U.S.–China update: Weekend of June 23–24, 2012

  • ‘Red nobility’ Yu Zhengsheng navigates China’s factional politics|Politics|Peopl…
    As one of the princelings of China — the scions of CCP elites — Yu Zhengsheng maintains a good relationship with two competing party factions: the one that surrounds former president Jiang Zemin, and the other centered around his successor, Hu Jintao.
  • China telecom firms may be subsidized: U.S. lawmaker | Reuters
    U.S. House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee is investigating what some U.S. officials suspect are close ties between the Chinese government and each of the firms, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp.The concern is whether any of their equipment or its software is designed to steal information or “establish the ability to do cyber attacks,” panel chairman Mike Rogers said.
  • Chinese Data Said to Be Manipulated, Understating Slowdown – NYTimes.com
    Record-setting mountains of excess coal have accumulated at the country’s biggest storage areas because power plants are burning less coal in the face of tumbling electricity demand. But local and provincial government officials have forced plant managers not to report to Beijing the full extent of the slowdown, power sector executives said. // This is basically what my academic work has been about for years.
  • Shandong police and legal chiefs sacked over Chen Guangcheng|Politics|News|WantC…
    Having trouble confirming this: “People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party, published an editorial on June 21 which said that while China needs to protect its international image, what the Shandong government did to Chen was precisely the opposite. “Wu and Bo needed to go, because the order to detain Chen came directly from them,” the newspaper said.”

South China Sea

  • U.S. seeks return to SE Asian bases – The Washington Post
    “In recent weeks, the Pentagon has intensified discussions with Thailand about creating a regional disaster-relief hub at an American-built airfield that housed B-52 bombers during the 1960s and 1970s. U.S. officials said they are also interested in more naval visits to Thai ports and joint surveillance flights to monitor trade routes and military movements.

    “In next-door Vietnam, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta this month became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the naval and air base at Cam Ranh Bay since the end of the war. Citing the “tremendous potential here,” Panetta enthused about the prospect of U.S. ships again becoming a common sight at the deep-water port.

    “The Pentagon is also seeking greater accommodations in the Philippines, including at the Subic Bay naval base and the former Clark Air Base, once the largest U.S. military installations in Asia as well as key repair and supply hubs during the Vietnam War.”

  • Chinese ship ‘accidentally rams’ Philippines boat – Yahoo! News
    “Of the eight fishermen aboard, four were plucked out of sea only yesterday, but one of them died in a hospital,” Ramos said. “Four more are still missing.”

    The rescued fishermen told authorities they believed the vessel which collided with their boat was Chinese, Ramos said, though this could not be independently verified.

  • China’s Monroe Doctrine | The Diplomat
    “Last week at the Naval War College’s annual Current Strategy Forum, several speakers likened China’s policy in the near seas to U.S. policy in the Caribbean and Gulf during the heyday of the Monroe Doctrine. (Why hadn’t someone thought of that before?) One asked: “Why can’t China have a Monroe Doctrine?” He answered his own question: “Because it’s China!” Implication: the United States and its Asian allies deny China the special prerogatives America enjoyed during its own ascent to great sea power. To do so is apparently the height of hypocrisy, if not an exercise in threat-mongering.”
  • U.S. Naval War College | Current Strategy Forum (CSF) 2012 Videos

 


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