"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner

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• 湖南民企突进 梁稳根入围中共十八大代表候选人 – 宏观 – 21世纪网 – china’s richest man/Sany CEO may become central committee member at 18th party congress
• The Not-So-Great Firewall of China – By Rebecca MacKinnon | Foreign Policy– Last week, the “great firewall” system that normally blocks blacklisted foreign websites temporarily blocked all foreign websites. Since then, bloggers and Internet industry insiders report that the overall level of website-blocking has noticeably increased. Postings by weibo users with more than 10,000 followers will be individually vetted. The government is also pushing the weibo companies to implement a “real name” registration system by the middle of the year, which means at least in theory that it will become much more difficult for weibo users to disguise their identity from the authorities, if not from the general public. “If it is really implemented,” says Beijing-based Internet investor and commentator Bill Bishop, “the real effect will be a reminder to people that the government is watching and they should be careful about what they say.”The paradox of the Chinese Internet is that despite all of these measures, weibo remain a lively place, where most Chinese Internet users feel freer to debate and discuss matters of public interest than ever before. A wide range of policy positions, political loyalties, and ideologies can be found throughout Chinese society, and thanks to the Internet those differences have become publicly visible for the first time. Millions of Chinese Internet users engage regularly in public-policy debates because they feel that at least in some cases, the weight of public opinion can make a real difference.These trends in the long run are great cause for optimism about what the Internet means for China’s political future. As Anti puts it, “The political change will come from non-Internet factors, but thanks to the Internet people will be more ready to do something positive with it.”
• 江泽民力主推动薄熙来事件严肃处理_多维新闻网– DWNews reporting jiang zemin a major force in purge of bo xilai//【多维新闻】薄熙来被立案调查后，其政治生涯无疑已经画上了句点，但薄作为“红二代”，“太子党”其背后的政治内幕却仍然引人关注，尤其是他的父亲与前中共领导人江泽民的关系，也被挖了出来，当做决定薄熙来结局的博弈因素之一。此前有不少坊间传闻称，薄熙来能在诸多红二代中脱颖而出，是借助了其父薄一波与江泽民的关系。薄一波曾经在江泽民的上位过程中起到了很大助力。传言称，中共十五大前夕，薄一波曾经帮江泽民劝退了乔石，并且不止一次当众公开表态支持江泽民为核心的党中央，确保了江的第一领导人地位。由于有这层关系，外界普遍猜测，薄熙来的政治前途，是其父用支持江而“交易”来的，薄父是想对江“托孤”。也基于此，外界大都把薄熙来看成是江的人。
• Congressman alleges China helping North Korea with ICBMs | The Cable– China may be helping North Korea develop long range ballistic missiles that could reach the United States, and one Republican congressman wants the Obama administration to do something about it.”As you have likely seen, the press is reporting that North Korea unveiled a new mobile missile at a military parade in Pyongyang in honor of the founder of that dictatorship, Kim Il Sung,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), wrote in an April 17 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, obtained by The Cable. Turner is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee.
• Twitter / @niubi: hearing that jiang zemin r … – hearing that jiang zemin recently meet in beijing w ceo of a major us firm, looked hearty & hale. nice signaling, jzm will b 18th force
• 薄案荡及军方 消息称军委派调查组入川_多维新闻网 – 在中国军方人物纷纷表态与中共中央保持一致的氛围中，有香港媒体4月15日消息称，中共中央军委已派出五个调查小组，分赴四川、重庆、昆明及贵州等地，深入调查被罢黜的中共中央政治局委员、重庆市委书记薄熙来与成都军区的关系，而薄熙来的父亲、中共元老薄一波在云南的旧部14集团军也正被调查。
