BEIJING — China pledged to tackle problems which threaten to alienate the country's growing middle class and aspirational masses as its once-in-a-decade changing of the guard at the top of the country’s government got under way.

"We should unwaveringly combat corruption, strengthen political integrity, establish institutions to end the excessive concentration of power and lack of checks on power and ensure that officials are honest, government is clean and political affairs are handled with integrity,"said China's outgoing premier Wen Jiabao at the China’s National People’s Congress (NPC).

---

Wen on Tuesday enumerated major domestic challenges that have caused public discontent in recent years — air pollution, toxic factories, tainted food and abuses of power — and pledged more resources to environmental protection and public welfare. His speech was a tacit admission that quality of life had been sidelined by a focus on breakneck economic growth.

"We are keenly aware we still face many difficulties and problems in our economic and social development," said the premier, whose family was accused in a New York Times report late last year of amassing billions of dollars in assets. 

While the Chinese leadership also announced a boost in defense spending, the focus of this year’s Congress appeared to be decidedly domestic.

Widening inequality and a more discontented middle class were the big issues facing new leaders, said Damien Ma, analyst at the Paulson Institute, an independent think-tank.

"The problem is whether China can address the costs of that growth and seriously face the growing social cleavages that such growth has wrought," he said.  

The rhetoric about improving the quality of life was not new, said Susan Shirk, an expert on Chinese politics and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton administration.

"The ... government talked about it every year at the NPC for the past 10 years," she said.

It was also unclear how far the government could go to address worries over extraordinary high levels of pollution and food safety, experts said.

A boost in budget for forces tasked with maintaining the peace at home was worth note, said Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of "China in the 21st Century."

China's public security budget will reach $32.6 billion, an increase of 7.9 percent, which will "improve the mechanism for ensuring funding for primary-level ... judicial and public security departments," according to a Ministry of Finance report.

A big challenge for the government, and a possible impediment to addressing environmental concerns, will be the need to maintain high rates of economic growth, according to experts. 

"The government will struggle to reconcile its environmental agenda with the resource-intensive urbanization program that is set to underpin economic growth," said Nicholas Consonery of political-risk consulting firm Eurasia.

To boost domestic consumption and mitigate the widening rich-poor divide, China plans to migrate hundreds of millions of farmers to the cities in the next ten years. With higher incomes, the urban middle class will boost domestic consumption which will underpin future economic growth. 

In addition to promising to grapple with environmental and social welfare issues, the government announced a 10.7 percent increase to its military budget, continuing the double digit increases seen in the last two decades, even as the country appeared set to see its lowest economic growth in years. 

A new aircraft carrier and stealth fighter bombers would be added to the military amid escalating maritime disputes with Japan and other Asian neighbors, the NPC announced.

The defense modernization will help to ”resolutely uphold China’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” Wen said during his last work report after ten years at the helm of China’s Cabinet.

The move is seen as attempt of the new leadership headed by Party chief and incoming President Xi Jinping to project strength and forge strong ties with China’s military, a major base of support. China is now the world’s second biggest military spender with $114 billion, after the United States which spent $633 billion last year.

The ongoing military buildup was not cause for alarm, Shirk said.

“The increase is consistent with past budgets... Roughly in line with economic growth. Not a massive military buildup,” she said.

Related:

Chinese ex-police detained while trying to stamp out corruption

Notorious drug lord executed by China over 'Golden Triangle' smuggling, hijackings

China's Anti-Corruption Drive Hits New Year Sales

GUANGZHOU, China — Scores of supporters of one of China's most liberal newspapers demonstrated outside its headquarters on Monday in a rare protest against censorship, backing an unusual strike by journalists against interference by the provincial propaganda chief. 

The protest in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, came amid an escalating standoff between the government and the people over press freedom. It is also an early test of Communist Party Chief Xi Jinping's commitment to reform. 

---

Negotiations between journalists and officials, whom the protesters held responsible for replacing a New Year's letter to readers that called for a constitutional government with another piece lauding the party's achievements, continued into the night, a senior journalist who asked not to be named told NBC News.

 

Police allowed the demonstration outside the headquarters of the Southern Group, illustrating that the Guangdong government, led by new appointee and rising political star Hu Chunhua, wants to tread carefully to contain rising public anger over censorship. 

The protesters, most of them young, laid down small handwritten signs that said "freedom of expression is not a crime" and "Chinese people want freedom."

China Nobel winner Mo Yan likens censorship to airport security

Many clutched yellow chrysanthemums, symbolizing mourning the death of press freedom. 

"The Nanfang (Southern) Media Group is relatively willing to speak the truth in China, so we need to stand up for its courage and support it now," Ao Jiayang, a young NGO worker with bright orange dyed hair, told Reuters. 

"We hope that through this we can fight for media freedom in China," Ao said. "Today's turnout reflects that more and more people in China have a civic consciousness."

The U.S. State Department on Monday weighed in on the popular agitation for freer speech in China.

"We believe that censorship of the media is incompatible with China’s aspirations to build a modern information-based economy and society," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, speaking to reporters at the daily department briefing. "It is, of course, interesting that we now have Chinese who are strongly taking up their right for free speech, and we hope the government’s taking notice."

Could expand
Chen Ziming, a Beijing-based political analyst who spent years in prison for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, said the protests could get worse if authorities ignore the protesters demands.

"I am concerned … that the leaders concerned may not have the boldness and the capability to push for more reform," he told NBC News. "If the problem is not handled properly, there is the danger that it will expand and worsen."

