Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
CCTV: Chinese pay higher price for Starbucks coffee | Shanghai Daily Labelling them a “luxury in coffee,” a China Central Television report yesterday said Starbucks coffee and mugs were more expensive in China than in London, Chicago and Mumbai. A cup of 354 milliliters of Latte coffee costs 27 yuan (US$4.4) in China as compared to only 19.98 yuan in Chicago, 14.6 yuan in Mumbai and 24.25 yuan in London, the CCTV report said. // 央视曝星巴克在中国售价最高 每杯拿铁成本不足4元|星巴克|咖啡|人民币_新浪财经_新浪网
Related: 央视批星巴克咖啡暴利反被质疑缺乏财务学常识_新闻_腾讯网 CCTV mocked for its attack on Starbucks
Xi sets up special unit to probe Zhou Yongkang corruption case | South China Morning Post at least three separate sources with knowledge of recent interrogations widely believed to be part of a larger corruption probe into Zhou’s affairs said police were taking the primary roles in these cases. It is believed that Xi and CCDI head Wang Qishan wanted police who are more experienced with criminal investigations to handle the investigation rather than the CCDI, whose abilities and methods have been questioned recently. One of the sources said the top leaders were not satisfied with the CCDI’s working style and were aware of frequent abuses during inquiry processes.
China Urges Economic Policy Implementation to Spur Rebound – Bloomberg China’s central government called for “unrelenting” implementation of its economic policies and reform measures to consolidate the nation’s recovery from a two-quarter slowdown and improve the quality of growth. // so they are being ignored? Are the political transmission mechanisms from Beijing to the provinces and below beyond repair, hence the intensity of the mass life education campaign?
Related: [视频]李克强主持召开国务院常务会议_新闻频道_央视网 Sunday Evening news on Premier Li’s comments
PM Abe likely to visit Yasukuni Shrine by year-end: LDP aide－ 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞) “The prime minister has repeated that there is no change in his feeling about the shrine,” said Koichi Hagiuda, a House of Representatives member who is serving as special aide to Abe in the latter’s role as LDP chief. Hagiuda told reporters he thinks Abe will visit the shrine within one year from the launch of his current government late last year. “Some people say he should visit the shrine sometime while he is prime minister, but a visit to the shrine should be made at least once a year,” he said.
Related: Shisaku: On Abe Shinzo And Yasukuni – The It’s OK, I Don’t Want To Talk To You Either Edition As for a promise/threat to visit Yasukuni before the year is out, can there be a more blunt way of making sure nothing good happens in the near future in Sino-Japanese or South Korea-Japan relations? Why would anyone in the Chinese or South Korean governments, much less President Xi Jinping or Park Geun-hye, want to be caught dead in a photo frame with a member of the Japanese government, with an Abe pilgrimage to Yasukuni impending?
Related: Japan to shoot down foreign drones that invade its airspace | The Japan Times Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued his approval when Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera briefed him on the plan Oct. 11, the source said. The ministry drafted the plan in response to a Chinese military drone that intruded into Japan’s air defense identification zone Sept. 9, approaching the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. China also claims the chain as Diaoyu.
瞭望：一鼓作气，汇聚起全面深化改革的力量-时政频道-新华网 latest issue of Liaowang on deepening reform, getting official media play // 10月21日出版的第42期《瞭望》新闻周刊将发表署名慎海雄的特稿，题为《一鼓作气，汇聚起全面深化改革的力量》…“改革是一场新的革命。”现在很多问题盘根错节，一些矛盾积重难返，改革往往要动既得利益的“奶酪”。由此，一些人产生了观望态度、畏难情绪。其实，这些矛盾和问题恰恰是改革进入攻坚期和深水区的正常现象，恰恰表明全面深化改革面临着攻坚克难的繁重任务，恰恰表明我们必须从纷繁复杂的事物表象中把准改革脉搏。正因为如此，习总书记强调决不能在根本性问题上出现颠覆性错误，反复激励广大干部群众要坚持改革开放正确方向，敢于啃硬骨头，敢于涉险滩，敢于向积存多年的顽瘴痼疾开刀。
China Inc. Battles Big Oil for Century’s Biggest Find – Bloomberg For Chinese oil companies, competing in Brazil’s auction today for the giant Libra field represents a change in strategy. A successful bid would be their riskiest Latin American investment. Cnooc Ltd. and China National Petroleum Corp. are among 11 companies registered to bid for what may become one of the world’s two largest deep-water fields, requiring an estimated $185 billion investment. Libra holds as much as 12 billion barrels, or three years of China’s consumption, Brazil’s oil regulator estimates. Other bidders include Royal Dutch Shell Plc. and France’s Total SA.
China’s Arms Industry Makes Global Inroads – NYTimes.com “China will be competing with us in many, many domains, and in the high end,” said Marwan Lahoud, the head of strategy and marketing at European Aeronautic Defense and Space, Europe’s largest aerospace company. “Out of 100 campaigns, that is, the commercial prospects we have, we may have the Chinese in front of us among the competitors in about three or four. They have the full range of capabilities, and they are offering them.”
哈尔滨市区出现重度雾霾天气 中小学停课|中小学|哈尔滨|雾霾_新浪新闻 Harbin Primary schools closed Monday due to severe air pollution // 【哈尔滨市区发生重度雾霾 中小学停课】21日清晨，哈尔滨市发生重度雾霾天气，PM2.5指数持续“爆表”，一些市区能见度已不足50米，哈尔滨市教育行政部门已通知全市中小学停课，部分公交线路已暂停运营或加大发车间隔。许多市民在网络上倡议，上班族应推迟出门或停班一天。
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Sunac China Says Home Sales to Exceed $8.2 Billion as Rich Buy – Bloomberg “I’m very confident in Beijing and Shanghai as there’s so much demand from everywhere,” Sun said. “They are first-tier world-class cities. There’s no single China property market we are talking about, because markets in big cities are hot, while in some other cities the market is very cold.” Sunac sold 36.4 billion yuan of homes in the first nine months of the year, about 81 percent of its sales target for 2013, according to a statement on its website
中央筹建房企“黑名单” 打击行业暗箱猫腻_网易财经 Black list coming for real estate developers, in yet another attempt to rein in sketchy behavior and keep home prices down // 十一届三中全会在即，各界对房地产楼市调控的长效机制寄予期望。昨日，住建部内部人士向媒体确认，在国务院部署指导下，由住建部牵头，发改委、财政部、国土资源部等共十部委已着手建立“房地产开发企业诚信信息共享系统”，即业内号称的“黑名单”系统。系统将监控房企的囤地、信贷违规、销售违规等行为，与地产开发企业的再融资及拿地行为挂钩。昨日不少大中型房企业内人士向南都记者直言，这一系统一旦严格投入使用，长期以来“暗箱”、“猫腻”行为将无所遁形，可谓“一记猛捶”。行业龙头万科认为行业规范化加强是大势所趋，而追求透明化管理和规范操作有利于减少成本。
Investment in Real Estate Funds Surges in Q3, Report Shows – Caixin Investments into PE real estate funds in the third quarter totaled almost US$ 2.4 billion, accounting for 57.8 percent of all the capital raised by PE funds during the same period, data from the research center under investment service provider Zero2IPO shows. This is the first time the fundraising of real estate funds has surpassed that of growth funds as the highest among all PE funds, the report says.
李嘉诚90亿港元上海售楼 国有金融机构接盘_财经频道_一财网 Li Ka-shing sells a building in Pudong, Shanghai for 9B HKD // 和记黄埔近日公告称，由长江实业与和记黄埔各持50%权益的东方汇经中心已锁定买家，并将以89.5亿港元出售。
圈地新支付 银联支付宝暗战升级 新华社——经济参考网 Economic Information on the growing payments battle between Alipay and Unionpay // “我们现在就有‘当面付’等等这么多的支付方式，你觉得以后还需要POS机吗？以后手机上就可以完成支付了。”在最近举行的“支付宝分享日”上，一位支付宝员工这样自信满满地告诉《经济参考报》记者。备感压力的银联也展开“防守工事”，一方面推广基于其闪付技术的自动售货机终端，另一方面于近日正式推出“天天富”理财增值业务平台，叫板支付宝此前面向广大草根群体推出的“余额宝”. 这场新支付圈地运动，支付宝与银联鏖战正酣。
Xinhua Insight: China’s Silicon Valley becoming Internet finance breeding ground – Xinhua Beijing is wooing Internet-based financial services such as online peer-to-peer lending and crowd financing to move their activities to its technological hub, promising perks from lower rents to cash rewards. Beijing’s Haidian District, which administers Zhongguancun, known as China’s Silicon Valley, has carved out three plots for Internet-based financial service companies as part of its effort to lead the nation’s innovation drive.
Chinese Companies Most at Risk for Corruption, Says Transparency International -Caijing Chinese companies have the least transparency in emerging nations, an NGO report showed, sounding an alarm for the new leadership which has vowed to fight corruption “at every level”. Transparency International, the Berlin-based anti-corruption organization, conducted research into the public reporting practices of 100 multinationals from China, India, Russia, Brazil, and 12 other countries. Results found that Chinese companies “lag behind in every dimension with an overall score of 20 percent (2 out of a maximum of 10),” thus are most prone to corruption, Transparency International said in an Oct. 17 release.
深圳多个保障房项目停工一年 两区政府哭穷扯皮_新闻_腾讯网 several subsidized housing projects in Shenzhen have stopped construction for a year, local governments crying poverty
China Seeks Clearer View of Government Debt Mountain – WSJ.com Estimates vary so widely they are almost meaningless. Government officials, analysts and economists have offered numbers that range from 15 trillion yuan to 30 trillion yuan ($2.46 trillion to $4.92 trillion), which equals nearly 30% to 60% of gross domestic product. “The most scary thing is that even the central government doesn’t really know how large the size of the local government debt is,” said Hu Yifan, economist at Chinese brokerage firm Haitong International.
EU members agree to enter investment negotiations with China | Reuters The decision by trade ministers from the EU’s 28 member states means negotiations with China can start at a summit in Beijing on November 21, with the aim of sealing an investment agreement in the following two-and-a-half years. The deal, reinforcing existing bilateral agreements between China and individual EU members, would seek to guarantee investors that they would be treated fairly and that their assets could not be expropriated without compensation.
Well-trained managers the SAFE way to manage assets | South China Morning Post The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) signed an interesting pact last week with the London Business School (LBS), one of the world’s most influential business schools. It will see LBS train mid-level executives from SAFE, which will pay all the bills for their studies in the school’s master’s degree programme in finance. The school, which admits 140 people a year to the programme, will reserve several of those places for SAFE employees, according to Fiona Sandford, its director of career services.
POLITICS AND LAW
求解纪检体制改革：重提垂直领导_财经频道_一财网 look for important reforms to CDIC/anti-corruption system at the Third Plenum // 接受《第一财经日报》采访的一些专家也表示，目前纪委体制的同级监督不利于有效发挥监督作用，导致机构独立性不够。 事实上，在即将召开的十八届三中全会上，社会关注的焦点问题之一便是纪检监察体制的改革。中国政法大学副校长马怀德曾在十八大后，被中纪委书记王岐山邀请参加反腐座谈会，他在接受本报采访时表示，十八届三中全会定位于研究全面深化改革重大问题，纪检监察体制的改革可能会在近期有所突破。
谁来打捞大拆大建背后的民声？——透视城市建设“大开挖”现象-时政频道-新华网 Xinhua on ignoring the people and pursuing construction projects, in aftermath of Ji Jianye case // 多位专家认为，城市规划建设应摒弃长官意志，倾听民意，一味强调速度和规模，只会在现代化的“陷阱”中迷失方向。要充分尊重实情，科学统筹规划，多征求民意，建设人民满意的城市。不能城市发展了，但绿水青山消失了，人民安全和幸福感下来了。
27地民主生活会自揭四大短板：怠惰自满铺张浪费_新闻_腾讯网 Highlights from 27 provincial/SAR democratic life meetings // [导读]已经有26个省份和新疆生产建设兵团召开了民主生活会，集中反映出各地普遍存在调研走样、脱离群众、怠惰自满、铺张浪费等四大问题
Senior CPC official urges enhanced Marxist study – Xinhua | English.news.cn A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Sunday called for enhanced study of Marxism to provide theoretical support for a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a symposium on the study and development of Marxism..// 刘云山：深入实施马克思主义理论研究和建设工程-高层动态-新华网
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Extradition deal key to nabbing fugitives|Politics|chinadaily.com.cn Signing an extradition treaty with the United States is essential to China’s ongoing efforts to capture and repatriate economic fugitives, a senior security official has said. Yet experts on both sides said an agreement may be unlikely in the short term, as obstacles and misunderstandings remain over China’s judicial system and progress in human rights protection. According to China’s Ministry of Public Security, at least 150 Chinese economic fugitives, many of them corrupt officials, are hiding in the US. Over the past 10 years, however, just two people wanted on criminal charges have been repatriated. // just 150?
