THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

1. People’s Daily criticizes U.S. as “source of turmoil” – Xinhua BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) — The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, has criticized the United States as the “source of turmoil in the world.” The newspaper on Sunday published three articles by Chinese scholars to analyze the causes of expansive and hegemonic moves by the United States from systemic, ideological and strategic perspectives. An editor’s note on the page said that U.S. interventions are behind unrest and disputes in many places, including the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the South China Sea. // the articles: 人民日报人民观察：利益驱动的“战车体制”-杨光斌 ; 人民日报观察者说：四处插手的价值观-林宏宇 ; 谋一己之私的国际战略（当今聚焦）2016-09-18 14:39:37 [来源:人民日报] [作者:李 文] 

2. Will China soon control American movies? – The Washington Post- Ret. Rep. Frank Wolf First, Congress and the Obama administration should consider expanding the charter for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to cover strategic “soft power” sectors, allowing the committee to review how foreign ownership from autocratic regimes might restrict creative freedom.  Second, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, originally passed in 1939 to address concerns about Soviet and Nazi propaganda, should be updated to consider the role of foreign censorship and influence in U.S. media ownership. A Justice Department Inspector General report released this month called on the department to update its FARA enforcement strategy, specifically citing foreign media operations, among others, as entities that should be covered by disclosure and reporting requirements, as well as federal civil investigative demand authority. And finally, recent provisions in the annual defense and intelligence authorization bills before Congress to create an entity in government to monitor and respond to foreign propaganda and misinformation should be expanded to cover authoritarian foreign ownership of U.S. media. // I have not always agreed w Rep Wolf on China but in this case I concur that FARA needs to be reinvigorated. For example, given that CCTV America is an external propaganda organ of the Chinese Communist Party, and therefore every employee of CCTV America effectively works for the CCP, shouldn’t all CCTV America employees in the US have to register under FARA? Remember, at the news and public opinion work conference in February 2016 after inspecting CCTV, Xinhua and People’s Daily, Xi reiterated the need to strengthen construction of international “dissemination” capabilities, increase international discourse power and work hard to create “external propaganda flagship media” Xinhua :在19日党的新闻舆论工作座谈会上，习近平进一步提出，要加强国际传播能力建设，增强国际话语权，集中讲好中国故事，同时优化战略布局，着力打造具有较强国际影响的外宣旗舰媒体。

Related: Foreign lobbying regulation: A history – Sunlight Foundation Blog The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has had a long — and spotty — history. Pushed through in 1938 by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, it was intended to help blunt what authorities here believed was an intensifying propaganda blitz by Germany. The aim of the legislation: To make it easier for federal counterespionage authorities to keep tabs on U.S.-based individuals and other groups helping to drum up support for the Nazi movement and keep America neutral in the war.

Related: Sinica Podcast-Frank H. Wu on Chinese-Americans and China This episode is a conversation with Frank H. Wu, chair of the Committee of 100, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging constructive relations between the people of the United States and Greater China and to promoting the participation of Chinese-Americans in all areas of U.S. life. He is also a distinguished professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White. The discussion covers the perceptions of the racial identities of Tiger Woods and Keanu Reeves, the increasing number of Chinese-Americans who play a role in U.S.-China relations, the thorny issue of ethnically Chinese scientists who have been accused, often but not always wrongly, of espionage in America, and other topics. You can read the backgrounder for this episode here.

3. BIS flashes red alert for a banking crisis in China-The Telegraph The Bank for International Settlements warned in its quarterly report that China’s “credit to GDP gap” has reached 30.1, the highest to date and in a different league altogether from any other major country tracked by the institution. It is also significantly higher than the scores in East Asia’s speculative boom on 1997 or in the US subprime bubble before the Lehman crisis. Studies of earlier banking crises around the world over the last sixty years suggest that any score above ten requires careful monitoring.  The credit to GDP gap measures deviations from normal patterns within any one country and therefore strips out cultural differences. It is based on work the US economist Hyman Minsky and has proved to be the best single gauge of banking risk, although the final denouement can often take longer than assumed.