The non-profit watchdog group Reporters without Borders ranked China at 174th out of 179 spots in its 2011-2012 press freedom index. The United States ranked 47th in the annual report, six rungs above Hong Kong, a former British colony which is administered separately from China's mainland.

"China, which has more journalists, bloggers and cyber-dissidents in prison than any other country, stepped up its censorship and propaganda in 2011 and tightened its control of the Internet, particularly the blogosphere," the group said in a report about the rankings.

The attention paid to the protest domestically highlights the unique position of Guangdong, China's wealthiest and most liberal province and the birthplace of the country's "reform and opening up" program. In a symbolic move, Xi chose to go to Guangdong on his first trip after being anointed party chief in November.

Mo Yan's Nobel win celebrated —and panned — in China

"That this is happening in Guangdong, a trendsetter of China’s reform, is cause for worry," Bao Tong, the highest ranking party official sent to prison for sympathizing with the 1989 pro-democracy movement, told NBC News.

"If Guangdong regresses, then it will be a setback for the reform pioneered by Xi Zhongxun," he said, referring to the father of new Party chief Xi Jinping who was once Guangdong’s governor.

Revelations of vast fortune held by Chinese leader's family may hurt Communist Party image

Talking to NBC News by telephone from his Beijing home where he remains under virtual house arrest, Bao said China’s new leaders recently called for protecting the constitution and rule of law.

"What the journalists did was to support the call of the new leaders, and the leaders should be happy, not unhappy," he said.

Several open letters have circulated on the Internet calling for the Guangdong propaganda chief, Tuo Zhen, to step down, blaming him for muzzling the press. 

 

 

 Photographs on microblogs showed banners that said "if the toxin of Tuo isn't removed ... Guangdong will be castrated." 

"Not since the time of reform and opening up and the founding of China has there been someone like Tuo Zhen," Yan Lieshan, a retired veteran editor at the Southern Weekly newspaper, told Reuters by telephone. "He's too arrogant. He has gone overboard and constantly violates regulations." 

Xiao Shu, a former prominent commentator at the Southern Weekly, said Tuo required that journalists submit topics for him to approve and that he yanked issues that he disliked. 

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

"These details illustrate one problem: that he has established within the Guangdong media a system of prior censorship of the press," Xiao said, calling for Tuo's removal. 

Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked. 

China shut the website of a leading pro-reform magazine on Friday, apparently because it ran an article calling for political reform and constitutional government, sensitive topics for the party which brooks no dissent.

NBC News' Eric Baculinao, Le Li, Kari Huus and Reuters contributed to this report. 

More world stories from NBC News:

• US drone strikes kill at least 18 Pakistani militants, sources tell NBC
• Assad gives defiant speech as Syrian rebels edge closer to Damascus
• Chavez ally re-elected, cementing position as possible caretaker president
• 'Nobody helped us for an hour,' Indian rape witness says
• 'Strong young woman': Taliban shooting victim Malala leaves hospital
• ANALYSIS: Is peace really in the air in Afghanistan?
• Drug-resistant malaria threatens deadly global 'nightmare'
• From alcohol to kites: An A to Z guide to the Islamic Republic of 'Banistan'

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

BEIJING -- Monday's murder conviction for the wife of Bo Xilai, once one of China's most powerful men, may have brought to an end the investigation into the death of British businessman Neil Heywood but it left in question the fate of her husband, who is being pursued for party "disciplinary violations."

Is Bo the next target of a deepening struggle? Or will he be spared from harsher punishments? Leading China analysts have varied responses but there is unanimity that Gu Kailai's conviction was also a nail in the coffin of her politician husband's career.

Wife of disgraced Chinese leader gets death sentence with reprieve

---

'Politically carbonized'
To counter Bo's "continuing popularity" among some segments of the population, China's Communist Party attempted to depict the case in terms of the most heinous of crimes -- murder, said Joseph Fewsmith, a leading expert on Chinese politics at Boston University and author of several books on China.

"It certainly is a case of murder, but in a sense, the killing of Heywood allows the party to sidestep all the other issues -- the way Bo conducted his 'strike black' campaign, the so-called Chongqing model and his political ambitions -- by focusing on the murder," Fewsmith said.

Strike black refers to Bo's anti-corruption and anti-crime campaign that implicated millionaires, local officials, police officers and gangsters. Under the Chongqing model that Bo advocated, the state increased its role in society and led huge public projects.

"Despite the strong evidence of criminal activity (murder), it seems likely that many will continue to read this case as part of a political struggle," Fewsmith said.

And in this political struggle, China's leftist elite -- known as neo-cons -- are the likely losers, said Professor Jean-Pierre Cabestan, head of government and international studies at Hong Kong Baptist University and a prominent scholar on China.

Closed-door murder trial: Wife of ousted politician Bo Xilai faces China court

"Some neo-cons may have tried or be willing to save Bo Xilai, in order to serve their own interests. I am inclined to think they will fail, because both the outside world and the Chinese blogosphere know too much about this terrible couple, their family and their wealth," Cabestan told NBC News.

"In other words, Bo is a liability, he is worn out, he is politically carbonized," he added.

'Chongqing model' dead or alive?
"But we should not jump to the conclusion that the reformists will enjoy an upper hand in the coming months," Cabestan said, adding that the Chongqing model that Bo championed was not sustainable.

