The Rise of China forum

[DOR]

China issues white paper on Asia-Pacific security cooperation

BEIJING, Jan. 11 [2017] (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday issued a white paper on policies related to Asia-Pacific security cooperation, which also clarified the nation's stance on issues of regional concern.


Highlights:

• China is prepared to take on greater responsibilities for regional and global security
• Small- and medium-sized countries need not and should not take sides among big countries
• Regional and international rules should be set through discussion with all countries concerned rather than being dictated by any particular country, and rules of individual countries should not automatically become international rules.
• China remains committed to resolving disputes peacefully through negotiation and consultation and upholding peace and stability as well as freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.

On territorial issues,

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. The Diaoyu Islands are an integral part of China's territory. China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands has a sufficient historical and legal basis.

In response to Japan's negative moves concerning historical and maritime territory issues, China urges Japan to abide by the four political documents and the four-point principled agreement on bilateral relations, properly manage and control disputes and conflicts, and avoid creating obstacles to the improvement of bilateral relations.


Policy on Korea is muddled: look out for your own security, but don’t point those anti-ballistic missiles at me:

The anti-ballistic missile issue concerns global strategic stability and mutual trust among major countries. China always holds the view that the anti-ballistic missile issue should be treated with discretion. Forming Cold War style military alliances and building global and regional anti-ballistic missile systems will be detrimental to strategic stability and mutual trust, as well as to the development of an inclusive global and regional security framework. Countries should respect other countries' security concerns while pursuing their own security interests, and follow the principle of maintaining global strategic stability without compromising the security of any country so as to jointly create a peaceful and stable international security environment featuring equality, mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Despite clear opposition from relevant countries including China, the US and the Republic of Korea (ROK) announced the decision to start and accelerate the deployment of the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in the ROK. Such an act would seriously damage the regional strategic balance and the strategic security interests of China and other countries in the region, and run counter to the efforts for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. China firmly opposes the US and ROK deployment of the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system in the ROK, and strongly urges the US and the ROK to stop this process.


Interesting lack of self-confidence on cybersecurity:

cyberspace should be used to promote economic and social development, maintain international peace and stability, and improve the well-being of mankind. Countries should strengthen dialogue and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and build a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace and a multilateral, democratic and transparent international Internet regime. It is imperative that a universally accepted international code of conduct is formulated within the UN framework.


There’s also a side note for Mr Trump:

China is willing to promote the sustainable, sound and stable advance of bilateral relations, and work with the new US administration to follow the principles of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and mutually beneficial cooperation, increase cooperation in bilateral, regional and global affairs, manage and control divergences in a constructive way, and further bilateral relations from a new starting point, so as to bring benefits to the two peoples and other peoples around the world.


Full text:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/ch..._135973695.htm

[DOR]

Resolving China’s Corporate Debt Problem – an IMF Working Paper

This late 2016 IMF study identifies credit to nonfinancial corporates as the main problem, not credit to households or to the central government. However, these nonfinancial corporates include local government financing vehicles, which means that there is an accounting action that can greatly reduce the problem: writing off local government debt to state-owned banks.

Loans from the shadow or underground financial system are much less stable. However, they are also less systemic. The key risk here is where households have invested in unregulated “wealth management” products. The main solution is proper regulatory oversight backed up by an independent judicial system, which is to say, there is no solution.

As the report notes, “The state controls most of the financial sector and SOEs which constitute the most leveraged part of the corporate sector.” That makes it, at least in part, an accounting problem. Understandably, there is no mention of the very poor quality of China’s statistics, which makes the IMF’s favorite solutions more difficult to justify.

One thing we learned from the Asian Financial Crisis is that the first estimate of total nonperforming loans (for China, about 5%) ends up being one-third of the final figure, i.e., 15% in China’s case, which is painful but not dangerous.

Finally, the comparison to other country’s financial crises is largely unhelpful. Thailand, for example, ran into trouble via a fixed exchange rate, unwarranted low interest rates and a foolish effort by the central bank to fight speculators. Spain was caught by the over-valued euro and easy cross-border capital movements. China has neither of these problems.

Resolving China’s Corporate Debt Problem – an IMF Working Paper
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft...16/wp16203.pdf

[phoneix99]

just couldn't find an Israel- China thread, so this might be the closest sub-thread.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/w...or-du-wei.html

....... Natural causes, or CIA? .................. Or something else? .............

By David M. Halbfinger and Adam Rasgon
May 17, 2020
Updated 2:23 p.m. ET


JERUSALEM — China’s ambassador to Israel, who took up his post in February, was found dead at his home on Sunday morning in a coastal suburb north of Tel Aviv, officials said.