Related: China’s central bank sees some success in cutting interbank lending risk | Reuters really?  //  the delicate balancing act still pushed the benchmark overnight lending rate up to 2.15 percent on Wednesday, its highest level in more than a year. Other money market benchmarks, including the volume weighted average seven-day bond repo agreement rate, have also risen sharply. China’s markets were closed on Thursday and Friday for a public holiday. “It’s been incredibly tense these past few days,” said a money-market trader at a mid-sized Chinese commercial bank in Shanghai. The risk for small and mid-tier banks, which unlike big banks can’t rely on a large deposit base for funding, is that interbank funding exposes them to any market disruptions – such as a sustained rise in interest rates, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Related: Loan Demand Weakens to Historic Low-Caixin Amid an economic slowdown, the overall index of loan demand was at 55.7 in the third quarter, the lowest since the People’s Bank of China started to compile the data in 2004. The index of loan demand from medium-sized enterprises fell to 52 and for small business to 55.8, both historic lows. However, the figure for large corporations slightly rebounded at 51.4, up 0.1 points from a quarter earlier.

Related: 5105套！杭州限购前一天杭州新房、二手房成交破纪录 5105 homes changed hands the night before Hangzhou enacted a new round of housing purchase restrictions

Related: 楼市火爆引发调控重新收紧 _ 经济参考网 _ 新华社《经济参考报》官方网站 18日，杭州市发布房地产限购政策，将于9月19日起暂停向拥有1套及以上住房的非本市户籍居民家庭出售住房，包括新建商品住房和二手住房。杭州是继苏州和厦门之后第三个重启限购的城市。 业内人士表示，部分楼市的异常火爆，令房地产调控政策重新收紧，针对房地产领域的降低杠杆政策正在密集出现，不排除有更多的城市加入限购和限贷的行列。 // Xinhua’s Economic Information suggests more housing purchase restrictions coming for hot 2nd-tier property markets

4. Obama Recruits Kasich, Paulson to Sell Struggling Trade Deal – Bloomberg Politics President Barack Obama on Friday ramped up his campaign to persuade Congress to pass his struggling trade deal with Asia, a pact that remains opposed by both presidential candidates and many rank-and-file lawmakers in each party. Obama invited a bipartisan group of politicians and business leaders to the White House for an Oval Office meeting on the deal, which congressional leaders say is unlikely to get a vote this year. Participants included Republicans John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, as well as Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Related: Vietnam delays TPP vote | Reuters As arguably the biggest beneficiary of the deal covering 40% of the global economy, Vietnam was expected to be among the first to ratify the TPP, the prospect of which helped spur record foreign investment last year in its booming manufacturing sector. “The TPP will not be on the assembly’s agenda because the government’s proposal is not completed,” a parliament source familiar with the matter told Reuters. He did not elaborate. Vietnamese ratification was widely considered a formality, having already been approved in January by the top brass of the ruling Communist Party.

5. Welcome to the Dark Net, a Wilderness Where Invisible World Wars Are F | Vanity Fair I will call his client the Company. It is an Internet behemoth. It streams entertainment online and makes direct regular connections to more than 70 million personal computers worldwide. The Company does not charge for the connections but rather for the services it provides. It is very profitable. And it is under frequent attack from many parts of the world. Most of the attacks are drive-by shootings—spray-and-prays that succumb harmlessly to the defenses that Opsec has helped design. But some are carefully aimed and have threatened the Company’s existence. He first intervened six years ago, after a data center had been hacked (as Opsec puts it) in a f[%%%]ing major way. The intruders had gone after key systems, including the central payment processor and the C.E.O.’s computer, and had stolen credit-card and financial data as well as the Company’s proprietary source code—the secret formula upon which the business is built. Opsec worked for nearly six months to clean up the mess. By backtracking he discovered that the hackers were a group associated with the Chinese army. They operated out of a specific building near Shanghai, which he was able to locate, and specialized in targeting entertainment companies. Eventually he was able to identify some of the individuals involved, and even to obtain pictures of them. Nominally, that was the end of it. Opsec told me that because a government was involved, and legal recourse in China was unrealistic, no further action was taken. // which company is this?

Related: Someone Is Learning How to Take Down the Internet – Lawfare We don’t know where the attacks come from. The data I see suggests China, an assessment shared by the people I spoke with. On the other hand, it’s possible to disguise the country of origin for these sorts of attacks. The NSA, which has more surveillance in the Internet backbone than everyone else combined, probably has a better idea, but unless the U.S. decides to make an international incident over this, we won’t see any attribution. But this is happening. And people should know.

6. The Chinese Democratic Experiment that Never Was | Foreign Policy On June 20, the reliably nationalist Global Times ran an editorial in its digital and print editions opining that “unfortunately, the Wukan question may ultimately require a solution in accordance with law.” Netizens noted the curious phrasing; it sounded like a legal solution was being held out as threat. Now Wukan’s villagers are seeing what that means. Perhaps, some mused, the crackdown was inevitable. “When [Wukan’s protests] happened a few years ago,” wrote one Weibo’er, “we knew this day would come.”

