization of the Beidou navigation system in the following four areas: core components, application platform, smart phone, and an auto service terminal.

Source: Huanqiu, November 17, 2012
http://china.huanqiu.com/politics/2012-11/3285498.html

Briefings | | November 19, 2012 | Information/Technology

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

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