The New Three Kingdoms

China Newsweek
January 20

China's three IT giants—Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu—have reigned in their own realms separately in the past decade, just like the tale in the Chinese classic: Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Alibaba has focused on E-commerce, Tencent on social networking, and Baidu on its search engine.

However, this situation has begun to collapse with the emergence of WeChat, a mobile messaging app created by Tencent three years ago. WeChat not only guards its own realm, but also constantly flies to the neighboring kingdoms. Obviously, Alibaba and Baidu can't stand Tencent's moving ahead in this regard. A war is about to occur between the three giants.

As predicted by a Chinese business leader, the future of the Internet world belongs to the forerunner who can capture "three-hour fragment time." The three-hour fragment time refers to the time that people have per day outside of sleep, work, dining, socializing and taking care of their family. These three hours are scattered throughout many periods including commuting to and from work.

The integration of the three-hour fragment time with 4G networks and smartphones has already created big changes in business. All IT companies are now seeking to take a lead in the mobile Internet field.

If someone can take this lead, even if they had nothing before, they can still harvest a land of gold. On the contrary, even if you are doing extremely well, you will still meet failure if you lag behind. With the introduction of 4G mobile networks, a new war has kicked off.

Public Servants' Income Transparency

Yangtze Evening News
February 10

Public servants are typically regarded as being well-paid. But now, some governmental officials, particularly those at township level, have begun to complain that their salaries are lower than common workers.

But such complaint does not garner much support. Most people argue that public service positions are steadier than average workers and that they have more hidden income and better welfare benefits. The contradictory opinions on the salary standard of public servants reflect the necessity to make their income transparent to the public. Actually, government employees at the township level are not as well paid as people think. However, most people are not aware of the fact due to a lack of transparency.

The transparency of governmental workers' income disclosures is helpful for dispelling widespread misunderstanding and preventing local governments from paying welfare to their employees recklessly. What's more, knowing the income of public servants is a right of the public. Furthermore, transparent information of public servants will help improve the salary system for them, thereby quelling complaints among the public.

Advertising Forced Marriage

The Beijing News
February 10

Recently, an advertisement video clip produced by a dating service provider has stirred controversy. In the video clip, a young girl in a wedding dress, with tears in her eyes, tells her grandma who is gravely ill that she finally getting married after years of waiting.

Thousands of netizens condemned the video, saying the ad failed to take into account the feelings of unmarried people. It seems to imply unmarried adults should apologize to their parents. Marriage is a personal choice, but the video clip equates marriage with kinship and family ties. It suggests that being unmarried is not in accordance with filial duties. Thus, the ad attracted a negative response of the public.

Today, many single people are forced to attend blind dates as parents persuade them to get married as early as possible. In such circumstances, forced marriage is inevitable for some . Although forced marriage reflects parents' care for their adult sons and daughters, it violates freedom of personal choice and can even lead to family tragedy.

China's Naval Capability

Oriental Outlook
January 16

In 2013, the Chinese navy's offshore training and drills have become the focus of media attention. Headlines such as "China sails through the first island chain" have been frequently seen, highlighting the capabilities of the Chinese navy. The "first island chain" refers to the first major archipelagos off the East Asian continental mainland, including the Japanese archipelago, Ryukyu Islands, China's Taiwan and the northern Philippines.

However, China should not be satisfied with its recent achievements. Given the country's vast territory and economic development needs, the Chinese navy will undertake more non-war military actions and the Chinese navy's current combat ability on the open sea shows there is still a long way to go. This ability requires far more than a single ship or a single airplane's ability to reach an area. It calls for comprehensive combat ability and for the corresponding tasks to be completed successfully.

From the perspective of hardware, take the example of the navy's recent escort mission to the Gulf of Aden: once a conflict occurs, without a cover from the air by the aviation, the probability for survival of the fleet is quite small. That's why we need comprehensive combat ability. In terms of software, more are needed, including logistics and technical support, mental adaptation, meteorological and hydrographic knowledge and so on.

The major method for China to realize its future development goals is still economic development. Military force is just a guarantee, but not the major means for when China strives to achieve its strategic goal. From this point of view, the world should be reassured and need not worry about China's development in its open sea and ocean combat ability.