Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

1. Taiwan Debates Its President’s Meeting With Xi Jinping of China – The New York Times Eric Chu, the Kuomintang’s presidential nominee, told Taiwan’s Economic Daily News that only if the party stayed in power would cross-strait relations continue to see heights like the Ma-Xi meeting. Mr. Chu heads to the United States on Tuesday, where he is likely to press further his case that the Kuomintang is better prepared to handle relations with China. The United States said that it welcomed the meeting of Mr. Ma and Mr. Xi.

Related: [视频]习近平同马英九会面新闻频道央视网(cctv.com) Xi-Ma meeting 5th story on Saturday CCTV evening news

Related: 人民日报评论员：坚持两岸共同政治基础不动摇–评论-人民网 People’s Daily commentary 11.9 on Xi-Ma Meeting  //  固本强基，方能行稳致远。要和平不要冲突、要交流不要隔绝、要协商合作不要零和对抗，已成为两岸主流民意。台海动荡紧张，两岸冲突对抗，民众深受其害；走和平发展之路，谋互利双赢之道，利在两岸当下，功在民族千秋。两岸领导人此次会面昭示，只有坚持“九二共识”，两岸才能进一步增进政治互信、深化和平发展，才能共同携手迈向中华民族伟大复兴的美好未来。

Related: DPP International Site » Dr. Tsai Ing-wen reacts to The Ma-Xi Meeting I have confidence in Taiwan’s democracy and the Taiwanese people. Together with the Taiwanese people, we will use democracy to reverse the damage caused by the Ma-Xi meeting.  //  How exactly was Taiwan’s democracy damaged? If anything its vibrancy, and Taiwan’s respect for freedom of speech and the press, have been highlighted by this meeting. And it may be a boon for Tsai after she becomes President, as a precedent has been set for meetings with Taiwan’s President that may lead foreign leaders to be more willing to meet with the President of Taiwan

Related: The Ma-Xi Summit: Democracy is Thicker than Blood | The National Interest To understand why the summit wasn’t such a big deal, and ultimately why it will not have a substantial or impact on the future, we must turn to public attitudes in Taiwan, which are often overlooked by the international community, largely due to the absence of foreign journalists in Taiwan and academia’s subsuming of Taiwan into the field of “China studies.”

Related: Xi-Ma meeting sceptics show narrow minds – Global Times Major countries do not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan. The “One China” principle has been widely recognized in the world, which indicates Taiwan is not a country. International organizations either do not accept Taiwan, or consider it a regional body. Taiwan society should accept reality, being aware that nobody in Taiwan can change it, and no international forces, including the US, can help change reality.

Related: Taiwan and Mainland Leaders Meet for First Time – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace-Doug Paal written before the Xi-Ma meeting, very incisive piece  //  Finally, a word about the broader context:  In reaction to inroads made by the United States with its “rebalance” to Asia — facilitated by China’s neighbors and their discomfort with Chinese assertive behavior — China has for the past two years or so embarked on a policy one can term “counterbalance” in the Asia Pacific region to the American “rebalance.”

Related: Closer Look: Xi-Ma Talks Yield Little, but Could Usher in New Era-Caixin The leaders, who held a closed-door meeting, both expressed a commitment to the 1992 Consensus as a platform for building trust, according to Ma and Zhang Zhijun, director of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office. That consensus refers to a verbal agreement reached during a meeting in Hong Kong between the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation. The consensus, as Xi interpreted it during his meeting with Ma, is a reflection of the “One China” principle, the idea that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China and that cross-strait ties are not a relationship between two countries or between China and Taiwan. Xi’s interpretation is in line with what mainland authorities have said many times. But by reiterating it in a face-to-face meeting with a Taiwanese leader, he sought to stress its importance, consistency and unambiguity.

2. U.S. patrol sought to avoid provocation, not reinforce China island claim: officials | Reuters The U.S. Navy deliberately avoided military drills or other actions that could have further inflamed tensions with Beijing during a patrol last week near islands China has built in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said. “We wanted to assert our rights under international law, but not to the point where we were poking the Chinese in the eye, or where it would unnecessarily escalate the situation,” said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said the destroyer USS Lassen turned off its fire control radars while transiting within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef and avoided any military operations during that time, including helicopter launches or other drills.//but the Pentagon and White House have a messaging issue, as evidenced by the stories and posts below trying to explain what really happened….

Related: US Navy operations send muddled message to China – FT.com following months of debate inside the Obama administration, the White House had actually chosen the option that involved the least provocative actions by the US Navy, partly to avoid antagonising China too much ahead of a climate change conference in Paris where Chinese co-operation will be crucial. According to five people familiar with the operation, the USS Lassen conducted what is known under international law as innocent passage when it sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, which could leave the legal significance of the US manoeuvre open to different interpretations. // it appears that the US negotiators are giving Beijing more leverage than it has as they don’t seem to understand that China’s climate moves are rooted in its own desperate need to fix its environmental catastrophes

Related: The U.S. Navy’s Freedom of Navigation Operation around Subi Reef: Deciphering U.S. Signaling | The National Interest Bonnie Glaser and Peter Dutton  //  The U.S. recognizes that Subi Reef is inside a legal territorial sea. Contrary to the claims of many experts, the USS LASSEN (DDG 82) operation was not intended to assert that the U.S. challenges the existence of a territorial sea around Subi Reef. Rather, it was intended to exercise freedom of navigation consistent with international law and to demonstrate that China’s building of artificial islands will not change how the U.S. operates in the waters and airspace of the South China Sea. Additionally, contrary to international law, Chinese domestic law requires prior notification for warships to exercise innocent passage. The U.S. gave no formal prior notification to any of the claimants of the exercise by USS LASSEN of innocent passage in the vicinity of Subi Reef and Sandy Cay. Accordingly, such innocent passage acted as a freedom of navigation operation because it challenged China’s attempt to put illegal restrictions on the movements of warships.

Related: USS Lassen and ‘innocent passage’: The devil in the details-Lowy Interpreter Stepping back from the migraine-inducing minutiae of passage regimes and maritime claims, what are we to make of this ever-thickening legal tangle? The first lesson from the convoluted ex post facto explanations being marshalled in the US to justify the Lassen’s circumscribed FONOP last month is that, where the South China Sea is concerned, the devil lurks unexpectedly in the details. The aim of encouraging China and others to clarify their claims in conformity with UNCLOS is hard to argue against, but, in such a complex setting, clarity brings unpredictable consequences, as the messy post-mortem from the Lassen’s passage is making clear. The second point is that it doesn’t pay to be too clever about sending signals. If they have to be ‘deciphered’ by subject specialists, chances are you’ve already lost the target audiences.

Related: ‘Hope to see you again’: China warship to U.S. destroyer after South China Sea patrol | Reuters not all U.S.-Chinese naval interactions are tense, especially when things are slow on the high seas. “A few weeks ago we were talking to one of the ships that was accompanying us, a Chinese vessel … (We) picked up the phone and just talked to him like, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing this Saturday? Oh, we got pizza and wings. What are you guys eating? Oh, we’re doing this. Hey, we’re planning for Halloween as well’.” The intent, Francis said, is “to show them … that we’re normal sailors, just like them, have families, just like them.” The Chinese sailors, speaking in English, responded by talking about where they were from, their families and places they have visited, Francis said.

3. Xi presses reform, innovation – Xinhua | English.news.cn “Reform and development have achieved a high degree of integration. Further development needs to be based on reforms while progress in reforms gives a strong impetus for development,” Xi said during the 18th meeting of the central leading group for comprehensively deepening reform…The leading group stressed that further reforms on mass organizations would be launched to make them more energetic and efficient. The importance of creating a network of high-standard free trade areas was highlighted during Monday’s meeting, which can better mobilize both domestic and international resources. The leading group emphasized that the market should be allowed to play a decisive role in allocating resources, and the government should play a better role. In addition, China shall open its service sector wider. // CCTV Evening News report on the meeting 习近平主持召开中央全面深化改革领导小组第十八次会议强调 全面贯彻党的十八届五中全会精神 依靠改革为科学发展提供持续动力 

