Geo-Strategic Trend - 305. page

From July 22 to 25, Deputy Minister Gao Hucheng led a Chinese Commerce and Trade Group to visit Moscow to discuss Russia’s closure of the Moscow market that many Chinese merchants used for small commodity trades. In June, the Russian authorities claimed that the Chinese merchandise did not go properly through Russian customs, so they suddenly closed the market and confiscated over over 15 billion yuan of goods, leaving more than 60,000 Chinese merchants with nothing.

After the negotations, China and Russia reached agreement on three points: 1. Both sides will further develop the strategic partnership with each other. 2. Both sides will further develop the commerce and trade between each other. 3. Both sides will resolve the closure of the large commodity market through friendly negotiation.

Ed – The Chinese merchants imported their goods into Russia through "gray customs," using the common practice of bribing Russian customs officials. There is no material result in the agreement that would help the merchants to get back their confiscated goods.

Source: Embassy of China in Russia
http://ru.china-embassy.org/chn/sgxw/t575204.htm

In its military forum, Global Times, a state newspaper under People’s Daily, published the translation of a South China Morning Post article calling the Russian-China relationship a marriage of convenience. The July 25 SCMP article quoted Andrei Pinkov, editor-in-chief of Kanwa Defense Review, as saying that the relationship between Russia and China is nothing but a marriage of convenience with no solid foundation, in spite of their common interests. "China and Russia will not form the kind of close alliance that the US enjoys with Japan and Australia because Moscow feels uneasy about the rise of China… Some people in Moscow are worried that China may mass-produce Russian weapons." The SCMP also quoted from a military expert in Shanghai that, for the same reason, "the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will not be another NATO."

Source: Global Times, July 27, 2009
http://mil.huanqiu.com/Observation/2009-07/527747.html

Regarding internantional questions of whether China had been enforcing the economic punishment of North Korea according to UN Security Council resolution 1874, China News Agency countered that the reasons of the development of the North Korea issue up to today are comprehensive. It is completely irresponsible to pass the buck to China. According to Chinese experts’ opinions, when China tried to resolve the situation, some countries played a contrary role. “For the situation in North Korea to come to today’s point, the United States has certain responsibilities. Japan announced that North Korea is a hostile country… The Japanese media highly exaggerated the ‘North Korea threat theory.’… Since Lee Myung-Bak, President of South Korea, took office, he has taken a hard-line policy on North Korea… These factors have led to the deterioration of the situation on the Korean Peninsula.” 

Source: China News Agency, June 26, 2009
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gj/gj-fxpl/news/2009/06-26/1751297.shtml

2009 sees a bigger role for the United States in the South China Sea, said Xinhua. “Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and other countries now view foreign military procurement as a shortcut to quickly upgrading their sea and air combat capability. In 2009 the neighboring countries in the South China Sea have changed their strategy to procure high-performance conventional submarines, long-range fighters, advanced surface ships and other heavy equipment.” As Southeast Asian countries have spoken about opposing China with the help of the United States, "the United States is stepping from ‘behind the scene’ to the ‘front stage’ in the South China Sea."

Source: Xinhua, July 3, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-07/03/content_11644872.htm

China has major strategic interests in the Arctic region and should secure the Arctic’s resources, said Outlook Weekly. “The Arctic has an important impact on temperature and precipitation in China.” “Use of the Arctic waterways for Chinese fleets would shorten the voyage by 40% compared to the current routes through the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal that are plagued with security risks, high cost and schedule delays.” “China should invest in the development of or otherwise secure the Arctic’s resources.”

Source: Outlook Weekly, Issue 27, 2009
http://lw.xinhuanet.com/htm/content_4882.htm

Global Times reported that China National Petroleum Corp and BP jointly won the bidding for the al-Rumeila oil field contract in Iraq. “Despite earning only two U.S. dollars a barrel and facing various risks, China’s oil companies need to get a firm foothold in Iraq as soon as possible and increase their market share of oil and gas exploitation. Income and profit margin are secondary factors.”

Source: Global Times, July 2, 2009
http://finance.huanqiu.com/roll/2009-07/503661.html

Study Times published an article entitled “How to See the BRICs Leaders’ First Official Summit” regarding the BRICs first official summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia on July 16. The article stated that the "Four (BRICs) countries’ economic development models were unique. There was tremendous potential in the economic and trade cooperation (between them)." The article stated that the “BRICs” summit among China, India, Pakistan and Russia was a practical action for the four countries to seek a breakthrough in the direction according to the current international market pattern. The four countries’ cooperation would help the whole world get rid of the international market, which was controlled firmly by the United states and other Western developed countries and get out of the “US Dollar Hegemony Era,” whose representative was the United States. 

Outlook published an article stating that China should seek to highly unify its strategies of defending the national interest while maintaining area stability when dealing with its neighboring countries.

It listed China’s strategic security environment and development opportunities as: China is adjacent to many counties, some of which are large countries and many of which have nuclear weapons; in the ocean, China is surrounded by several countries along the first island chain and the second island chain; neighboring countries and regions are concerned about China’s rise; and western countries set up international rules on ocean rights that do not favor the developing countries.

“Equally important, the first twenty years of the 21st century is the strategic opportunity era for China. That means that China needs to seek at least twenty years of having a peaceful environment to develop and strengthen itself, to establish its competitive advantage in the areas of the economy, politics, culture, diplomacy, and the military. Then China can better defend its own interests.”

Source: Outlook, June 22, 2009
http://news.sohu.com/20090622/n264682762.shtml