"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
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Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. China’s ‘comfort women’ – FT.com Thousands of Chinese women were forced into sex slavery during the second world war. Here is one survivor’s story
Related: Japanese historians contest textbook’s description of ‘comfort women’ – The Washington Post Saying that the women were simply prostitutes, the group is taking up an official Japanese effort to win support for its perspective on the euphemistically known “comfort women,” a particularly sensitive part of its wartime legacy. “There are women in Amsterdam who sit in windows displaying their services and in Japan we have Soapland, which is part of the sex trade,” said Ikuhiko Hata, a Harvard- and Columbia-educated emeritus professor at Nippon University, likening the comfort women to those working in the red light districts in the Dutch and Japanese capitals.
2. The Biggest Threat to America’s Future Is … America – The New Yorker the widespread recognition that America can’t do everything coexists with a set of outdated presumptions and practices, which still dominate many policy discussions in Washington and are already doing considerable harm to the U.S.’s standing. If these nostrums and patterns of behavior aren’t updated, they will end up doing far more damage. Indeed, it’s barely an exaggeration to say that the real threat to American power and influence comes from within America itself, specifically from its increasingly dysfunctional political system.
3. The Trouble with Factions | Hoover Institution Alice Miller challenging convention wisdom as usual… // The political and party agenda the Xi leadership pursued in the wake of the congress thus could not have surprised anyone among the party elite involved in the 18th Party Congress and its preparation. The foreshadowing of much of Xi’s policy agenda at the party congress indicates that Xi has been pursuing a mandate bestowed on him and his Standing Committee colleagues to achieve the CCP’s 2020 goals and to address what authoritative party statements and leadership speeches have forthrightly called a crisis of governance facing the party. The coherence with which the Xi leadership has pursued this agenda itself points to this interpretation as well. Xi’s enhanced prominence as party leader also comports with the effort to lend impetus to the agenda the Xi leadership has been mandated to press. While a great deal of personal attention has been attached to Xi in PRC media over the past two years, it has still stopped well short of the sort of personality cult that attached to Mao Zedong in the 1960s and that attached to Hua Guofeng during his brief tenure as party leader after Mao’s death. Xi is still operating well within the trappings of collective leadership that prevailed during Hu Jintao’s tenure as party chief. He has never been called the “core” of the party leadership collective, nor has he yet been credited with an ideological departure as his own intellectual property. Xi is strong because he enjoys a powerful consensus among the broader party elite—active and retired—behind the agenda he is pursuing.
Related: Winter 2015: Issue 46 | Hoover Institution always an interesting read
4. Why Western economics fails to explain China’s economy (Translation) | chiecon A popular viewpoint is that Western economics reflects the workings and laws of developed economies, held up as universal values, which China’s opening up and reform must follow in order to be successful. This view is a mistake. We know that at the basis of generality lies individuality, and that universality resides in specific circumstances. It can be seen from the general rules of its market economy that modern Western economics contains general or universal values, which as a developing socialist market economy we must carefully research and learn from. On the other hand, lets not discuss the limits and shortcomings of Western economics, even if its assumed to be correct, if attempting to explain China’s reform and development, it must be combined with China’s reality, not ‘cut the feet to fit the shoes’, or blindly imitate. China is a large developing socialist country, with a long history and age-old cultural traditions. Our goal is to build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilised and harmonious, modern socialist country, realise the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. One can only take the general rules of a market economy, and combine with the specific circumstances in China, in order to find a feasible approach to reform, and understand and grasp the essence and logic of China’s economic development. Only by basing upon China’s conditions and practices, summing up from experience, constructing arguments, refining thought, and innovating new theories, can Chinese scholars obtain robust theoretical achievements, that contribute to the development of mankind. (Author: Peking University, School of Economics Dean)
Related: “西化”的经济学教育不能成为主流 _学习与实践 _光明网 People’s University School of Economics professor Qiu Haiping writes in the CASS Newspaper that “westernized” economics education can not become the mainstream
5. More than meets the eye to Xi aide’s Moscow visit｜WantChinaTimes CPC General Office head and member of the CPC Central Secretariat Li Zhanshu met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on March 19 at the Kremlin, purportedly to lay the groundwork for Chinese president Xi Jinping’s Moscow visit in May to attend the 70th anniversary ceremony of the end of World War II in Europe, according to Hong Kong-based Phoenix New Media.
