MEDIA REACTION: NORTH KOREA, INDIA, CHINA'S SAVINGS RATE,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 001433 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: NORTH KOREA, INDIA, CHINA'S SAVINGS RATE, CLEAN ENERGY -------------- Editorial Quotes -------------- ¶1. NORTH KOREA "It is an inferior policy to pressure with a nuclear test" The official Xinhua News Agency international news publication International Herald Leader (Guoji Xianqu Daobao)(05/28): "The recent nuclear tests conducted by the DPRK may become a crucial step in future DPRK issues. The test shows that the DPRK has upgraded their 'warnings' into regular 'pressure tactics.' North Korea used a test satellite launch, in the first half of this year, to urge the U.S. to emphasize North Korea's issues and to begin conducting dialogue. However, the strategy did not have any obvious effect. North Korea's nuclear test has put further pressure on the U.S. and other major countries. However, neither pressuring with developed nuclear weapons, nor using distance missiles as a threat can really solve the impasse on the Korean peninsula. There is no better resolution than the Six Party Talks. The answer to the question: can North Korea's repetitive nuclear tests promote dialogue, is definite 'No'. North Korea's use of the nuclear test as a pressure tactic is an inferior policy decision for any party. Regional denuclearization doesn't focus on any specific country, but it will create a positive development environment for all of the countries in the region." ¶2. INDIA "The U.S. and India borrow military equipment from each other to contain China" The official Xinhua News Agency international news publication International Herald Leader (Guoji Xianqu Daobao)(05/28): "The U.S. and India have worked out a logistics agreement. In the future they will work together to gain combat efficiency. This will help India combat China and Pakistan. The U.S. can further depend on the agreement to help influnce the situation in the South Indian Ocean. The agreement can make the U.S. military's activities in the South Asia Sea and in the Indian Ocean more convenient. The U.S. and India can further depend on this agreement to further develop their military alliance. This 'military alliance-to-be' directly threatens China and Pakistan. In recent years, India has stepped away from traditional non-alliance policy making. This logistical agreement with the U.S. is a turning point. The protection and security of China's transportation lines in the Indian Ocean is becoming more urgent." ¶3. CHINA'S SAVINGS RATE "Savings: Pros weigh heavily against cons" The official English-language newspaper China Daily (05/29): "The government has decided to make domestic consumption the engine of sustained growth. But many people tend to confuse it with personal consumption. And industrial lobbies have been urging the government to issue preferential policies for the property sector and the auto industry to help boost consumption. ...The experience taught us that a high rate of savings should be viewed as a virtue, not as a vice. It's the inappropriate use of savings that is to blame for the economic ills of today. ... In the U.S., most people are addicted to credit cards and spending money they have not earned. Ironically the economic crisis has forced people to rely even more on credit cards to maintain their lifestyle, which in the first place they should not have acquired. ...Credit cards are a very recent phenomenon on the mainland. The danger is here, so we have to learn from other countries' experience to avoid similar mistakes, or sooner rather than later we will be facing the same crisis. ...We have to learn to make good use of our high savings rate, instead of encouraging the middle class to buy more houses and cars, and spend like there is no tomorrow. ...When welfare schemes make people feel more secure, they would be more willing to spend. The social and economic infrastructure will also ensure sustained economic growth. Proper channeling of savings into investment and social spending will enhance real private consumption in the long run. Higher savings will then imply higher investment and, in turn, higher GDP and a more robust growth. Without proper savings, a high private consumption rate will lead to disaster, as has been the case in many Western countries. If a high savings rate is as bad as many Western economics would like us to believe, then how come we have succeeded and they have failed to weather the economic storm?" ¶4. CLEAN ENERGY "Discussion concerning clean energy legislation in the United States; developing countries will likely become the excuse of their BEIJING 00001433 002 OF 002 opponents" Guangdong 21st Century Publishing Company Ltd.'s business newspaper 21st Century Business Herald (21Shiji Jingji Baodao)(05/29): "On May 21st, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Clean Energy and Security Act. The act promises that in 2020 the U.S. will reduce its greenhouse gas emission by 17% based on the amount of 2005. However, this commitment is apparently far from what Central Europe expects. This is the first time that the U.S. tried to promise its goals for greenhouse gas emission reductions legislatively. Currently, except the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Appropriations, most of the committees are not likely to change the content of the act. On May 26th, when Senator John Kerry, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, moderated the Sino-U.S. Clean Energy Forum, he stated that the U.S. has begun to accept the concept of same but differentiated responsibility. He thinks that different countries have different capabilities, but China should bring forward a mandatory goal of greenhouse gas emission reduction. Nevertheless, Qing Tai, Chinese Foreign Ministry Special Representative on Climate Change, stated that the challenges to climate change are the result of the uncontrollable emissions emitted when developed countries were progressing towards industrialization. The per capita amount of developed countries emissions is still higher than developing countries. We should tell these countries, explicitly, that we are the victims. As the problem makers, the developed countries don't have the right to ask us to accept the same responsibilities as they have. On this issue, involving their own interests, developing countries are not afraid of any pressure." PICCUTA