7. Fudan University Chief Fired over Liaoning Election-Rigging Scandal-Caixin Investigators find that Fudan University’s party secretary paid peers to get elected to local and national legislatures

Related:  【舒立观察】坚决揭盖子，构建新型政商关系财新周刊频道财新网 为企业家营造良好的“栖息地”，需要的不是单一的优惠政策，而是一个综合系统、运转有序的生态。为此，需要全面深化改革，尤其是推进政治体制改革，加快民主和法治建设

Related:  An Unlikely Crime in One-Party China: Election Fraud – The New York Times The nearly 3,000 members of the congress, which meets as a full body for less than two weeks each March, ratify laws and government programs, usually with little drama. Members are mostly voted in by lower-ranking organizations, including provincial congresses. The businessman, Wang Wenliang, is a billionaire who made his fortune in the construction business and from operating a strategic port on the North Korean border. Mr. Wang has also been linked with entities holding hidden stakes in three condominiums in the Time Warner Center in New York.

Related:  Donor to Clinton Foundation, McAuliffe caught up in Chinese cash-for-votes scandal – The Washington Post Wang Wenliang, a Chinese billionaire and donor to the Clinton Foundation and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, has been expelled from China’s top legislature after being caught up in a widespread cash-for-votes scheme. On Tuesday, China’s national legislature expelled 45 of its nearly 2,900 members, all from the northeastern province of Liaoning, in a huge vote-buying scandal. The move was part of an investigation into corruption in Liaoning and a much larger national anti-corruption campaign launched by President Xi Jinping. Wang, who made his fortune in construction and running a strategic port near the North Korean border, also has been a big donor to New York University, Harvard University and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Related:  人民日报评论员：对拉票贿选坚持“零容忍”–反腐倡廉-人民网 反思拉票贿选案，我们得出深刻的警示：党纪国法是高压线、警戒线，任何人都不得触犯。每一个党员，尤其是党的领导干部，必须带头遵守党纪国法，带头营造良好政治生态。我们应从全面从严治党、全面依法治国的高度，深刻汲取拉票贿选案的教训。全党同志和各级国家机关工作人员必须切实增强政治意识、大局意识、核心意识、看齐意识，自觉在思想上政治上行动上同以习近平同志为总书记的党中央保持高度一致，大力推进党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争。必须坚持党的领导，充分发扬民主，严格依法办事，长期坚持、全面贯彻、不断发展好人民代表大会制度。

8. Rush of Chinese Investment in Europe’s High-Tech Firms Is Raising Eyebrows – The New York Times It was facing a broad slowdown in demand in 2015 when San’an Optoelectronics, based in the eastern Chinese city of Xiamen, canceled a large order at the last minute. The decision sent Aixtron’s share price crashing. By May of this year, it had agreed to sell itself to a Chinese investment fund, Fujian Grand Chip. Yet in a twist that shows the conflicting interests that can lurk behind Chinese deals, San’an has a number of connections to Fujian Grand Chip, including a common investor and an existing financial relationship.

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

China’s ‘national team’ in quiet retreat from stock market — FT.com China’s “national team” reduced its stock holdings dramatically in the first half of 2016 without derailing a market rally, defying predictions that withdrawal of government support would spark a resumption of last summer’s crash.

独家|宝钢吸收合并武钢 方案即将公布公司频道财新网 宝钢、武钢两大钢铁央企的重组方案即将公布。财新记者独家获悉，国务院国资委已于8月最后一个星期通过了宝武重组方案，并于9月初上报国务院。不出意外，一家总资产超过7000亿元，年产能达到6000万吨，规模位列全球第二的钢铁“巨无霸”，或将在月内诞生。 // Caixin reports that Baogang taking over Wugang steel, deal done, announcement imminent, SOE reform with Chinese characteristics…

China to Remove Tariffs on 201 Technology Products-Caixin Starting Thursday, China will cut import duties on 201 IT products covered by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) — a global technology trade pact under the WTO — according to a statement published on the Finance Ministry’s website Wednesday. The products include integrated circuits, touch screens, semiconductors and medical devices.

Fatal Tesla Crash in China Involved Autopilot, Government TV Says – The New York Times The crash took place Jan. 20 and killed Gao Yaning, 23, when the Tesla Model S he was driving slammed into a road sweeper on a highway near Handan, a city about 300 miles south of Beijing, according to a report  broadcast on Wednesday by the Chinese government news channel CCTV.

China Coal Cuts to Trigger 90-Days of Pain for Japan Steelmakers – Bloomberg Japan’s steelmakers are set to pay for China’s effort to manage its coal industry as a surge in metallurgical prices flow through to quarterly supply contracts. Spot hard coking coal has more than doubled this year to trade near $200 a metric ton and the gain will be taken into consideration when Japanese steel mills and miners negotiate a supply contract for the fourth quarter. A deal may be agreed at $140, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd., 51 percent higher than the third-quarter accord and the highest since early 2014.

Western aluminium makers face new threat — FT.com At the vanguard of China’s dominance of the global aluminium industry, Hongqiao appears to be thriving: in March the privately owned company set out plans to expand production capacity to 6m tonnes by the end of this year — 33 per cent more than the combined output of its US rivals in 2015. These ambitious plans help explain why US and European aluminium producers fear their Chinese competitors could undermine a tentative recovery in the price of the lightweight metal this year. This is because western producers say excess production by Chinese rivals was a key factor behind falling prices between 2011 and last year.

三年27次会议 中央深改小组破题诸多领域改革-新闻-上海证券报·中国证券网 时届全面深化改革施工高峰期、落实改革任务攻坚期，经济领域哪些改革将加快落实落地？哪些试点将推广？ 2013年11月，中央启动全面深化改革进程。在过去的近三年时间里，中央全面深化改革领导小组共召开27次会议，破题诸多经济领域的改革项目，并出台了顶层设计方案。 在经济领域改革议题中，上证报记者梳理发现，涉及国企改革和农村土地制度改革的文件最多。这些文件在审议通过后的两个月内基本上都会发布实施。

POLITICS AND LAW

In Tibet, the door cracks open for foreign media — and then slams shut again – The Washington Post Officials told us that President Xi Jinping and Yu Zhengsheng, the top official in charge of Tibet, had told an internal party meeting last year that Tibet needed to be more open to foreigners and to foreign media in order to realize its potential as a tourism destination. China, the top leaders argued, should be more confident about Tibet and had “nothing to be ashamed of.” The Tibet Autonomous Region of China is home to about 3.1 million people, and is made up of 475,000 square miles of high-altitude plateau, grasslands, forest and mountains — roughly the size of Texas and California.

Rescuing Autocracy from Itself: China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign by Xi Lu, Peter L. Lorentzen :: SSRN Abstract:      In order to maintain popular support or at least acquiescence, autocrats must control the rapacious tendencies of other members of the governing elite. At the same time, the support of this elite is at least as important as the support of the broader population. This creates difficult tradeoffs and limits the autocrat’s ability to enforce discipline. We explore this issue in the context of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign. There have been two schools of thought about this campaign. One holds that it is nothing but a cover for intra-elite struggle and a purge of Xi’s opponents, while the other finds more credibility in the CCP’s claim that the movement is sincere.

China charges brother of former aide to retired president over graft | Reuters Ling Zhengce, the former deputy head of the parliamentary advisory body in the coal-rich northern province of Shanxi, is the elder brother of Ling Jihua. The former aide to Hu was jailed for life in July, after a case which the ruling Communist Party has said caused major damage to its image. The elder Ling used his political positions to seek benefits for others, including illegitimate gains, and illegally accepted large assets from others, the Chinese supreme court alleged in a statement on its website. // Caixin-令政策等山西七高官均在江苏受审 

China’s State Council officials pledge allegiance to the Constitution – Xinhua The State Council holds a ceremony for 55 officials to pledge fidelity to the Constitution at Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 18, 2016. In the first such ceremony, 55 newly-appointed leading officials from agencies directly under the State Council took the oath. The officials pledged to loyally defend the Constitution as they fulfill their duties honestly, subject to the people’s supervision. The ceremony was supervised by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

《人民检察官》：一部当代反腐史志_凤凰资讯 自电视剧《大法官》《大雪无痕》和电影《生死抉择》之后，反腐题材影视剧创作沉寂多年。从党中央提出的反腐斗争的长期性要求来看，我国电视剧创作应与反腐斗争相配合，把“警钟长鸣”体现在“醒剧常有”之中，一方面引导观众的价值取向，一方面塑造反腐的社会舆论场。从这个角度看，近日在中央一套播出的电视剧《人民检察官》为重树反贪腐电视剧创作的旗帜起到了积极作用。 34集电视剧《人民检察官》紧扣着“全面依法治国、全面从严治党”的方略，以通俗艺术的形式展现了近年来反腐建设的历史，具有强烈的时代感和价值镜鉴。从一定角度看，这部作品堪称文艺形式的当代反腐史志。// on the new TV Miniseries “The People’s Prosecutor” 

