China Reform Monitor: No. 1178

July 23:

An editorial in Iran’s Mardom Salari newspaper claims that China took advantage of Tehran having “its hands and feet tied under the sanctions to abuse and manipulate.” The article accuses China of dumping an “immense amount of imports in all areas, while balking at paying the money for oil purchased and instead delivering second-hand and third-hand products.” Now that sanctions are in the past, Tehran must distance itself from China. “They declined to purchase oil, and they paid the price of the purchased oil with contaminated rice.” These “blows and harms in the clothing of a friend were not less than the costs of the sanctions. Their abuse in the absence of the other players in imposing their demands and the ultimate manipulation and the attainment of their own profits and national interests.”

Taipei has lodged a protest with Beijing over a PLA special forces drill that simulated an attack on Taiwan's Presidential Office. During a press conference Mainland Affairs Council spokesperson Wu Mei-hung accused China of staging a "specifically targeted" military drill, which will not help relations. "We have expressed our stern protest to the mainland through proper channels," Wu said, adding that Taiwan will boost its defense capability to deal with Beijing with greater strength. “Beijing's military deployments and logistics preparations remain focused on invading Taiwan and preventing foreign forces from intervening in Taiwan Strait affairs,” Taipei’s official Central news Agency reports. In Beijing, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman described the exercise as "routine" activity.

August 1:

Ahead of the next party congress and semi-leadership transition in two years, officials who worked under Xi Jinping in Zhejiang and Fujian have been promoted to important provincial and ministerial jobs, the South China Morning Post reports. Chen Miner, once Xi Jinping’s propaganda chief in Zhejiang, has been named governor of Guizhou. His predecessor, Zhao Kezhi, was appointed party chief of Hebei, filling the vacancy left by Zhou Benshun, who was placed under investigation for corruption. Others include deputy public security minister Meng Qingfeng, deputy Shanghai party chief Ying Yong, and Zhejiang governor Xia Baolong. Others that worked under Xi in Fujian that have been promoted include Beijing police chief Wang Xiaohong and Hainan governor Liu Cigui.

August 3:

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou has again publicly supported controversial changes to high-school curriculum guidelines. At issue are changes to history textbooks, which will dedicate more space to Chinese and less to Taiwanese history, cast the Republic of China in a better light, and be more critical of Japanese colonial rule, Kyodo reports. Aboriginal activist groups said the reintroduction of "aboriginal ethnicity" demonstrates how the curriculum’s historical view is "Han-centered." Ma, who came under fire after announcing the revised high school textbook guidelines in February 2014, is being pressured to revoke them and force Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa to step down,Taipei Times reports. Facing a political firestorm, in June the administration said that next semester schools will choose their own textbooks.

August 5:

“To combat threats from the Chinese dragon,” the Indian Air Force (IAF) has opened Panagarh airfield in Burdwan district, West Bengal to “enhance strategic capability of IAF and augment the mobility of Mountain Strike Corps which will be stationed at Panagarh,” an IAF officer told the New Indian Express. "Panagarh is being developed as a base for C-130J,” a U.S.-made heavy-lift transport aircraft known as the Super Hercules, and “there are also plans for a larger, tanker variety aircraft to be based here, which will strengthen its might against China,” he added. India’s C-130Js -- military cargo aircraft that can carry about 20 metric tons and move troops, equipment, and supplies -- are currently stationed at another base in Uttar Pradesh. They can land on small airstrips and unpaved surfaces, allowing the IAF to rush troops and equipment to the mountainous Chinese borders in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.