Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
China Financier Defends Companies’ Deals – NYTimes.com The statement, which was released by the Tomorrow Group, the holding company of the billionaire, Xiao Jianhua, was partly intended to dispute some elements of a profile by The Times on Wednesday of Mr. Xiao’s rise as a businessman after the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989. Through his spokeswoman, Mr. Xiao suggested that the president’s family was determined to sell its stake in the investment firm, and even suffer losses, in order to dispose of the asset after a June 2012 Bloomberg News report about the Xi family’s fortune.
China’s Information Management in the Sino-Vietnamese Confrontation: Caution and Sophistication in the Internet Era | The Jamestown Foundation The CCP’s management of domestic discourse regarding the anti-Chinese violence in Vietnam was, above all, cautious. Even though the issue concerned the lives and property of Chinese citizens, it was able to keep the issue out of the headlines, off the Internet’s agenda, and away from the Chinese public at large for almost 48 hours, while still allowing relevant information to flow to those who needed or demanded it. When the CCP did decide to inform the public, it ensured the media narratives guiding popular interpretations of what had taken place avoided two extremes: linking China’s own foreign policy actions causally with the Vietnamese violence, and provoking an overly fierce domestic Chinese reaction. This reflects what one commercial online news supervisor has described to the author as a consistent two-track approach to guiding coverage of China’s territorial disputes in recent years: no questioning of China’s actions or positions, and no “irrational” patriotism (Author interview, October 2012).
Chinese Military Shows New Capabilities, Pentagon Says – Bloomberg “We hope the U.S. gets rid of its biases, objectively and rationally regards China’s defensive capacity, and stops releasing these reports, and makes concrete contribution to China and U.S. military cooperation,” he said. China views the Pentagon’s annual report as a relic of the Cold War, when the U.S. prepared similar studies on the Soviet military threat, said Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based military commentator for state television CCTV. // PDF of the report
Newton student reprimanded over pro democracy messages during China semester – Metro – The Boston Globe DeGroot was among a group of eight Newton students on a four-month study abroad program, under a longstanding partnership between Newton and the Beijing Jingshan School. The episode happened when the Newton group visited another school, in a small town outside of Beijing. At the end of a two-hour visit with the Chinese students, school officials asked the Newton group to write their e-mail addresses in the students’ notebooks so they could stay in touch. That’s when DeGroot said he wrote the prodemocracy phrases in one of the notebooks.
China’s Xi says fiscal reform urgent but needs planning: Xinhua | Reuters reform leading group met for the third time, here is the Friday CCTV Evening News report on it [视频]
打击网络淫秽色情 让网络空间清朗起来——
Some Pictures I took in May-June 1989 in Beijing I was a student here, ended up working as a fixer for CBS until the third week of June, only had a crappy Kodak Instamatic and not much money for film…posted these on twitter, along with these and these they are pictures taken with an iphone of the prints. someday I should digitize all of them
China’s Xiaomi, the World’s Fastest-Growing Phone Maker – Businessweek Xiaomi (pronounced she-yow-mee) is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world. It’s the sixth-largest handset maker on earth and No. 3 in China, behind Samsung Electronics and Lenovo Group, according to research firm Canalys. Xiaomi’s recent growth is impressive, and its potential is even greater. In 2013, the company says, it sold 18.7 million smartphones almost entirely from its own website, bringing in $5 billion in revenue. Earlier this year, Lei set an internal goal of selling 40 million smartphones in 2014, then raised it to 60 million. In a financing round last August, venture capitalists gave Xiaomi a $10 billion valuation, about on par with 30-year-old PC maker Lenovo and Silicon Valley darlings Dropbox and Airbnb.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Brookstone Won With $173 Million Bid by Chinese Buyers – Bloomberg A company backed by Chinese retailing conglomerate Sanpower Group and Hong Kong-based private-equity firm Sailing Capital won the auction yesterday after Brookstone decided they had submitted the highest and best bid, Cathy Hershcopf, a lawyer for unsecured creditors, said in a phone interview.
