VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBJ #1778 1800941
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 290941Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4855
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS BEIJING 001778 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/CM, EAP/PA, EAP/PD, C 
HQ PACOM FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR (J007) 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR CH PREL ECON
 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: CHINA POLICY, MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS, 
INTERNET CENSORSHIP 
 
-------------------- 
  Editorial Quotes 
-------------------- 
 
¶1. CHINA POLICY 
 
"China needs to learn to create alliances" 
 
The official Xinhua News Agency international news publication 
International Herald Leader (Guoji Xianqu Daobao)(06/29): "Recently, 
the U.S. and Europe made a move to file a petition to WTO over 
China's production and export restriction on rare earth.  Europe and 
the U.S. seldom take WTO actions against a third party, but now 
China is facing this odd situation.  What we don't know is, is this 
an accident?  Or, are they deliberately aligned together?  We will 
have to be cautious because they may challenge China again on some 
other issues in the future. Three lessons for China to learn from 
this: Firstly, being a WTO member doesn't mean that the 
international economic environment will always be in our favor. 
Secondly, Chinese economic regulators need to be aware of the 
political consequences of their specific economic policies. 
Thirdly, as shown in this case, China should understand that it 
needs to create alliances not only for diplomacy and security 
purposes, but also for its economic relations." 
 
¶2. MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS 
 
"Obama's Middle East policy is still in the test phase" 
 
The Beijing-based newspaper, The Beijing News (Xin Jing Bao), 
sponsored by the official intellectual publication, Guangming Daily, 
and Guangdong Provincial official publication Nanfang Daily (06/29): 
"Now is not the time for the U.S. to fully promote Middle East 
peace.  Washington does not have the luxury of fulfilling its 
promises to the Islamic world until the economy recovers.  To better 
react to the provocations from Iran, the U.S. needs to create an 
atmosphere of national reconciliation in Iraq.  It's very obvious 
that the Iraq peace process has to be done in both political and 
economical scenes.  When the political aspect is not improving, the 
strategic importance of economic recovery is more critical.  In 
Obama's first term, he will try to maintain the relationship with 
the Islamic world while pushing forward the peace talks with Iran, 
in order not to make the situation in the Middle East worse.  If he 
can win a second term, he will achieve more in establishing a 
Palestinian state and other issues. " 
 
¶3. INTERNET CENSORSHIP 
 
"Western countries complicated China's intent to install ' Green 
Dam'" 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao) (06/29): "First of all, the Western countries 
did this out of their economic interests.  The U.S. government 
intervenes in any action that might damage the interests of its IT 
industry, fearing that such restrictions will drive the U.S. IT 
companies out of the China market;  Second, to politicize this issue 
is a more favorable choice to the Western countries. Thirdly, the 
global financial crisis makes China look good, which makes the 
United States and other Western countries feel unhappy.  They want 
to catch this opportunity to regain the initiative.  This is very 
important to the United States. 
China's regulations over their networks are not the most radical 
when compared with some other countries like South Korea, Singapore 
or even France.  However, Western countries often criticize China 
most severely.  China is a big country and has a great potential to 
become the next superpower.  That's why Western countries are more 
concerned about China.  Western countries keep playing up this 
matter on account of China's different ideology. 
The United States and other Western countries' noise about this 
matter are closely related to the current situation in China.  At 
present, China is very strong grass-roots democratic society, 
speculating about this matter could draw the echo of some Chinese 
netizens.  From the response of the Western countries we can see 
that the future management of the Internet in China may face greater 
challenges.  China must be prepared to deal with the international 
pressure." 
 
 
GOLDBERG