"It's too expensive for the state, too hostile to private businesses and too distant from the rule of law," Cabestan said.

"But the pro-state, pro-state-owned enterprises leaders have not been totally defeated and there are so many vested interests around the perpetuation of a strong and entrepreneurial party-state," Cabestan said.

Professor Bo Zhiyue, expert on Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore, agreed that Bo was finished politically, but argued that his governing style was not necessarily dead.

"With Bo as a major competitor out of the way, the new leadership could be more stable," Bo Zhiyue told NBC News.

"However, they can't avoid using some of Bo's programs in its new policies because Bo's Chongqing model has really provided a lot of good experiments for China's future development, in particular with regards to income inequality, public housing, and new growth model."

Scandal sends China's netizens into feeding frenzy

China's leadership is acutely aware of the growing income inequality that the country's economic prosperity has produced, with newly wealthy political and business elites prompting resentment among the majority.

Indeed, official and online media have given coverage to a growing number of grassroots protests driven by the discontent felt by those left behind in the economic race, or those alienated by the corrupt collusion of wealth and power.

"There is consensus that the government needs to allocate more resources to address social injustice and income inequality," according to Li Mingjiang, China politics professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, noting the efforts of China's leadership in this regard.

"In that sense, the Chongqing model is not dead at all," he told NBC News.

Appeasing the poor
The government has been trying appease many people in undeveloped and poor regions of Western China, for example, by increasing state investments in these regions. Nevertheless, the consensus among China watchers is that Bo went too far in his politics and governing style. 

More China coverage from NBCNews.com's Behind The Wall

"Bo Xilai (was) too extreme in his policy in Chongqing, particularly his Cultural Revolution style political campaign," Li said. "These extreme policies are dead, at least for the coming years."

However, China's ruling elite had to deal with the fact that technology made it impossible to keep the case under wraps.  

"The amount of information and the intensity of discussion that were revealed in the social media exerted a lot of pressure on the party to release more information about the Bo Xilai case partly in order to forestall and clear rumors," Li added.

"The party has to be very careful not to unnecessarily antagonize Bo's supporters and sympathizers because these people are vocal and scrutinizing ... various forms of social media," he said.

To Cabestan, Bo's "political death or carbonization have been in part caused by the Internet and the speed with which outside information and rumors have circulated in China."

In sum, the experts with whom NBC News spoke agreed that while Bo may be neutralized through the case against his wife and the diciplinary measure he faces, the country's leadership will likely tread carefully given Bo's enduring popularity.

So the suspended death sentence handed down to Bo Xilai's wife signifies a "decision made by the highest leadership," said Professor Jerome Cohen, a veteran authority on Chinese law at New York University.

"The state leaders know that Bo Xilai is still very popular and has lot of support, and to that extent, the court's decision is the most popular option and the best compromise they could have come out with," he added.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Wife of disgraced Chinese leader gets death sentence with reprieve
• Russian top clerics forgive Pussy Riot, ask for mercy
• Assange in balcony appeal: Release Bradley Manning
• Czech police accuse man of plotting Norway-like copycat terrorist attack
• Government minister among 32 killed as Sudanese helicopter crashes into mountain
• Video: Chaos follows Syrian airstrikes
• Tropical Storm Helene slams Mexico; Hurricane Gordon heads for Azores

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

BEIJING – It was her third public appearance by the side of North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong Un. This time the “mystery woman” was wearing a striking yellow polka-dot dress, with a chic Chanel-style white tweed jacket and matching ivory toe-open high heels, in state television footage of a recent visit by Kim to a preschool in Pyongyang.

Her appearance in public again – she is thought to be the same woman who recently appeared with Kim at a Disney-inspired concert – was a rare spectacle, stirring up speculation that changes are coming to the isolated nation.

---

The “mystery woman,” coupled with the surprise announcement by the country’s official news media on Monday that North Korea’s veteran army chief was relieved of all his posts, apparently due to illness, also stoked suspicion. It was the first major purge under the seven-month-old regime of Kim Jong Un, who inherited leadership of the authoritarian regime after his father died last December.

The intriguing combination of fashion display and military purge is fueling debate among North Korea watchers in Beijing and Seoul on whether or not the moves signal a new policy direction from the Pyongyang regime. Some argue the 29-year-old new leader may be trying to remove old guards from his regime who could stand in the way of a reform program to revitalize the impoverished country.

A wife, a sister?
But back to the mystery woman: who is she? 

There has been no official confirmation of the identity of the glamorous woman who appeared at Kim’s side at three recent public events. She first attracted global curiosity when she was shown watching a July 7 cultural performance with Kim that featured Minnie Mouse and other Disney characters, the theme song from “Rocky 4”and groups of female singers dressed in mini-skirts, high-heeled shoes and off-the-shoulder tops.

Other top officials who watched the show included Kim’s uncle Jan Song-Taek, widely seen as the power behind the throne. The concert itself, shown to the public by North Korean TV, tended to play up Kim’s reputation as avid fan of Western pop culture. He was reportedly fond of American basketball when he was studying in Switzerland during the 1990s, wore Nike sneakers and drove Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Some South Korean observers said that the woman could be Kim’s sister, Kim Yeo-Jong. But his sister later appeared on state TV during a mourning event for Kim Jong Il, their father, and she looked unmistakably slimmer and different from the “mystery woman.”

Others pointed to a popular singer Hyon Song Wol, with hits like “I Love Pyongyang” and “Excellent Horse-like Lady.”

