August 7:
Enraged miners at the Collum coalmine in Zambia have killed the Chinese manager, Wu Shengzai, and wounded another Chinese representative. Wu was killed during a riot over a pay dispute when he tried to flee into the mine and workers shoved a coal trolley into him, the
[Editor’s Note: China has invested billions in African oil, metals and other resources. Last month, Beijing pledged to invest $20 billion in Africa over the next three years. But China’s expanding presence has prompted a growing backlash against its managers and traders.]
“A formula has been found to foil the U.S. unilateral sanctions” thus allowing China to maintain its oil purchase from Iran, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs, Abbas Araqchi, told the official news agency IRNA. “Any new limitation and sanction imposed by the U.S. and Europe might be effective in the short run but would immediately be foiled through Iran’s innovative ways and mutual cooperation because the other party [China] does not want to buy energy more expensively.” In response to concerns about the quality of Chinese imports to Iran Araqchi said China manufactures “high quality goods. They do not export low quality commodities to Iran; rather, our traders import low quality products.”
August 9:
At a government meeting on migration Dmitri Medvedev said Moscow fears the “negative manifestations” of the influx of Chinese migrants in Siberia and the Far East. The Russian Prime Minister said it was essential to defend the sparsely populated region against the threat of “excessive expansion by bordering states” and the “formation of enclaves of foreign citizens.” To counter-balance China’s growing influence in its Far East, Russia is boosting its political and military presence there, Reuters reports. This month the Kremlin deployed two new nuclear submarines to its Pacific Fleet. In May, Russia created a Ministry of the Far East to coordinate state programs in the region, including one that relocated 400 Russian families to the area. This year President Vladimir Putin said migrants must pass exams in Russian language and history.
August 10:
The official People’s Daily reports that a total of 300 delegates from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police (PAP) have been selected to the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The CPC Congress will include 251 PLA delegates and 49 from the PAP, including Central Military Commission (CMC) members and outstanding soldiers and military officers. The PLA appointees hail from military organizations, military commands and four PLA departments – the general office of the CMC, the Academy of Military Sciences, the National Defense University, and the National University of Defense Technology.
August 12:
To help “Taiwan strengthen itself and better understand all of China’s intentions” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has revived its China affairs department. “We need to work hard to understand China,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang said. “The people hope to see a good development of relations with China, but there must not only be one-sided expectations for friendliness. We must be careful.” Hung Lung-tsai, chief of the DPP’s new China department, said some within the DPP have called for changes to its cross-strait policy, but that would require an intra-party consensus. Hung said the department was established to enhance the DPP’s understanding of China and as a gesture of goodwill toward Beijing. Cross-strait issues are expected to help determine the DPP’s candidate for the 2016 presidential election and its chance of winning,
The China Post reports.