• China official quizzed in Heywood case – FT.com– another chongqing story, another quote from wang kang. note that heywood is now said to have committed economic crimes. sounds like he was a small time money launderer, assume government will now make that point repeatedly//Xia Zeliang, Communist party secretary of Chongqing’s Nan’an district where the hotel is located, allegedly provided the poison and used security personnel from his district to secure the area the night Heywood died, officials and insiders familiar with the investigation said.
  Chongqing officials and businesspeople describe Mr Xia as one of the examples of how the Bo family made official resources serve their personal interests…Two officials said Heywood was allegedly poisoned on the orders of Ms Gu because he was threatening to publicise details of illegal financial dealings.“Heywood and Gu were accomplices in economic crimes committed abroad,” said one official in the Chongqing municipal government, using Communist party language to describe the transfer of illicit funds out of the country…“Bo Xilai was by no means alone – there are others who support him, who support a Maoist line, and who wanted to grab power,” said Wang Kang, a Chongqing-based entrepreneur and intellectual. “As long as the party doesn’t drag them out and show what they’re up to, this crisis will not be overcome.” He referred to Zhou Yongkang, the party’s top security official, as Mr Bo’s main backer.
• The Fall of Bo Xilai and Its Significance | NCUSCR – Dr. Cheng Li, America’s leading scholar of elite politics in China and director of research and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center, discussed Bo Xilai’s fall and its implications for China’s political transitions taking place this autumn in a conference call moderated by National Committee President Stephen Orlins. Audio of the conference call is available in the drawer to the right.
• Business Insider-PRESENTING: The 101 Finance People You Have To Follow On Twitter Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-finance-people-on-twitter-2012-4?op=1#ixzz1sLDZhmup – i made the list. @niubi
• U.K. Details Response to Heywood’s Death – WSJ.com– LONDON—The British government detailed for the first time its response to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood in China, following increasing calls from U.K. politicians for an explanation.U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement Tuesday that British officials became aware in mid-January of concerns among the expatriate community in China that there were suspicions about the businessman’s death. Mr. Hague added that Foreign Office officials informed him about the case on Feb. 7 and that he instructed them to ask Chinese authorities to investigate the death, which they did eight days later.
• How a Few Horny Agents Made the Secret Service Look Bad — Daily Intel – Today, the PPD is seething. Members of that elite detail were not among the eleven agents and officers who allegedly solicited prostitutes ahead of the Summit for the Americas in Cartegna, Colombia. Most of those accused were, in fact, from the Miami Field Office, brought in to fulfill “Mission Support” duties.
• China’s investors redraw the map of the art market | Art and design | Guardian Weekly– Sotheby’s Asia, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, recently auctioned a Chinese painting from the imperial era. Bidding had reached the tidy sum of $320,000 and Kevin Ching, the company’s CEO, was on the phone to a client on the mainland. All of a sudden his client made a much higher bid. Ching checked there was no mistake then passed it on to the auctioneer. “It’s part of the process. The Chinese are growing up and getting rich,” says this former corporate lawyer.He adds: “We have exuberant customers. They can be very impatient. Even at an auction, they don’t want to waste time.”In this field, as in others, the Chinese are redrawing the maps. According to Artprice, a specialist in art market information, the volume of sales, just for fine art, at public auctions in mainland China has rocketed in barely 10 years to reach 41% of the global market in 2011: the biggest share in the world.