4. Yearbook 2014: Shared Destiny | The China Story In the China Story Yearbook 2014: Shared Destiny, we take as our theme a concept emphasised by Xi Jinping 习近平, the leader of China’s party-state, in October 2013 when he spoke of the People’s Republic being part of a Community of Shared Destiny 命运共同体, officially translated as a Community of Common Destiny. The expression featured in Chinese pronouncements from as early as 2007 when it was declared that the Mainland and Taiwan formed a Community of Shared Destiny. Addressing the issue of China’s relations with the countries that surround it at the inaugural Periphery Diplomacy Work Forum held in Beijing on 24 October 2013, Xi Jinping further developed the idea when he summed up the engagement between the People’s Republic and its neighbours by using a series of ‘Confucian-style’ one-word expressions: positive bilateral and multilateral relationships were to be based on amity 亲, sincerity 诚, mutual benefit 惠 and inclusiveness 容.

Related: Q. and A.: Geremie R. Barmé on Understanding Xi Jinping – The New York Times Under Xi Jinping, the man I like to call China’s C.O.E., or Chairman of Everything, these traditions are being drawn on to build a China for the 21st century. For those used to thinking about China as being a country that “just wants to be like us,” or as one that fits neatly into the patterns of the Euro-American past, the Xi era is a challenge. For the many students of China who haven’t bothered reading Mao, taking the Marxist tradition seriously or familiarizing themselves with the country’s dynastic legacies, Xi’s version of China is positively discombobulating…However, having been educated at Maoist universities in my 20s, in my darker moments I think that a series of regional conflicts may well be the reality in the years to come.

5. Exposed: China’s covert global radio network-Reuters The Chinese government controls much of the content broadcast on a station that is blanketing the U.S. capital with pro-Beijing programming. WCRW is part of an expanding global web of 33 stations in which China’s involvement is obscured.//doesn’t matter that these stations have tiny ratings

Related: US radio company under scrutiny, investigation over China gov’t ties | Fox News The Federal Communications Commission confirmed this week it has launched a probe into the company. The concern, legally speaking, is not so much the pro-Beijing content but the financial connections to a foreign government.  “Based on reports, the FCC will initiate an inquiry into the facts surrounding the foreign ownership issues raised in the stories, including whether the Commission’s statutory foreign ownership rules have been violated,” FCC spokesman Neil Grace said.

6. All Eyes On China as Climate Summit Approaches | The GroundTruth Project With new official data released this week revealing that China is burning significantly more coal than it had previously disclosed, some questioning the potential for success of any global pact to come out of Paris. But those familiar with China’s environmental situation say the country’s release of new figures is not all bad news. In fact, some analysts believe the release of the data — as stark as it is — may actually be an unprecedented step by China toward transparency. And, they believe, the data release reflects rising economic and social pressure within China to finally work toward mitigating further damage to the planet.

Related: The unbearable lightness of Chinese emissions data | Reuters No one currently knows how many tonnes of carbon China emits each year. Its emissions are estimates based on how much raw energy is consumed, and calculations are derived from proxy data consisting mostly of energy consumption as well as industry, agriculture, land use changes and waste.      Many outside observers view the accuracy of those figures with skepticism.

7. China’s Fifth Plenum Yields More Questions than Answers | Center for Strategic and International Studies–Christopher Johnson and Scott Kennedy // Given Xi’s likely belief that controlling personnel assignments in the run-up to the 19th Party Congress in 2017 is critical to the rest of his agenda, stasis on the personnel front may further distract Xi’s attention from pushing forward reform. In fact, the continued inertia could prompt Xi to consider more dramatic moves, such as further takedowns of retired or sitting senior leaders under the anticorruption drive, a more pointed assault on the party bureaucracy, or an effort to stage a bold demonstration of his political power. Such uncertainty, and its possible attendant leadership discord, would only serve to exacerbate doubts in the global community about the leadership’s commitment to prioritizing the economy coming off the turbulence and volatility of recent months.