Writing China: Matthew Crabbe, ‘Myth-Busting China’s Numbers’ – China Real Time Report – WSJ Matthew Crabbe has spent a lifetime trying to understand what’s really going on in China. Michael Arnold spoke with him about his new book, “Myth-Busting China’s Numbers: Understanding and Using China’s Statistics,” looks at two decades of lessons learned navigating the world of Chinese economic and corporate numbers. Edited excerpts:
China City Crash-Lands to Zero Growth on Coal Bust – Bloomberg Economic growth in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, has crashed to zero from 12 percent in one year. Yan Xiaofeng’s coal-equipment business has gone down with it.
China Should Resist Further Stimulus, IMF Says – Bloomberg “We consider that vulnerabilities have risen to the point where containing them should be a priority and therefore further stimulus should only be deployed if growth slows significantly below this year’s growth target,” Lipton said at a briefing after two weeks of talks with Chinese officials for the Washington-based lender’s annual assessment of the nation’s economy.
China port probe into metal financing rattles banks, trade houses | Reuters The investigation at the world’s seventh largest port is looking into whether single cargoes of metal were used multiple times to obtain financing, according to industry sources. This means different banks and trading houses were holding separate titles for the same metal. The inquiry has revived concerns about the impact of China’s deepening credit crisis on its metal imports, much of which piles up in warehouses to be used as collateral. “Now the banks are all flying down to the port and literally, together with the warehouse people and the traders, are physically counting the stocks,” said a source at a global trading company who visited the port this week.
Yuan Gains Most in a Week as PBOC Boosts Fixing on Dollar Slide – Bloomberg The currency posted the biggest gain in a week in onshore and offshore trading as the People’s Bank of China raised its reference rate by 0.14 percent to 6.1623 per dollar, the largest increase since Jan. 10. Export growth probably quickened to 6.7 percent in May from 0.9 percent the previous month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey before data due June 8. The yuan has fallen 3.1 percent this year, the worst performance in Asia.
China Regulator Pledges to Expand Credit as Economy Slows – Bloomberg Lending to small businesses, major infrastructure projects and first-home buyers will be a priority, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a statement today. To give banks more capacity to lend, the regulator may ease the ratio of loans to deposits by including some stable sources of deposits in the calculation, CBRC Vice Chairman Wang Zhaoxing said.
Jack Ma’s Yunfeng to invest in China dairy products company | Reuters Private equity firms Yunfeng Capital, founded by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Jack Ma, and CITIC Private Equity Funds Management (CITIC PE) have agreed to invest at least 2 billion yuan ($320 million) in a unit of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd, the dairy products company said in a statement.
Priming China’s economy: Don’t say stimulus | The Economist All this is still a far cry from the 4 trillion yuan stimulus the government launched in 2008, which led to an even bigger leap in lending. It is also important to note that the looser constraints on banks are partly intended to balance the effects of a clampdown on off-balance-sheet credit flows. But the pattern of the past two months suggests that the government will be firing off new expansionary measures as long as its growth target is in jeopardy.//Simon Rabinovitch’s first piece for The Economist since switching from the Financial Times
Beijing-Based IMF? Lagarde Ponders China Gaining on U.S. Economy – Bloomberg Lagarde said the IMF has a good relationship with China, the world’s second largest economy and she praised the government’s commitment to fighting corruption. She had less kind things to say about the U.S., which remains the “outlier” among Group of 20 countries to approve an overhaul of the ownership of the 188-member organization. The plan would give emerging markets more influence and would elevate China to the third-largest member nation.
Capital economics says Chinese local government reliance on land sales is exaggerated screenshot of report posted to my Twitter account
楼市现诡异抛售 被要求现金交易-手机和讯网 21st Century Herald talks to real estate agents who are selling properties for cash, for “mysterious” sellers they guess are officials
POLITICS AND LAW
China’s supreme court mulls crackdown on terror videos – Xinhua | English.news.cn China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) is considering ways to halt the spread of violent terror videos and audios, according to a statement issued Tuesday. The SPC urged courts at all levels to intensify a high-pressure crackdown on terrorists and separatists. Subordinate courts in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, hit by series of bloody terrorist attacks, will get special instructions on dealing with terror cases in a “harsh and quick” manner, the statement said.
