The Abstracts of Vol.1,2014
Releasing Time：01.16.2014Source：
The New Situation of Re-balance in the Asian-Pacific Region and Its Prospect
Zhao Gancheng
The Asian-Pacific region is the center of world growth and is in the process of power “re-balancing”. The return of the U.S. to East Asia is the result of power structural change within the region rather than the initial motivation. All the variables emerged from the development process in East Asia requested that the power centers within the region design a regional security framework together. China has responded positively to such request and taken it as first priority in her policy toward the Asian-Pacific region to prevent the intensification of disputes and the outbreak of large scale military conflicts. But, under the present circumstances of continuing power structure change, China is faced with tremendous challenges, the biggest of which may come from Japan, in reaching her goals.
Diversified Africa: Political, Security and Economic Development in 2013
He Wenping
In 2013, the situation in Africa showed itself as such: in politics, the consciousness of independent development was further strengthened, with emphasis laid on self-improvement, ownership and safeguarding its dignity; in security, Africa still had to seek assistance from the West and as a result, how to keep balance between “self peacekeeping” and “outside interference” and maximize the maintenance the its sovereignty and interest has become a major issue for Africa to resolve; in economy, growth was kept through the policy of “Looking to the East” and close association with the emerging economies in Asia, with Sub-Saharan Africa maintaining a 5-6% annual economic growth, which is much higher than the World average growth of 3-4%. 2013 also saw further and smooth development of Sino-African relationship.
The Situation of 2013 in East Asia
Zhou Yongsheng
In 2013, East Asia witnessed ups and downs in its regional situation. In Korean Peninsula, the situation was tense in the first half of the year, which only relaxed gradually in the second half. Frequent frictions occurred between China and Japan, which deepened their hostility to each other and may further damage their relationship. China and ASEAN enjoyed significant development in their economic cooperation and trade under the framework of the FTA, despite some political, security and territorial disputes between them as China saw to the interest and concerns of ASEAN from an overall perspective, which further promoted the development of their relationship. The historical development of China-Vietnam maritime cooperation would set a good example for resolving the South China Sea issue.
An Analysis of Japan’s New National Defense Program Outline
Sheng Xin XuLili
Japan’s new National Defense Program Outline, which aroused much concern of the world, has been issued with the approval of Japan’s National Security Council and Cabinet meeting. The new outline, which will serve as the guidelines for Japan’s military construction over the next ten years, reflected Japan’s appraisal of the security situation and the development orientation of Japan’s new military strategy and defense force build-up. As the new outline is a revision by the Abe regime of the 2010 edition “outline” issued by the Democratic Party government, it is more “aggressive” and we should not only pay attention to it, but also keep alert.
The structural Cause of Thailand’s Continuous Political Turmoil and Its Prospects
Zhou Fangye
This article analyses the causes of Thailand’s continuous political turmoil over the recent years from the perspective of functional relations between “interest structure, power structure and system structure”, deeming that there are three obstacles that influence the political reconciliation, namely that stock reform has caused divergence of interest, political alignment needs to be “re-balanced” and constitutional system lacks democratic consultation. The article also pointed out that strategic cooperation between China and Thailand would be conducive to bridging social rifts during Thailand’s “incremental reform” so as to sequentially promote political reconciliation in a smooth way.
The Changes of Importance of the U.S. African Strategy in Its National Security Strategy
Cui Ge
Since the end of the Second World War, the importance of the U.S. African strategy has experienced ups and downs. During the Cold War, Africa was much marginalized and only taken as an area in support of implementing American global strategy. In the wake of the Cold War, the importance of Africa decreased, as it lost its value in the strategic contention between the U.S. and Soviet Union. From the mid 1990s on, as African economy was getting better and the threat of terrorism was rising, the importance of Africa was picking up again. 9/11 terrorist attack has fundamentally changed American diplomatic process. As the U.S. has worried that the “failed states” and “unmanaged areas” in Africa might become the “breeding ground” for terrorism, it has viewed Africa with high priority and American African strategy was taken into its national security strategy for the first time.
The Changes of Germany’s African Strategy since the End of the Cold War and Its New Development Trend
Liu Zhongwei
In the wake of the Cold War, Germany’s African strategy experienced two phases, namely marginalization in the 1990s and major adjustment since 9/11. Whereas, the African Policy Paper of Germany, issued in 2011, reflected not only Germany’s new thinking of its relationship with Africa, but also new features and development trends of its African strategy. The changes of Germany’s African strategy and its success in managing its relationship with Africa may provide some revelation for China to develop her relationship with Africa.
New Development in Sino-African Financial Cooperation
Zhang Chunyu, Tang Jun
Generally speaking, the financial sector development of African countries is uneven and has become diversified in its need of cooperation with the outside world, faced with serious financing gap for development. Recently, Chinese financial institutions has stepped up the speed of entering Africa and achieved significant success in Sino-African financial cooperation, which has resulted in areas expanding, projects diversifying and levels rising. In the next few years, Chinese financial institutions, both policy and non-policy, will further expand their business with African countries, which would accelerate the development of cooperation in banking, securities and insurance sub-sectors, and cross-border RMB business would become an advantageous growth point of Chinese financial institutions operating in Africa.
The Revelation of Dubai’s City Transformation for China: An Initial Analysis
Jia Hongmin, Che Xiaomei
The City of Dubai has quickly transformed itself from an oil resource type to a tourism-business type. The advanced idea of city, the pursuit of city accessibility and the farsightedness of its leaders have provided the conditions for Dubai’s successful transformation. The resource type cities in Shanxi are quite similar to Dubai when it first arose as a city of oil resource type, and have similar internal resources and external environment for transformation. As a result, studying the experience and lessons of Dubai’s successful transformation is of significant reference to the development of cities in Shanxi.