6. Hackers Attack GreatFire.org, a Workaround for Websites Censored in China – NYTimes perhaps just a coincidence, or perhaps a significant violation of the principle of internet sovereignty // On Thursday, GreatFire.org said it was receiving 2.6 billion requests an hour for its mirrored websites. On Friday, access to the mirrored websites was inconsistent in China. “We are under attack and we need help,” GreatFire.org said. “This kind of attack is aggressive and is an exhibition of censorship by brute force. Attackers resort to tactics like this when they are left with no other options.” Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency reported that its website was inaccessible in China on Friday.
Related: Report highlights cyber attacks on Chinese websites – Xinhua Chinese authorities found 36,969 websites had been tampered with in 2014, and backdoors implanted in 40,186 webpages, according to a report released by Internet Society of China and the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China on Friday. Last year, 4,761 IP addresses in the United States controlled 5,580 Chinese websites through backdoor programs, which can allow them to bypass normal authentication to secure illegal remote access to a computer.
7. Bishop says China has ordered an end to church demolitions–ucanews China’s central government has ordered an end to a demolition campaign that targeted churches in Zhejiang province, according to a senior official of the state-sanctioned Catholic Church. Bishop Paul Meng Qinglu of Inner Mongolia, a vice-chair of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, said he heard the news during a recent religious meeting in Beijing. “Church leaders across China had complained about the demolitions over the past year,” he told ucanews.com. Bishop Meng said the orders to end the demolition campaign were supposed to have taken effect “early this year”.
8. Amid Worsening Pollution, Gov’t Moves toward Law on Ecotaxes – Caixin An official at the Ministry of Finance said that works on legislation supporting ecotaxes is gaining pace and expected to be done in two years. However, experts and regulators are pushing forward with work in the hopes that it can be finished as soon as this year, the official said. Ecotaxes – levies on pollution and environmental damage – were put on the government’s agenda in June 2007 when the State Council, the cabinet, said it wanted studies done on how the taxes might work. Late that year, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Environmental Protection started researching ecotaxes. The launch of ecotaxes was also part of the tax reform plan included in the reform blueprint set by the third full meeting of the Communist Party’s 18th Central Committee – its nexus of national power – in November 2013.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
社科院：一季度GDP增幅或6.85% 财政收入“告急”时政一财网 Cass report says Q1 GDP growth likely 6.85%, cpi inflation 1.2%, fiscal revenues in “state of emergency” // 中国社会科学院财经战略研究院22日刚刚发布的最新研究结果显示，中国经济延续去年四季度的下滑态势，预计今年一季度GDP下滑至6.85%左右，消费物价指数为1.2%左右。
China Needs Structural Overhaul to Avoid Further GDP Economic Slowdown, OECD Says – WSJ China’s growth, while on track to hit its target this year, could subsequently fall faster than expected if the government falters in enacting necessary structural overhauls, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said. Barring unforeseen developments, Beijing’s 7% economic growth target for 2015 is “sustainable and appropriate,” Ángel Gurria, secretary-general of the Paris-based group, told reporters Friday. // the report
Will Slow and Steady Win China’s Economy Race? – Caixin A nationwide review of government debt ordered by the Ministry of Finance found that as of January 5 local governments had a combined 40 trillion yuan in liabilities. But that figure may be low because in late January the ministry found some data was falsified by local governments. A revised report was expected to be released in March. Local government platforms that borrowed money for infrastructure and other projects are a particular concern. In the eyes of a Shanghai bank executive who asked not to be named, the “local financing platforms’ default risks are much greater than imagined.” One reason, he said, is that “many governments repackaged old projects into new ones in order to obtain bank loans.”