China shrugs off security concerns on new link to restless west | Reuters Officials are still testing the line, which will run from the central western city of Lanzhou to Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, drastically reducing travel times to the energy-rich region located strategically on the borders of Central Asia. If tests go to plan, Xinjiang’s first high-speed rail could be open to passengers within a year, officials told reporters on a government-organized tour of the train.
China “rectifies” irregularities in government offices, vehicles – Xinhua | English.news.cn The leading group of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPC) “mass line” campaign on Wednesday released a statement detailing the progress of the frugality campaign. Provincial governments and some major municipality government departments have vacated 2.7 million square meters of government office that has been misused, 87.4 percent of the total misused area.
Web Editor Detained Over Photo Linking Mao to Fringe Sect – NYTimes.com A Beijing-based web editor has been detained by the authorities on suspicion of posting a doctored photo that linked Mao Zedong with a fringe religious group accused in a high-profile murder, a lawyer said. The police visited Zhao Mu, a blog editor for the Chinese web giant Sohu, on Tuesday and are holding him on a charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” said the lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan, citing conversations with Mr. Zhao’s family.
Ex-Politburo committee member He Guoqiang makes rare public foray | South China Morning Post He Guoqiang was Wang Qishan’s immediate predecessor as head of the anti-graft commission and was the eighth most senior official of the Communist Party before his retirement in 2012. He’s son, He Jintao, is currently under house arrest during a corruption investigation approved by the Communist Party’s top leaders, as the South China Morning Post has reported. But the inquiry into He Jintao did not mean his father was implicated, sources said.
Guotai Boss Resigns amid Inquiry into Executives with Overseas Links-Caixin The president of one of China’s major brokerages, Guotai Junan Securities, has resigned as the central government strengthens efforts to check the family backgrounds and overseas links of executives at state-backed companies.
One Legacy of Tiananmen: China’s 100 Million Surveillance Cameras – China Real Time Report – WSJ 3D cameras that allow much better identification of individuals are coming // Perhaps as many as 100 million surveillance cameras are installed in China, and the market could grow 15% annually in the five years, according to Harry Cai, a security industry specialist based in Shanghai for research firm IHS Inc. He figures that only 10 million of those cameras are used by consumers, with the bulk covering public spaces. The government has spent around 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) on more than 20,000 camera surveillance systems nationwide, according to China Public Security, a trade publication being distributed at the exhibition.
人民日报：网络空间治理须加强顶层设计|网络安全|国家安全_
人民日报：加强网络时代的公众注意力管理|公众注意力_互联网_
Guotai chief quits as checks tighten on top brass of state-owned firms | South China Morning Post Chen Geng, the president of Shanghai-based Guotai Junan Securities, has apparently become the latest victim of the “anti-naked official” campaign led by the Communist Party’s organisation department, which vets appointments to senior government posts and top jobs at state firms. Chen resigned from the company for “personal reasons”, according to a report in the Shanghai Securities News. A source with working ties with Guotai Junan confirmed Chen’s resignation and attributed it to his family members, including his wife and children, holding foreign passports and declining to relinquish them.
让时政报道更具文化味（编辑部的故事）–时政–人民网 mo
China frees Tiananmen dissidents but will deport ‘rotten meat’ protest artist – Telegraph Guo Jian, 52, a naturalised Australian, will be expelled over a “visa irregularity” after having been detained in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.