让当代中国马克思主义放射出更加灿烂的真理光芒 一个民族要想站在科学的高峰，就一刻也不能离开理论思维；一个政党要站在时代的前列，一刻也离不开理论指导和理论创新。指导思想是一个政党的精神旗帜，坚持以科学理论为指导至关紧要。习近平总书记在庆祝中国共产党成立95周年大会上的重要讲话中指出：“坚持不忘初心、继续前进，就要坚持马克思主义的指导地位，坚持把马克思主义基本原理同当代中国实际和时代特点紧密结合起来，推进理论创新、实践创新，不断把马克思主义中国化推向前进。”这为顺应时代要求，在续写中国特色社会主义这篇大文章的同时，谱写21世纪中国马克思主义新篇章指明了方向。

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

What does China get out of Hinkley? – BBC News The Chinese could, and many said should, have walked away from Hinkley following UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s eleventh-hour decision to delay the deal, and frankly many thought they might. After all, the episode was seen as a major snub, one that the Chinese ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming described as a “test of mutual trust” between the UK and China. But the Chinese stayed in the game, and now state-owned firm China General Nuclear Power Group, or CGN, is welcoming the deal, saying it is “delighted” that Theresa May’s government has approved the deal, despite the earlier trouble.

Why is the Navy’s largest shipbuilder looking for a subcontractor in China? – The Washington Post Ingalls executives met with U.S. officials in Shanghai, including Cameron Werker, the principal commercial officer at the consulate. In a follow-up email, Werker said Ingalls executives were planning to visit seven ports in China. The company has already conducted technical evaluations of proposals, and “China is the leading candidate,” Werker wrote. The other candidates are South Korea and Japan. Ingalls’s only client is the U.S. Navy, according to Werker. He wrote that the plan is to build ships to about 50,000 tons in Mississippi and then float them out to the dry dock for adding another 20,000 tons of exterior work. The dock would then be used for “launch and retrieve.”

Canada says it made no concessions to China for detainee’s return | Reuters Kevin Garratt, charged in January with spying and stealing state secrets, was convicted on Tuesday, released on bail and then deported to Canada on Thursday. The unexpected release prompted speculation on what Ottawa might have offered China, which is seeking a free trade deal with Canada, more relaxed investment rules, and the extradition of what Beijing has said are corrupt officials. “The prime minister … would never do these types of things,” Dion told a news conference when asked what concessions Canada had made.

U.S. Policy Toward North Korea Task Force Report – Council on Foreign Relations A new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Independent Task Force report, A Sharper Choice on North Korea: Engaging China for a Stable Northeast Asia, finds that the United States’ policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea will neither halt that country’s recurring and dangerous cycle of provocation nor ensure the stability of Northeast Asia in the future. To the contrary, the Task Force warns, “If allowed to continue, current trends will predictably, progressively, and gravely threaten U.S. national security interests and those of its allies.”

China sets up new logistics force as part of military reforms | Reuters The new joint logistics force would better support military operations, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Tuesday. The move “is a strategic decision by the Communist Party’s Central Committee and Central Military Commission to comprehensively deepen national defense and military reform”, Xinhua cited Xi as telling a ceremony in Beijing. “It is of far-reaching significance to establishing a modern joint logistics support force with Chinese characteristics and building a world-leading military,” he said.

[视频]习近平会见俄罗斯联邦安全会议秘书CCTV节目官网-CCTV-1央视网(cctv.com) 习近平指出，不久前我同普京总统在二十国集团领导人杭州峰会期间举行了今年第三次会晤，就进一步深化两国合作达成重要共识。我们一致同意，中俄要加大在重大问题上相互支持，巩固政治互信。开展好“一带一路”建设同欧亚经济联盟建设对接合作，深化利益交融。密切在国际和地区事务中的协调配合，加强战略协作。无论国际形势和外部环境如何复杂变化，双方都要努力实现两国共同发展振兴的目标，维护好世界和平稳定和国际公平正义。

Assessing Who Will Be the Next PLA Navy Commander | The Jamestown Foundation Admiral Wu Shengli, who has been the commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) since August 2006, a Member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Military Commission (CMC) since October 2007, and a member of the CCP’s Central Committee since 2007, will have to retire based on his age (born August 1945) no later than the 19th Party Congress in late 2017. This article addresses the requirements to become not only the next PLAN commander but to also become a concurrent CMC Member. It then examines who is qualified and is not qualified to assume those positions based on the current criteria. [1]

China and India’s Border Infrastructure Race | The Jamestown Foundation The border post at Barahoti, for instance, is dependent on a single road that stops 20 km short of the LAC. Beyond that road, human porters and pack animals must carry supplies to the border post (India Strategic, September 2013). [1] While both countries are engaged in extensive road and rail building projects on their respective sides. Chinese progress, however, has significantly outpaced India’s. Indian Roads have been allowed to deteriorate and rail connections are non-existent and there is mounting concern in India that poor overland links to the LAC could prove costly in the event of a military confrontation with China. In a bid to bridge this gap, India is strengthening force levels and military infrastructure along the LAC.

Japan Set to Intensify South China Sea Involvement | The Diplomat Inada outlined three particular areas where Japan will continue to deepen its involvement in the South China Sea: Japan on its part will increase its engagement in the South China Sea through, for example, Maritime Self Defense Force joint training cruises with the U.S. Navy, bilateral and multi-lateral exercises with regional navies, as well as providing capacity building assistance to coastal nations. // Global Times not happy 社评：中国可多招反制来南海巡航的日本 

Chinese Business’ Complicated Role in Kenyan Corruption | ChinaFile Zander Rounds, Research Manager at China House Kenya in Nairobi, has recently been conducting research on the role that small-to-medium sized Chinese enterprises play in Kenyan corruption. Zander conducted interviews with 25 Chinese business leaders in Kenya over a 10-month period, and what he learned over the course of his research is that as new immigrants in a country where they are forced to operate in an unfamiliar culture, language, and legal system, Chinese business owners are easy targets for bribes. Rounds’ research complicates the narrative that Chinese businesses are typically the instigators of corruption in Africa.

The Crucial South China Sea Ruling No One Is Talking About | The Diplomat an important but less conspicuous ruling within the PCA award document on Chinese coast guard behavior was largely overlooked by the press. The ruling, entitled “Operation of Law Enforcement Vessels in a Dangerous Manner,” sought to assess whether or not China, by the actions of its maritime law enforcement (MLE) vessels, had breached its obligations under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) by operating “in a dangerous manner causing serious risk of collision to Philippine vessels navigating in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal,” otherwise known as the Philippines’ Submission No. 13. In one of the most sweeping rulings on the actions of maritime law enforcement in disputed waters on legal record, the tribunal found that China’s coast guard had breached several UNCLOS articles governing safety and navigation at sea.

So Much Land, Too Few Russians – The New York Times In all, about 4.3 million people on Russia’s side of the border face at least 26 million Chinese on the other side. And Russia’s population over all has been declining, leaving the whole country desperately short of labor to cultivate and develop the vast expanses of Siberia. So densely populated China seems a natural, if uncomfortable, resource to turn to. Neither country’s government wants to advertise the scale of Chinese migration into Siberia to fish, mine and grow produce. Most conservative estimates put the number of illegal Chinese migrants at two million, while the Center for Migration Research in Moscow says the number of Chinese residents in Russia is projected, conservatively, to reach 10 million by 2050, making them the predominant group in the Far East.

NEWS CENTER–北方工业 The brochure comprehensively illustrates NORINCO’s preemptive advantages and remarkable achievements along the Belt and Road as a pioneer and leader of Chinese military trade, an important team to implement China’s Going Global strategy, and a leading force in the internationalization of the weapon industry.

US alarm at Chinese donations: ambassador John Berry-AFR The US has expressed its alarm about the influence of China and the Beijing government in Australia’s domestic politics and wants reforms to eliminate China’s ­ability to use financial donations to influence Australian politicians. In an exclusive interview, the departing US ambassador to Australia, John Berry, said foreign ­donations were illegal in America, and the US had been “surprised” by Chinese money power in this country and wanted Australia to resolve the issue. “It is an entirely different ­matter when the government of China is able to directly funnel funds to political candidates to ­advance their national interests in your national campaign,” Mr Berry told The Australian.

Australia’s far-right leader denounces China investment in comeback speech | Reuters Pauline Hanson, founder of Australia’s far-right One Nation party, used her first speech in parliament in almost two decades on Wednesday to denounce Chinese ownership of assets and warn that the country is in danger of “being swamped by Muslims”. Hanson is one of four One Nation senators elected in a July 2 general election, creating an important voting bloc when the two main parties – the governing center-right coalition and opposition Labour party – disagree on legislation.

China’s Influence-Peddling in Australia – WSJ Australia is working through the broader Western challenge of how to square liberal values and practices with China’s growing assertiveness. The tension is especially pronounced because China is Australia’s largest trade partner, a fact that helps explain Canberra’s decision last year to join the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank while finalizing a broad free-trade deal with China. Opponents of Chinese influence-peddling Down Under include many ethnic Chinese Aussies who know Beijing’s authoritarian ways all too well. Some were instrumental in canceling concerts planned this month in Sydney and Melbourne to honor Mao Zedong on the 40th anniversary of his death. The concerts would have been an offense to Mao’s millions of victims—and a reminder of how much separates China’s dictatorship from Australia’s democracy.