But more recent reports from Seoul say that she is Kim’s wife.  She is reported to be a 27-year-old graduate from Kim Il-Sung University. So far, however, there hasn’t been any official confirmation from North Korea on the woman’s identity. 

The buzz about the glamorous “mystery woman” comes amid increasing reports, noted in South Korea and China’s blogosphere, of more entertainment and choices in the daily lives of the North Koreans.

Visitors to the isolated country report more women wearing fashionable outfits, young men using hair gels in the style of South Korean actors and private markets in Pyongyang operating more flexible hours.

Kim has lifted the ban on women wearing trousers in public which has proved extremely popular. North Korean TV has also shown images of Kim visiting amusement parks and fast food restaurants that sell pizza, hamburgers and French fries, Western delights once banned in the country.

High-heel shoes rank second among the 10 most popular consumer items for North Korean women, according to an analysis by the Samsung Economic Research Institute.  

Close eye from China
North Korea watchers in China are keeping a close eye on developments for any signs of real change in the “Hermit Kingdom.”

The idea of “opening up” the long reclusive country should be encouraged, according to a commentary in China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.   

“Northeast Asia’s geopolitical development should encourage North Korea’s opening up instead of repeatedly creating tensions that will only intensify Pyongyang’s caution and vigilance,” argued Global Times commentator Shen Renping.

In one sign of economic change, there have been reports that 20,000 workers from North Korea will be sent to China to work in manufacturing sectors. According to Chinese analysts, Kim is set to declare a comprehensive economic reform program “in August or September.” 

Referring to the recent ouster of Kim’s former mentor and North Korean army chief Ri Yong Ho, a Chinese North Korea expert told AP Television that Kim was signaling “North Korea is going to slowly change the policy of putting the military first” and to experiment with “economic reform.”

The Chinese scholar Wang Junsheng called on the international community to “wait for the next steps” and to give Kim “time and a comfortable environment.”

However, another leading Chinese foreign policy scholar urged caution in drawing any conclusions about a North Korean reform program.

“I think North Korea has changed a lot already since Kim Jong Il died. But in terms of policy and diplomacy, I see little indication of change,” Professor Shi Yinhong, who teaches international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, told NBC News.

Referring to North Korea’s nuclear and security policies, Shi Yinhong cautioned that “it is too early tell” whether North Korea will change. 

“I see no substantial indication of opening up…Bringing some women along is very normal and doesn’t have much critical meaning,” he added.

Researcher Tianzhou Ye contributed to this report in Beijing. 

BEIJING – Will an international summit hosted by China that includes major “movers and shakers” in Asia, including Iran, Russia, India and Afghanistan, lead to an eastern version of NATO? 

“Absolutely not,” Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told NBC News. 

Cheng was speaking at a media event as some 16 heads of state and top officials, representing more than half of the world’s population, have gathered as members, observers and dialogue partners of the innocuous-sounding Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an economic and anti-terrorist security bloc initiated by China and Russia in 2001.

The meeting comes as China’s rising profile has raised questions about a possible power struggle between the U.S. and Beijing, with the recent Asia tour of U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta highlighting America’s effort to strengthen military alliances and partnerships in the region.

---

And as a sign of efforts to dilute U.S. influence, the summit granted observer status to Afghanistan on Thursday, a move should position China and the bloc to cultivate ties and play a greater role in the impoverished war-torn country even before NATO ends its military mission by 2014.

Already, Chinese firms have moved into Afghanistan, with designs on the country’s untapped trillion-dollar mineral and energy resources. 

Granting observer status and inviting Afghan President Hamid Karzai will help to strengthen “political, economic and civilian cooperation between the SCO states and Afghanistan,” said Cheng at the media event. 

“No military alliance” but…
When NBC News asked Cheng if the Shanghai Cooperation Organization would become an “eastern NATO” or a military alliance in the future, he very firmly downplayed the possibility.

“The main purpose is politics, economics and security and under no circumstances will the SCO become a military organization,” he said.. 

“But I personally think that, as the international environment becomes more complex, the SCO should enhance its cooperation with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), for the sake of peace and stability in Central Asia,” he added. 

It’s extremely rare for Chinese senior diplomats to offer their personal views to foreign media, and Cheng’s pronouncements may be China’s trial-balloon for new security thinking. 

The Collective Security Treaty Organization, of which China is not a member, is a defense alliance formed in 1992 by Russia and former Soviet Republics, which Russia has been trying to reinvigorate in recent years, with stronger military contingents to counter the “eastward expansion of NATO,” among other threats. 

By using the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as a vehicle to coordinate closely with the Collective Security Treaty Organization, China may be hoping to benefit from stronger military ties with Russia, while avoiding the pitfalls of a formal military alignment. 

“It is my personal view,” Vice-Minister Cheng emphasized to NBC News, “but I will try to push for it."

“The peace and stability of Central Asia is related to China’s core interests, we will not allow the unrest in West Asia and North Africa to spread to Central Asia,” he said, referring to the threat of Arab-style upheavals.

Tiananmen activist found dead under suspicious circumstances

“America should not worry”
“I don’t think America should worry about China’s Central Asia strategy,” said Professor Shi Yinhong, a leading international affairs expert at Renmin University, one of China’s top research institutions. 

“There is no possibility for SCO to become a formal military alliance like NATO, but there can be greater security cooperation among SCO’s member-countries,” he told NBC News. 