• 银行受困实德泥潭_杂志频道_财新网 – 有确切消息称，应实德委托，一家知名律所已启动了破产的相关准备程序
• 38 Lenders Linked to Embattled Conglomerate – Caixin Online – Banks across country tied to Dalian Shide Group, whose billionaire chairman disappeared in mid-March
• 南方周末 – 总不至于除了仇恨之外，什么也不存在——专访王康 – the wang kang in chongqing who is talking to foreign journalists?
• China Rhyming » Blog Archive » “MIDNIGHT IN PEKING” BY PAUL FRENCH TO BECOME A MAJOR TV DRAMA SERIES – he international publishing company Penguin is pleased to announce the sale of television serial rights to Midnight in Peking by Paul French to Kudos Television, producers of “Spooks”, for adaptation into a major international TV mini-series.
• Inside China’s Gross Domestic Product Data – China Real Time Report – WSJ– In an exclusive interview with China Real Time, Dong Lihua, the deputy director of the NBS Department of National Accounts discussed the approach China takes to measuring quarter-on-quarter growth, and the differences between the official numbers and estimates by some investment bank economists.Other major economies, such as the U.S., offer a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter growth rate, which economists generally believe best shows the current state of economic growth. Mr. Dong explained that calculating the quarter-on-quarter growth rate is more difficult than making the year-to-year calculation. That’s because holidays, weather, and other factors affect the level of economic activity from one quarter to the next.Mr. Dong says it took the NBS two years of research, working with Chinese and international experts, to develop the system. “We used the U.S. seasonal-adjustment software as a basis, but adapted it to deal with Chinese holidays.”
• Bo Xilai’s real sin | The World | International affairs blog from the FT – FT.com – I don’t think I have ever seen the British newspapers quite so interested in Chinese politics. Even the tabloids in London have the Bo Xilai story on their front pages. Of course it is not so much the power struggle at the top of the Communist Party that interests them. Rather it is the salacious details of the case: a murdered old Harrovian in a hotel room in China; hints of a sex scandal; allegations of  corruption; a son who went to Balliol College, Oxford and enjoyed parties and fast cars.
• 2008-Chaotic Taxi Strike Pays Off in Chongqing-Caijing – no wonder cabbies all over china like bo xilai.heard too many otherwise smart people use the cabbie example when talking about bo xilai and popularity with the “common man” recently, without giving the context.
• The Future of Fareed | Washington Free Beacon– A CNN pundit who has advocated nuclear containment of Iran and expressed antipathy towards American democracy is said to be on the short list for a top diplomatic post in a second Obama administration—perhaps even secretary of State. That is raising red flags across Capitol Hill and within foreign policy circles.Fareed Zakaria hosts CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” a weekly program focusing on international issues and American foreign policy. Zakaria is also an editor-at-large for Time magazine and a columnist for the Washington Post, where he regularly praises the president’s policies.Zakaria has gone to great lengths to ingratiate himself to Obama, frequently flattering the president and vociferously attacking his critics on both sides of the political aisle. This could be the reason Obama is so keen on the pundit, sources said.

