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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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CRN: State Owned Companies’ Profits Are Declining

China Review News (CRN) recently published a report on the Ministry of Finance’s newly released numbers. The numbers showed that, during the period from January to May, the total profit of all state-owned companies declined 10.4% compared to the same period last year. The monthly decline from April to May was 11.8%. The Ministry expected a continuation of the decline in the near future. The report expressed the belief that the main cause of the decline was the combination of a weakened international market and low domestic demand. The domestic consumer market is very weak due to higher living costs. Another reason for the profit decline mentioned in the report was the disappearing benefits that resulted from the earlier large stimulation package that the government initiated after the global financial crisis started in the U.S. The report also identified three operational issues: (1) state-owned companies actually had a total income increase while suffering a total profit decline; (2) internal costs such as wages increased rapidly; (3) only companies with monopoly power saw their profits increase.
Source: China Review News, June 19, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1021/4/4/9/102144962.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102144962&mdate=0619075811
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

Outlook Weekly: How to Reform China’s Financial Safety System

Outlook Weekly, a weekly magazine under Xinhua, recently published an article on the way to establish a new system to ensure China’s financial safety. The article identified four major relationships to focus on: (1) the relationship between financial risks and economic development; (2) the relationship between financial openness and financial protection; (3) the relationship between financial freedom and government monitoring and administration; (4) the relationship between speed versus profit, and scale versus quality. 
The article discussed six strategic components of financial safety: (1) controlling the risk in international capital flows; (2) enhancing financial monitoring and administration; (3) coordinating currency policies; (4) examining the goal of currency exchange rate policies; (5) reforming foreign currency management; (6) adjusting international payment balances. 
The article called for four operational actions: (1) adjusting the government’s role; (2) developing a new financial theory to handle the new situation; (3) ensuring financial stability; (4) deploying new risk control measures.
Source: Outlook Weekly, June 4, 2012
http://news.sohu.com/20120604/n344722898.shtml
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

CRN: China’s Manufacturing Industry Is Actually Weak

China Review News (CRN) recently published a review by Zhou Yanwu, the Chief Research Officer of an industrial research institute, Research in China. The review gave a few examples to demonstrate the weakness in China’s manufacturing industry. One example was automobile seats, which, (instead of the engine) are the most costly component in a regular car. The 10 top manufacturers hold 95% of the world market, but not one of them is a Chinese company. Another example was paint and coating products. Although China is the largest producer in the world, in 2010, all 2,749 large-scale Chinese companies in this industry made a total profit of US$2 billion. This amount equals the profit of one U.S. competitor – PPG. At the same time, the company that holds the largest share of China’s domestic paint and coating market is a Japanese vendor named Nippon. A third example was the LED industry. China has over 1,000 companies in this category. Their total income is only half that of their Japanese competitor, Nichia. On the profit side, the total of the profits that these Chinese companies receive equals only 20% of Nichia’s profits. The author concluded that China is a big manufacturing country, but it is also a very weak one.
Source: China Review News, June 19, 2012
http://www.zhgpl.com/doc/1021/4/4/9/102144949.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=102144949&mdate=0619074950
Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

People’s Daily: A Summary of Party Development Work at Universities and Colleges

In August 2004, Hu Jintao led the central administration in issuing the “Opinion on Further Strengthening and Developing Political Education for College Students.” Since then, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Education, and the Central Commission of the Chinese Communist Youth League have developed a total of 17 guidelines and plans. On July 20, 2012, People’s Daily published an article that summarized the systematic effort the central administration has carried out over the past eight years to strengthen the political ideology education work throughout the university system.

According to the article, since 2004, the Organization Department, the Central Propaganda Department, and the Ministry of Education have conducted six meetings on college campuses on the subject of Party development work. By June 30, 2011, 81,311 Party branches had been established on 2,383 colleges and universities. The end result is that there are Party members in each freshman class, Party groups in each sophomore class, and Party branches established in the junior and senior classes.

The Department of Education also established an Ideological and Political Theory Course as a college requirement for students. For example, Nankai University invested at least 500,000 yuan in annual funding in this area.

In addition, an effort has been made to develop Party assistants on each campus so they can play significant roles in Party development. The media and the Internet have also played key roles in Party development work.

Source: People’s Daily, June 20, 2012
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/18239464.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chongqing New Leadership Vows to Maintain a Clean Government to Gain the People’s Trust

On June 22, 2012, the 4th Municipal Committee of the City of Chongqing held its first plenary session. Zhang Dejiang was elected secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee. In a speech that Zhang gave, he promised, on behalf of the new committee, to run a “clean government.” Zhang requested that each committee member should exercise self restraint in his personal behavior and should manage himself, his spouse, his children and his assistants in order to establish a reputation for clean governance and to gain the people’s trust.

Source: Xinhua, June 23, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2012-06/23/c_123320299.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Xinhua Commentary Calls for Counter Measures against the Law on the Sea of Vietnam

On June 21, 2012, the Vietnamese National Assembly passed the "Law on the Sea of Vietnam." The law proclaimed Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. However, China claims the islands are the “indisputable” territory of China. Jia Xiudong, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, wrote a commentary on Vietnam’s action, originally from People’s Daily’s overseas edition, which Xinhua published on June 23.  

In the commentary Jia called the "Law on the Sea of Vietnam" viciously provocative, saying it openly intensified the dispute between China and Vietnam over the South China Sea. The commentary claimed that the law is illegitimate because it seriously violates the basic principles of international law, including the "Declaration on the Code of Conduct on the South Sea," an agreement that both parties reached last October. The article called Vietnam’s government “too selfish” and “lacking sincerity.” In the end, Jia called for counter measures against Vietnam until it backs off on this issue.

Source: Xinhua, June 23, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-06/23/c_112273765.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Dai Xu on Establishing the South China Sea Construction Corps

[Editor’s Note: Dai Xu is a Chinese Air Force Colonel and a researcher at the Center for Strategic Study at Peking University. He is a leading “Hawk” in the Chinese military. Dai recently suggested establishing a paramilitary organization, the South China Sea Production and Construction Corps. Such a corps would combine both military and production functions. It would be stationed in the disputed South China Sea area to carry out economic development under a self-provided armed escort. The following is a translation of his article.] [1]

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Reports | | |   Report

Huanqiu Editorial Comments on U.S. Congress’s Regret for Passing the Chinese Exclusion Act

After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution on June 18, 2012, expressing regret for having adopted the Chinese Exclusion Act 130 years ago, China’s state-run media, Huanqiu, published an editorial commenting on its passage. Huanqiu said, “China should probably not place a whole lot of hope on the American’s ‘new awakening.’ The U.S. Congress’s awakening has already sent us enough messages. The U.S. is a country that can also make mistakes. Its attitude toward other countries may well be out of whack, or even too extreme. When it involves China, we should particularly pay attention to the truth.” “Today, the U.S. attitude toward China is far from being based on any system of objective evaluation. A vast majority of the American elite are full of prejudice toward China, which is very similar to the situation over 100 years ago when Americans discriminated against the Chinese. American media usually use such labels as ‘tyranny’ or even ‘totalitarian’ to describe China. They are not willing to carefully study the internal force behind China’s rapid development.”

Source: Huanqiu, June 20, 2012
 http://opinion.huanqiu.com/1152/2012-06/2836326.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations