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April 19 , 2017
  • Reuters：China's Xi restructures military, consolidates control
    Reuters reports: "Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced a military restructure of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to transform it into a leaner fighting force with improved joint operations capability, state media said. Centered around a new, condensed structure of 84 military units, the reshuffle builds on Xi's years-long efforts to modernize the PLA with greater emphasis on new capabilities including cyberspace, electronic and information warfare. As chair of the Central Military Commission, Xi is also commander-in-chief of China's armed forces. 'This has profound and significant meaning in building a world-class military,' Xi told commanders of the new units at the PLA headquarters in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua news agency report late on Tuesday...Retired PLA Major-General Xu Guangyu, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, said the restructure represented the second major phase of Xi's reforms. 'Since military reforms started it has been one step at a time,' Xu told Reuters. 'The high-level framework is now in place, now this is the second phase targeting the entire mid-ranking levels of the military.' "
  • The Financial Times：China struggles to deal with 'hopeless' North Korea
    The Financial Times reports: "During a visit to the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea on Monday, US vice-president Mike Pence urged Beijing to use its 'extraordinary levers' over Kim Jong Un's regime in Pyongyang. One such lever is just a short walk from Dandong's high-speed rail station. Built by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1943, the China-Korea Friendship Bridge across the Yalu river is an economic lifeline for Mr Kim. Despite China's apparent compliance with UN sanctions on selected North Korean exports such as coal, the value of China's trade with its isolated neighbour increased almost 40 per cent in the first quarter of this year, reflecting sharp increases in global commodities prices...If Beijing wanted to squeeze Pyongyang, the Friendship Bridge would be an obvious choke point. But Chinese officials remain reluctant despite US Donald Trump's suggestion last week that his administration had not designated Beijing a 'currency manipulator' because China was helping to apply pressure on North Korea...'We don't like the North Korean regime or Kim Jong Un,' says a senior Chinese academic and foreign policy adviser with close ties to decision makers in Beijing. 'But if [Pyongyang and Washington] continue to confront each other even emotionally, it gets in the way of solving the problem. China has suffered the most from the sanctions. We are making the biggest sacrifice. But the North Koreans' primary concern is security, which can only be offered by the US.' "
  • The Diplomat：The Chinese Are Winning?
    The Diplomat comments: "In a recent article titled 'Tortoise v Hare,' The Economist reveals (perhaps unwittingly) the ambivalence that many in the West feel about China's rise...How do we know China is edging ahead? The Economist engages in a semantic parsing of changes in Chinese sloganeering, which would do proud any Talmudic scholar. It finds that Chinese leaders went from saying China should 'make a difference' under Deng Xiaoping to adding in 2010 that China should make a difference 'actively' to, most recently, Xi Jinping's speech at Davos this January which included the sentiment that China should 'guide economic globalization.'...Another indicator that China is outpacing the U.S., espied by The Economist, is China's increasing desire to set an example for other countries, reflected in its promotion of the 'China solution.'...The article concludes with a rather different image than that of China engaged in a race, seeking to move ahead of the U.S.: Rather than an aspiring hegemon, China instead finds itself having to pick up some of the slack in the global system left by a retreating U.S. One could add that one need not see all big power relations as a competition to see who is first, let alone as a zero sum game. There is plenty of work to be done, loads to carry, for the U.S., China, and a whole other bunch of tortoises, hares, and all other kinds of creatures."
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