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SCMP: Hu Brands Former Chongqing Police Chief a Traitor

There has been a new development in the case of Wang Lijun, the former Chongqing police chief and deputy mayor who sought asylum a month ago at the United States consulate in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. According to the South China Morning Post, a source close to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said that “On Saturday evening, President Hu Jintao issued an internal briefing to the Communist Party members among the CPPCC delegates, telling them that Wang was a traitor.”

“A government source in Chongqing took a similar stance yesterday, saying: ‘All officials above the prefecture level in Chongqing were told the day before yesterday [March 4] that Wang had betrayed his country.’”

When interviewed by Hong Kong based Phoenix TV at the Great Hall of the People, where the session of the National People’s Congress and the People’s Political Consultative Conference is held, U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Locke, repeated the U.S. line on the deputy mayor. "He came in for a regularly scheduled meeting," Locke said. "He later left of his own accord."

Source: South China Morning Post, March 7, 2012
http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=0d5ea7bb8d8e5310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=China&s=News
Phoenix TV, March 5, 2012
http://v.ifeng.com/news/mainland/201203/deec6057-a9ce-4c1c-8196-096445e3221e.shtml

More Chinese Companies Are Expected to Delist Their Overseas Stock

The International Herald Leader published a commentary about Chinese companies delisting their stock from U.S. stock exchanges. On February 15, 2012. Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited became the first Chinese Internet company from mainland China to have completed a stock buy-out and delisted its stock from NASDAQ. On February 21, 2012, after a massive stock buy-back, the Alibaba Group offered to delist its B2B site Alibaba.com from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Shanda and Alibaba are not alone. In 2011 there were a total of 22 Chinese companies that delisted their stocks in the U.S. More are expected to announce plans to delist. According to the article, Chinese companies that were listed through reverse mergers now find it difficult to play by the rules of the American style stringent reporting requirements. "Under the U.S. regulations, the tax payments reported on their SEC filings should be the same as those tax payments filed with tax authorities in the home country, with a discrepancy not exceeding 10%. But according to sources in some consulting agencies, for Chinese companies listed in the stock markets in the U.S., the difference is as large as 10 times, far surpassing what the U.S. law allows."

Source: International Herald Leader, March 6, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2012-03/06/c_131442157.htm

How the U.S. and Isr’l Are Dealing with Iran’s Nuclear Development Program

Xinhua posted an article that was originally published by People’s Daily (overseas edition), discussing the U.S. and Israel’s positions on Iran’s nuclear issue. The article focused on the February 29, 2012, meeting between U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The article said, “As Iran’s nuclear issue was becoming more and more pressing, Israel continued to claim, at difference strategic points, that it would launch a military attack against Iran. Recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran’s nuclear development program has made new progress. This news worried Israel. In particular, the U.S. and E.U.’s economic sanctions against Iran’s development of nuclear weapons has seemed not to have had any effect. Israel is becoming even more anxious. "

“Regarding Israel’s continuous claim that its military will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. has been warning Israel to hold back. The U.S. appears to believe that it is not yet the right time to take military action against Iran. The U.S. prefers to wait for the economic sanctions to run their course, or  not to take action until Iran’s Middle East ally (Syria’s Assad) gets into trouble.”

“On Iran’s nuclear issue, both the U.S. and Israel have the same goal—to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. Israel is anxiously trying to take action, whereas the U.S. warns it to hold back. This “mutual cooperation” of both sides looks quite interesting.”

Source: Xinhua, March 5, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2012-03/03/c_111596862.htm

Study Times: Three Obstacles to Fighting Corruption in China

Study Times, the publication of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CCP, published an article listing three obstacles to fighting corruption in China. 1) The public accepts and tolerates some widespread corrupt practices since corruption has become habitual in social interactions. Most of time, it is hard for the public to realize the damage that corruption causes. Besides, the public does not have confidence in effors to fight corruption since those who have dared to oppose corruption were arrested. 2) Corruption is hidden from the public; the alliances between corrupt officials are too powerful for the public to fight. 3) It is difficult to fully protect the rights and interests of the people who fight against corruption. Nine out of ten of the people who were against corruption have suffered reprisals.

Source: Study Times, March 3, 2012
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2012/03/05/04/04_36.htm

China to Establish Coast Guard on the South China Sea?

On March 4, 2012, the Nanyang Post published an article titled “The PLA Proposes Placing the Coast Guard on the South China Sea.” In the article, Tian Fuzhou, a PLA civilian-level cadre and a member of the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), expressed the belief that the South China Sea problems need to be solved by Armed Marine Guards (the Coast Guard). Tian said in a media interview that the key to solving the South China Sea problem is to establish China’s national prestige by using armed marine guards on the sea, similar to the armed police, rather than the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (the PLA).   

Source: Nanyang Post, March 4, 2012
http://news.nanyangpost.com/2012/03/tian-fuzhou.html

Huanqiu: China Should Have Confidence in China-DPRK Ties

On March 3, 2012, Huanqiu (the Chinese edition of Global Times) published an article titled “Being in the Lead Position in Northeast Asian Affairs, China Should Not Be Anxious about Thorny Peninsula (North Korea) Issues.” The article commented on an agreement that the U.S. and North Korea announced on February 29, 2012, that “North Korea will temporarily halt its nuclear tests, long-range missile launches, and Yongbyon uranium enrichment activities in exchange for aid from the United States in the form of food.” The article said that China should not hesitate to continue its special friendship with North Korea, since China has more influence on North Korea than the United States, Russia, and other major powers. Though North Korea will not strictly follow China’s advice, it has much more strategic trust in China than it does in other countries.

The article repeated its emphasis on China’s confidence in China-DPRK relations. China should have confidence in itself because “no matter how close the US-DPRK relationship is, it cannot be closer than the Sino-DPRK relationship. No one can possibly ‘trick China’ in terms of Peninsula affairs.” “Once a crisis occurs, others will panic more than we will.”

Source: Huanqiu, March 3, 2012
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2012-03/2490580.html

East Day: Indian Report Called for Being Alert for Chinese Invasion

The Shanghai based news network East Day recently republished a report, originally from India’s TV news network IBNLive on work done by an independent Indian research institute. Research revealed that people believe there is a good possibility that China will make a “demand for territory,” and that a “massive military attack” is potentially likely, especially in the Arunachal Pradesh region, which the Chinese call “Southern Tibet.” There is a major difference in the understanding of the location of the “Line of Actual Control” between China and India. The research suggested a “hybrid strategy of defense plus offense” as a response to the potential invasion. The research concluded that, essentially, the best answer to an attack is to have an equivalent strategy.

Source: East Day, March 1, 2012
http://mil.eastday.com/m/20120301/u1a6396894.html

CPPCC: Two Security Concerns of Chinese Companies Doing Business Overseas

China News recently reported that the spokesman for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC), Zhao Qizheng, commented in a media briefing on two major security concerns of Chinese companies doing business overseas. Zhao suggested that, though China’s “Go Out” strategy has been very successful, many Chinese companies still face challenges due to a lack of knowledge of the international market. One of the major security concerns is the personal safety of the Chinese company’s staff working overseas. Another major concern is the safety of the investment. On the second point, Zhao added that many failures were directly caused by not using effective public diplomacy, which, if used, would help eliminate the negative voices in the foreign government and the general public. Zhao revealed that, last year, public diplomacy associations were established in Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou. These three cities do the most international business.

Source: China News, March 2, 2012
http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2012/03-02/3715152.shtml