Related: 中财办副主任杨伟民详解我国“十三五”规划建议-新华网 杨伟民说，党的十八大提出到２０２０年国内生产总值和城乡居民收入翻番目标，“十二五”前四年我国ＧＤＰ平均增长８％，如果今年增长７％左右，则“十二五”五年增速是７．８％，要实现翻番目标，“十三五”期间的增长速度可能需要在６．５％以上，因此，６．５％的增速只是一个测算依据，并不是一个目标。 // Yang Weimin of the CFELG answers questions about the 13th Five year plan, says 6.5% GDP growth is not the target but the bottom line based on the centenary goal of doubling 2010 GDP by 2020

Related: Communiqué of the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party « China Copyright and Media Passed by the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on 29 October 2015)

Related: 中共中央关于制定十三五规划的建议(全文)新闻腾讯网 full text of the proposed 13th Five Year Plan

Related: Amazon.com: One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment eBook: Mei Fong publication moved up in wake of 5th Plenum decision / An intimate investigation of the world’s largest experiment in social engineering, revealing how its effects will shape China for decades to come, and what that means for the rest of the world

8. U.S. intelligence head: CIA did not pull officers from Beijing after OPM hack – The Washington Post Asked at a Defense One national security conference whether CIA officers were removed from Beijing, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said “No.” He did not elaborate. The Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials, reported in September that the agency had pulled officers as a precautionary move

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

China Foreign-Exchange Reserves Post First Rise in 6 Months – Bloomberg Business The stockpile rose to $3.53 trillion from $3.51 trillion at the end of September, according to People’s Bank of China data released Saturday. That compared with a drop of $43.3 billion in September and a record $93.9 billion slide in August.

Mapped: Where China’s economic slowdown is hitting the hardest – Quartz hen you look at how individual regions are doing, a distinct pattern emerges: China’s industrial northeast is slowing, and in some cases suffering, while economies in the south and west continue to grow at a fast past, sometimes in the double-digits.

A reminder that, in China, today’s default is most often just tomorrow’s bailout | FT Alphaville So if the government is effectively guaranteeing that no company will default, then it makes sense for investors to load up on high-yielding bonds since they are no riskier than low-yielding government bonds. While credit spreads widened in early 2014 and 2015 as investors worried about defaults, those worries have since been forgotten: spreads on three-year corporate debt have narrowed by around 50bps since June.

In which Chinese margin punters test the water | FT Alphaville Interestingly, the market upswing may have led margin punting in October – rather than the other way around. The ratio of margin positions to market free float remained steady throughout October at 5.3-5.6%. This level is still much higher than what we can find historically anywhere except for late-90s Taiwan. So we aren’t ready to conclude that the share overhang is history, and A-Share investors are strongly advised to monitor margin levels in their holdings (see Fig 55 for update positions in 896 marginable stocks). But it is also possible that this ratio has settled at what for China – with its unusually low free float of c. 39% and the national penchant for retail stock market plunging – is indeed “normal” // market back in a bull market…tough few weeks for some of the China bears with RMB not collapsing, stocks back up…

Destroyers and the PCAOB | China Accounting Blog | Paul Gillis There are no good options left for the PCAOB. Successful short seller attacks indicate that fraud and auditing failures continue to be a problem in China. The only real tool left in the PCAOB toolbox is to deregister the accounting firms that it cannot inspect. But this option would quickly lead to the delisting of Chinese companies from US markets, including companies like Alibaba and Baidu.  There are some tough decisions ahead for the PCAOB’s Chairman. That is, if there were a PCAOB chairman. James Doty’s term as chairman expired on October 31, and SEC chairman Mary Jo White has not said whether Doty will be reappointed or replaced.

清算日财新周刊频道财新网 Caixin cover story on the takedown of fund manager Xu Xiang. Some very deep waters around the Xu case, don’t expect it to end with his detention  //  徐翔的传奇秘辛与俄罗斯高频交易员印钞机般的战绩，再次证明中国股票市场的凶险

构建产业新体系（学习贯彻党的十八届五中全会精神） 马 凯 《 人民日报 》（ 2015年11月10日   06 版） //  Ma Kai in 11.10.2016 People’s Daily on “constructing a new industrial system”

Statement: Caixin Announces Expansion into Financial Database Sector China Insight Group takes controlling stake in China Chengxin Information Technology Co. in bid to enter financial database business, Caixin editor-in-chief Hu Shuli says

POLITICS AND LAW

深入推进社会治理创新 切实提高维护公共安全能力水平 Meng Jianzhu in latest Qiushi on advancing “social management innovations”. lots of discussion of course about the Internet

Forgotten Archipelagoes: Reading the CCP Notice on Diligently Studying and Implementing the Standards and the Regulations In this post I will explain by simple questions and answers what I focus on when I read some legal texts, using the ‘Notice on Diligently Studying and Implementing the CCP Standards on Integrity and Self-Restraint (original|translation) and the CCP Regulations on Disciplinary Punishments’ (original|partial translation) as an example. The full text of the Notice can be found here (Chinese).

