China Urges Peace

With the developing threat of the Syrian crisis, China has been urging for a peaceful solution to end the violence in Syria. China has recently stated that they do not want armed intervention to bring the Syrian crisis to a violent end. China wants to be able to negotiate peaceful treaties to end the crisis. China plans on keeping peaceful negotiations by maintaining relationships with the Syrian government and the Arab League.

All of this negotiations and planning for dealing with the Syrian crisis have been lead by the United Nations. The United Nations Security Council recently put up a resolution to have a crackdown on the proptests in Syria. However, China and Russia have vetoed the resolution. China's goal in all of this is to not support the current Syrian government, as that would create even more issues with the protesters. China wants to control the furthering of any violence in Syria because armed intervention did not work well in Libya. To begin the process of peaceful negotiations, China wants to increase political dialogue and support of both sides of the argument. China is seeking to gain the help of other countries in this effort, by pushing for peace between Palestine and Israel.

Source: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/25/content_14690756.htm

Trade Relations Between China and Turkey

In a recent article from the China Daily News, we can understand that the trade cooperations between China and Turkey have progressed exponentially after a meeting between the Chinese vice president, Xi Jinping, and Turkish president, Abdullah Gul. According to Xi Jinping, we can expect that trade relations between the two countries will become more connected, as it is beneficial to both countries.

Turkey has been playing a large role in trying to maintain stability and course for development between foreign countries; this has led to Turkey playing a "vital role in global and regional affairs." The two countries, China and Turkey, will not only cooperate in trade relations, but also in combating terrorism around the world and safeguarding world peace.

There will, of course, be inevitable frictions between the two countries due to their statuses as two of the fastest growing economies of the world, growing competition between the two, and an overall economic slowdown across the globe. However, despite these frictions, the benefits that China will experience due to expansion of trade are also beneficial to Turkey. Strategically, the cooperation between the two countries will create a co-dependent or symbiotic system, where both countries can reap the benefits of their efforts (linkage in cooperation).

Source: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-02/22/content_14662629.htm

Wen Jiabao Stresses Reform for China

The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, says that he will continue to push for reform in China despite the problems that reform is currently facing. The premier believes that the only way for China to overcome its difficulties is to implement open reforms. His plans for managing this reform requires that China allow for self-governance of the rural administrations (such as with direct elections of village-level leadership and the need to ensure the voting rights of farmers). Wen wants local affairs to be dealt by the local governments, and in order to implement this, he seeks implementation of a strict legal system along with regulations for the elections. The strictness of these elections will allow for elections to become more transparent and allow for less corruption in leadership. The premier has placed focus on the rural governments because of the lack of reforms and building of corruption in those areas.

Reform is easier said than done. China has had trouble over the years in controlling the local/rural governments from electing or being taken over by poor leadership. The rural governments and their governing areas have faced many problems, mainly with the expropriation of farmland. "Land grabs" have occurred, in which companies have illegally (with authorization) taken farmland for their use. This has caused mass protests in China. Reform, of course, can control this issue, by ensuring the rights of the landowners and farmers. Reform will help protect from the illegal transfer of land by placing strict rules in place. This sort of reform will begin from the local governments to build a democratic form of government in China. Trying to set this system in place will be a major burden on the government, despite the Chinese Premier's strong belief in the program. Reforms cannot protect against rampant corruption within the Chinese government. However, these reforms will be a major advantage for the common man against the wealthy companies building on their lands. Farmers and small landowners will be able to protect their lands from illegal seizure. The government will also be able to organize the allocation of land by setting up separate sectors for spending within the local expenditures, as the article provided that China could allocate funding for "improving soil fertility of suburban land."

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-02/05/c_131392403.htm