China possibly utilized ‘honey trap’ at Kyoto hostess club in intelligence collection | The Tokyo Reporter The hostess club in Kyoto had between seven and eight hostess on staff and reportedly charged customers 20,000 yen for entry. Officers came across the possible espionage after a 32-year-old hostess was arrested for engaging in a fake marriage with a Japan Self-Defense Force member in June. The SDF member was dismissed from duty and is currently under prosecution in the fake marriage case. The 52-year-old was a regular at the club. The manager also faced charges in the matter but her indictment was later suspended.
Information Dissemination: PLAN passing through the Strait of Magellan Here is a really nice photo of the first 052C, 170, passing through the strait of Magellan. It’s the first time this has happened in the history of PLAN.
China holding up shipment of Iranian petroleum to North Korea – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun The condensate is believed to have been shipped from Iran over a number of occasions on tankers registered to a third nation. But Chinese authorities ordered the tankers to stop when they reached the Chinese coast in the Yellow Sea this spring. The ships were then towed to ports in Dalian, Liaoning province, and Qingdao, Shandong province. Sources said the condensate remains in those ports, which have restricted access to outsiders. China is believed to have asked North Korea to pay about $2 million (about 196 million yen) for storage expenses.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Thousands in Hong Kong Protest Government’s TV Decision – Bloomberg Black-clad marchers waved banners showing officials on puppet strings after the government granted the first free-TV licenses in almost 40 years to PCCW Ltd. (8) and I-Cable Communications Ltd. (1097) last week. Police said that there were 21,800 protesters at the demonstration’s peak, while a spokesman for HKTV said at least 10,000 people had marched as of 3 p.m. yesterday, Radio Television Hong Kong reported. A call to the police’s public relations office yesterday went unanswered.
TECH AND MEDIA
US bourses accept board plan: Alibaba | South China Morning Post The two bourses had formally accepted Alibaba’s partnership structure, which derailed its initial public offering (IPO) plan in Hong Kong, the spokesman said, adding: “We just want other people to understand the partnership structure is an open, innovative, responsible and sustainable system for a company’s fundamental needs.” // really, they have “formally accepted” the BS plan? What about the SEC? this smells of a negotiating tactic directed at the HK Stock Exchange
小米电视抢购被指欺诈 饥饿营销或为骗局_财经_凤凰网 days of easy love for Xiaomi are over, company needs to up its PR game. Claims of fraud in its alleged huge demand for online sale of new Xiaomi TV have been going around for a few days, now getting play in lots of media. How did Xiaomi PR not get this squelched? // 小米公司近日在其官网开放小米智能电视抢购活动，3000台小米电视瞬间便宣告售罄。然而，随后有网友称该次“小米电视抢购”存在虚假行为，或是一场骗局，连日来引发各界关注和热议。 网友称“抢购按钮”形同虚设
Is it Too Soon for Xiaomi to Go Global? – Silicon Hutong Now that Barra is aboard, the bet in some quarters is that a major international push is in the offing. If it is, I wish Lei, Barra, & Co. best of luck. They are going to need it, because the minute they step outside of their China cocoon, things are going to get different for them very quickly. The three biggest challenges I see aren’t even marketing related. They boil down to distribution, strategy, and resources.
