Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Full Text: The United States’ Global Surveillance Record – Xinhua A Chinese Internet information body on Monday issued a report on the U.S. intelligence agencies’ “unscrupulous” surveillance over the rest of the world. Following is the full text://Snowden, the gift that keeps giving to China. There may yet be a phoenix and a palace waiting for him, even if he were never intentionally helping China. The original Chinese 《美国全球监听行动纪录》全文_新闻_腾讯网
Related: China Pulls Cisco Into Dispute on Cyberspying – NYTimes.com Huawei’d, Chinese style//Cisco “carries on intimately with the U.S. government and military, exploiting its market advantage in the Chinese information networks, playing a disgraceful role and becoming an important weapon in the U.S. exploiting its power over the Internet,” said the article, which was published on the website of China Youth Daily, a state-run newspaper. The article was widely reposted on Chinese news sites Tuesday.
Related: China Said to Push Banks to Remove IBM Servers for Security – Bloomberg Government agencies, including the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, are reviewing whether Chinese commercial banks’ reliance on IBM servers compromises the country’s financial security, said the four people, who asked not to be identified because the review hasn’t been made public.
President Xi stresses coordinated functions of market, gov’t – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for coordinated functioning of the market and government in resource allocation to promote sustainable economic and social development. Calling the relationship between the government and market the core issue in economic reforms during a collective study on Monday, Xi stressed that the roles of the two are not contradictory and should not be pitted against each other.//Top item on Tuesday CCTV Evening News 习近平在中共中央政治局第十五次集体学习时强调 正确发挥市场作用和政府作用 推动经济社会持续健康发展
Stevenson-Yang & DeWoskin: What Beijing Means by ‘Reform’ – WSJ.com ($$)In today’s post Third Plenum China, “reform” means to sideline and squash institutionalized bureaucracy and inject personal power into a sclerotic system. It means cutting through the layers of paperwork that invite bribery. But what China has never had and never meant by its use of the word “reform” is the codification in law and practice of rules to govern transparently and at scale a growing economy…the Xi government may harken well beyond Deng and Zhu and be the most traditionalist China has seen since the last emperor left the Forbidden City in 1912.//A thought-provoking Op-Ed. When the National Security Committee was announced after the Third Plenum many online compared it to the Junjichu 军机处 “Council of State” of the Qing Dynasty. Someone with very good ties in Beijing described Xi’s vision last Fall as 有皇帝上的资本主义…”capitalism with an emperor on top” for lack of a better translation. But for capitalism to work I think they understand they need to have rules that are applied most of the time. But right now it appears they they have to apply pressure everywhere to both stabilize the situation and strengthen control. We’ll find out eventually, we are all just guessing at this point
China Tensions Grow After Vietnamese Ship Sinks in Clash – NYTimes.com In the latest incident, a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat about 17 nautical miles southwest of the rig on Monday afternoon, the state-run Vietnamese television network, VTV1, reported. All 10 crew members were rescued, the network said. But Beijing labeled Vietnam as the aggressor, with the Chinese state-run news agency, Xinhua, saying the Vietnamese fishing boat “capsized when it was interfering with and ramming” a Chinese fishing vessel// China seems to have upset almost all its neighbors recently. Is there a strategy here? Yesterday I wrote that Xi et al are not fools. So what might me going on? My guesses:1. Xi really is a Marxist and believes in historical determinism, including that China’s dominance of Asia is inevitable. He has decided to accelerate it because the US, and specifically Obama, look weak and preoccupied, and it is better to move now than under the next president, either Republican or Clinton, who may be much tougher; 2. The Vietnam incident was timed perfectly with the end of Obama’s trip to show countries around the region that we are here, the US is not, and what is the US going to do about it; 3. Moving aggressively in the region now, before the US has really executed on the pivot and countries in the region have built new alliances among themselves and with the US, may forestall those moves, if the countries in the region are shown enough by China to think “what is the point?”; 4. Amidst the moves in the South China Sea, Beijing continues to push on trade and economic linkages, and RCEP looks more viable than TPP given DC gridlock. (why getting TPA passed is so crucial to the credibility of the Asia pivot); 5. Forcing tensions in the region, and specifically the S. China Sea, also serves the purpose of forcing the PLA to accelerate professionalization, helps the organization gain even bigger budgets, plays to those in the PLA who are more hawkish, and helps secure more support for Xi…Just guesses, doing too much of that lately…
Politburo Vows to Improve Living Standards in Xinjiang – NYTimesThe Politburo, the group of 25 people at the top of the 82-million-member ruling party, said on Monday that its policy toward Xinjiang, including its crackdown on separatists and its emphasis on maintaining stability in the region, “have been proved completely right,” the state news agency Xinhua reported. Yet at the same time, it promised that every family should have at least one person with a job, and it announced plans to build more schools.// 中央政治局召开会议研究推进新疆社会稳定
Related: China shuts bomb factories as ‘people’s war’ on terror begins – Telegraph China dismantled a major bomb-making network and arrested five suspected extremists at the start of a major nationwide “war on terror” that has seen armed police, helicopters and the military deployed in major cities including Beijing and Shanghai.