Nonetheless, Shi conceded there are “some elements" of counter-balancing strategy in China’s latest moves.   

“China has neither the stomach nor the power to confront America’s strategic advantage in East Asia, but China has the capability to improve cooperation in Central Asia,” he said. 

“China’s difficulty in East Asia is a motivation for China to do good diplomacy in Central Asia, otherwise things will become very difficult for China,” he explained. 

Researcher Horace Lu contributed to this report.

BEIJING – As China prepares to welcome U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday for an annual meeting on important bilateral issues, the focus of her visit has turned to the unresolved plight of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, now under U.S. diplomatic protection. How will the latest controversy impact China-U.S. ties that are already beset by old and new problems?

Last week, Chen staged a daring escape from house arrest. He traveled 300 miles with the aid of supporters and has reportedly entered the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for protection.

His dramatic feat, despite blindness and 24-hour surveillance by Chinese security guards, has added to embarrassment in Beijing – which was already grappling with the leadership scandal triggered by a former Chinese police chief who tried to seek asylum at a U.S. consulate. In both cases, the United States was sought out as a source of protection.

The case of Cheng, a human rights campaigner who spent four years in prison and the last 19 months under house arrest, is like “a hot potato that the two governments will have to deal with,” according to Professor Jin Canrong, who teaches international relations at the People’s University of China.

---

One of many issues
“There are some people in China who believe that there is some kind of American conspiracy to take advantage of China’s domestic problems to embarrass China, but these people are rather marginalized,”  said Jin, who specializes on China-U.S. relations.

“The mainstream thinking is that certain problems, like the Chen Guangcheng case, can be treated as separate issues, even if they are embarrassing for China in some ways. China’s leaders have learned to accept that China is a big country with so many problems and that some kind of embarrassment is inevitable. [And that] there is no conspiracy behind these issues,” Jin added.

The case of Cheng has only signaled that China and the U.S. are entering a “very difficult period,” he added.

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng escapes from house arrest

“We are facing a trust deficit. Old issues will remain like Taiwan, Tibet and others, but there will be more and more new issues,” he said. He noted greater regional leadership competition between China and U.S., the controversy over China’s military modernization, trade and economic conflicts, and what he called “the greater diversification of Chinese society” that is reshaping China’s domestic politics.

“From a diplomatic perspective, it is better to resolve the Chen Guangcheng case, this headache issue, as soon as possible,” he said.

‘Did not violate Chinese laws’
Surprisingly, a prominent human rights campaigner and a supporter of Chen seemed to echo a similar moderate sentiment.

“I hope that Mrs. Hillary Clinton will not regard the case as a diplomatic crisis,” said Hu Jia, who met Chen after his escape.

Hu, a leading activist who spent more than three years in prison on charges of state security violations, was detained for 24 hours for police investigation after he met Chen. “He hugged me warmly, lifting my feet off the ground,” Hu said of his meeting with Chen.

China censors 'Shawshank' as Clinton heads to Beijing amid dissident drama

In a transcript of a telephone interview with ITV News that was shared with NBC News, Hu Jia made a startling revelation that government authorities hold a benign view of Chen’s escape, too. According to Hu, police investigators said that Chen’s escape and the actions of those who aided him to find U.S. diplomatic protection “did not violate Chinese laws.”

“Therefore, the U.S. government should feel confident about this issue… I want to say to Mrs. Hillary Clinton that she should regard this case as an opportunity, not some kind of trouble,” said Hu.

He said the U.S. should see it as a chance for the U.S. government to urge China to respect human rights and to “use the resolution of the Chen Guangcheng case to boost the confidence of the international community” in China.

Providing more details of his meeting with Chen, Hu said that Chen has “grown more silver hair, his hands were shivering, and there were bruises and injuries caused by climbing over the wall.”

Who is Fu? Chinese exile is 'God's double agent'

Both sides looking for a resolution
Hu said that after Chen entered the U.S. Embassy, China’s Foreign Ministry immediately contacted the U.S. Embassy for “negotiation.” So far, “no concrete results,” he said.

According to one well-informed source with close ties to China's dissident community, there is "lots of pressures" to resolve the case. 

"Chen is demanding protection for himself and his family and respect for his rights, but if that cannot be granted, then he may have no choice but to travel abroad for medical treatment," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

However, despite various reports that both China and the United States are trying to hammer out a deal to resolve the case ahead of Clinton's visit, a government source said that no breakthrough has been achieved. 

"No news yet," according to the source who also requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

More on Chen: Video reveals blind Chinese activist's plight

 

BEIJING – A day after installing home cameras to parody the Chinese police's 24-hour surveillance of himself, Ai Weiwei says he has not received any adverse reaction so far from authorities.
 
"Nobody cares I guess, or maybe they have no idea yet," Ai told NBC News in a phone interview. "Normally they don't respond so fast."

The slow response might also be attributed to the fact that China was observing the last day of a three-day holiday in observance of the Tomb Sweeping Festival Wednesday.
 
To mark the one-year anniversary of his detention at Beijing’s international airport amid a government crackdown on dissent, Ai installed home cameras positioned over his computer, bed and courtyard that stream a 24-hour video at weiweicam.com. At one point, he was shown sleeping like a log.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sets up live webcams at his home

The site appeared be down – or perhaps blocked – when we tried it Wednesday.