Economics Asia | Bloomberg Briefs | Financial Market Newsletters As China enters the year of the goat, opinions on the state of the economy have seldom been so divided. Bloomberg Brief asked Michael Pettis and Eswar Prasad to lock horns in debate. The question: can China maintain GDP growth of about 6 percent to 7 percent for the next three years or is a further pronounced slowdown assured?
经济参考网 – 股市大涨，证监会怎么看：有其必然性和合理性 CSRC official says there is “inevitability” and “rationality” in stock market rise, though there are risks, including leverage and valuations… // 担心A股近一段时间以来的过快上涨可能招致管理层出台新“降温”举措的投资者们可以松一口气了——3月20日，证监会新闻发言人邓舸表示，近期股市上涨，是市场对经济增长“托底”、金融风险可控的认同，也是全面深化改革、市场流动性充裕、资金利率下行、中小企业上市公司盈利情况改善等多种因素的综合反映，有其必然性与合理性。不过，邓舸同时表示，目前经济下行压力仍然较大、部分上市公司估值较高、杠杆资金较为活跃情况下，投资者仍需要注意市场风险，不要有所谓的“宁可买错也不能错过”的想法，更不要被市场上卖房炒股、借钱炒股言论所误导，而盲目跟风炒作。
Yuan Set for Biggest Weekly Gain Since 2005 on Fed, PBOC Fixing – Bloomberg Business The yuan rose 1.2 percent for the week and 0.18 percent Friday to 6.1850 a dollar as of 10:13 a.m. in Shanghai, China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices show. It was at a 0.57 percent gap with the PBOC’s fixing, the least since Dec. 5. China may see capital inflows rather than outflows even after the Fed begins policy normalization, Xu Gao, Beijing-based chief economist at Everbright Securities, said in an interview Thursday. Any U.S. rate increase will be seen as a signal of a recovery in the world’s largest economy, Xu said.
Yuan level appropriate, reflects fx supply, demand: China central bank | Reuters Lu Lei, head of the research bureau at the People’s Bank of China, reiterated the policy goal of keeping the yuan “basically stable on a reasonable and balanced level”. “We believe the current level is appropriate, it reflects the situation of the real economy, reflects the surplus and shortfall in global capital, also reflects money supply of our country and other countries,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a forum.
China Studies Relaxing Limits on Individuals Investing Overseas – Bloomberg Business While participating on a panel at the China Development Forum in Beijing, Yi was asked if authorities might relax limits on outbound investment by individuals and potentially allow amounts of $1 million to $2 million to freely exit the country. Yi, who also oversees China’s foreign-exchange regulator, responded by saying, “I think that in the near future, we can consider an arrangement like that.”
China Tells Internet Firm Ex-Boss Come Home to Fix Debt – Bloomberg Business A person who answered the phone Friday at Cloud Live — whose businesses include cloud computing, big data and web-based new media — said the company is preparing its annual report and can’t take questions. The official, who is in the company’s investor relations department, wouldn’t give his name. CSRC didn’t immediately reply to e-mailed questions. This isn’t the first time Xi’s efforts to clean up the world’s second-biggest economy have touched the company. Cloud Live was formerly Beijing Xiangeqing Co., which operated a chain of restaurants. It said in July it was shifting into the Internet business and changed its name in August.
After court order, flamboyant Chinese restaurateur Zhang Lan gets roasted online | South China Morning Post shocked if they found fraud…someone clearly screwed up the due diligence. Never understood this deal, South Beauty been on downslope for a while, wonder if other incentives were involved // The fate of Zhang Lan, once hailed as one of China’s most successful businesswomen, has come under intense media scrutiny after private equity group CVC Capital Partners won a court order to freeze her assets following a business dispute. The private equity group bought a controlling stake in her high-end restaurant chain South Beauty last year. The Hong Kong High Court granted an order dated March 6 that assets under Zhang and two other respondents, Grand Lan Holdings Group and South Beauty Development, be frozen in aid of arbitration.