  “Every column he’s written in the Washington Post for the last two years has been a job application,” said one longtime Washington foreign policy insider who requested anonymity. “He’s just climbing the greasy pole.”

• Exclusive: China’s Bo backed, then blocked murder probe against his wife: sources | Reuters– who is wang kang. also talked to nyt? govt appointed foreign barbarian handler in this case?//Chinese politician Bo Xilai initially agreed to a police probe of his wife’s role in the murder of a British businessman before abruptly reversing course and demoting his police chief, causing upheavals that led to the downfall of both men, sources said.
  The sources’ account gives new details of the dramatic breakdown in relations between Bo, an ambitious leader who cast himself as the crime-fighting boss of Chongqing, China’s biggest municipality, and his once trusted police chief, Wang Lijun.
• China at rare moment for reforms: central bank report | Reuters – China is at a promising moment for speeding up interest rate and exchange rate reforms, the central bank’s statistics department said in a report published Tuesday, following the latest move to make the Chinese currency more flexible.
• Jeffrey S. Lehman, Former Cornell President, to Lead NYU Shanghai – Jeffrey S. Lehman, a former president of Cornell University and dean of the University of Michigan Law School, has been named Vice Chancellor of NYU Shanghai, effective this summer. As vice chancellor, he will be the chief executive of NYU Shanghai, in charge of all academic and administrative operations.
• 人民网高管解读业务现状:舆情服务成重要增长点_互联网_科技时代_新浪网 – 新浪科技讯 4月17日晚间消息，人民网董事长马利今日在IPO网上路演中表示，人民网未来增长点主要在三大主营业务，即互联网广告、网络舆情服务和移动互联网服务，其中舆情服务将成为人民网的重要增长点。
• Pathlight Magazine – Pathlight Magazine-new chinese writing. issue two is available as a free download
• China: What is Causing the Death of Endangered Finless Porpoises? · Global Voices– More than a dozen Finless Porpoise corpses have been found in Dongting Lake in Hubei and Hunan provinces since March 2012. Chinese micro-bloggers are keeping each other updated on the situation while trying to determine the reasons for the deaths of this endangered species, as the government is yet to confirm the death toll and put forward a rescue plan.The Finless Porpoise is one of the most endangered species in China. Information spreading online said [zh] that there are fewer than 84 remaining in Dongting Lake. The large scale death of this endangered species should be national news, yet the state controlled media outlets have been downplaying this news and as yet no government authority is actively responding to the problem.
• People’s Daily Online Triples Its IPO Figure, Aims to Raise $238 Million | Tech in Asia– People’s Daily Online, the news website closely tied to China’s governing Communist party, has just issued a statement saying that it intends to raise as much as 1.55 billion RMB ($238 million) from its forthcoming Shanghai IPO. That’s three times more than planned previously. Subscriptions for the stock open this afternoon and continue throughout tomorrow – but there’s no date set for when it actually will hit Shanghai tickers.It has set a range of 20 to 22.5 RMB per share, meaning that it could raise 1.38 to 1.55 billion RMB. 69.1 million People’s Daily Online shares will be issued, and the lead underwriter is CITIC Securities (HKG:6030; SHA:600030).
• Securities Czar Aims to Make China’s Markets Respectable – NYTimes.com– In little over six months as China’s top securities watchdog, Guo Shuqing has let loose a flurry of new rules aimed at curbing the insider trading, market manipulation and dodgy disclosures that have hamstrung China’s stock markets even as its economy has grown.But China’s more than 72 million retail investors, who account for about three-fourths of trading on the country’s stock exchanges and have been burned repeatedly in the weak and volatile markets of recent years, remain skeptical.
