September 21:
Virulent anti-Japanese sentiment is on the rise in China, again, after Japanese authorities arrested the captain and crew of a Chinese fishing trawler near the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. Chinese nationalists who arrived in Fujian province have been warned by public security authorities not to hire fishing vessels to sail to the islands, which are claimed by both Japan and China, the Apple Daily reports. Anti-Japanese protests have been reported in Beijing, Nanjing, Changsha and other places, but public security officers broke them up. Anti-Japanese hackers have targeted various websites including the Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the official Global Times reports. “The Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory. They have always been, and always will be!” one page declares in nine languages.
September 22:
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will head monthly meetings of the Shared Awareness and De-confliction or Shade, which includes 40 or so navies involved in the fight against pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The group, currently headed by the EU, NATO and the U.S.-led Combined Maritime Forces, accepted China's offer to act as co-chair, an unprecedented act of PLA diplomacy. But the group also wants a larger commitment from Beijing, which to date has only committed two destroyers and a supply ship. “It is not that China is expanding its military power. If China makes a promise to send six more destroyers we will be delighted. If it doesn't, well, a country contributes what it can afford to contribute. We only dislike countries that do send ships but only tend to their own interest,” said General David Leakey, who retired as Director General of the European Union Military Staff earlier this year in comments carried by the South China Morning Post.
September 23:
Strongly worded calls to guard Siberia’s resources from export to China and against Chinese immigration are finding voice in the mainstream Russian press. One recent article, entitled "China's Quiet Expansion," that appeared in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, directly challenged the current Sino-Russian approach enshrined in the September 2009, "Program of Cooperation Between Regions of the Far East and Eastern Siberia of the Russian Federation and the Northeast of the PRC (2009-2018)," calling it a “colonial format.” It said: “Russians extract timber, copper, tin, lead, titanium and other resources, while the processing and manufacturing production will be developed in China. First, resources will be plundered, the local population will be edged out, and the area will gradually be settled by Chinese. China is quick penetration into all corners of our vast land with their goods, exporting Russian raw materials and creating their own development centers. For the sake of supplying electrical energy to China, thousands of hectares of fertile lands will be ruined by coal strip-mines and dumps. Which would be accompanied by the full array of land, water and atmosphere contamination as well as contribute to global climate change.”
[Editor’s Note: Although the Sino-Russian military relationship has grown closer the commercial relationship remains strained. Russians regularly accuse illegal Chinese immigrants of smuggling and undercutting local prices and wages. Chinese accuse Russians of racism and mistreatment. If criticism of Russia’s large natural resource exports to China continues to grow it could further harm the tone of bilateral relations. Earlier this month, for instance, President Medvedev broke with Beijing on the issue of internet censorship.]
September 24:
People’s University in Beijing has kicked off its first semester of "anti-corruption" postgraduate courses taught by the CPC’s leading anti-graft officials. He Jiahong, deputy director of the university's criminal law research center said courses would be taught on advanced investigation techniques such as “how to obtain testimony from witnesses,” “the observation of facial expressions” and “lie-detection techniques.” Leading prosecutors of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) – China’s equivalent to the U.S. Justice Department – including Chen Lianfu, director of the SPP's Bureau of Anti-Embezzlement and Bribery, and seven other anti-graft prosecutors have been brought by Remin to teach their techniques and give guidance. The course has only 30 students and "plays a positive role in social anti-corruption," said Prof. Lin Zhe at the CPC Party School. All the students selected for the program “met strict criteria and were tested for aptitude,” the official Global Times reports.
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