April 26,
2017

ISSUE
No. 97

AMS Weekly Newsletter
Dedicated to the development of the future stewards of U.S.-China relations
In this week's newsletter we focus on food security, Hu Jintao, Guo Wengui's interview with VOA, and our newest podcast episode.

Weekly Readings

China faces an immense challenge feeding 19% of the world's population on 7% of the world's arable land. The challenge comes, at least in part, from Beijing's view that the international market cannot be relied upon to provide the necessary food. What the Chinese government thinks needs to be done for food security, and the difficulty of actually executing that policy in the face of so many problems and contradictory directives at lower levels raises i mportant questions about Beijing's ability to manage its internal problems. This week's articles touch on a few of the various facets of China's food security problem and its responses.






***
F or a sense of scale in what the Chinese are considering national/state security issues, read this pseudonymous article on Xi Jinping's comprehensive security concept published for National Security Education Day: 


俗语 in Xi Jinping's Speeches

远见卓识
yuǎnjiànzhuóshí

Meaning: foresight and sagacity

It has been a quiet week for Xi's speeches, so we had to dig into the archives for this one. On September 29, 2016 Xi gave a speech at a meeting discussing the "Selected Works of Hu Jintao." Xi used this chengyu to praise Hu's expertise as a Marxist political thinker. There are a few other good chengyu in the original (below):
审时度势 (shěnshíduóshì),  呕心沥血 (ǒuxīnlìxuè), and 殚精竭虑  (dān jīnjié lǜ). 

Original:
胡锦涛同志以马克思主义政治家的远见卓识,紧紧依靠中央领导集体和全党同志,把握大局,审时度势,呕心沥血,殚精竭虑,为坚持和发展中国特色社会主义作出了杰出贡献。

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-09/29/c_1119649745.htm


Video of the Week  

This week's video is the bombshell interview that Guo Wengui gave to Voice of America and was cut off at the end. Guo spoke about the corruption of specific Chinese leaders, who he identified by name. He also claimed to have undertaken special tasks, such as dealing with the Dalai Lama, on behalf of and at the request of the Ministry of State Security. For whatever reasons, the billionaire-turned-exile has made his dispute with Beijing very personal and ve ry public.

Edited Clip of Highlights (17 minutes)

NEW AMS PODCAST EPISODE : After the Homework Stops: Retaining Mandarin Proficiency Throughout Your Career - Robert Daly 

A new AMS podcast episode featuring last week's event with Robert Daly has been published!  If  you have not already subscribed to AMS podcasts, you can do so  here.
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