VZCZCXRO3761
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #0157/01 0210840
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210840Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7693
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 000157 
 
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: PREL ECON SENV KGHG KMDR OPRC CH
 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS, EXCHANGE RATE, YEMEN 
 
-------------------- 
  Editorial Quotes 
-------------------- 
 
¶1. U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS 
 
a. "The U.S. media slanders that China discriminates against Avatar" 
 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/21)(pg 1): "Zhang Hongsen, deputy director 
of the Bureau of Film, State Administration of Radio, Film and 
Television, denied that China has taken coercive measures to force 
the film 'Avatar' to be pulled from Chinese cinemas.  Its withdrawal 
was totally a market result.  The U.S. media's speculation has not 
yet faded, which makes the Chinese people, who were quite ardent 
about the film, very uncomfortable.  The Chinese people don't 
understand why it is so troublesome to deal with the U.S. and why 
the U.S. is so picky and unreasonable towards them.  The U.S. 
media's political interpretation amid the conflicts has shown their 
narrow-mindedness.  Zhao Guojun at the Shanghai Academy of Social 
Science said that watching a film is only an entertainment for the 
majority of Chinese people, and is not related to anything 
political.  The U.S. media should respect China's will to protect 
its national film industry.  A Swedish scholar also said that the 
dispute over Avatar shows that a fight between 'Avatar and 
Confucius' has begun.  With China's increasing strength, in the 
future, the West's confrontation with China may be commenced in 
various fields." 
 
b. "China can't be 'colonized in thoughts' by the West" 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/21)(pg 14): "A film critic said that 
'Eastern thought civilization is having a cultural collision with 
Western technological civilization.'  The remark is suitable to 
describe the recent commercial competition of two films, Avatar and 
Confucius.  It can also be used to describe the profound 
significance that Google's Internet technology has when impacting 
China's rule of law.  The West's leading technology seems to crush 
all resistance around the world, meanwhile China's cultural values, 
which the Chinese must safeguard in order to live, are also 
irresistible.  The two sides will fight for their final domain: the 
people's thoughts.  It is arrogance and an ignorance of China's 
history that some Westerners use to try to change the Chinese 
people's behavior and even westernize China's system.  China has 
possessed its own unique, persistent civilization and cultural 
immutability that no other nationality on the earth has ever 
realized.  China is not Hawaii, nor Iraq or Japan in the era of 
post-WWII.  China's modernization speed has gone beyond Westerner's 
expectations.  The time where Chinese thought led the world has been 
far longer than the time that the Western economy led the world.  As 
long as we all know these facts and give them some respect, we will 
completely give up the idea of trying to thoroughly reform China." 
 
¶2. EXCHANGE RATE 
 
"Why not amend the exchange rate to squeeze bubbles?" 
 
The Shanghai-based Shanghai Media Group (SMG) publication, China 
Business News (Diyi Caijing)(01/21)(pg 9): "The price distortion in 
interest rates and exchange rates in China's capital market have 
resulted in a series of problems.  The low exchange rate policy is 
very likely to make the economy suffer from 'economic development 
path dependency syndrome.'  It is not particularly suitable for 
China to develop an export-oriented economy, which, at least, will 
not last long in China, which is such a big country.  However, 
activating the domestic consumer market is easier said than done. 
The financial crisis, which has led to declining trade, provides a 
good chance for China to adjust; however, the current exchange rate 
maintained and even reinforced the existing economic pattern. 
Without effective tools, a breakthrough will be hard to come by. 
Amending the exchange rate will be the best resolution.  In fact, 
the low exchange and interest rates have jointly maintained the 
prosperity of the domestic capital market.  Changing the exchange 
rate distortion would be one way to fundamentally address China's 
internal problems, or at least be useful.  Amendments to the 
exchange rate should not be a gradual approach, otherwise more 
international capital will come in, and the liquidity of the central 
bank's hedging capitals will greatly increase, which will hardly 
effect change.  As a result the approach will be blowing bigger 
bubbles, which will bring a larger destructive effect." 
 
¶3. YEMEN 
 
"The Global Times reporter witnessed a chaotic Yemen" 
 
The official Communist Party international news publication Global 
Times (Huanqiu Shibao)(01/21)(pg 16): "If a war is started in Yemen, 
 
BEIJING 00000157  002 OF 002 
 
 
it will become the fourth counterterrorism battlefield following 
Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  As a result, when they seek more 
help, the U.S.' ties with its allies will become tense; the West's 
hatred with the Arab world will intensify and the U.S. will become 
even more passive in its global strategy.  Yemen is filled with 
sensational rumors.  Its society is quite hostile toward the West. 
Yin Zheng, a researcher at the Institute of Western Asian and 
African Studies at the China Academy of Social Science, said that 
Yemen's tribal system has so far been kept complete.  In fact every 
tribal member is more loyal to his tribe than to his country.  A 
Yemeni tribal committee leader said that fighting against Al Qaeda 
is the government's business and that we are not the government. 
Yemen has also played an important role as the 'Asia gate.'  60% of 
China's imported energy will pass through the Gulf of Aden.  If 
Yemen becomes chaotic, China's energy imports will be directly 
threatened." 
 
HUNTSMAN