The ambassador, Du Wei, was found in his bed in Herzliya by an embassy worker, officials said. The Israeli police found no reason to suspect foul play in the death of Mr. Du, 57, officials said, and in preliminary findings, the Chinese government attributed his death to unspecified health problems.

Investigators — including Chen Kugel, the head of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine — declined to comment as they left the ambassador’s residence. Mr. Du’s wife and son were not in Israel at the time, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Du arrived in Israel on Feb. 15 and quarantined for two weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic before meeting officials of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 3.

He sent his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin on March 23 rather than formally presenting them himself because of restrictions on face-to-face meetings, officials said.

Mr. Du had served in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 30 years, according to a biography on the Chinese Embassy’s website. His first ambassadorship was to Ukraine, from 2016 to 2019.

His stint in Israel put Mr. Du in the middle of an increasingly tense dynamic that is creating friction between Israel and the United States. China has been investing heavily in Israel in recent years, taking stakes in hundreds of technological start-ups and acquiring a controlling interest in the dairy food-processing company Tnuva.

But Israel has antagonized Washington by allowing Chinese companies to make major infrastructure investments in recent years, including in sensitive locations. A company majority-owned by the Chinese government has signed a 25-year lease to run Israel’s commercial seaport in Haifa, a frequent port of call for the United States Navy, beginning in 2021.

[DOR]

just couldn't find an Israel- China thread, so this might be the closest sub-thread.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/w...or-du-wei.html

....... Natural causes, or CIA? .................. Or something else? .............

By David M. Halbfinger and Adam Rasgon
May 17, 2020
Updated 2:23 p.m. ET


JERUSALEM — China’s ambassador to Israel, who took up his post in February, was found dead at his home on Sunday morning in a coastal suburb north of Tel Aviv, officials said.

The ambassador, Du Wei, was found in his bed in Herzliya by an embassy worker, officials said. The Israeli police found no reason to suspect foul play in the death of Mr. Du, 57, officials said, and in preliminary findings, the Chinese government attributed his death to unspecified health problems.

Investigators — including Chen Kugel, the head of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine — declined to comment as they left the ambassador’s residence. Mr. Du’s wife and son were not in Israel at the time, according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Du arrived in Israel on Feb. 15 and quarantined for two weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic before meeting officials of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 3.

He sent his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin on March 23 rather than formally presenting them himself because of restrictions on face-to-face meetings, officials said.

Mr. Du had served in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 30 years, according to a biography on the Chinese Embassy’s website. His first ambassadorship was to Ukraine, from 2016 to 2019.

His stint in Israel put Mr. Du in the middle of an increasingly tense dynamic that is creating friction between Israel and the United States. China has been investing heavily in Israel in recent years, taking stakes in hundreds of technological start-ups and acquiring a controlling interest in the dairy food-processing company Tnuva.

But Israel has antagonized Washington by allowing Chinese companies to make major infrastructure investments in recent years, including in sensitive locations. A company majority-owned by the Chinese government has signed a 25-year lease to run Israel’s commercial seaport in Haifa, a frequent port of call for the United States Navy, beginning in 2021.

Nope.
Not this thread.
We have one for crazy conspiracy theories that might be appropriate.

[Double Edge]

just couldn't find an Israel- China thread, so this might be the closest sub-thread.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/w...or-du-wei.html

....... Natural causes, or CIA? .................. Or something else? .............

The Israeli police found no reason to suspect foul play in the death of Mr. Du, 57, officials said, and in preliminary findings, the Chinese government attributed his death to unspecified health problems.

I'll go with natural causes

His stint in Israel put Mr. Du in the middle of an increasingly tense dynamic that is creating friction between Israel and the United States. China has been investing heavily in Israel in recent years, taking stakes in hundreds of technological start-ups and acquiring a controlling interest in the dairy food-processing company Tnuva.

But Israel has antagonized Washington by allowing Chinese companies to make major infrastructure investments in recent years, including in sensitive locations. A company majority-owned by the Chinese government has signed a 25-year lease to run Israel’s commercial seaport in Haifa, a frequent port of call for the United States Navy, beginning in 2021.

China is investing in tech start ups. Not defense companies. Latter would be more eyebrow raising.

They manage ports in a few countries already. No big deal.