• For U.S. Brands, There’s No Middle in China’s Middle Class – Businessweek – China’s middle class does not really exist, at least by the American definition. Many analysts define the 350 million Chinese who live in households that earn between $6,000 and $15,000 a year as middle class. However, Chinese consumers with this socio-economic background do not exhibit the same hopes, aspirations, and shopping habits of middle-class Americans. As a result, brands that emphasize a middling position will not appeal to consumers there.
• China May Become Top Corn Importer by 2014, Displacing Japan – Bloomberg – China may displace Japan as the world’s largest corn importer as early as 2014, as demand for meat and feed grains expands along with its middle class, the U.S. Grains Council said.
  “It could be a matter of two to three years,” Thomas Dorr, president of the council, said in an interview. “China has more than 4 million tons booked and delivered already.” Japan bought 15.3 million metric tons last year, according to the country’s agriculture ministry.
• Gelatin plant arsonist detained amid capsule scandal-Global Times– The head of a gelatin plant in north China’s Hebei Province was detained after allegedly setting fire to his plant to destroy evidence amid an unfolding capsule scandal.Song Xunjie, manager of Hebei Xueyang Glair Gelatin Factory, located in Fucheng county, allegedly committed arson in the plant at 3:20 p.m. Sunday and was detained on Monday, said a statement issued by the county government early Tuesday.
• Hong Kong’s Leung Turns Back Mainland Mothers – China Real Time Report – WSJ– Not yet in office, Hong Kong’s next top leader is already tackling one of the city’s most controversial issues—he wants mainland mothers to stay home.In the strongest policy position he’s assumed since he was chosen to lead the Chinese territory, Leung Chun-ying declared that starting next year, “zero” mothers from the mainland would be permitted to give birth in private Hong Kong hospitals, unless they have a Hong Kong husband.
• Hu likely to go quietly from the scene | China News Watch | Latest Hong Kong, China & World News | SCMP.com – sounds like wishful thinking to me//
  Much has been written about how the Bo scandal has thrown the succession into uncertainty, but the fact is that Xi and other upcoming leaders should have toasted the timing of the scandal. Just imagine the scale of the damage to the party leadership if Wang Lijun’s attempted defection to the US consulate in Chengdu had come after the Congress, with Bo already a Politburo Standing Committee member. There is no precedent in recent party history for a member of the Politburo Standing Committee being sacked and jailed on corruption charges.More interestingly, there have long been murmurings within the party hierarchy that Politburo Standing Committee members are beyond the reach of the law.Now back to Hu. After he retires, will he follow Jiang’s example and become another backstage ruler? More specifically, will he follow Jiang’s precedent by continuing to serve as chairman of the Central Military Commission for two more years following his retirement as party chief in autumn and as president in March? Jiang’s decision to serve as the CMC chairman for two more years drew criticism from analysts at home and abroad for setting a bad precedent in terms of establishing the succession process.