钟声：警惕日本战略鼓噪背后的祸心–评论-人民网 青山遮不住，毕竟东流去。无论从当今亚太地区的力量格局还是人心所向来看，日本的战略躁动都纯属不自量力，而其意图借机大展拳脚的“集团对立”局面也注定只是幻想。在追求合作共赢的年代，哪个国家愿意加入日本的“梦幻游戏”？就算日本抱住盟主的大腿一门心思玩下去，想必也是玩不起。 《 人民日报 》（ 2016年09月18日 03 版）

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

HK Star Denise Ho Filtered on iTunes, Music Sites – China Digital Times (CDT) Fans of Canto-pop star Denise Ho will now have trouble finding her music on several Chinese music streaming platforms, as well as in the mainland Chinese iTunes store. Ho is a vocal supporter of democracy in Hong Kong, and was the first celebrity arrested during the Umbrella Movement, also known as Occupy Central, in 2014.

Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong Buys Hong Kong Site | Mingtiandi Pronouncements of Li Ka-shing’s retreat from Greater China real estate markets may have missed the mark after Hong Kong’s richest man beat out Sun Hung Kai, China Vanke and 14 other bidders to win its first Hong Kong land auction in four years.

Mainland offers new measures to increase exchanges with Taiwan counties – Xinhua The delegation includes officials from New Taipei City and the counties of Hsinchu, Hualien, Taitung, Kinmen, Lienchiang, Miaoli and Nantou. Yu praised the delegation’s efforts to adhere to the political foundation of the 1992 Consensus, promote cross-Strait exchanges at county and city level, and maintain the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, “even against the backdrop of big changes in the situation.” Taiwan’s current Democratic Progressive Party administration refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which affirms that both sides of the Strait belong to one China. According to Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, this undermines the political foundation of cross-Strait relations, leading to a loss of trust and damaging previously amicable cross-Strait ties.

TECH AND MEDIA

Inside the Cannabilistic Culture of China’s Biggest Tech Giant – Bloomberg The idea of competing with co-workers has been extolled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and General Electric Co. Ma, China’s third-richest person, said in December that internal competition is a necessary driver of innovation. Besides the live-streaming services, Shenzhen-based Tencent currently operates at least four music apps, has three businesses working on virtual-reality technology and owns two film units. “We have a startup mentality,” said Ross Liang, a general manager at Tencent’s Social Network Group. “At Tencent, there isn’t a real clear line about who can’t do what.”

Alibaba exec explains why company won’t buy Yahoo–AsiaOne Business News Alibaba’s Joseph Tsai said his company will not buy the remaining piece of Yahoo, which includes a large stake in the Chinese e-commerce giant, because it would face a hefty US tax bill in order to do anything with those shares.  //  not to mention likely CFIUS issues

China Has Finally Seen Explosive Growth in Short Original Videos – TechNode thousands of companies from various sectors, ranging from traditional film and TV show production companies to print media veterans, have flocked into the short video production market.

Alibaba Buys Eye-Scan Firm EyeVerify Used by Banks Alibaba’s payments arm, Ant Financial, has acquired EyeVerify, a maker of optical recognition technology used by Wells Fargo along with dozens of regional banks and credit unions across the country. Bloomberg reported the purchase price as around $70 million, but a person close to EyeVerify says this is incorrect and that the actual amount was $100 million, and that it was an all-cash transaction.

Huami on track for unicorn status — FT.com The Chinese company behind the Mi Band fitness tracker, which is second only to Fitbit in global sales volumes of wearable devices, is seeking a $1bn valuation in a new round of funding as it looks to expand globally. Huami, headquartered in Beijing, is best known as a manufacturing partner to Xiaomi, a leading Chinese smartphone maker. Huami’s $15 wristband, the latest version of which tracks steps, sleep and heart rate, is sold under Xiaomi’s “Mi” branding and primarily distributed through its online store.  // good luck…I got our kids two of these in August when we were in Beijing. They wanted Fitbits as some of their classmates had them but we sai no way as too expensive. So I bought two of these instead, the girls used them for about 3 days and took them off

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

The suicidal and voiceless | Chublic Opinion The past few days I browsed the Internet trying to find someone who could speak from the standpoint of Yang Gailan, the 28-year-old farmer and mother of four, who committed suicide after slaughtering all her four kids by axing and force-feeding them pesticide. Her husband killed himself a few days after losing his entire family in a single day. The tragedy stunned, confused and angered a lot of people, who only slowly came to the gruesomeness of the case following the revelation of disturbing details of the struggling family living in the remote mountains of Gansu province, located in the arid far west of China, one of the poorest corners of the country.