[m a x]

China will never rise to where it wants with such trashy foreign policy. They will only deserve more international condemnation, as Australia again is to be praised for the commitment to common obligations, justice and responsibility along the efforts to bring effective charges against war criminals

[DOR]

China will never rise to where it wants with such trashy foreign policy. They will only deserve more international condemnation, as Australia again is to be praised for the commitment to common obligations, justice and responsibility along the efforts to bring effective charges against war criminals

Let's see if I understand you.
Australian soldiers commit atrocities in Afghanistan, earning condemnation from around the world.
China is one of those countries.
But, because it is China -- and for no other reason -- their position qualifies as "trashy foreign policy."

Have I got that right?

[m a x]

..
But, because it is China -- and for no other reason -- their position qualifies as "trashy foreign policy."

Have I got that right?

Of course not. It would've been useful to state such calling position, without imagenery black satire, before the Australia's announcement of investigation and following judicial procedures. Now, this position shows only how weak and trashy the Chinese foreign policy may be. There is yet no one else so visibly stupid on the World stage to call for something that has already started and needs just support to materialize. What both of the Chinese foreign ministry spokespersons declared yesterday aims not to help Justice, but to push Australian authorities back to fail

[Officer of Engineers]

Of course not. It would've been useful to state such calling position, without imagenery black satire, before Australia had announced the investigation and following judicial procedures. Now, this position shows only how weak and trashy the Chinese foreign policy may be. There is yet no one else so visibly stupid on the World stage to call for something that has already started and needs just support to materialize. What both of the Chinese foreign ministry spokespersons declared yesterday aims not to help Justice, but to push Australian authorities back to fail

What the hell are you smoking?

[DOR]

Jiang Zemin (1926-2022)


Former Chinese president, party boss and the second longest serving head of the armed forces, Jiang Zemin, died November 30, 2022, at the age of 96.

Jiang joined the CCP in 1946, at the age of 20, and primarily worked as a party cadre and engineer in Shanghai factories. In 1956 he moved to Beijing to head a Machine-Building Industry Ministry bureau. After assignments back in Shanghai and later Wuhan, he returned to Beijing in 1980 to work on foreign trade and investment. In 1982 hes was named Minister of Electronics Industries and then Mayor (1985-87) and party secretary (1987-89) of Shanghai. The latter post gave him a seat on the politburo.

In June 1989, Jiang was elevated to Party General Secretary following the purge of Zhao Ziyang amid the Tiananmen political upheaval. His promotion was wholly unexpected and he was widely viewed as an interim place holder, until the elders could agree on someone more experienced. He remained in the post until 2002.

Jiang's predecessors, Hu Yaobang (the highest ranking CCP member in 1981-87) and Zhao Ziyang (1987-89) did not also chair the party Military Affairs Commission (MAC), as had Hua Guofeng (1976-81) and Mao Zedong (1936-76). Jiang took the reins of the armed forces, in November 1989, and assumed the state presidency in March 1993, becoming the first leader to consolidate the three top posts – Party, Army, and State.

In 2002, Jiang became the first leader to routinely hand over power to a successor, in the person of Hu Jintao. Hu became state president the following year, but did not take over the MAC until after his first full term as party boss, in 2007. Jiang's nearly 15 years as head of the MAC was second only to Mao's 35 year run.

During and after Jiang's formal time in power, he cultivated a powerful political faction that came to dominate Chinese politics from the mid-1990s to the purges of 2012 and later. The Shanghai Faction (or Clique) shared power with Hu Jintao's Communist Youth League Faction and various unaffiliated but powerful members of the armed forces. That cooperation, albeit largely under Jiang's oversight, was thought by many observers to be the long-term future model for China: contending and cooperating factions trading power decade by decade.

Xi Jinping had other ideas.

[DOR]

This will be deeply interesting to about six people outside China.

Xi Focus: Building world-class armed forces for China

BEIJING, Aug. 1 [2024] (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) celebrates its 97th founding anniversary on Thursday.

The past few days have seen President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), engage in a string of activities concerning the military.

He convened a Party leadership study session, calling for modernizing border, coastal and air defense. He wrote back to officers and soldiers of an elite army company with its history dating back to the Red Army days, urging them to strengthen training in real combat conditions.

He also made an instruction on veterans' affairs, emphasizing the importance of making military service an honorable occupation and ensuring that ex-service personnel enjoy respect from the whole society.

On Thursday, Xi's article on modernizing national defense and the armed forces was published by Qiushi (Seeking Truth [From Facts]), a flagship Party magazine.

In the article, Xi said developing the people's army into a world-class military at a faster pace is a "strategic task" for building a modern socialist country in all respects.

He said the military's political integrity must be enhanced and the military should be strengthened through reform, development of science and technology, as well as talent cultivation.

PRESERVE POLITICAL INTEGRITY

In the Qiushi article, Xi said "the barrel of the gun" should always follow the Party's order, echoing Chairman Mao's most famous dictum -- "political power comes from the barrel of a gun."