---

After he was picked up by authorities a year ago, Ai was detained and kept in isolation for 81 days on alleged tax evasion charges. Since his release in June, he’s been under house arrest which involves constant surveillance by Chinese authorities.
 
"They have 15 cameras around my house, and now I have four of them in my bedroom and around my home. This is to mark the day one year ago when they detained me," Ai said.
 
"But this is also a gift," he added. "This is a chance for people who miss me or who feel sad about my disappearance to see me anytime with the click of a computer. It's a kind of gift for them."
 
There is no mistaking Ai's political message. Referring to the authorities, he said this is also a way to "make them feel vulnerable about their invasion of other people's private space which is now a practice in many states, not just in China, as the technology of surveillance becomes very common."
 
"The issue of invading other people's privacy is a global issue, it exists in many countries in varying degrees, but I have a very strong experience with this issue in the past year and this is all a reflection of that," he explained.
 
Asked whether he is concerned about any adverse reaction from the authorities, Ai replied, “I am not really concerned about any reaction, this may not make them happy, but it's OK," he said.
 
"I am an artist, my work and thinking are all my artistic expression, which also reflects the time and place I am living in," he said.
 
Ai is still facing a $2.4 million tax case, and his one-year probation is expected to end on June 22.  Asked what his plans are when he recovers his freedom to travel, Ai sounded cautious. "I don't have much illusion," he said.
 
Referring to teaching offers abroad, he said, "As a citizen of the universe, I can work in different places, but if I can travel anywhere, I will still have to start from here. But I don't have much expectation because of the reality."
 

BEIJING – With massive security in Beijing during the annual National People’s Congress, it would seem like a risky time to protest in China’s capital, but for Guan Youming, it’s the best time.

Nearly 3,000 members of the ruling Communist Party gathered in the Great Hall of the People on Monday for the start of the annual meeting amid tight security throughout the city. Premier Wen Jiabao delivered his equivalent of a state-of-the-union speech to the group, setting out the government’s strategy for the coming year.

In addition to economic and military policy, a prominent goal he mentioned was the need to manage major sources of domestic discontent by protecting farmers’ rights and improving rural governance.

Farmers’ rights to their land “must not be violated,” Wen told the politicians, just a day after unprecedented democratic elections in the southern Chinese village of Wukan, which has become a symbol of successful revolt against land grabs and corruption.

You would think that Wen’s words would be music to the ears of Guan, a farmer from central China who made light of his 500-mile journey to brave tight security in Beijing and expose what he claims is illegal confiscation of his land by village authorities.

But Guan was not impressed. “I don’t necessarily believe in what the leaders says, I want to see results,” he told NBC News as he recounted his years of work to try and seek justice for his claim.

---

Season of discontent
With China’s booming real estate industry, residential and land prices have skyrocketed and land disputes have become a major cause of mass protests. According to a report by Tsinghua University Professor Sun Liping last year, the number of protests, riots and strikes have doubled over the last five years to almost 500 a day.

And land grabs cause more than 65 percent of rural “mass incidents,” or collective protest actions, according to Yu Jianrong, a leading expert on rural conflicts at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Reports have estimated that nearly 50 million Chinese farmers have lost their homes during the past 30 years of industrial and urban growth; and that some 60 million more could be further uprooted with accelerated urbanization in the next few years.

Wen promised a better deal for farmers this year, with measures to improve rural incomes and protect farmers’ rights as a “top priority.”

“Farmers’ rights to the land they contract to work on, to the land on which their houses sit, and to proceeds s from collective undertakings are property rights conferred by law, and these rights must not be violated by anyone,” declared Wen during his two-
hour address.

He vowed “better supervision” and “regulation concerning compensation” for farmers in the course of land transfers and expropriations, in a clear signal of a government drive to address the crux of rising rural discontent.

‘Airing dirty laundry in public’
 “From my experience,” Guan said, “the sweeter the words, the more false they are.”

Guan hails from the farming village of Daqiao in Hubei province, where he said local leaders have “illegally” expropriated farmland to build government offices, commercial apartments and roads. Thousands of villagers have been affected, and many have not been adequately compensated, according to Guan, who also said that five fellow villagers have bravely joined him in Beijing to press for their case.

The last straw for Guan was when his quarter acre of farmland – what he said was his “only source of food” – was taken away.  He said he sought the help of various government departments but hasn’t gotten any response.

Asked why he chose this time of tight security in Beijing during the parliament session to make his case – when protesters and petitioners from rural provinces are routinely rounded up or forcibly returned to their villages. Guan said it was a deliberate decision to “exert pressure on leaders.”

“We are seeking out the Western and Taiwan media to explain our plight,” he said.

“Only by doing so can we expect the leaders concerned to pay attention because they are scared of airing our dirty laundry in public,” he explained.

In order to verify Guan’s claims, NBC News reached out to Wu Mingjing, party leader of Wuxie City which oversees Guan’s village.

“No, it’s impossible to for his land to be confiscated,” said Wu. “We have laws and regulations concerning land expropriation and compensation,” he explained, adding that he was not very clear about the details of Guan’s case.

With Guan listening to the telephone conversation, Wu suggested that the Daqiao villagers bring their case to the attention of a local party secretary, with the assurance that “proper action” will be taken.

Guan was not so sure – perhaps Wen’s promises would trickle down after all.

Researcher Isabella Zhong contributed to this report 

BEIJING – Turns out the Year of the Dragon may be inauspicious for China-U.S. relations.