Related: Police Defuse Bombs After Blast in Xinjiang’s Kashgar Prefecture Three of the four bombs defused on Friday in Yarkand (in Chinese, Shache) county in Kashgar prefecture, southwest of Urumqi, were found in front of police buildings while the fourth was located in front of a gas station near a school, according to a police officer.//Blowing up a school is a good way to alienate most of your remaining sympathizers
Related: 新疆一名官员因对暴恐事件态度暧昧被立案调查
Related: Made in China: The Middle East’s Oil Boom – China Real Time Report – WSJ Those strong economic ties are now broadening beyond China’s demand for commodities and will further shape the Middle East – and Africa – for at least another generation to come, according to an report on the impact of China’s economic globalization on the region. “There would be no kilometer-tall towers in the desert, no ski slopes in the shopping mall, no Gulf owned football teams winning the English premier league, without the emergence of China as a global economic power,” said Simon Williams and Razan Nasser from HSBC.//worrisome convergence for China of increasing reliance on Middle East oil and radical ideology in Xinjiang.
China Middle-Class Protests Turn Violent After Petitions Ignored – Bloomberg The Hangzhou demonstrations, which prompted officials to suspend construction of the incinerator, were the third such violent protest in six weeks — a trend that challenges President Xi Jinping’s quest for social stability. The story of how poor government communication there sparked anger and then clashes with police is one being replayed across China as wealthier and better informed residents resist industrial projects more forcefully.
China to clean up instant messaging services– China Daily WeChat has more than 800 million users. Besides private accounts used for communication among friends, family and acquaintances, many public accounts are owned by organizations, companies or individuals for mass communication. The campaign will crack down on those spreading rumors and information relating to violence, terrorism and pornography, as well as those using instant messaging for fraud. “We will firmly fight against infiltration from hostile forces at home and abroad,” the statement said.
Guangdong to loosen Hukou household registration system for millions of migrants | South China Morning Post The Hukou reform is designed to attract more migrants – both from the province and elsewhere on the mainland – to settle in the region’s small and medium sized cities, according to the provincial public security department. Permanent residency in cities would be available to migrants with stable jobs and homes who have paid social security taxes, Zheng Dong, deputy head of Guangdong’s public security department said, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Gov’t Policies ‘Deformed Market,’ Property Tycoon Says amid Share Sale – Caixin Greentown’s Song Weiping complains there is no market left, but also admits his company had its share of problems…”Buyers and sellers should have the right to trade freely in the market,” he said. “However, after the government took measures in 2005, 2008 and 2010, the home market has been deformed, and it is no longer a market.”
Real Estate Tycoon Sees Titanic Moment for China’s Housing Market – China Real Time Report – WSJ Soho China declined to comment about Mr. Pan’s remarks. But in a post on his verified Weibo account Monday, Mr. Pan said that during the forum’s question and answer session, he had first asked whether there were any journalists present before replying to a question about the housing market. Only upon being told there were no reporters present, he said, did he proceed to answer. “I didn’t expect there are countless reporters hiding [in the audience],” he said.
With London ‘fix’ under fire, China seeks bigger sway in gold trade | Reuters The Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) got the go ahead from the central bank last week to launch a global trading platform in the city’s pilot free trade zone, a move that could challenge the dominance of New York and London in gold trade and pricing. Beijing’s plans to open up gold trading comes at a time when the benchmark price-setting process for precious metals is under scrutiny. Barclays Plc (BARC.L) became the first bank to be fined over attempted manipulation of the 95-year-old benchmark London gold market daily “fix” last week.
How State-Backed Shipping Firm Ran into Ice Berg of Debt – Caixin Caixin cover story this week // Nanjing Tanker Corp. losses may lead to its delisting in Shanghai, but deals for crude carriers may mean more problems lurk under surface
[视频]中宣部 国家发改委部署开展节俭养德全民节约行动_新闻频道_央视网 N
China’s Mobile Payment Turnover Surges 255% YOY to 3.89 Trillion Yuan in Q1: PBOC | TechNode China’s e-payment business recorded 7.08 billion orders and a turnover of 292.89 trillion yuan (around $47 trillion) in the first quarter of this year, up 25.92% and 34.60% respectively from a year earlier, according to a report released by Chinese central bank-People’s Bank of China. E-payment includes three categories of payment services of online payment, phone payment and mobile payment, the report noted.