Since its founding 97 years ago, the PLA has always acted and fought under the Party's absolute leadership. Precisely due to this steadfast guidance, the PLA has grown from nothing into a strong force.

"History tells us that 'the Party commands the gun' is a basic guarantee to ensure the people's army maintains its essential nature and aim," Xi once said.

In June, Xi convened a pivotal political work conference of the armed forces in Yan'an, an old revolutionary base where the Red Army was stationed about 90 years ago after the Long March. It was in Yan'an that Mao led the people's army to regain its strength and fight the wars that led to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

In Yan'an, Xi emphasized the need to uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the military and to build a high-quality team of cadres that is loyal, clean, responsible and capable.

Since becoming China's top leader, Xi has taken steps to address concerns over weakened Party leadership in the military, an issue that people feared could undermine combat effectiveness and threaten the fundamental political principle that the Party commands the military.

Over the years, the political climate within the military has improved significantly through the full implementation of the system of ultimate responsibility resting with the CMC chairman, along with advancements in integrity building and anti-corruption efforts, and adoption of other measures.

STRENGTHEN THE MILITARY THROUGH REFORM

In mid-July, a pivotal Party resolution adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee reiterated the importance of strengthening the military through reform to ensure the realization of the PLA's 2027 centenary goals.

Reform has been the key theme as Xi has reshaped the armed forces over the past decade.

Major changes have taken place within the armed forces since late November 2015, when Xi convened a key meeting in Beijing to launch "the most extensive and profound reform of national defense and the armed forces" since 1949.

The PLA has dismantled long-established systems of general departments and military area commands, altered the dominance of land forces within the overall force composition, and established new leadership, management and operational command systems.

Five theater commands have been established, and services have been rebalanced. The country's navy and rocket forces have expanded, the number of non-combat personnel has been reduced and combat forces have grown.

The proportion of land forces in the military has dropped to below 50 percent, nearly half of all non-combatant organization personnel have been removed, and the number of officers has been reduced by 30 percent.

The PLA now has a system of services that comprises the army, navy, air force and rocket force, with branches including the country's aerospace force, cyberspace force, information support force and joint logistics support force.

During exercises and training, previously independent military units across different services now conduct joint operations under a theater command. Previously isolated information is now circulated efficiently among various military units within theater commands.

In the latest structural reform, the PLA's information support force was established and commenced in April.

Zhang Youxia, a CMC vice chairman, said the move, initiated by Xi, was to address "the most pressing need" to reshape the network information system and let it better empower joint military operations.

In the reform-themed resolution adopted in July, China's leadership again pledged to "deepen the reform of joint operations systems" and "refine the functions of the CMC command center for joint operations" to enhance combat capabilities.

WORLD-CLASS ARMED FORCES FOR PEACE

As reshaping continues within the military, the PLA's strength has increased significantly, bringing it closer to the goal of fully transforming into a world-class military by the mid-21st century.

With new types of combat forces, such as those related to strategic early warnings, long-range strikes, strategic delivery and information support strengthened, a joint combat force system primarily composed of elite forces has taken shape.

On May 23, the PLA launched drills around Taiwan Island as a strong punishment for the separatist acts of "Taiwan independence" forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces.

The drills, carried out by the Eastern Theater Command, were a typical case of joint operation that involves the participation of the army, navy, air force, rocket force and other units.

Such drills focus on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrols, joint precision strikes on key targets, and the joint, comprehensive seizure of battlefield control. The drills involved vessel and aircraft patrols around the island of Taiwan, and integrated operations within and outside of the island chain to test the command's joint real-combat capabilities.

Military experts say the May drills have demonstrated the Chinese military's coordination abilities and overall combat strength in joint operations after its reform.

While improving its military, China's commitment to the path of peaceful development and its pursuit of a national defense policy that is defensive in nature remain unchanged.

When the PLA celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2017, Xi stated that the Chinese military would always be a staunch force in maintaining world peace.

One often-cited example is China's role in UN peacekeeping operations. Since 1990, China has dispatched more than 50,000 peacekeepers to over 20 countries and regions, including Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sudan, South Sudan and Mali.

In 2015, Xi shared the story of a female peacekeeper named He Zhihong who died in the line of duty while serving in a UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

Xi cited a poem written by the late peacekeeper that reads "In this vast world, I may be just like a small feather. But even so, I want this feather to carry the wish for peace."

"This was her wish, and it is also China's commitment to peace," Xi said.

In his latest Qiushi article, Xi once again stated the peaceful nature of the PLA, no matter how strong it becomes.