On December 12, 2011, Huanqiu, a state newspaper under Xinhua, published an article titled, “China Cannot Sit Idly and Watch the U.S. Military Action against Iran that Undermines China’s Interests.” The article claimed that “the alliance between China, Russia, and Iran will be a nightmare for the United States.” “From the perspective of the U.S. global strategy, the interdependent relationship between Iran and China, as well as Russia, is the relationship between the lips and the teeth. When the lips are lost, the teeth will be exposed to the cold.” “After the U.S. killed Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and Muammar Gaddafi, the three anti-American strongmen in the Islamic world, Iran became the last country in the Middle East to be under U.S. siege.”

The article concluded, “After the painful lessons of the Iraq war and the Libya war, China can no longer tolerate the U.S. and the Western countries starting wars at will and undermining China’s interests.” “China should join Russia and firmly oppose any proposal of military action against Iran.”

Source: Huanqiu, December 12, 2011
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2011-12/2255589.html

Xinhua reported on December 10 that the Chinese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fu Ying, stated in Vienna that China is not in the business of “rescuing” Europe. Fu offered her opinion when she was visiting Europe and suggested that China is an active participant of Europe’s effort to fight the debt crisis. She said the word “rescue” was misleading. Since the European Union is the world’s largest economy with strong economic power and a much higher living standard than developing countries, it does not need a “rescuer.” Fu expressed her belief in a strong Euro and Europe’s ability to resolve the crisis. She emphasized the point that China does not intend to use financial tools to “control” any European country. She called for a “good investment environment in Europe” for investors from developing countries.

Source: Xinhua, December 11, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-12/11/c_122405576.htm

Southern Weekend recently reported on an election scandal at Cambridge University. Cambridge suspended the Chinese student organization after it could not agree on electing a new president. It also disclosed the organization’s close ties with the Chinese government.

The incident started when Chang Feifan, who was the president of the Cambridge Chinese student organization in 2010, sent an email claiming that the organization’s board had agreed that she would continue her presidency in 2011. The email generated controversy among the members, who stated that no formal election process ever took place and called for one. As elections are a requirement, when the members had not reached agreement by November 1, Cambridge formally disbanded the organization.

Aside from the election scandal, the article also described Chang Feifan, the former president, as being much like a Chinese government official stationed in Cambridge. Chang’s bio indicated that in less than two years she had hosted Chinese government officials who visited the campus and provided trainings for close to 1,000 senior government officials and senior managers from companies in China. Chang managed the foreign projects at Cambridge and was also responsible for several Chinese government sponsored projects in China. An online search suggested that a number of China’s official news agencies, including People’s Daily and China Review News had covered the activities that the Cambridge Chinese student organization hosted. An article from Beijing Youth Newspaper also reported that the Chinese consulate sponsors the annual Chinese New Years party that the Cambridge Chinese student organization hosts each year.

Source: China Review News, December 2, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1019/2/4/2/101924242.html?coluid=7&kindid=0&docid=101924242&mdate=1202092659