November 3,
2014

ISSUE
No. 28

AMS Weekly Newsletter
Supporting the development of the future stewards of U.S.-China relations
Announcing our "Close Read" series!

To complement our Chinese-Language policy lecture events, we are starting a new series called "Close Read." We will pick an important text (policy document, speech, article, etc.) and organize a discussion session around it. Discussion will be primarily in English, but participants should all have read the original Chinese document in preparation for the event.  We hope to organize these not only in Washington D.C., but also in other cities and communities where there is interest. We will be sending out details in the next couple days on our first Close Read for next week. Stay tuned!

Weekly Readings
 
Since it was just Halloween, we present our "spooky" readings for the week. The Chinese arrests earlier this year of a Canadian couple living on Sino-North Korean border and due diligence investigators working for Glaxo-Smith-Kline mark a new era. In the last week, the National People's Congress revised the National Security Law, strengthening the counterespionage provisions of Chinese law, placing a ban on spy equipment (which can include purely protective equipment for companies), and highlighting collusion with any foreign organization in possession of the still vaguely-defined state secrets as espionage. The top half of the readings cover the new Counterespionage Law and the bottom half provides relevant background to Chinese concerns.





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Weibo Watch

As young adults in China, many of them only children, move to big cities for school and work, many leave their parents behind. What begins as an adventure into adulthood could result in tragedy. In Jiaxing, Zhejiang, one young man's father passed away, leaving his mother unable to care for herself. Helpless, she eventually died of thirst and hunger. The son, working in Shanghai, had not been able to get a call through to his parents in three weeks.

On the trending Weibo discussion page "Empty Nesters Pass on One After the Other" (#空巢老人双双离世#), users "PK" whether the son should have gone home when no one answered the phone, or if the government should somehow be responsible in this case. Most voters think the son should have been responsible. "This is my fear," writes Angela安吉拉727. "I've had a dream like this all month, so I call home every day and have a video call every evening. On the weekends, I rush back home."

Documentary of the Week

In the Spring, President Xi Jinping gave a speech in Berlin hosted by the Koerber Foundation----one of Germany's largest non-governmental organizations concerned with foreign affairs. The Koerber Foundation also persuaded the Chinese side to allow two unscripted questions. Today's video is Xi's speech about China's place in the world without dubbing, subtitles, or any other aids.


Event tomorrow in D.C.

Join us tomorrow, November 4, at 5:30pm for a lecture (in Chinese) by Dr. Ji-Jen Hwang entitled "Viewing Cyber Strategy from the Perspective of Chinese Strategic Culture." This is bound to be a fascinating talk and discussion so we hope to see you there! RSVP here.

Dr. Ji-Jen Hwang is a visiting fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. A native of Taiwan, he holds a Ph.D. in politics from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, as well as a masters in library science & information studies from the University of North Carolina. Before joining CSIS in September 2014, he was an associate professor at the Institute of Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Taiwan.


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