罗氏被查引第二轮合规突查:礼来 阿斯利康 诺和诺德遭点名_21世纪网 根据21世纪经济报道记者得到的《
李克强总理赤峰之行释放信号：下半年政策或将调整_21世纪网
POLITICS AND LAW
Tiananmen Comment Eyed After Professor’s Microblog Vanishes – NYTimes.com A report in Ming Pao, a Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong, said the disappearance of Kong Qingdong’s account on Friday was probably due to his reply the day before to a person who claimed he was a solider in 1989 and said the armed response was necessary to protect the government. “Nonsense,” Mr. Kong wrote, according to Freeweibo.com, a site that collects deleted Weibo messages. “There was no riot. It was just framing them after you bloodily mowed them down. Can you name one student who was rioting?”
Legal Punches for Two Reporters’ Sealed Lips – Caixin Courts in the capital are mulling over what’s being described as the first legal attack against the use of anonymous sources in news reports published by the Chinese media. The charges leveled against the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend newspaper and The Beijing News revolve around claims that in 2012 they printed articles defaming a trade group called the World Luxury Association and its chairman, Mao Ouyang Kun, also known as Ouyang Kun.
China hits activists with common-crime charges -AP John Kamm, executive director of Dui Hua, said the public disorder category is broad and includes computer-related offenses that are becoming increasingly common. But he added that some of the crimes under the category have been used in political and religious cases. “The decrease in indictments (for charges of endangering state security) may signal a change in tactics: Political dissidents appear to be increasingly charged with non-ESS crimes, thereby obscuring the political nature of their contested acts,” a Dui Hua statement said.
Graphic News: Testing Times for China’s Officials – Caixin An increasing number of officials are committing suicide, if media reports on the topic are any indication. Here’s a look at the disturbing trend//an infographic of official suicides…
中纪委:重点查处十八大后仍不收敛不收手干部_网易新闻中心
湖南省政协原党组副书记、副主席阳宝华被调查_网易新闻中心 f
能源央企反腐“第二季”_财经频道_一财网 //
China’s Communist Party expels official of power gear maker for graft | Reuters China’s ruling Communist Party has expelled a senior official of a state-run power equipment maker for taking huge bribes in violation of the law, the party’s anti-graft watchdog said on Monday. The removal of Huang Baodong, deputy general manager of Power Construction Corporation of China, adds to evidence that the power sector could be the latest to face anti-graft probes by the government.
中纪委监察室二次扩容 高层密集约谈央企等负责人_财经频道_一财网 SOE execs must be very worried about the CCDI//分析认为，在各省、
四川甘孜举行反恐维稳演练_高清图集_新浪网 slidesho
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
我国首艘国防标准民船通过验收 战时可直接军用_新闻_腾讯网 first merchant ship launches built to National Defense specs, headline says in time of war can be directly used by military. How many of these are planned? // 5月20日，我国首艘贯彻国防要求民船“东海215”
外交部：越南这个国家的国际信用等级很低_网易新闻中心 har
东北师范大学访日学者失联12天 曾致电妻子求救_新闻_腾讯网 very strange case of a Chinese professor who disappeared in Osaka, Japan 12 days ago. His last contact with his wife was a call in which he told her to contact the embassy to save him // 中国独家报道【
David Feith: China’s Beachhead in U.S. Schools – WSJ.com Studying Chinese is an invaluable economic and cultural opportunity. Instead of promising the sun, moon and stars, the College Board and other policy makers might demonstrate how they plan to expand Chinese education without propagandizing for Beijing or discriminating against victims of Chinese repression
Chinese Developer’s Fake Sphinx Has Egypt Seething – NYTimes.com The Egyptian minister of antiquities, Mohamed Ibrahim Ali, told Al Ahram Weekly last week that the ministry had sent an official letter to Egypt’s permanent envoy to the United Nations communicating its displeasure. The ministry will inform the Unesco director general, Irina Bokova, that the reproduction of the Sphinx, which is registered on the agency’s World Heritage List, harms the cultural heritage of Egypt, Al Ahram Weekly quoted the minister as saying.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Hong Kong Mulls Curbing Tourist Arrivals Amid Discontent – Bloomberg “This may send a wrong signal to the general public in China that Hong Kong is no longer welcoming them,” Raymond Yeung, a senior economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said by phone today. “If the government decides to impose a quota on mainland visitors, the impact would be beyond the service sector.” //the same bureaucrats who brought Hong Kong the dumb infant formula restrictions?
TECH AND MEDIA
Touch panel makers see increased orders from Xiaomi as it aims to ship 80 million handsets in 2014-Digitimes Furthermore, Xiaomi aims to ship 160 million handsets in 2015 amid prospects in the China market, the sources revealed.