建设网络强国 网络社会组织的参与不可或缺-新华网 在刚刚结束的网络社会组织学习十八届五中全会精神座谈会上，中央网信办副主任任贤良在听取多家网络社会组织代表发言后，结合网络社会组织工作实际及发展现状，对网络社会组织如何更好地落实五中全会精神提出了具体要求..“十三五”规划中多处提到关于网络安全和信息化方面内容，充分体现了以习近平为总书记的党中央对信息化和网络安全建设的高度重视，以及未来五年发展中对信息化和互联网工作的明确目标。网络社会组织以其独有的特性和在业界中的灵活地位正在成为网络社会管理中不可或缺的新生力量，为我国互联网发展和信息化建设发挥日益重要的作用

Months After Blasts in China, Rebuilding Tianjin Homes and Lives Is a Struggle – The New York Times following the playbook for disaster management  //  Almost three months after the blasts damaged over 17,000 homes and stunned the nation with apocalyptic scenes, residents say they are struggling to rebuild their lives in the face of a campaign of intimidation by government officials intent on putting the embarrassing episode behind them and on suppressing public criticism of the Communist Party.

In China, relatives of disaster victims are cast as troublemakers – The Washington Post The lack of transparency that pervades China’s one-party state, the sense that there will be no meaningful accountability for what went wrong and the effective silencing of their voices have made them feel helpless and increasingly bitter. “The government just thinks of us as troublemakers now,” said Candy Tang, 35, who lost her 6-year-old daughter when the Eastern Star sank.

China says graft fight in Tibet also aimed at religion | Reuters Tibet party boss Chen Quanguo, in comments carried on the website of the party’s graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said Tibet’s lack of oxygen and position at the frontline of fighting separatism did not mean it ignored the battle against corruption. Everyone in Tibet has “rallied round” President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign, Chen said. Special effort was being focussed upon “officials who have an incorrect view on minority people’s (issues) and profess no religious belief but secretly believe”, he added.

China to push cultural ‘blending’ in Xinjiang stability push | Reuters Zhang Chunxian, Xinjiang’s party boss, said during a meeting in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, deep in the Uighur heartland in southern Xinjiang, that Xinjiang was a chess board and its southern reaches were a crucial piece. “South Xinjiang is the central battleground for fighting terrorism and threats to stability,” Zhang said, in comments carried by the official Xinjiang Daily. In southern Xinjiang, China aims to achieve significant progress by 2020 in the struggle against separatists, maintaining stability and fighting terror, Zhang said.

宁夏回族自治区政府副主席白雪山涉嫌严重违纪接受组织调查-新华网 first tiger in Ningxia taken down; Ningxia Vice-Chairman Bai Xueshan under investigation

中央政法委《关于建立律师参与化解和代理涉法涉诉信访案件制度的意见（试行）》–法治–人民网 为认真贯彻党的十八届四中全会精神，充分发挥法律服务队伍在维护群众合法权益、化解矛盾纠纷、促进社会和谐稳定中的积极作用，深入推进涉法涉诉信访改革，中央政法委日前印发《关于建立律师参与化解和代理涉法涉诉信访案件制度的意见（试行）》。

推动兴起学习宣传贯彻党的十八届五中全会精神热潮–时政–人民网 Ministry of Propaganda issues notice on studying Xi’s speech at the Fifth Plenum and the “draft” 13th Five year plan…expect ot be hearing lots about this in coming weeks and months

隐匿的资本主义与喧嚣的民主话语-来源：《红旗文稿》2015/21 。对于中国来说，要在强势的西式民主话语体系面前坚定“三个自信”，坚持走中国特色社会主义民主政治发展道路，就必须深入揭示西式民主话语体系是如何隐匿其资本主义本性的，这种隐匿究竟对西式民主及其话语体系产生了什么样的影响等，进而充分认识西式民主的资本主义本性。

China’s impenetrable politics are the real challenge – Business Insider should be boom times for the various research shops that try to unravel Chinese politics…a topic I am always happy to talk about //  “There’s a general perception that in China both the economy and politics are a black box. I can say, with a degree of certainty, that the economy doesn’t seem so much of a black box to me. … But what I do feel is a black box is the politics,” said Diana Choyleva, Lombard Street Research’s chief economist and head of research.