China Said to Agree to Build Two Train Lines in Thailand – Caixin China and Thailand agreed to build a 300 kilometer high-speed railroad project in the Southeast Asian country in October 2013, but political turmoil in Thailand scuttled those plans. This latest agreement will see slower trains – running between 160 and 180 kph, the source said – built on lines running along the routes mulled in October 2013. Thailand will be responsible for land acquisitions and electricity supplies, the source said, and China will handle design, construction and equipment, including tracks, signaling devices and trains.
China orders banks to boost foreign currency checks – sources The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has ordered Chinese banks to make stricter checks and report deposits and withdrawals of foreign currency equivalent to $10,000 or more, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media. The regulator found some banks had failed to correctly report foreign currency deposits and withdrawals since November, said the sources, who have seen a copy of the regulator’s notice.
[视频]【新常态 新成效】互联网+金融 加出融资高效率新闻频道央视网(cctv.com) Internet Plus concept getting lots of propaganda love, its role in finance the top story on Sunday CCTV Evening News
POLITICS AND LAW
2 Associates of Ex-Security Chief to Face Trial Over Bribery in China – NYTimes.com The two, Li Chuncheng, a former deputy party secretary of the southwestern province of Sichuan, and Jiang Jiemin, a former chairman of the China National Petroleum Corporation, will face trial in Hubei Province, the office of the country’s chief prosecutor said.
For a Fallen Official Qiu He, the Writing Was on the Wall – Caixin In 2007, one year after Qiu was promoted to a deputy governor of Jiangsu Province, Peking University law professor Wang Lei penned an opinion piece headlined “What Kind of Officials We Need to Build a Harmonious Society – Reflection on an Inappropriate Endorsement in the Media of the Qiu He Phenomenon.” Wang wrote that as China strives to build a society based on the rule of law, officials should not be held up as a role model if they use autocratic means to do their jobs, no matter their intentions or results. Eight years later, it is safe to say the article served as an early red flag in the rise and fall of an official who was once seen as a hero in state media. The following are excerpts of Wang’s opinion piece.
Official Who Oversaw Shanghai FTZ ‘Investigated for Graft’ – Caixin Dai’s ex-wife has told city officials many times that he is corrupt and has behaved immorally, sources close to the inquiry said. No serious violations were found in probes that came about because of her reports, except one that Dai owned a number of properties, one source said. Her complaints hurt Dai’s career, one of the sources said. “Considering his capacity and experience, he should have risen as high as a deputy mayor.”
新华社评论员四论贯彻两会精神推进“四个全面”-新华网 提高治理能力，建设法治政府，既要防止“乱作为”，也要警惕“不作为”，避免工作状态庸懒散。今年政府工作报告把“坚持依法用权，倡俭治奢，深入推进党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争”作为一项重要任务，凸显了认真落实中央“八项规定”、坚持不懈纠正“四风”的坚决态度。腐败现象的共同特征是权力寻租，要害在于监督乏力，制度约束失之于宽、失之于松。以简政放权为着力点，用权力瘦身为廉政强身，紧紧扎住制度围栏，坚决打掉寻租空间，努力铲除腐败土壤，自觉接受群众监督，让权力在阳光下运行，政府才不会懈怠，才能以主动作为、狠抓落实、勤政为民的扎实行动，在法治轨道上更好地履行职责，无愧人民的期待。
Chinese political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu forced to call off annual dinner | South China Morning Post The statement said the magazine originally invited 240 supporters to attend the March 11 event, but its supervisory organisation, the Chinese National Academy of Arts, relayed a message from “the relevant authorities”, suggesting it postpone the dinner until after the National People’s Congress annual meeting, which ended last Sunday.
