Caucus Brief: China's Communist Party Turns 90

CHINA'S COMMUNIST PARTY TURNS 90.  China's ruling Communist Party has mobilized nationwide ceremonies and non-stop media coverage to mark its 90^th anniversary today.  Chinese television has been running documentaries about the party's history, and the new Chinese National Museum has opened an exhibition called the "Road to Rejuvenation."  From the NYT: "The official treatment of these events is clear: maintain a strong institutional apparatus and remain vigilant against inner-part usurpers and foreign saboteurs.  Thus, even in the midst of an anniversary celebration, the party's continuing inability to honestly and fully confront its past speaks volumes about its past and future.  It is symptomatic of existing insecurities."  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/opinion/01iht-edshambaugh01.html

CHINA'S COMMUNIST PARTY'S 90^TH BIRTHDAY IN PHOTOS.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304450604576417930393076832.html

CHINA MILITARY TELLS VIETNAM TO COOL TEMPERS OVER S. CHINA SEA. 
A senior Chinese military officer has called on Vietnam to cool public ire and avoid escalating tension between the two nations.  These comments were published in a Chinese state-run newspaper and did not address specific recent events in the South China Sea.  From the officer's comments: "stop allowing developments to escalate and fester, and avoid complicating problems so they expand and become multilateral and internationalized."  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/30/china-vietnam-sea-idUSL3E7HU0B620110630

CHINA AND U.S. ARMS RACING IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC.  A piece from the International Assessment and Strategy Center provides a timeline of China's military modernization and argues that China is treating its technological advancement as an arms race with the U.S. for control of Taiwan and influence in Asia.  From the piece: "In the last two years or so, this level of sustained military investment has enabled the People's Liberation Army to begin fielding military capabilities that could severely constrain the ability of the United States to defend its strategic interests or its friends and allies.  In fact, the United States is now in a multi-front arms race with China."  http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.247/pub_detail.asp

CHINA AND PAKISTAN BUILDING AN ALLIANCE.  A new piece from the FT describes how Pakistan has turned into a "battleground between ebbing U.S. and surging Chinese influence."  The piece discusses recent comments from Lieutenant General K.T. Patnaik, the head of India's northern command in which the General maintains that Chinese soldiers were stationed on the highly disputed line that divides the territory of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.  From the piece: "The general's fears reflect a widespread unease in the world's largest democracy about what is seen as a stealthy Chinese annexation of neighboring Pakistan, which is now front and center of an intensifying strategic rivalry across the Himalayas."  http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/417a48c4-a34d-11e0-8d6d-00144feabdc0.html

CHINA SAYS NAVY DRILLS NOT LINKED TO SEA DISPUTES.  The Chinese military has announced that its six recent naval exercises are "routine" and are unrelated to simmering tensions in the South China Sea.  China's defense ministry spokesman's comments: "China hopes all parties will treat the Chinese navy's normal exercises in an objective and rational way."  http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=6965042&c=ASI&s=TOP

INEQUALITY IN CHINA: RURAL POVERY PERSISTS AS URBAN WEALTH BALLOONS.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13945072

SUDANESE LEADER IS WELCOMED IN VISIT TO CHINA.  The President of Sudan, who is currently facing an indictment by an international court on war crimes and genocide charges, met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and reviewed an honor guard in Beijing.  Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, called Mr. Hu "a friend and brother" as he was hosted in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.  President Bashir was delayed one day because his aircraft was not permitted to cross the airspace of Central Asian nations obligated by treaty to enforce an arrest warrant issues by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/asia/30china.html

U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS BOSS CHIDES CHINA FOR NOT ARRESTING SUDANESE PRESIDENT.  http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE75T3FO20110630

CHINA OPENS WORLD'S LONGEST SEA BRIDGE NEAR QINGDAO.  China has opened the world's longest sea bridge to general traffic.  The bridge is 26.3 miles long, and replaces the former longest bridge the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13976281

The Caucus Brief is a daily publication for Members of Congress and Hill Staffers on China news and information compiled by the office of Congressman Randy Forbes, Founder of the Congressional China Caucus.  Email Reed.Eckhold@mail.house.gov with tips, comments, or to subscribe/unsubscribe.