Top Editor of ​Chin​ese​ Tabloid Global Times​ ​Defends Patriotism in ​New ​Talk Show · Global Voices Now Hu has debuted a new talk show online — “Hu’s Talking” or Hu Kan in Chinese. He proudly claims it is “the first Chinese talk show that comments on global current affairs,” and in the first episode he knocked the use of disparaging terms for “patriotic” Chinese.

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

中国南海岛礁建设画面曝光 – 资讯 – 海外网 on the ground pictures from the island creation in south china sea

China’s Daring Vanguard: Introducing Sanya City’s Maritime Militia | Andrew S. Erickson The following is the first in a five-part series meant to shed light on Hainan Province’s maritime militia. For decades, these irregular forces have been an important element of Chinese maritime force structure and operations. Now, with Beijing increasing its capabilities, presence, and pushback against other nations’ activities, in the South China Sea (SCS), Hainan’s leading maritime militia elements are poised to become even more significant. Yet they remain widely under-appreciated and misunderstood by foreign observers.

Is China Pursuing Counter-Intervention? | Andrew S. Erickson and Timothy Heath The term “counter-invention” has become controversial in describing aspects of Chinese national and military strategy. For some, the concept of “counter-intervention” remains useful to describe ways in which Beijing seeks to impede Washington’s ability to use its own military forces in the Asia–Pacific theater. For others, the term is a Western invention that does not accurately describe Chinese behavior at all. In this article, we aim to clarify the concept by differentiating two distinct but complementary ideas. At the national strategy level, evidence strongly suggests that Beijing seeks to weaken the U.S.-led security architecture, which it perceives as an obstacle to its long-term ambitions—an idea that we believe is better captured by the phrase “regional restructuring.” At the military operational level, the evidence likewise leaves little doubt that Beijing is developing a broad range of capabilities aimed at deterring—or if necessary, defeating—U.S. intervention in any conflict involving China, an idea best expressed by refining the meaning of “counter-intervention.”-Timothy Heath and Andrew S. Erickson, “Is China Pursuing Counter-Intervention?” The Washington Quarterly 38.3 (fall 2015): 143-56.

China Tests Anti-Satellite Missile – Washington Free Beacon The test of a Dong Neng-3 exoatmospheric vehicle was carried out Oct. 30 from China’s Korla Missile Test Complex in western China, said two defense officials familiar with reports of the test. A Chinese press report also provided details of what was said to be a missile defense interceptor flight test carried out Nov. 1. Photos of the missile’s contrails were posted online.

U.S., China hold naval exercises in Atlantic – UPI.com China’s latest warships took part in the drills, including the guided-missile frigate Yiyang, the guided-missile destroyer Jinan and the fleet’s oil tanker Qiandao Hu. The United States deployed the missile destroyer USS Mason and the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey along with other ships in the Atlantic, where the warships conducted drills on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The exercises included the coordination of maritime communications, fleet operations and rescue missions, according to Chinese news website Peng Pai.

Vietnam Talks Trust With China But Invites Japanese Warship Vietnam agreed to build a “truly trustworthy” relationship with China on Friday during a visit to Hanoi by its President Xi Jinping, but at the same time invited Beijing’s old rival Japan for joint military exercises and a visit to a sought-after port.

China Expands Presence With Fighters on Woody Island China’s deployment of the more advanced J-11BH/BHS fighter aircraft to Woody Island, revealed in photographs released via online Chinese-language media websites in late October, underscores how seriously the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is taking its claims to the South China Sea.

Chinese foreign minister to visit the Philippines – Xinhua Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay a working visit to the Philippines on Tuesday at the invitation of his Philippine counterpart Albert Del Rosario, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei announced on Monday. “Wang will meet with Del Rosario and Philippine leaders on President Xi Jinping’s planned presence at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Manila,” Hong said at a regular news briefing.