Shaanxi Tells Officials Seeking Promotion to Report Assets, Major Events – Caixin Government wants those seeking to move up the rungs of officialdom to inform it of property holdings and goings-on such as marriages and trips abroad
南方周末 – 金饭碗、铁饭碗、粗瓷大碗 公务员的新焦虑症 Southern Weekend looks at the crackdown on corruption and official extravagance, and the stresses the campaign is putting on officials // 编者按：2013年以来，八项规定、六项禁令、反腐风暴、
China’s cabinet to inspect policy implementation – Xinhua | English.news.cn The State Council, China’s cabinet, will dispatch eight inspection teams to check the implementation of its policies nationwide, said a statement here Saturday. The inspection will last from June 25 to July 5 on policies launched by the State Council since July 2013. Despite progress in the past year, many policies have not been fully carried out nor have they had the effects they should have, the statement said. The inspection teams will focus on 19 areas. Local governments found wanting will be held accountable.
Chinese Law Prof Blog-Dumb arguments about human rights in China China’s Global Times, a newspaper known for its highly nationalist bent, commemorated June 4th by publishing an op-ed by a man named John Ross, currently a senior fellow at People’s University’s Chongyang Institute of Finance and a former advisor to former London mayor Ken Livingstone. I’m not going to reproduce the whole thing here – just click on the link to read it. I want to address some of the arguments Ross makes because I see them over and over, and they don’t get better with repetition.// Ross’ bio on Wikipedia, was member of Trotskyist International Marxist Group in England
中纪委网站刊文解释“与他人通奸”_网易新闻中心 CCDI charges one official with adultery, puts explainer on its website about adultery…if adultery is now in the scope of the CCDI, they are going to need a lot more investigators // 6月5日，中央纪委监察部网站发布消息：
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China’s World: Beijing Moves Boldly, Calculates Carefully – WSJ one theory gaining traction among senior officials and policy analysts around Asia and in Washington is that the timing is well calculated. It reflects Mr. Xi’s belief that he is dealing with a weak U.S. president who won’t push back, despite his strong rhetorical support for Asian allies. Mr. Xi’s perception, say these analysts, has been heightened by U.S. President Barack Obama’s failures to intervene militarily in Syria and Ukraine. And it’s led him to conclude that he has a window of opportunity to aggressively assert China’s territorial claims around the region.
On Tiananmen Anniversary, China’s Military Touts Its Strength – NYTimes.com The military’s official newspaper, the People’s Liberation Army Daily, made no mention of the turmoil of 1989 in its pages on Wednesday. It did publish an editorial with the title, “The more powerful the military, the more secure the country.” The editorial went on to argue that a strong military is necessary to withstand threats to a country// 军队越强大国家越安全
Video shows Vietnam fishing boat sink after collision with Chinese vessel Vietnam state television has broadcast video showing a Chinese ship colliding with a small Vietnamese fishing boat which capsizes in its path not far from where China has parked an oil rig in disputed waters. Vietnam and China have already traded accusations over who was to blame for the May 26 incident, as tensions fester between the two countries over the giant drilling platform in the South China Sea. The video, shot from a nearby Vietnamese craft, shows a much larger Chinese vessel steaming after two Vietnamese fishing boats. It bisects the two boats, then the Vietnamese ship closest to the camera suddenly tips on its side into the path of the larger vessel and overturns.
Development paths should be respected: President Xi – Xinhua | English.news.cn “Just like we can not turn all flowers violet, we can not expect countries with different cultural traditions, historical experiences and national realities to follow the same mode of development. Otherwise the world will be too boring,” he said. Noting that Arab states are seeking their own path of development, Xi said China is ready to share with Arab states its own governance experience so that both sides can draw wisdom from each other’s civilizations and development practices.
Landmark China-Arab ministerial meeting to reap harvest: Chinese FM, AL chief – Xinhua | English.news.cn The upcoming Sixth Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum(CACF) will be a landmark and reap a good harvest, Chinese foreign minister and Arab League (AL) chief said on Wednesday. “The ministerial meeting, which coincides with the 10th anniversary of the CACF’s founding, will be a landmark in bilateral relations and produce important results,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Secretary-general of the League of Arab States Nabil Elaraby said.