  Fortunately, there are suggestions that Hu is inclined to give up his power, including his CMC chairmanship, at the Congress.

  According to sources who are familiar with his thinking, Hu is not power-hungry and is expected to live a full retired life with no intention of wielding much influence behind the curtains.

  “He is a good leader, a good father, and a good student,” one source said, referring to the fact that, unlike with other top leaders, there has been little speculation regarding any kind of corruption benefitting his children and other family members. Also, he always shows deference to the other party elders, including Jiang.

  If his going quietly turns out to be true, that would be good news not only for Xi but also for the party in its efforts to further establish a leadership succession process.

• 解析马云反腐招术：高层轮岗 干部培训 -商学院频道-和讯网– 作为阿里巴巴集团的创始人和最高领袖，马云对内部腐败事件采取了零容忍的态度，他的命令来得很突然。集团子公司聚划算总经理阎利珉在3月6日被免职了，就在此前不到24小时，淘宝花名为“慧空”的阎利珉还在对外界透露聚划算下一步的发展计划，宣布聚划算即将计入“新时代”。　　从发现腐败到做出行动，马云的斩将行动事先毫无征兆。用阿里巴巴内部的话说，阎利珉对于聚划算的贡献“谁也不能否认”，但他对内部贪腐问题的出现负有管理上的责任。这让人联想到这家公司一年多以前的刮骨疗伤—先是清理掉阿里巴巴B2B逾千名涉嫌欺诈的客户，此后，时任公司CEO的卫哲等高管“被辞职”。马云说，这是公司成长中的痛苦，是发展中必须付出的代价。
• Alibaba Hires Ex-U.S. Official to Aid Washington Lobbying – Bloomberg – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. hired former U.S. official James Mendenhall as China’s biggest e- commerce company tries to have its Taobao site removed from a U.S. government list of “notorious markets” for intellectual property piracy.
  Mendenhall will represent Alibaba in talks with the U.S. government and industry groups over intellectual property rights, John Spelich, a Hong Kong-based spokesman at the Chinese Internet company, said in an e-mail today. Mendenhall is a counsel at the Washington DC office of Sidley Austin LLP, according to the law firm’s website.
• » IRS Travel Ban: Revoking Citizenship By Stealth Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!– Efforts to pass a bill that would allow the IRS to deny travel rights to U.S. citizens who the feds merely claim owe $50,000 or more in delinquent taxes represents a de facto move to revoke the citizenship of Americans without due process and in complete violation of the Constitution.Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a recently passed Senate bill, the suitably Orwellian entitled ‘Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act’, includes a provision that allows the federal government to revoke passports of Americans accused of owing back taxes
• The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret | Politics News | Rolling Stone – An inside look at how killing by remote control has changed the way we fight.
• IKEA Moves Into Consumer Electronics With China Venture – NYTimes.com– STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s IKEA, the world’s largest furniture maker, is set to enter the consumer electronics market with products developed in co-operation with China-based TCL Multimedia, IKEA officials said.IKEA, known the world over for low-price, self-assembly flat-packed furniture, plans to launch a line of furniture with integrated connected television and sound systems in five European cities in June, throughout seven European countries this autumn, and in its remaining markets in the summer of 2013.
• Europe’s Old Wealth Seeks New Home in Asia – NYTimes.com– These days, that Italian clan and other ultra-affluent families are moving assets to Singapore by setting up family offices in a city-state often touted as the Switzerland of Asia.Wealthy people from Europe and the Americas have long looked to the East for ways to build and preserve their fortunes. But only recently have they started opening family offices – private companies that manage the trusts and investments of rich households – in the region in earnest.
• Odd Couple: China Meets Hollywood – WSJ.com– China and Hollywood are gearing up to make more films together. Hollywood wants access to a rapidly growing foreign market, while China wants Hollywood’s help to duplicate the success of big-budget U.S. films.On Monday, Walt Disney Co. and China’s DMG Entertainment said they agreed to co-produce the next “Iron Man” film in China.Other major U.S. studios have announced Chinese joint ventures or co-productions in recent months.
• Deloitte v. SEC | China Accounting Blog | Paul Gillis – Deloitte argues that its China firm could be dissolved and its partners jailed for life if it were to produce the Longtop documents to the SEC. Deloitte refers to an October meeting where the Big Four were called to the CSRC and admonished not to provide working papers to overseas regulators. China asserts that disclosure of audit working papers violates China’s state secrets laws. It seems highly unlikely that any state secrets are at play in the Longtop case, other than the possible complicity of bank officials in fraudulent bank confirmations. I expect China is more interested in protecting its national sovereignty and preventing a precedent that might later be applied to a big SOE listed in the U.S.
• Bo Guagua’s Parties and Privilege Aggravate Elite Chinese Family’s Fall – NYTimes.com– Although Communist Party insiders say it was Bo Xilai’s populist reign in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing that ultimately brought him down, Bo Guagua’s high living clearly irritated party leaders, who named the son, a 24-year-old student at Harvard, in the official statement describing the reasons for his father’s fall from power.One former government employee with party ties said the leadership tolerated a certain level of corruption among top officials or their relatives as long as it was kept out of public view. He said Mr. Bo’s collegiate antics, splashed across the Internet, were emblematic of an ambitious, cocksure family who often ignored the party’s conservative standards of public behavior.The resulting buzz also drew unwanted attention to other so-called princelings, who often leverage their bloodline for financial gain but generally seek to avoid publicity lest it damage the party’s image of self-sacrifice and asceticism.

