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

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• Where you stand on China depends on where you sit – Asia Stocks to Watch – MarketWatch – HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Hedge-fund managers in Asia are more upbeat towards China than their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, according to industry insiders, who see a growing correlation between China outlooks and where clients are based.

  Funds in Hong Kong and other Asian cities tend to see prospects for a Chinese hard landing — often regarded as annual gross domestic product growth cooling to less than 5% — as less probable than a moderation in its growth rate to around the 8% level, consistent with a “soft landing,” according to brokers in Hong Kong.

• China Said to Warn Banks on Risks Tied to Local Government, Property Loans – Bloomberg –
• The real risks to China’s financial system | The A-List | Must-read views on today’s top news stories – FT.com – FT.com – With its responsibilities for providing a broad range of services for a mixed socialist economy, it is surprising how small China’s budgetary footprint actually is. Thus, Beijing has been using the financial system to fund public expenditure needs – many of which are not commercial in nature and would normally be undertaken through the budget. While this was unavoidable in the earlier years, it has turned out to be a politically attractive and effective option in dealing with the volatility of the global economy over the past decade. As such, these hidden banking losses are actually quasi-fiscal deficits, rather than traditional non-performing loans. While on paper China does not run major budgetary deficits, these quasi-fiscal deficits in the banking system have been accumulating over the years, awaiting the time (as in the past) when the non-performing loans are formally recognised and written off – with China’s substantial reserves and relatively low public debt ratios providing the cushion.

  One cannot dispute that China needs to act on financial reforms, but the real challenge is for Beijing to recognise the importance of strengthening its fiscal system to undertake expenditure requirements in a more transparent and potentially less destabilising fashion

• 学者称潜规则致中国官员频频自杀_多维新闻网 –
• 胡锦涛拜访77元廉租户被勒令搬出_多维新闻网 –
• China, Russia Resist Iran Sanctions – WSJ.com –
• Myanmar’s Pariah Regime Courts West in China’s Shadow – WSJ.com –
• China, U.S. Use Same Tracking Base – WSJ.com – Australian officials said on Wednesday that they didn't consult the U.S. on a plan to allow China to use a space-tracking station in Western Australia that is also used by NASA, despite widespread concerns that the Chinese space program is largely controlled by the Chinese military.

  The admission comes as a potential embarrassment to Australian authorities as they host U.S. President Barack Obama on his first official visit there. Mr. Obama on Wednesday unveiled plans to boost the U.S. military presence in the country, in large part to hedge against China's escalating firepower. An Obama administration spokesman said late Wednesday that he was unaware of the ground-station issue.

• Fitch: beware Chinese bank debt | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com – Watch out next year for mounting bad loans in China. That’s the message from Fitch Ratings in a report published on Wednesday on the outlook for credit growth in emerging markets.

  Credit growth will slow, in line with weakening global economic performance and central bank moves to prevent overheating. In most countries, non-performing loans will rise but not so much as to threaten the generally sound banking sectors.  The problem, says Fitch, is China.

• U.S. commander cannot pin down satellite anomaly – Yahoo! News – (Reuters) – The command responsible for U.S. military space operations lacks enough data to determine who interfered with two U.S. government satellites, anomalies behind perhaps the most explosive charge in a report on China sent to Congress on Wednesday.
  "What I have seen is inconclusive," General Robert Kehler, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said in a teleconference from Omaha, Nebraska, home to the military outfit that conducts U.S. space and cyberspace operations.
• China: Suicide Civil Servants in Depression or Being Depressed? · Global Voices – It seems that more and more Chinese people are suffering from various kinds of psychological illnesses according to the Chinese authorities' investigations. It is well-known that ordinary people who petition against injustice and corruption have been diagnosed as having mental illnesses such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Recently, a similar diagnosis, this time depression, has been given to civil servants and government officials who have committed suicide. In most of the suicide cases, the conclusion of depression is drawn quickly within a day or two without much explanation. Being skeptical of the police investigation, Chinese netizens use a passive voice, “being depressed”, to highlight the suspected covering up of corruption involved.
• 专家称美国近期高调宣称重返亚太系为遏制中国_国际_环球网 –
• Video of Tibetan self-immolation from August surfaces (Viewer discretion advised): Shanghaiist –
• Chinese vessel blocked from intruding into Vietnam’s water – YouTube – oct 2011, rammed
• Zoomlion Sees ‘Drastically’ Slower Demand for Cranes, Excavators in China – Bloomberg – Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co. said China’s demand for cranes and excavators will continue to slow next year because of waning economic growth and cutbacks in railway building.
• Leading Indicator Shows China Maintaining Momentum – Bloomberg –
• MNI | China Bans Short-Term Wealth Management Products: Press – BEIJING (MNI) – China's banking regulator has ordered banks to stop selling short-term wealth management products, the 21st Century Business Herald reported Thursday.

  The newspaper cited Shang Fulin, the newly-installed director of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, telling a conference that banks are not allowed to sell the products because of the large swings they cause in volatility within the month, as well as liquidity risk.

• CapitalVue News: Vanke To Launch Shanghai Development At 10,000 Yuan Per Sq Meter – November 17 — China Vanke (000002,200002) did not deny media reports that it was mulling price cuts of more than 20 percent for its developments in Shanghai, reports 163.com, citing a source from the company's marketing department. 
• China’s "Big Fat Greek Investment" | Sinocism – june 2010/
  “We have a saying in China, ‘Construct the eagle’s nest, and the eagle himself will come,’ ” Wei Jiafu, Cosco’s charismatic chief executive, said in a televised interview in Athens this week. A high-ranking member of China’s Communist Party, he is now so well-known in Greece that many here refer to him by his nickname, “Captain Wei.”

  “We have constructed such a nest in your country to attract such Chinese eagles,” he said. “This is our contribution to you.”..

  I wonder if the Greeks will eventually coin a saying like “beware of eagles bearing gifts?”

• ‘Good Friends Are There to Help’: Chinese Investors Take Advantage of Greek Crisis – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International – With Greece desperate for solvent friends, Athens has been looking to Beijing for help in the fight against its crisis. But Chinese investors are setting tough conditions in return for their money, and many Greeks are unsure if the investments will be beneficial in the long run.
• 中共十八大政治局9常委1.0版_多维新闻网 –
• Congress Challenges GE-China Aviation Deal – Defense News – TAIPEI – Members of the U.S. Congress are calling on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to conduct a National Security Review and a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States review of a new joint venture between General Electric (GE) and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
• Censoring the Internet: It’s Not Just for China Any More! – James Fallows – Technology – The Atlantic –

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