Ex-foreign minister says frayed Japan ties ‘temporary’ | South China Morning Post Chinese former foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan blamed Japan for the state of bilateral ties, criticising Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to a war shrine and its moves over the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus, broadcaster NHK said. But he noted “adverse winds are blowing against bilateral relations but this difficulty is only temporary,” according to the network’s translation.
Philippines Reports Chinese Ship Movement Around Disputed Reefs – NYTimes.com China is moving ships around disputed reefs in the South China Sea that could be used to reclaim land and build structures, President Benigno S. Aquino III of the Philippines said Thursday.
Vietnam Says Video Shows Chinese Ship Intentionally Sinking Boat – NYTimes.com Vietnam has released a video that it says shows a Chinese fishing boat intentionally ramming into a smaller Vietnamese fishing boat, causing it to sink.
China uses D-Day anniversary to praise Germany, slam Japan | Reuters “Germany’s sincere remorse has won the confidence of the world,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news briefing, when asked about the D-Day anniversary. “But in Asia on the Asian battlefield, the leaders of Japan, which caused harm and which lost the war, are to this day still trying to reverse the course of history and deny their history of invasion,” Hong added.
Xi calls for unity, greater contribution of overseas Chinese – CCTV News – CCTV.com English Xi made the remarks at the 7th Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations attended by more than 500 representatives from 119 countries and regions. As long as the overseas Chinese are united, they can play an irreplaceable role in realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation as they are patriotic and rich in capital, talent, resources and business connections, Xi said.
Is China Rattling Nuclear Sabres over Shangri-la? – All Things Nuclear “同时，还要最大限度地提升导弹、
China Voice: The Hague has no jurisdiction over sea dispute – Xinhua | English.news.cn The tribunal, set up under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), has no jurisdictional power over the territorial and maritime disputes in the region. Though a UNCLOS signatory, in 2006 China filed a formal declaration that invoked the opt-out clause of Article 298 of the convention. That, according to the rules of convention, entitled China to reject arbitration in disputes concerning boundaries, historic titles, or military activity.
TECH AND MEDIA
In the shadow of Tiananmen, LinkedIn succumbs to China’s censorship | Business Spectator “We’ve long recognised that offering a localised version of LinkedIn in China would likely mean adherence to censorship requirements of the Chinese government on internet platforms,” LinkedIn China head of corporate communications Viola Wang told China Spectator. “These requirements have just recently been imposed upon us within China. We are strongly in support of freedom of expression. But, as we said at the time of our launch in February, it’s clear to us that in order to create value for our members in China and around the world, we will need to implement the Chinese government’s restrictions on content, when and to the extent required.”
NQ Mobile Jumps as Company Investigation Finds No Fraud – Bloomberg An investigative team assembled by NQ Mobile found no evidence it engaged in the fraudulent conduct alleged by Muddy Waters and said its cash balances were “verifiable and consistent with public disclosures,” according to a statement from the company distributed by PR Newswire. The team did make recommendations to improve internal controls, the company said.
China Declares a New Foe: Windows 8 – WSJ In its widely watched noon news broadcast, China Central Television aired a segment that questioned the operating system’s security. It quoted people it identified as experts who said that an operating system’s maker can obtain user data including phone numbers and bank-account information. “Whoever controls the operating system can control all the data on the computers using it,” it said.
百度贴吧、网易博客等52家网站因涉黑涉暴正被调查-
China Wants to Kick Its Addiction to Companies Like IBM. It Won’t Be Easy – China Real Time Report – WSJ China has long acknowledged that it wants to ease its dependence on global technology firms in favor of homegrown alternatives. Last year’s disclosures about U.S. cybersleuthing efforts have only added to that drive. A deal inked on Thursday between International Business Machines Corp. and Shanghai airport officials show how tough that goal will be to reach. Big Blue on Thursday said it will work with the Shanghai Airport Authority to build a software system to help manage operations at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport. They didn’t disclose financial terms.
