Elite Reference
April 9, 2008

Elite Reference is published twice a week by the China Youth Daily agency. Popular among young people, it resembles the Global Times in its overall format but, like Reference News, it also includes extensive translations from the foreign press and foreign-language blogs.

Top headline: Battle to the death for Nansha islands
Rear Admiral Amable Tolentino, vice commander of the Philippine Navy, vowed to defend the Spratly islands to the death. The island group is disputed by a number of countries, including China (which calls them the Nansha islands).

A young Beijing man saved a "deep green" Taiwanese
On April 4, a Taiwanese fishing boat caught fire with four crewmembers aboard. Nine ships passed the wreck without trying to rescue the crew until a mainland Chinese sailor saw them and persuaded his captain to save them. The Beijing rescuer said he insisted "we are all Chinese." One of the rescued Taiwanese, a DPP member, said: "From now on, I will not view the KMT any different from the DPP." The article offers no explanation for this statement, but the DPP, whose color is green, is pro-independence, while the KMT is less radical.

The Western media cooked up three lies in one week
According to the article, the three lies about China are:
1. China's ambassador to U.K. quit the torch relay to avoid provoking the Tibetan public;
2. China's ambassador to France apologized to the French Premiere for comparing the Tibet incident to the riot in Paris;
3. China betrayed Iran by reporting its nuclear secrets to the UN.

The article also said that the Western media seems "addicted to lies," and it quoted Fidel Castro's recent essay in which the former Cuba leader expressed his support for China: "I do have many reasons to believe in China's victory."

Other headlines
• The main shows US Navy sailor Olatunbosun Ugbogu being arrested on murder charges in Japan;
• Taiwanese go to mainland in the hopes of higher salaries;
• Overseas Chinese "gambling god" shocks US casinos: a report on Jeff Ma, a member of the MIT card counting team that was the inspiration for the recent movie 21.

In other pages
• US Marine Corps general praised Chinese Marines as "SEALs of the East";
• The Lhasa incident through a foreign professor's eyes;
• Will a second Korean war break out? A review of military figures on the Korean peninsula;
• China's new nationalism in the making. A partial translation of the Wall Street Journal article by Emily Parker;
• The American media's bias is just to entertain the people. This article bears the byline of an American known only as "Benjamin";
• Korean Cable TV is flooded with racy content;
• A truthful record from a famous Russian journalist: the Dalai Lama used to be patriotic.