Beijing has just released a New Year’s commemorative stamp featuring a ferocious-looking dragon last week, stirring up talk that China was sending an intimidating message to the world. Meantime, the United States has proclaimed a new, more robust, military strategy in Asia. 

Are the two countries headed for a dangerous confrontation? Is the U.S. beginning to pursue a Cold War-style containment policy toward China?  What is China’s rightful place on the world stage?

As Beijing prepares for events celebrating the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s landmark trip to China in 1972 that opened up official diplomacy between the two countries, analysts say the superpowers are entering a new chapter in their uneasy relationship.

Questions about growing competition between the two super-powers are unnerving officials, as well as energizing opinion-makers, and bringing to the fore pessimistic theories about a possible great-power conflict.

---

‘Don't blame the mirror designer’
The “fiery debate” sparked by the release of the official Year of the Dragon stamp was emblematic of China’s self-image issues as it  continues to grow as a world power. 

The image shows the fang-baring face of the mythical ancestor of the Chinese, the most revered of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac. Critics say the image sends a menacing message at a time of growing international unease over China’s rise.

 “When I saw the design of the dragon stamp in a newspaper, I was almost scared to death,” said Zhang Yihe, a noted writer, said on her micro blog on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like service.

 “It’s truly intimidating and powerful,” echoed another post. The “fierce stare and wide-open mouth” conveys an image that is “frightening and aggressive,” said another commentator. 

The stamp’s graphic artist Chen Shaohua defended his work, however, writing in his blog that the image is reflective of China’s newly -found “national confidence” as a major world power.

While past dragon stamps showed the creature in more gracious, gentler poses in keeping with the early years of China’s opening up to the word, he said that this year’s image of a “powerful, intimidating, fierce and confident dragon” befits China’s “prestige and self-confidence.”

Yue Luping, another micro-blogger, likened the dragon stamp to a mirror. “We have destroyed the old mirror of ourselves as poor old dragon.  After a hundred years, we see our image as powerful, menacing… Don’t blame the mirror designer.  You may be scared of what you see in the new mirror, but don’t forget, what you see is our very own image,” he wrote.

“A hundred years ago,” wrote Yue Luping, a respected art critic and blogger, “revolution shattered the mirror of our collective consciousness as Chinese. After a hundred years, Chen Shaohua's Year of the Dragon stamp has let us view our image once again: powerful, menacing, and not even 'auspicious looking' anymore; we can't reproach the mirror designer, it's a new mirror, you may be scared by what you see in the mirror but don't forget, that is our own image today.”

America’s shifting strategy
However, more baffling for the Chinese as they grapple with their global standing is the new defense strategy that U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled recently. It features a leaner military, but one with a greater focus on the Asia-Pacific and China’s growing power.

“The United States is deploying forces around the Asia-Pacific in advance in order to contain China’s rise,” warned Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, writing on the official newspaper of China’s People’s Liberation Army, in the strongest Chinese reaction so far to America’s new strategy.

“Who can believe that you are not aiming this at China, that this is not the return of a Cold War mentality?” he asked on the Chinese-language Liberation Daily.

“Obama said the country will ‘continue to get rid of outdated Cold War-era systems,’ it would do better to do away with its entire Cold War mentality,” declared the state-run China Daily. The newspaper added that both countries will lose if the U.S. regards the region “as a wrestling ring in which to contain emerging powers like China.”

China’s official response has been more subdued, with the foreign ministry merely defending China’s policy as “defensive” and calling U.S. accusations as “groundless and untrustworthy."

But in a recent briefing with a select group of Western and Chinese media that included NBC News, China’s chief diplomat in charge of U.S. relations shared his misgivings about the U.S. moves. 

“Peace and prosperity are still what many countries want, not military alliances,” said Cui Tiankai, Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister.

“I find it hard to understand why the U.S., which has the strongest military in the world, feels insecure about other countries,” said Cui. “I suggest the U.S. should do more to make other countries feel less worried about the U.S., so that other countries will feel safe and the U.S. will feel safe as well,” he added.

Doctrine of “offensive realism”
But to Professor John J. Mearsheimer, America’s strategic shift and the intensifying security competition in Asia all seem inevitable. 

Mearsheimer, a professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, is an international relations theorist who authored the pioneering book, “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics,” which propounds the theory of “offensive realism." The doctrine regards all great powers as perpetually on the offensive, constantly seeking security by maximizing power. He broadly anticipated America’s response to China’s growing challenge. 

In an interview with NBC News, Mearsheimer shared his views on the growing power play in Asia. 

“The Obama administration is definitely worried about China’s growing power as well as its aggressive rhetoric over the past two years, and that is why it is beginning to build a balancing coalition to contain China,” he said.

“My realist theory tells me that China will try to dominate the Asia-Pacific region as it grows more powerful and that the United States and China’s neighbors will try to contain Chinese power. It is too soon to say for sure whether my theory will be proved correct, but recent developments suggest that my theory will have a lot to say about Asia’s future,” he added.

Reflecting on the upcoming 40-year anniversary of Nixon’s landmark visit to China in 1972 that changed U.S.-China, Mearsheimer pointed out that U.S-China relations are based on realpolitik.

“Relations between the United States and China are largely determined by the balance of power in Asia, not by principles or ideals,” he said. “Beijing and Washington were driven together 40 years ago because they faced a common threat – the Soviet Union. But the Soviet Union is now gone and the Asian balance of power has changed drastically.”