Mentally Disabled Freed From Slavery in Yunnan Brick Kiln | Sixth Tone Police rescue six people from factory, but most don’t know where their homes are.

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative | Center for Strategic and International Studies In this joint CogitAsia and AMTI episode we tackle the topic of overfishing in the South China Sea. Ahead of the 2016 Our Ocean summit in Washington, Rachael Bale, a reporter with National Geographic’s Special Investigations Unit covering wildlife crime, joins to share her insights into the collapsing fishstocks in the South China Sea. Rachael describes the impact of overfishing and IUU on regional economies (2:15), details the day to day experience for fishers in Southeast Asia during this period of geopolitical competition (5:27), and discusses the attention sustainable fisheries and illegal fishing receive from the conservation community (11:08).

Blowing Up Boats Sets Indonesia’s Scarce Fish Swimming Again – Bloomberg “We catch them and we sink them,” Pudjiastuti said of the boats. “That’s the new rule, the national consensus.” “If you fish in my EEZ, that’s illegal fishing,” she said, referring to Indonesia’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. “If that fish is in my EEZ, that’s mine. If that fish swims past the EEZ, that’s anybody’s.”

How China Wastes Its Renewable Energy – The Experts – WSJ China may be the global leader in renewable energy investment, but it’s also the leader in the percentage of that energy that never reaches consumers. China’s wasted, or “curtailed,” wind energy averages about 21% nationally, reaching as high as 40% in some provinces. If these curtailment figures continue, China will have a hard time reaching its carbon-peaking commitments, or for that matter, any of its international climate goals.

Senior CPC leader stresses scientific literacy – Xinhua Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) leader Liu Yunshan on Sunday called for spreading scientific knowledge among the public to support China’s drive to become a leading power in science and technology (S&T). Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks while attending activities in Beijing for National Science Popularization Day.

Pollution | ANU Press – Free Download Environmental pollution poses serious challenges for China, including to its economy as well as public health. The China Story Yearbook 2015: Pollution looks at how China’s Communist Party-state addresses these problems and how Chinese citizens have coped with and expressed their concerns about living with chronic, worsening pollution.

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ISSUES

Dim Sums: Rural China Economics and Policy: Liaoning Corn Subsidy 120-180 yuan per mu More details about China’s new subsidy for corn farmers were revealed by Liaoning Provincial authorities this month. The subsidy is slated to be given for the next three years. The payment will vary from county to county, is expected to be in the range of 120-to-180 yuan per mu, and cash will be distributed to farmers by October 31, 2016. The details are based on propaganda articles released earlier this month. According to one microblog, the province has not released the actual documents online.

EDUCATION

For U.S. Minority Students In China, The Welcome Comes With Scrutiny : Parallels : NPR Wood now encourages other African-American students to follow in his footsteps. He’s a student ambassador for the U.S.-China Strong Foundation, which promotes student exchanges. But Wood says that it can be a hard sell. He found, for example, that the number of African-American students taking Chinese language courses has dwindled every year because many students decide to discontinue their Chinese studies. “They would say, ‘Oh no, like, I think I’m done with Chinese, you know, it was really difficult, I don’t think it’s for me, I have to spend a lot of time [on it],’ ” he explains. “People just kind of give up.”

BEIJING

How China is preparing to build the world’s largest ‘supercity’ – The Washington Post 130 million. That is the projection for the number of people who will live in the world’s largest city, a “supercity,” combining Beijing and neighboring Tianjin.   //  and why central Beijing real estate prices unlikely to crash, if even fall much…only a few tens of thousands of actually nice-ish central Beijing apartments…

Beijing to intensify efforts to build national sci-tech innovation hub The State Council on Sept 18 released a plan to push ahead building a national sci-tech innovation hub in the capital Beijing, growing it into a leading role in the country’s innovation drive and in the coordinated development with its neighboring regions. Mainly based at Zhongguancun’s innovation demonstration zone, Beijing will build an overall innovation system with science and technology at the core, according to the circular. It will also expand reform to remove institutional obstacles. The plan puts forward three goals that will be phased in.

Two Expat Women Injured in Cleaver Attacks North of Sanlitun | the Beijinger One person who has talked to the French victim claims the assailant was yelling “Meiguoren! Meiguoren! (American! American!)” at the time of the attack. No details were given about the severity of the French person’s wounds, other than they are not life-threatening.

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