Getting Fugitives Back to China ‘Requires Better Evidence-Collecting Skills’ – Caixin Huang Feng, director of the International Criminal Law Center at Beijing Normal University, said that to catch more dirty officials who have fled abroad, China’s police and prosecutors must improve their investigation and evidence-collecting abilities so they can prove to foreign governments that assets were illegally transferred. Huang said that in the past fugitives nabbed overseas were mainly businessmen who were convicted of economic crimes and the cases were handled by public security departments. However, because the CCDI set up an International Cooperation Bureau and launched measures to track down fugitives, more corrupt officials and executives at state-owned companies will become the targets. Those cases will be handled by the CCDI and prosecutors.
新加坡学者：中国现在需要强势的习近平新闻腾讯网 interview with Prof. Zheng Yongnian on why China needs a strong leader like Xi Jinping getting lots of propaganda play Sunday // 今天，侠客岛与新加坡国立大学东亚研究所所长郑永年教授进行了一番对谈。这番谈话，从最近在中国互联网上因“乌龙”而火了一把的李光耀先生谈起，对新加坡带来的启示，以及习近平所推动的四个全面，强势反腐的意义，进行了一番剖析。
Former Chinese police chief held on suspicion of murder | World news | The Guardian Zhao Liping was in charge of the police in Inner Mongolia from 2005 until 2010 and had worked for almost three decades as a police officer, Xinhua said in a brief report. He is suspected of involvement in a murder that happened in Inner Mongolia’s Chifeng city on Friday, Xinhua said. The state-run Legal Evening News said the person who was murdered was “a lady with whom he had quite a close relationship“.
Playing politics ‘led to Chinese official’s downfall in graft probe’ | South China Morning Post After months of rumours that Xu was a target, the national anti-graft agency announced on Friday that he was under investigation for suspected violations of discipline, a standard euphemism for graft. Xu is the wealthy coastal province’s first big “tiger” to fall in Xi’s intensifying crackdown on corruption. Party mouthpiece People’s Daily ran an article on its Weibo account almost immediately after the announcement, saying Xu’s problems extended beyond corruption and included “political” matters.
新华社：净化政治生态，要抓住反腐主线清除各类“污染源”_网易新闻中心 两会胜利闭幕，吹响推进“四个全面”的进军号角。让我们在以习近平同志为总书记的党中央坚强领导下，齐心扫除腐败的政治微生物，协力重构海晏河清的政治生态，营造清正廉洁的从政环境，为协调推进“四个全面”战略布局，实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦锻造更加坚强的领导核心，书写全面从严治党的新篇章。
Experts, Netizens Weigh in on Zhou Yongkang’s “Non-Organizational Political Activities” – China Digital Times (CDT) Central Party School’s Zhang Xixian, an expert on Party construction, has not come in contact with the term “non-organizational political activity” in previous studies. He told the Beijing Youth Daily that while “non-organizational activity” is a phrase used in Party construction, this was the first time he heard the phrase “non-organizational political activity.” […] Zhang Xixian believes, if “political activity” refers to political principles and political orientation, “non-organizational political activities” must refer to activity opposed to the political direction of Party leadership, up to the point that it breaks Party policies and principles. [These types of activities] are anti-Party, betraying the basic properties of Party objectives.
充分发挥司法行政机关职能作用<BR>认真做好全面推进依法治国各项工作—–中华人民共和国司法部 Ministry of Justice opinion on implementing 4th Plenum decision
‘Confessions’ of a corrupt official on the run: China’s veiled warning to other fugitives | South China Morning Post China’s anti-graft agency publishes a cadre’s account of his life as a fugitive in the United States, painting a bleak picture to act as a ‘warning’ to others
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
Hostility From U.S. as China Lures Allies to New Bank – NYTimes “The administration made a major mistake in its opposition. It was a very shortsighted,” said Paul Haenle, director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center in Beijing. “The bank was going to go ahead whether we supported it or not.”
How Europe and U.S. stumbled into spat over China-led bank – Reuters As recounted to Reuters by officials in Europe, the United States and China who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, the episode reveals the paucity of strategic dialogue among what used to be called “the West”. It also highlights how the main European Union powers sideline their common foreign and security policy when national commercial interests are at stake. China’s official Xinhua news agency reflected Beijing’s delight.