  “If you’re discreet, they look the other way,” the former government employee said. “But Guagua’s behavior was striking by the standards; urinating against a fence at Oxford, kissing foreign girls — it all goes down bad in China.”。。
  In interviews, many of his friends rejected the notion that he was a playboy or a poor student, and they described him as exceedingly generous. He is quick to pick up a bar tab, they said, and he liberally handed out tickets for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “His concern for China and its people is deep-rooted and real,” said one friend in China who spends time with him during his frequent visits home. “He’s a big thinker. When he gets drunk, he talks about important things.”

• Former SAC Capital Asia Head to Join Dymon Hedge Fund – Bloomberg – Dymon Asia Capital (Singapore) Pte, the best-performing large hedge fund in Asia last year, hired Jay Luo, former head of SAC Capital Advisors LP’s Asia-Pacific operations, allowing Dymon’s founder to focus on investing.
• Rotting From Within – By John Garnaut | Foreign Policy– a slightly different version for Foreign Policy//Liu’s revelations are not necessarily good news for China’s would-be foes. Foreign government strategists are starting to worry that corruption and byzantine internal politics may amplify the known difficulties in communicating with the PLA and adroitly managing crisis situations. Despite the risks inherent in China’s growing arsenal, expanding ambitions and spasmodically aggressive rhetoric and actions, military cooperation between the United States and China is almost nonexistent. Diplomats say American officials are given less access to PLA officers than colleagues from other Western embassies, who themselves are kept largely in the dark. Senior Western government officials have told me that U.S. military leaders have less knowledge of command systems, and far fewer avenues of communication, than they had with their Soviet counterparts during the Cold War. Michael Swaine, a China security expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, writes that the “fragmented and stove-piped structure” of the Chinese system means it has great trouble communicating even with itself, especially in crisis situations. He, like most other analysts, does not study corruption in the PLA because of the difficulty in measuring it.
• 赵本山回应移民传闻自称老人参不怕炖-《财经网》 – 　4月15日，辽宁铁岭市，赵本山捐助修缮的开原莲花中学更名为本山中学，莲花中学是赵本山母校。在“本山中学”奠基仪式暨“本山何氏光明行”活动中，面对近期网络传相关部门限制其出国、移民等一系列热点问题，他一一进行说明和反驳。他称自己是“老人参”，经得起网络的热炒和乱炖，对于网络传言已经习惯，懒得去理。小蛇/CFP
• China Adds Treasuries for Second Month on Reserve Growth – Bloomberg – China, the largest foreign U.S. creditor, increased its holdings of U.S. government securities in February for a second month as the country’s foreign-currency reserves resumed rising.
  Holdings rose by 1.1 percent to $1.18 trillion in China’s first months of consecutive gains in Treasury debt since July, U.S. Treasury Department data released yesterday show. Net foreign purchases of Treasuries (HOLDTOT) rose $41.2 billion, or 0.8 percent, to a record $5.1 trillion, the data show.
• India Plans Test of Missile Capable of Reaching Northern China – Bloomberg –
• Dangdang Announces CFO Resignation – MarketWatch – smart to jump while his options still worth something//
  BEIJING, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (“Dangdang” or the “Company”) DANG -15.31% , a leading business-to-consumer e-commerce company in China, today announced that Conor Chia-huang Yang, the chief financial officer of the Company, has tendered his resignation for personal reasons. Conor will remain with the Company for a transition period up to three months. Meanwhile, the Company will commence searching for qualified CFO candidates soon.
• P.L.A. is target of Bo media blitz | SCMP.com – Beijing’s unusually high volume of commentaries is aimed at warning army supporters of former Chongqing chief to toe the party’s line, analysts say..
  The day after the attempt of his former right-hand man Wang Lijun to defect to America, Bo made a high profile visit to the 14th Group Army in Yunnan, which was formed by his father.That prompted rumours that Bo was planning a coup with Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang . “Bo’s connection to army personnel makes his case more serious than Chen’s,” said Zhang Lifan , a current affairs commentator formerly with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.”The army usually does not meddle with political affairs. However, as Bo has influential supporters inside the party and the military, the handling of his case certainly causes friction within the party.

  “That’s why the authorities mobilised the military to explain their stance to forge stability.”

  Qiao Mu , director of the International Communication Research Centre at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the authorities had stepped up their propaganda efforts because of greater public resentment towards the government compared with six years ago.

  “The government has to release some information because the case involves a British citizen, but it also attempts to impose unified thought on the public,” he said.

  “Any mishaps in the handling of Bo will create complexity for the party congress.”