For Mearsheimer, China’s new 21^st century role in the world, has changed the power dynamic.

“Today, China is the most powerful state in the region and if it continues its rapid growth over the next 30 years, it will be by far the most powerful country in Asia.  I believe that it will try to dominate the region the way the United States dominates the Western Hemisphere.  However, Washington will go to great lengths to prevent that outcome, which means that China and America are destined to become rivals if China continues its rise,” he observed.

“There is little that Chinese or American leaders can do to avoid strategic competition, which carries with it the real possibility of armed conflict between those two great powers,” he warned.

Agreement and disagreement
“I totally agree with Professor John Mearsheimer,” said Dr. Yan Xuetong, China’s top international security expert and dean of the Institute of Contemporary International Relations at Tsinghua University.  “As the gap of comprehensive power between the U.S. and China narrows, the tension between the two will intensify and there will be more conflict rather than less,” he told NBC News. 

“But I disagree that this competition will get out of control and escalate into war,” he said. “Both sides have nuclear weapons which will deter them from going to war. I have great confidence in nuclear weapons, which have the important political function of preventing war between China and the United States.”

Professor Yan considers the recent developments as validation of his argument against the danger of “superficial friendship” between America and China. “I think that the ‘superficial friendship’ will turn into ‘superficial enmity’ this year,” he predicted.

“We are not partners but we need to carefully manage the competition to prevent it from escalating into a major confrontation,” he said.

“If both sides fail to admit the competitive relationship and instead consider it as a partnership, then that, for me, will be very dangerous,” he warned.

Researcher Ting Zhao contributed to this report.

BEIJING – The wife of Ai Weiwei was questioned by Chinese police for several hours Tuesday in what appears to be a growing campaign against the outspoken artist and activist.

Ai Weiwei dismissed his wife’s police interrogation as a “pressure” tactic. “They are trying to put pressure on me,” Ai told NBC News in a phone interview after his wife was released.

But Ai’s long-running battle with authorities over tax evasion allegations – which critics say were meant to silence the politically outspoken artist—took a dangerous new turn when his wife was taken away by the police for questioning as a “criminal suspect.”

“It’s doesn’t make sense,” Ai said. “They can come to me directly.” He said his wife, Lu Qing, is “not involved” in politics.

---

Criminal case?
Lu, the legal owner of the cultural company that manages Ai’s art projects, was suddenly taken away Tuesday by four policemen, one of them holding a video camera, and subjected to more than three hours of interrogation.

Initially refusing to go, she was brusquely told she had no choice.  “They were quite rough, they told me [I had no choice] while showing some document saying that I was a ‘criminal suspect,’’’ Lu said as she recounted the story to NBC News in a telephone interview. Her request for a lawyer was refused.

When she asked what crimes she had allegedly committed, they responded, “We cannot tell you now.”

“During the interrogation, I was seated on a chair meant for criminal suspects; they were very impolite,” she said, adding that except for a call from her husband, she was not allowed to contact her lawyer and other friends during the whole proceeding.

The interrogation itself dealt with many issues concerning the company’s operations that she said had already been touched upon in previous investigations.

She said she was asked about her income, but said that she firmly told the police, “No, you have no right to ask that.”

Taiwan connection
As a “criminal suspect,” she was told that she can be summoned again anytime and should not travel or leave Beijing.

Lu said she had been planning to travel to Taipei in early December to attend Ai’s art exhibition
aptly called “Ai Weiwei Absent.” 

The show, which began last month, features 21 works from 1983 to the present. It includes a new installation named “Forever Bicycles” – a 30-foot-high arrangement  of more than 1,000 bicycles that gives the illusion of a moving abstract which art critics say symbolizes China’ social changes.
  
Last Friday, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou visited the show and called on China to respect human rights and Ai’s freedom of expression, underscoring a major issue of contention with mainland China.

“I think they wanted to prevent me from going to Taipei,” Lu said, adding that authorities might have learned of her plans by monitoring her phone calls.

“It was not just for the art show, I really wanted to visit Taipei because I have not seen Taiwan before,” she said, lamenting the cancellation of the trip.

Widening punishment?
Lu’s temporary detention comes about a week after police also began investigating Ai’s assistant for allegedly spreading pornography online, and some two weeks after Ai deposited $1.4 million with the tax authorities, which were raised from supporters’ donations, to comply with a legal procedure that would enable him to challenge the tax evasion charges.

And on the day she was taken away for questioning, police conducted a probe of the law firm that is representing Ai.

“Two policemen of Fengtai district came to our office yesterday  while I was away and photocopied this year’s accounts, saying they wanted our help in dealing with some cases,” Pu Zhiqiang, Ai’s lawyer,  told NBC News. Pu has previously told the foreign media that he believes the tax evasion case against his client was “politically motivated.”

Asked whether the police raid was related to Ai, he said: “Nobody has said anything.” He added: “To worry is useless, and I am not worried.”  

Liu Xiaoyuan, another lawyer for Ai, told NBC News that he suspects “punishment” for his inability to renew the license for his law office, which has been pending “for exactly five months tomorrow.”

Unable to practice in Beijing, he has temporarily returned to his home province of Jiangxi.

“The authorities concerned have warned me not to talk to the media about Ai’s case but I didn’t stop talking, so I think all this is punishment,” he said in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, repeated attempts to elicit comments from the police department involved in Lu’s case did not produce any response.

More on Ai Weiwei:
Chinese artist and activist answers readers' questions