China state media calls for ‘severe punishment’ for Google, Apple, U.S. tech firms Chinese state media lashed out at Google Inc GOOGL.O, Apple Inc AAPL.O and other U.S. technology companies on Wednesday, calling on Beijing “to punish severely the pawns” of the U.S. government for monitoring China and stealing secrets. U.S. companies such as Yahoo Inc YHOO.O, Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Facebook Inc FB.O threaten the cyber-security of China and its Internet users, said the People’s Daily on its microblog, in comments echoed on the front page of the English-language China Daily.
Exclusive: Xiaomi hires Jabong co-founder Manu Jain for its India operations | Latest Tech News, Video & Photo Reviews at BGR India Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi has started hiring in India to launch its brand in the country later this year. Multiple sources have confirmed to BGR India that Xiaomi has hired Manu Kumar Jain to kickstart its operations in the country. Jain, who was the co-founder of online retailer Jabong, had quit the company earlier this year to start his own venture.
China IPO Buzz Sparks Surge In Venture Capital Fundraising – Venture Capital Dispatch – WSJ Shunwei is Lei Jun’s fund // The $2.23 billion worth of capital secured by Shunwei Capital, IDG Capital Partners, Legend Capital and GGV Capital since May 22, in fact, surpasses all previous quarters going back to the fourth quarter of 2011, when Chinese venture firms at that time had raised $3.48 billion, fundraising data from Dow Jones VentureSource show.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
The Godfather of Chinese Rock ’n’ Roll Talks Tiananmen – Scene Asia – WSJ As the world observes the 25th anniversary of the June 4 massacre in Tiananmen Square, the Journal caught up with Mr. Cui [Jian] to ask about his memories of the country’s past—and what he sees for his own future. Edited excerpts:
E-commerce giant Alibaba joins real estate tycoon to help change Chinese soccer – Xinhua | English.news.cn Evergrande boss Xu said it was the company’s “strategic decision” to introduce new capital to the club. The cooperation with Alibaba is the first step and he intends to bring in 20 more shareholders with 200 million yuan each. “The club capital will be expanded. Ma and I will eventually combine to hold 60 percent of the stake,” said the real estate billionaire who built the Evergrande powerhouse.
Alibaba buys half of Chinese soccer club for $192 mln
Global Times Editor Apologizes to Chinese Veterans Over Online Post – NYTimes.com Hu Xijin, the editor of Global Times, a newspaper owned by the People’s Daily Group, wrote on his Sina Weibo account on Wednesday that he had spoken with some veterans who said that soldiers assigned to such squads had to be guarded at night to prevent desertions. The People’s Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, responded that such an assertion was “nonsense.”
Author Behind ABC’s Asian American Sitcom “Fresh Off The Boat” Will Not Apologize For Its Title Eddie Huang, who wrote the memoir on which the sitcom is based, is crusading to reclaim the term. If the pilot is any indication, he may just succeed.
维吾尔族夫妇收养被弃汉族女孩9年 称情深难割舍_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 propagan
Tiananmen Square at 25 by Terril Yue Jones | Wilson Quarterly BY TERRIL YUE JONES Memories of Tiananmen Square in 1989, as told (and photographed) by a journalist who was there.
高校自主招生公信力遭疑 学者吁高招信息公开 some details on the People’s University admissions corruption case
China Girds for High-Stress ‘Gaokao’ Weekend – Businessweek The gaokao (which literally means “high test”) is the grueling annual entrance exam that determines the college every student will attend. This year, there will be 9.39 million nail-biting test-takers (up 270,000 from 2013) participating in the two-day exam that runs June 7-8.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
U.S. sets new import duties on Chinese solar products | Reuters In a preliminary determination, the Commerce department imposed duties of 35.21 percent on imports of panels and other products made by Wuxi Suntech Power and five other affiliated companies, 18.56 percent on imports of Trina Solar and 26.89 percent on imports from other Chinese producers.
BEIJING
京津冀一体化规划最快月底上报 新华社——经济参考网 plan for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration should be submitted by the end of June. Xi appears to be very serious about making this happen…was mooted 10 years ago, DOA due to interest groups and bureaucratic infighting//资料图片 京津冀一体化渐行渐近。“