Skip to content

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

Read More ...

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

Read More ...

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

Read More ...

CCP, Master of Hostage Diplomacy

Read More ...

Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council Issues Report on Mainland-Hong Kong Relationship

On the 15 year anniversary of Hong Kong’s reverting back to the mainland, the Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council issued its annual report on the overall developments in Hong Kong as well as the current relationship between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland.

The report expressed increased concern over the independence of Hong Kong’s media. According to the report, Hong Kong University recently conducted a public survey which found that the number of those surveyed who agreed that Hong Kong media lack independence and are unlikely to criticize Beijing was the highest since the 1997 date of reversion. The report also suggested that China has increased its involvement in the recent official elections in Hong Kong.

According to the report, the economic and manpower exchange between Hong Kong and the mainland has resulted in conflicts in the allocation of Hong Kong’s education and medical resources as well as in cultural differences. The examples included the increased number of mainland students studying in Hong Kong and the large number of pregnant women who come from the mainland to Hong Kong to give birth (a birth in Hong Kong results in Hong Kong residency for the child).

The report believes that the Hong Kong government will continue to face difficult challenges in the future.

Source: BBC Chinese Edition, July 1, 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chinese_news/2012/07/120701_taiwan_hk_china.shtml

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Huanqiu: Shifang Protest is Not a Revolution

Huanqiu issued a commentary on the recent social unrest in Shifang City, Sichuan Province. The commentary said that, when defying a police order, high school students led a massive protest in tens of thousands against the opening of a molybdenum copper smelter. It further stated that students achieved the money driven goal of adults without serious casualties and that such student actions should not be encouraged, particularly regarding social unrest and political conflict.

Huanqiu pointed out that similar clashes between residents and the government on environmental issues are common in democratic countries. “It is certainly not a revolution.” Huanqiu criticized the interpretation of the government’s decision to shut-down the smelter as a victory for the common people. “Such a stretched interpretation is merely the wishful thinking of some people and not a reality in Shifang.” The Huanqiu commentary warned local and higher governments that they should not be fooled by such political fantasies and should not divert their focus from a proper aftermath of reflection and remedial action to vigilance for this “revolutionary” trend.

[Ed. According to the New York Times, security officers roughed up the crowd and "there were arrests, tear gas, stun grenades, riot police, guns, batons, blood." Some hyperlinks in the Times article showed bloodied victims and a woman in front of a riot squad, "evoking comparisons to Tank Man." A microblogger was quoted as saying, "America achieved independence and 236 years later, the Shifang people are fighting for their own rights and confronting the government.”]

Sources:
Huanqiu, July 6, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/1152/2012-07/2888065.html
New York Times, July 4, 2012
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/a-violent-new-tremor-in-chinas-heartland/

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

The Communist Party Trains Religious Groups in Charity Work and Social Management

In 2012, the Communist Party Committee in Shenzhen plans to provide training for over 800 people from religious groups, exceeding the total for the past few years. The first class held its opening ceremony at Shenzhen City’s Institute of Socialism. Zhang Siping, a Shenzhen Party official, spoke at the ceremony. “Religions have the tradition and advantage of performing charity work for the public.” Zhang expressed that religions in Shenzhen should actively participate in social development and promote innovations in social management. Zhang further stated that religions should learn from the practice of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan to explore and expand social charities effectively.

Source: People’s Daily, July 4, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/0704/c70731-18444742.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Scholars’ Views on China and the U.S. over the Next 10 Years

[Editor’s Note: Qiushi Theory republished a report from the International Economic Review, a bi-monthly publication by the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The report was based on what a few people from Chinese think tanks expressed about the global leadership positions of the U.S. and China over the next ten years. Their discussions touched multiple areas, including international relationships, politics, economics, culture, and science. The following are excerpts of some of their views.] [1]

Continue reading →

Reports | | |   Report

China’s Telecom Companies Promise to Effectively Censor the Internet

According to an article published in Xinhua on April 24, 2012, officials from China Telecom Corporation, China Mobile Communications Corporation, China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd. and other telecom companies separately issued statements regarding taking effective measures to resolutely curb “rumors” spread on the Internet and to create a “civilized and healthy Internet space.”

Source: Xinhua, April 24, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-04/24/c_111836250.htm

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China’s Energy Strategies in Light of the Changes in the Global Energy Pattern

On July 3, 2012, China Review News published an editorial discussing China’s energy strategies from the perspective of the current changes in the global energy pattern. The 2012 World Energy Statistics Yearbook showed that China’s primary energy consumption increased 8.8% last year, far exceeding the decline in the level of consumption in developed countries. China’s dependence on foreign oil increases about 3% every year. In 2011, China depended on foreign oil for 56.5% of its usage. Meanwhile, the U.S. energy self-sufficiency rate has been gradually increasing; in 2011, it reached 81.4%.

The article asserted that China must speed up its domestic oil exploration and development in the sea and the western territory. At the same time, China must make full use of energy resources around the world by jointly developing oil and gas resources with the countries in Central Asia, Russia and the Middle Eastern areas. China must also actively study and track major trends in energy technologies and lay a solid foundation in energy technology and innovation.

Source: China Review News, July 3, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1021/5/3/5/102153504.html?coluid=136&kindid=4710&docid=102153504&mdate=0703002045

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

China Is Worried about the U.S. Return to Asia

On June 29, 2012, China Review News published an article titled “China Also Needs to ‘Re-Balance’ with the United States.” The author of the article concedes that China is worried about the Obama administration’s strategy of the U.S. return to Asia. Due to the deterioration of China-ASEAN relations and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the East Asian cooperation that China has worked on in the past 15 years has ceased.

Because the United States participated in the “East Asia Summit” that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently led, China was subjected to a series of regional diplomatic and multilateral security mechanisms that ASEAN, under United States control, directed. Several Asia-Pacific countries asked the United States to honor its security commitments. For example, when it had a territorial conflict with China, the Philippines repeatedly cited the “Philippine – US Mutual Defense Treaty.” The United States, South Korea, and Australia have upgraded their multinational security relations. All of these have pushed China into a “security dilemma in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Source: China Review News, June 29, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1021/5/4/9/102154979.html?coluid=148&kindid=7550&docid=102154979&mdate=0630002703

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China ExIm Bank Finances Press and Publication’s “Going Out” Activities

On July 3, China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) and the Export-Import Bank of China reached an agreement in Beijing on “cooperation to support and foster key enterprises and key projects of the press and publication industry’s going out strategy.” GAPP’s president Liu Binjie and China’s ExIm Bank’s president Li Ruogu signed the agreement. It allows the Export-Import Bank of China to provide no less than 20 billion yuan (US$3.14 billion) or its equivalent in foreign currency financing to support and promote the press and publishing enterprises’ overseas activities in the coming five years.

According to the People’s Daily report, the Export-Import Bank in recent years has “conscientiously implemented the Party’s Central Committee and State Council’s series of instructions on promoting the development of culture industries and making full use of a range of financial instruments to lead the financial industry in supporting the international development of culture industries.” As of the end of 2011, the Export-Import Bank of China had supported the international development of culture industries through different types of loan contracts amounting to nearly 26 billion yuan ($US4.10 billion).

Source: People’s Daily, July 4, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2012/0704/c70731-18444926.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend