Chinascope – Page 974

China Remains Silent on Wang Lijun

Wang Lijun, the former director of public security and vice mayor of the southwestern China city of Chongqing, who disguised himself and went secretly to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu City, and who China’s State Security officials later escorted to Beijing, is now nowhere to be found. His relatives have sought information from the authorities about Wang’s whereabouts, but to no avail. Last Thursday, Xinhua said that the Chinese authorities were investigating why Wang Lijun, one of its top police chiefs, spent a day inside the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu. Since then, there has been no official information from the Chinese authorities. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Ming Pao reported that Beijing has concluded that the Wang incident is a “very serious political problem.”

Sources:
Boxun, February 16, 2012
http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2012/02/201202141723.shtml
Xinhua, February 9, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-02/09/c_122681189.htm
Ming Pao reprinted by Nanyang Post, February 14, 2012
http://www.nanyangpost.com/news/china/8717.html

Briefings | | February 17, 2012 | Government/Politics

Chinese Publishing Companies Encouraged to Establish Roots in Foreign Countries

Liu Binjie, Director and Party Chief of China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) stated that the priority for 2012 is to encourage China’s press and its publishing companies to establish a presence overseas. Liu suggested that that the focus of this work should be on three objectives. The first is to build brand names; the second is to expand the channels for international distribution; and the third is to adopt policies to encourage domestic media to publish and distribute Chinese domestic publications outside of China and to use every possible means to take root in foreign countries. GAPP has ensured that about 50 projects of the press and publishing companies receive state funds of close to 500 million RMB (US $78.5 million) for re-organization and capitalization.

Source: Xinhua, February 15, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2012-02/15/c_122706724.htm

Briefings | | February 17, 2012 | Information/Technology

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang’s Article on Boosting Domestic Demand

On February 16, Li Keqiang, China’s Vice Premier, who is discussed as the likely successor to Wen Jiabao as Premier, published a feature article in the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship publication Qiushi Journal. The article elaborates on China’s 2012 national economic strategy with a focus on boosting domestic demand by urbanization.

Li points to three “structural problems” in the Chinese economy: First, a slowdown in the drive for economic growth. “While the external demand declines, factors restricting the growth of domestic demand are also increasing. It is difficult for people’s income to maintain a rapid growth and Chinese enterprises’ ability and willingness to invest has waned. There are many obstacles to expanding private investment.” Second, there are many factors that drive up prices. “They include the upward pressure on production costs caused by labor, land, energy resources, and other production factors; the impact of inflation on the importation of bulk commodities in the international market, as well as the effect of the deepened price reform of raw materials.” Third, the problem of unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development is still prominent.

Source: Qiushi, February 16, 2012
http://www.qstheory.cn/zywz/201202/t20120216_138924.htm

Briefings | | February 16, 2012 | Economy/Resources

China Will Launch Six Beidou Satellites This Year

According to Beijing Morning News, China will launch six satellites this year to establish the BeiDou (COMPASS) Navigation Satellite System network. Before 2020, China will finish the construction of the BeiDou’s global satellite navigation System. The system will consist of more than 30 satellites.

During the “twelfth five-year-plan,” China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation intends to launch “100 rockets and 100 satellites into space and 100 satellites will travel stably in orbit around the earth." This implies that in the next four to five years, there will be a large number of aerospace launches.

Source: Huanqiu, February 12, 2012
http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2012-02/2427500.html

Briefings | | February 16, 2012 | Information/Technology

Study Times: Control the Differences between China and the U.S.

Study Times published an article that advocated an approach to controlling the differences in the relationship between the U.S. and China. To implement the control approach, the article suggested that there must be a dialogue mechanism, a regular and systematic structure between functional departments of the two countries to assess and evaluate the differences, and a control mechanism. As the two countries distrust of each other is increasing, the ability to deal with conflicts is decreasing. Without effective control of the differences, the bilateral relationship may become more turbulent.

“At the official level, senior government officials should focus on the overall situation of bilateral relations and should not only refrain from making remarks that may result in a strategic misjudgment, but also prevent any expression of words and deeds that might result in damage to the strategic mutual trust between the two countries. At an unofficial level, [both countries] should actively guide or control the public opinion within the two countries, not allow the voice of those who advocate hostility to prevail, and avoid the expansion of misconceptions and the emergence of new misunderstandings.

Source: Study Times, February 13, 2012
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/2012/02/13/02/02_35.htm

Briefings | | February 16, 2012 | US-China Relations

Selecting a Country for Refuge; Why High Ranking CCP Officials Especially Love the U.S.”

On February 13, 2012, Boxun reprinted an article from Apple Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper, titled “Selecting a Country for Refuge; Why High Ranking CCP Officials Especially Love the U.S.” With an overtone of sarcasm, the article listed examples of those CCP officials who, on the one hand, openly criticize the United States and on the other, send their children to the U.S. for education and green cards. The examples included Bo Xilai, a member of the CCP Politburo and the Communist Party secretary of the Chongqing municipality and Xi Jinping, the 6th ranking member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee and China’s Vice Chairman.

Starting with Deng Xiaoping, the article continued, it has become an unofficial rule that the United States must accept all of the CCP’s top leaders. Deng Xiaoping did not gain a solid footing in the CCP leadership until he visited the U.S. in 1979. In 2002, Hu Jintao made a high-profile visit to the U.S. before he ascended to the throne, so as to show the Chinese people that the U.S. acknowledged him. If the U.S. praises Xi Jinping, the article concluded, he will successfully gain the top CCP position.

Source: Boxun, February 13, 2012
http://www.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2012/02/201202130751.shtml

Briefings | | February 15, 2012 | Grapevine

China Review News: China’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Start to “Lose Weight”

According to recent data released by China’s Central Bank, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, China’s foreign exchange reserves had fallen to $ 3.181 trillion, a decrease of $20.55 billion or a decline of 0.6%, compared to the end of the third quarter of 2011. The decline in the foreign exchange reserves occurred because of China’s policy adjustments, the slower speed of China’s economic growth, and capital outflows.

Source: China Review News, February 14, 2012
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1020/0/9/5/102009536.html?coluid=10&kindid=253&docid=102009536&mdate=0214084959

Briefings | | February 15, 2012 | Economy/Resources

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.