• ‘Roadmap’ rolled out to reform public institutions | SCMP.com – Guidelines from the Communist Party’s top decision-making body say such changes should be in by place 2020 to provide better services to the public
• AsiaEye – Official Blog of the Project 2049 Institute: Taiwan’s Role in Air-Sea Battle – By Mark Stokes and L.C. Russell Hsiao
• » A Story About Journalism (Or, Why Details Matter): The Implications Of One Small Associated Press Editing Error Beijing Cream – AP screwed up USC Chinese students shooting, gets embarrassed on Weibo
• Overseas Money Transfers Alleged in Bo Xilai Scandal – NYTimes.com– fairly tenuous source, no? almost like hearsay//Wang Kang, a Chongqing filmmaker, quoted friends of the Bo family as saying Ms. Gu had “felt betrayed by” Mr. Heywood, a 41-year-old business consultant who had ingratiated himself with the Bo family since the 1990s, when Mr. Bo was mayor of Dalian in northeastern China.
• U.K. Raises Brit’s Death in China Talks – WSJ.com – British government ministers are raising the death of British businessman Neil Heywood in China during meetings with senior Chinese officials who are visiting London this week to discuss trade and cultural matters.
• More Chinese get US green card|Society|chinadaily.com.cn – More than 87,000 Chinese-born people became legal permanent residents (LPR) of the United States in 2011, the second largest number among countries gaining green cards in the US.
  Chinese-born people make up 8.2 percent of the total 1.06 million people gaining green cards in 2011, according to a report on new LPRs issued by the US Department of Homeland Security last week.
• 22 nabbed for toxic drug capsules|Society|chinadaily.com.cn – Police in east China’s Zhejiang Province said Monday they have captured 22 people who allegedly produced and sold pharmaceutical capsules containing excessive levels of chromium.
  By Monday noon, police had detained 11 suspects from four capsule manufacturing companies in Xinchang county, according to a spokesman from the county’s public security bureau.
  On Sunday, an investigative report from China Central Television revealed that several companies in Xinchang, a major pharmaceutical production hub in China, had manufactured drug capsules with industrial gelatin, which contains a greater amount of chromium than edible gelatin and is illegal to use for making drug capsules.
• 人民日报-中共中央国务院关于分类 推进事业单位改革的指导意见 –
• 人民日报-深化改革的重大战略部署 —— 一论分类推进事业单位改革 –
• 人民日报-各国多管齐下严打网络谣言 – 2nd day in row that people’s daily have gone after online rumors on page 1
• 湘江“有色”之痛 – 宏观 – 21世纪网 – 3月底的大湖仍旧细雨霏霏，黑臭的湖水正被抽出，泛黑的底泥裸露
• 三峡库区滑坡塌岸风险大增 近10万人面临搬迁_新闻_腾讯网 – 据中国之声《全国新闻联播》报道，2009年以来，三峡工程已经进行了3次175米试验性蓄水，据国内外水库建设的普遍规律，新建水库蓄水后至高水位初期3到5年内将集中产生大量的新生滑坡和塌岸，地质灾害防治形势非常严峻，大约10万人将面临搬迁。
• 海南莺歌海镇电厂因居民反对向北“挪”2公里_新闻_腾讯网 – yinggehai
• China, seeking a voice in Arctic affairs, says it has Swedish support for Arctic Council role – The Washington Post – China has the support of Sweden to become a permanent observer at the eight-member Arctic Council, part of Beijing’s plan to seek a more active role in the region, a deputy Chinese foreign minister said Monday.
• The Power Shift in China – Brookings Institution–Cheng Li – The spectacular fall of Bo Xilai, a charismatic but notoriously ambitious Politburo member, is only the latest episode in the Middle Kingdom’s long history of power politics. Still, the prevailing views of overseas China analysts have changed dramatically in response. Prior to the Bo crisis, many believed that Chinese political institutionalization was sufficiently developed to make the upcoming leadership succession as smooth and orderly as the previous one in 2002. Now, as the crisis unfolds, many regard Bo’s dismissal as just another political purge, a restoration of the normal pattern of vicious power struggle.
  Both views can be highly misleading, as neither adequately links its analysis of leadership politics to broader shifts of power in present-day China. The challenge for analysts is to provide a balanced, deep-rooted assessment of the trends underlying this recent drama. Three parallel trends in shifting power deserve special attention. …
  Troubles within the CCP leadership do not indicate that China as a whole is weak. Among the profound differences between the Tiananmen incident in 1989 and the Bo crisis is that in the latter case, at least so far, China’s economy and society have been hardly disrupted. This reflects the maturity of Chinese society and the country’s strength.Although these shifts in power have caused new tensions in the PRC’s governance and a sense of uncertainty, viewed from a broader perspective they should be considered encouraging developments. Factional checks and balances within the leadership, dynamic interest groups, and the widely-shared perception of China as a rising power could all become factors in a democratic transition. In the near future, the focus of China analysts should not only be on how effectively the CCP leadership uses legal procedures to deal with the Bo case, but also whether the leadership can boldly adopt more electoral mechanisms in its selection of senior leaders and search for new sources of legitimacy.
• Neil Heywood death: the hotel where British businessman died in China – Telegraph – The Nanshan Lijing Holiday Hotel, also known as the Lucky Holiday Hotel, is one of the Chinese city’s most secluded spots, a six-floor main building and three rows of villas, ten in all, each with a view of the sprawling metropolis below.
  Three sources have confirmed that this was where the body of the 41-year-old businessman was found last November, but yesterday there was a remarkable effort underway to hush up the news.
  “The situation is not clear, we have had no information from our superiors,” said one of the five receptionists manning the front desk, before staring down at her lap

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