信威通信300亿借壳背后_杂志频道_财新网 latest issue of Caixin takes a long look at Xinwei Telecom and its new chief // 王靖出任信威通信董事长兼总裁后，信威居然奇迹般地起死回生，短短一年就走出了亏损泥潭。王靖，圆脸，浓眉大眼，身材高大，出生于1972年12月，今年刚41岁，比信威通信的很多高管都要年轻，其背景在坊间传闻中颇为神秘。“他常住在位于中关村软件园的信威大厦办公室。”上述信威通信内部人士透露，王靖在办公室里辟出来一间很小的房子，还在墙上挂了一幅书法，上书“自得园”三字。只要在北京，他几乎都住在这里，白天忙信威通信的事，晚上处理来自香港、美国的事务。“我们都笑称公司不用打卡，反正谁来得早，谁走得晚，他一眼就能看见。”
广电总局加强版限娱令:每天播30分钟国产动画片_网易新闻中心 近日有消息称，新闻出版广电总局日前又向各大卫视下文，规定每家卫视每年新引进版权模式节目不得超一个，卫视歌唱类节目黄金档最多保留4档，这个文件被媒体称为“加强版限娱令”。
Huawei Claims Transparency But These Facts Say Otherwise | Digital Dao This PR campaign is clearly mean’t to take advantage of the Snowden leaks regarding NSA activities and data collection. Mr. Hu wants to paint a picture that Huawei, unlike U.S. companies named with supporting legal NSA requests, has not received any such requests from the Chinese government. That’s disingenuous at best, and purposefully misleading at worst.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
New building for study of Mandarin|Across America|chinadaily.com.cn It was more than a ribbon cutting ceremony for Florence Fang, who was present for the dedication of the building she donated to Peking University to teach the Chinese language to foreign students. It was the fulfillment of an important part of her China dream. “I had dreamed of becoming a student of Peking University at a quite early age, and I hope the completion of the building will make a contribution of promoting Chinese culture to the entire world,” Fang said on Wednesday in Beijing as more than 150 people including representatives from the university and from San Francisco and Oakland, California, attended the celebration of the Florence Lee Fang Building for the School of Chinese as a Second Language.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
China’s Mountains of Construction Rubble – NYTimes.com “Once all the construction and demolition waste is generated, there’s no measure to deal with it,” said Wilson W.S. Lu, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Hong Kong. The chief objects recycled, Mr. Lu said, are metals, a small part of the overall total. “For the other parts, there’s no systematic way to deal with it,” he said, “therefore the illegal dumping is everywhere.”
Shale gas sector gears up in China|Industries|chinadaily.com.cn Two months before the expected third round of bidding for shale gas exploration rights, a Chinese firm on Friday successfully tested extraction equipment. The equipment will operate in complex geographic conditions, according to the manufacturer, the Shenzhen-listed Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co Ltd, which is based in Yantai, Shandong province.// Yet Shell is scaling back its China shale gas plans
Economics of Climate Change in East Asia | Asian Development Bank This regional study includes the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Mongolia and examines how strategies for adapting to climate change up to 2050 can be combined with measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in East Asia. Besides discussing climate model results for costs of adaptation in infrastructure, coastal protection, and agriculture, the study estimates costs for sector-specific mitigation options and the total abatement potential for 2020 and 2030. Long-term strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change in East Asia are explored with a focus on the linkages between adaptation and mitigation taking account uncertainty about key climate variables. Finally, it discusses opportunities for enhancing the effectiveness of some critical climate change policies such as regional carbon markets.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
业内人士揭病死猪肉加工过程：多放辣椒遮臭味–海南视窗–人民网 industry insider reveals how to deal with pork from diseased pigs…use a lot of hot peppers to cover up the smell, make sausage…imagine what a Chinese hot dog might contain….