China Reform Monitor: No. 806

January 11:

"The 2011 Sino-Indian joint Army exercise will be held in China. There will be no exercise in 2010," an Indian Defense official announced at the conclusion of two days of bilateral talks between Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ma Xiatian and India’s Defense Secretary Pradeep Kumar in Beijing. The China-India annual defense dialogue featured agreements to “maintain peace and tranquility” along the Line of Actual Control that divides the two countries and share information on the anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden, where both countries' have deployed warships, the Press Trust of India reports.

[Editor’s Note: The first China-India joint military exercises took place in December 2007 at a military base in Yunan province. The reciprocal exercise – called Hand-in-Hand – was held in Belgaum in Karnataka, India in November 2008.]

January 12:

“Top echelons” of the leadership may change China’s Cross-Strait strategy of "peaceful development if the political situation in Taiwan changes in a way unfavorable to the PRC" and revert to military force to achieve unification with Taiwan, according to Zheng Bijian, the former executive vice president of the CPC Central Party School. In a recently published article, Zheng, who is known as a close confidant of President Hu Jintao and other members of the top leadership, said Beijing's "peaceful line of thinking" on Taiwan could change in the wake of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang party’s lackluster showing in recent elections and the U.S. decision to sell arms to Taipei, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao reports.

January 18:

During talks between China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Yang said “China enjoys sovereign rights over Chunxiao oil-gas field [and] will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests in the East China Sea.” Okada reportedly said Japan “would take corresponding measures should violations of the consensus occur, such as China unilaterally explores Chunxiao.” According to a press release on China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website Yang said that under Chinese law “Japan may provide funds for participating in cooperation to develop the oil and gas field, but this is different in essence from joint development.”

[Editor’s Note: In August 2006 China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) reported that gas production had begun at Chunxiao gasfield. The project includes an exploitation platform, a gas pipeline in the seabed, and a land-based terminal. At that point the field was believed to have the reserves of 70 billion cubic meters according to the official China Daily. Japan’s position, in short, is that China's tapping of Chunxiao gas and oilfield crosses the middle line of maritime space to obtain oil and gas, thus infringing on Japanese national interests.]

January 19:

The official China Daily has published an editorial entitled “Chongqing Example for Real Harmony,” affirming that Bo Xilai’s (the CPC Chongqing Committee Secretary) crackdown on organized crime and official corruption in Chongqing is enhancing China’s harmonious society and calling the campaign “a resolute fight for values” and “an effort to restore decency.” Scores are facing trial, including gang chiefs, officials and lawyers. Last week Bo met with 300 students from 27 colleges in Chongqing where he railed against those "sour remarks" criticizing him for “not handling things properly” and overseas reports claiming his campaign was politically motivated. "We won't listen to this kind of twisted reasoning," he said.

January 21:

A government-funded survey by The Center for Applied Linguistics shows that while thousands of American public schools have stopped teaching foreign languages, instruction of the Chinese language is on the rise. There are about 1600 American schools teaching Chinese, up from 300 a decade ago. The survey noted that in the U.S., the increase is not among the heritage communities or on the coasts, but in middle America, where there is not a large Chinese population. Since 2006 the Chinese Education Ministry’s Hanban (Chinese guest teacher program) has subsidized hundreds of visits by American educators to schools in China and many have started Chinese programs when they return to the U.S. Hanban recently financed a delegation of 400 American educators from 39 states. Since 2006, Beijing has also sent over 325 volunteer Chinese “guest teachers” to work in American schools and is paying $13,000 to subsidize each teacher’s salary for a year with a possible three-year renewal, the New York Times reports.