President Xi to attend G20, APEC summits – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the G20 summit from Nov. 14 to 16 in Antalya, Turkey at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang announced on Monday. Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting from Nov. 17 to 19 in Manila at the invitation of Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III, Lu said.

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

South China Morning Post announces new editor-in-chief amid mass exodus of staff | Hong Kong Free Press One Post employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, told HKFP that the announcement was “staggering news”. “Xiangwei’s reign has not been a good one, but to replace him with someone whose idea of news judgment is sticking a picture of CY Leung into everything, and who struggles with basic English can only make matters far, far worse.”

Alibaba in talks to invest in SCMP Group, China Daily says | Hong Kong Free Press In response to an email enquiry, a spokesperson for the SCMP Group refused to comment on “market rumours.” However, the newspaper’s verified account on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform, posted a message about the China Daily report, without confirming the news.

Independent Hong Kong Book-Sellers Missing, Believed Detained-RFA Four people linked to a Hong Kong bookstore which has stocked titles highly critical of the ruling Chinese Communist Party have been “delayed,” believed detained by Chinese authorities, while on a visit to Thailand. Owner Gui Haiming, general manager Lu Bo, store manager Lin Rongji, and staff member Zhang Zhiping of publisher and bookstore company Sage Communications are believed to be in China after having been detained there or in Thailand, their associates told RFA.

TECH AND MEDIA

China allows online media to report news – Xinhua The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT)issued press cards to the first group of 594 reporters from 14 “major central news portals,” including the authorized Chinese government portal, the official websites of People’s Daily and Xinhua News Agency and the portal for Tibet. The employees of commercial news portals such as Sina and Sohu were not included.

New committee to uphold media ethics – Xinhua A total of 50 media organizations signed a pact in September promising to uphold media ethics. It included clauses on the promotion of “healthy and tasteful style” and united opposition of false reporting, vulgar content, harmful information, plagiarism, and false advertising. Those that signed were from across the press, publication, radio, television and film sectors. The signatories pledged to “protect the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the interests of the state, and to not publish or spread any information that would undermine the image of either.”

Who is Jia Yueting, the Chinese billionaire linked to Faraday? – LA Times “We will build the best electric cars to solve the problems of air pollution and traffic jams in China,” Jia Yueting wrote on his Chinese microblog. Jia, chairman and founder of Leshi Internet Information & Technology Co., also known as LeTV, is linked to the Faraday Future electric car start-up in Gardena. Incorporation papers for Faraday list Chaoying Deng — who previously ran a Leshi movie-business affiliate in the U.S. — as Faraday’s chief executive.

New Flight Pattern for Online Travel Rivalry-Caixin The tie-up of the two Nasdaq-listed companies with a combined market value of US$ 18 billion set the stage for a three-way travel market battle pitting Baidu and its new partner Ctrip against the nation’s dominant social media company Tencent Holdings Ltd. as well as e-commerce leader Alibaba Group. Tencent has an online travel information section on its qq.com, an instant messenger. The company has also invested US$ 84 million in travel service providers eLong in 2011 and US$ 78 million in LY.com in 2014. Alibaba, meanwhile, has had one foot in the travel agency door since 2010 by selling ticket and hotel booking services through its Tmall and Taobao websites

Regulators in Shenzhen Scrutinize Apps Used to Order Food-Caixin The Shenzhen Market Inspection Bureau said Ele.me, Meituan.com, Dianping.com and Koubei.com failed to “check if restaurants they are working with have a food-safety license.” Mobile applications related to the websites have become popular ways for people to order food to be delivered to their homes.

文化部：明年起网络音乐需审核后方可上线–文化–人民网 Ministry of Culture issues new rules for online music to come into effect Jan 1, 2016, including that music must be approved before it can go online

Directed by Hollywood, Edited by China: How China’s Censorship and Influence Affect Films Worldwide | U.S.-CHINA China’s regulations and processes for approving foreign films reflect the Chinese Communist Party’s position that art, including film, is a method of social control. As a result of these regulations, Hollywood filmmakers are required to cut out any scenes, dialogue, and themes that may be perceived as a slight to the Chinese government. With an eye toward distribution in China, American filmmakers increasingly edit films in anticipation of Chinese censors’ many potential sensitivities.

