'Sanctions won't hinder Iran-China trade'

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221086.html

China has once again condemned the United States' unilateral sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying the US is seeking to internationalize its unilateral sanctions.

On Saturday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry says Beijing will maintain its normal cooperation with Tehran in the areas of energy and trade.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry made the announcement in response to Washington's decision to impose sanctions on a Chinese company for trading with Iranian firms.

Zheng Mei, a representative of the Zhuhai Zhenrong company, told the Legal Mirror newspaper, “The sanctions don't make any difference to our company's business.”

On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a press briefing that Beijing will maintain its trade ties with the Islamic Republic despite efforts by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to convince Beijing to join an embargo of Iranian oil.

Liu added that China, as “a major developing country,” would continue importing Iranian oil to meet its “reasonable demand for energy.”

“We have repeatedly stated that China has normal and transparent energy cooperation with Iran, and that does not violate Security Council resolutions,” the Chinese spokesman noted.

Iran exported about 622,000 barrels of oil per day to China in November 2011, maintaining its place as the third largest crude supplier to the East Asian country.

The United States recently announced plans to attempt to impose a worldwide boycott on the Central Bank of Iran over the country's nuclear program in an apparent effort to punish foreign companies and banks that conduct business with the Iranian financial institution.

China sees militarism in Obama's new strategy

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/219821.html

China's state news agency warned against growing U.S. militarism, citing President Obama's new military spending strategy, which Chinese experts see as an effort to encircle them and reduce their influence in the region.

A number of news stories in China focused on this story, with a Chinese newspaper owned by the nation's ruling Communist Party warned against “appeasement” of the U.S. and urged China's military to adopt an “assertive” policy in response.

President Obama's strategy has been presented primarily as a “cut” in the U.S. media, even though it amounts to an overall spending increase. It reduces the number of ground troops but increases spending on both warplanes and naval power.

The change, particularly the increased focus on naval power, is seen by the Chinese as focusing on an inevitable intervention in the South China Sea, where China is in an ongoing dispute with other nations over some key islands. Antiwar

FACTS & FIGURES

The military strategy that President Barack Obama unveiled January 5 will lead to a smaller force in the Army and Marines and a shift to counter China's military might. USA Today

President Obama said the United States will strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific region even as it cuts billions of dollars from overall defense spending. VOA

Administration officials have said they expect Army and Marine Corp personnel levels to be reduced by 10 percent to 15 percent over the next decade as part of the reductions. Reuters

The strategy emphasizes high-tech surveillance and drones, and the use of special forces to assist foreign militaries to quell conflicts. The U.S. nuclear force may also shrink. usatoday.com

China has warned the United States over its new military strategy, which includes a shift in focus to the Asia-Pacific region. globalpost.com

.. while boosting its military presence in the Asia-Pacific, the United States should abstain from flexing its muscles, as this won't help solve regional disputes. If the United States indiscreetly applies militarism in the region, it will be like a bull in a china shop, and endanger peace instead of enhancing regional stability. Xinhua

The FY 2012 budget requests a total of $676 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD). The base budget for DoD includes $553 billion in discretionary funding and $5 billion in mandatory funding, and an additional $118 billion is requested for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The budget request also includes $19 billion for defense-related atomic energy programs and $8 billion for defense-related activities in other agencies, bringing the total national defense budget to $703 billion. businessinsider.com

Adjusting for inflation, the level of funding proposed for the base defense budget in the FY 2012 request is the highest level since World War II, surpassing the Cold War peak of $531 billion (in FY 2012 dollars) reached in FY 1985. businessinsider.com

The United States spent $728 billion on its military in 2010, about 45% of the world’s $1.6 trillion total. U.S. spending amounts to more than the next fourteen largest military spending countries combined. In fact, the U.S. spends nearly 6 times more than the next largest military spender, China. In addition, most of the top-spending countries are American allies. antiwar.com

What is being proposed (as military cuts) are minor reductions in the rate of growth in projected defense spending. antiwar.com

China warns US on new military strategy

US naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219773.html

China's state media has criticized the United States' major strategic shift into Asia-Pacific, accusing Washington of being a troublemaker responsible for tensions in the region.

"While boosting its military presence in the Asia-Pacific, the United States should abstain from flexing its muscles, as this won't help solve regional disputes," said an editorial published by China's state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday.

Xinhua warned that any American militarism in the Asia-Pacific region will “endanger peace instead of enhancing regional stability.”

The warning came a day after US President Barack Obama unveiled a defense strategy to expand the country's military presence in the Asia-Pacific and switch the Pentagon's focus to the Far East.

Obama claimed on Thursday that while the US military is in a "moment of transition" after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the government will "maintain our military superiority."

China is concerned that Washington's new defense posture is aimed at encircling Beijing. There are riding concerns in the United States about China's growing military stature during the recent years both in size and capabilities.

West scrambling to divide China: Hu

Chinese President Hu Jintao

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/219077.html

Chinese President Hu Jintao has warned against efforts by the Western countries to “westernize and divide” China through “cultural warfare.”

"Hostile international powers are strengthening their efforts to westernize and divide us," Hu said in an article published on the latest edition of the ruling Communist Party's magazine on Monday.

President Hu urged China's Communist Party to meet the "growing spiritual and cultural demands of the people" in a bid to fight the "hostile international powers."

"We must be aware of the seriousness and complexity of the struggles and take powerful measures to prevent and deal with them," the Chinese leader warned.

He also accused the West of using its international culture to target China's "ideological and cultural fields.”

Hu's warning comes as Western cultural events such as the Valentine's Day are growing in popularity among the Chinese.

In an effort to counter the Western media propaganda, China has allocated a 45-billion-yuan (£4 billion) budget to expand its overseas media, including the US and UK edition of the state-run China Daily, the state news agency Xinhua and China Central Television's (CCTV).