周鸿祎重新思考360-财经网 Caijing on Zhou Hongyi’s new strategy for Qihoo // 在BAT巨头和创业公司的夹层中，奇虎360面临挤压，
国美发力线上 与京东开打价格战_公司频道_财新网 Gome plans to compete aggressively with JD.com online // 国美集团高级副总裁李俊涛称，国美在线的IT、物流、
Protonmail-The Only Email System The NSA Can’t Access-Forbes They recently ran an update so they could support Chinese. Yen says they didn’t advertise this but through Twitter TWTR -3.24% a blogger who has been involved in the freedom of speech movement heard about the service. “All of a sudden we had an influx of hundreds of Chinese users – these are dissidents that don’t want the government to be tracking them,” says Yen. “It’s because we want to support users like this that we want to keep a certain level of the service free.”//wonder how long until blocked?
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
What It’s Like to Live in China and Speak the ‘Devil-Language’ – China Real Time Report – WSJ This week, the difficulty of Wenzhou dialect was once again affirmed in a list circulating on Chinese social media, which declared that Wenzhou’s dialect was the hardest in the country.
Plans to Give ‘Morality Points’ on Gaokao Need Work, Expert Says – Caixin Idea to reward students taking national university test extra credit for good behavior is good, but system is flawed, researcher says
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
LDK Solar Gets 2 Billion Yuan Bank Loans After Bond Default – Bloomberg China Development Bank Corp., the nation’s biggest policy lender, is leading the funding from 11 financial institutions, LDK spokesman Peng Shaomin said in a phone interview today. LDK will spend more than 400 million yuan on a polysilicon project and use the remainder to boost its cash reserves, Peng said. “The worst is over for China’s solar industry,” said Yang Kun, a bond analyst in Shanghai at Guotai Junan Securities Co., the nation’s third-biggest brokerage. “These loans show the government is supporting the company and the industry. It’s unlikely LDK will default on other borrowings in the future.”
China to scrap millions of cars in anti-pollution push | Reuters In a wide-ranging action plan to cut emissions over the next two years, China’s cabinet, the State Council, said the country had already fallen behind in its pollution targets over the 2011-2013 period and was now having to step up its efforts. As many as 5.33 million “yellow label” vehicles that fail to meet Chinese fuel standards will be “eliminated” this year, the document said. As well as the 330,000 cars in Beijing, 660,000 will be withdrawn from the surrounding province of Hebei, home to seven of China’s smoggiest cities in 2013.
BEIJING
SWAT given ‘shoot on sight’ orders; commuters frisked as Beijing heightens anti-terror measures | South China Morning Post Beijing subjected rush-hour passengers to an extra layer of security checks and gave orders allowing SWAT teams to shoot terrorists on sight, as it ramped up policing after a string of attacks on the mainland. The Public Security Ministry commanded the SWAT units to shoot assailants “carrying out violent attacks”, doing away with standard protocol of firing warning shots first, The Beijing News reported today.
北京公安局交管局原局长宋建国被调查_网易新闻中心 Beiji
北京新机场定址永定河北岸 800亿投资助力京津冀|_新浪财经_新浪网 location for Beijing’s new airport set, planning now to integrate with overall transportation and logistics networks in the integrated Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin area // 近日，央视国际证实了北京新机场将落地永定河北岸，
京津冀航空腾挪-《财经》杂志 latest Caijing also has long piece on the new Beijing airport // 在京津冀协同发展的国家战略背景下，
北京今年或停止普通商品房住宅用地供应-财经网
北京警方抓获多名外籍涉毒人员 有人持难民证_网易新闻中心 Beijing police bust foreign drug ring around Sanlitun// 两人均为外籍人士，
BOOKS AND LITERATURE
Amazon.com: Night Heron eBook: Adam Brookes A lone man, Peanut, escapes a labor camp in the dead of night, fleeing across the winter desert of north-west China. Two decades earlier, he was a spy for the British; now Peanut must disappear on Beijing’s surveillance-blanketed streets. Desperate and ruthless, he reaches out to his one-time MI6 paymasters via crusading journalist Philip Mangan, offering military secrets in return for extraction. But the secrets prove more valuable than Peanut or Mangan could ever have known… and not only to the British.//halfway through this book, highly recommend it
Strategic Reassurance and Resolve: U.S.-China Relations in the Twenty-First Century: James Steinberg, Michael E. O`Hanlon: Amazon In this book, James Steinberg and Michael O’Hanlon stake out a third, less deterministic position. They argue that there are powerful domestic and international factors, especially in the military and security realms, that could well push the bilateral relationship toward an arms race and confrontation, even though both sides will be far worse off if such a future comes to pass. They contend that this pessimistic scenario can be confidently avoided only if China and the United States adopt deliberate policies designed to address the security dilemma that besets the relationship between a rising and an established power