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

French Artist Kills Off Chinese Alter Ego, but Some Knew of Ruse – The New York Times an interview with the artist this week by telephone, and with one of the dealers representing his work, reveals that the news coverage greatly exaggerates the extent of his ruse, and a little market research reveals that his reported success as a Chinese artist is middling at best.

Interview: Chinese artist Liu Dan – FT Liu Dan is one of the most revered artists in China. We meet at the opening of his first commercial show in Europe, at Eskenazi in London // he does great work, very expensive now

Ai Weiwei Doesn’t Need Anyone to Give Him Legos | Foreign Policy The artist’s most recent publicity stunt merely fuels his unfair image within China as a self-promoting opportunist. // reads more like a skillful attempt to bury Ai than to praise him; i.e. 高级黑

清除文艺创作中的历史虚无主义刻不容缓-来源：《红旗文稿》2015/21　 由于世界范围内社会主义运动处于低潮和西方对我国和平演变的既定目标没有改变，也由于的确有人妄图扭转当今中国改革开放和中华民族伟大复兴的历史走向，当前，一股历史虚无主义思潮沉渣泛起，不仅染指哲学观点、历史观点、政治观点、法学观点，而且也顽固地渗透于文艺创作之中，严重扭曲着人们的历史观，并颠覆着附着于历史观之上的民族观、国家观和价值观，理应引起我们高度警醒与关注。-（作者：中国文联原副主席、中国文艺评论家协会主席）// deputy head of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles writes in the latest Red Flag Manuscript about the pressing need to remove historical nihilism from arts and literature…

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Thick Smog in Shenyang, China, Draws Even State Media’s Scorn – The New York Times over the weekend, Shenyang, an industrial city in northeastern China, endured PM2.5 readings that exceeded 1,000, even 1,400 micrograms, per cubic meter, at some measuring stations, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. Even for a country where chronic smog has inspired superlatives like “airpocalypse” and “crazy bad,” the numbers from Shenyang prompted a kind of awed revulsion.

Smog set to tighten grip on northeast | China Daily Thick smog will persist for the next five days in major cities in northeastern China that have seen extremely high air pollution readings since Friday, the national environmental watchdog said on Monday.

《开展领导干部自然资源资产离任审计试点方案》出台-新华网 方案提出，开展领导干部自然资源资产离任审计试点的主要目标，是探索并逐步完善领导干部自然资源资产离任审计制度，形成一套比较成熟、符合实际的审计规范，保障领导干部自然资源资产离任审计工作深入开展，推动领导干部守法、守纪、守规、尽责，切实履行自然资源资产管理和生态环境保护责任，促进自然资源资产节约集约利用和生态环境安全。此项工作由审计署牵头负责实施，全国各级审计机关是主体。审计试点期间，审计对象主要是地方各级党委和政府主要领导干部。// Party seems to be getting serious about holding officials accountable for environmental issues. “Seems” may be the operative word until we see real change….

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ISSUES

Dim Sums: Rural China Economics and Policy: Counterfeit Rice Spells Trouble for China’s Economic Transformation In 2003, Chinese authorities awarded Wuchang rice a “geographic indication protected product” recognition as a special product unique to that region.  According to the Wuchang agricultural bureau, the region produces only 1 million metric tons of rice, but nationwide 10 million tons of rice labeled as “Wuchang” are sold each year. Thus, nearly 90 percent of “Wuchang” rice must be counterfeit.

BEIJING

北京交管局原局长之子获刑20年 曾为人办京A车牌新闻腾讯网 京A license plate-selling son of detained Beijing traffic police head sentenced to 20 years, 京A license plates used to enjoy lots of special privileges, now not as many. Daddy got life in jail

JOBS AND EVENTS

C40-Deputy Regional Director for East Asia Beijing-based

Contemporary China Speakers Series: “Built to Last: What If the Chinese Political System Endures?”—November 12 | Paulson Institute Gady Epstein-Thursday, November 12, 2015 12:00 – 1:15 p.m. The Quadrangle Club, Library 1155 East 57th Street Chicago, IL 60637

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