IMF, ADB add to supporters for China-led development bank | Reuters Leaders of the IMF and ADB, speaking at a conference in Beijing, said they were in talks with or happy to cooperate with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a $50 billion lender to be majority funded by China that is seen by some as a rival to these established international financial institutions.
China’s Nuclear Forces Feeling U.S. Pressure – All Things Nuclear A new UCS white paper on Chinese nuclear strategy indicates China’s military may increase alert levels in response to U.S. investments in missile defense and conventional prompt global strike technologies. Chinese military strategists believe the combination of these two technologies could permit a disabling U.S. first strike against China’s comparatively small nuclear force. Chinese military planners intend to counter this perceived U.S. threat with new early warning systems that would permit Chinese nuclear forces to launch on warning of an incoming U.S. nuclear attack.
U.S. Nuclear Doctrine and Nonproliferation in East Asia-Carnegie-Tsinghua Center – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace As the security balance between China and the United States evolves, the task of mitigating concerns about strategic instability warrants careful attention. In part two of his conversation with Tong Zhao, Elbridge Colby discussed possible changes to U.S. nuclear doctrine, the potential for maintaining nuclear nonproliferation efforts in East Asia, and the future prospects of international arms control.
Senators seek U.S. strategy to stop China’s South China Sea reclamation | Reuters In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Republican Senators John McCain and Bob Corker and Democrats Jack Reed and Bob Menendez said that without a comprehensive strategy “long-standing interests of the United States, as well as our allies and partners, stand at considerable risk.” They said China’s land reclamation and construction in the South China Sea’s Spratly archipelago gave it the potential to expand its military reach and was “a direct challenge, not only to the interests of the United States and the region, but to the entire international community.”
A Moment of Truth for the People’s Liberation Army | Foreign Policy – Dan Blumenthal seems dangerously wishful thinking to say “China back on its heels” // the PLA may be entering a period of relative weakness. What does this mean for U.S. policy? Washington should avoid the temptation to overreact and worry less about the PLA. Instead, it should view periods of relative Chinese weakness as opportunities to consolidate advantages in its security competition with China. Washington can begin to roll back some of China’s maritime gains by convoying Philippine and Vietnamese oil and fishing vessels that China harasses, operating consistently in new maritime territories China is trying to claim, and building the maritime capacity of Southeast Asian nations Washington should use the moments when China is back on its heels to demonstrate to Beijing that it cannot win a competition, and that cooperation is the better path for China to fix its increasing domestic problems. With the PLA ready to face fiscal pressures and a renewed Chinese concern about its land borders, that moment has arrived.
Parameters-US Army War College Quarterly several interesting China essays
More wealthy Chinese set to flood US investor visa scheme: think tank report | South China Morning Post The US government should significantly raise the cost per visa, say to $5 Million, and it should require brokers to vet the “source of funds” and hold them liable if their is fraud // “Better education for their children and more diversified investment opportunities are behind the choice of the wealthy Chinese,” said the authors of the Annual Report on Chinese International Migration, launched by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG)
China Names Former Deng Translator Its Envoy to North Korea – Caixin He returned to China in 1975 and joined the International Department. In 1984, he served as a translator for Deng, who put China on its path of reform and opening up to the outside world in the late 1970s. Li was named China’s ambassador to Myanmar in 2000, and envoy to the Philippines five years later. He returned to the department as a deputy director in 2007.
China’s soft-power push, coming to a TV near you – Yahoo News the ruling Communist Party appears to be pursuing a new tactic: Investing heavily in “documentaries” on China that are hosted by foreign TV personalities and air on major international networks, but are created under the auspices of the party’s messaging chiefs. The State Council Information Office (SCIO), the propaganda arm of China’s Cabinet, unveiled its latest such effort this week in Beijing at the premiere of “How China Works”, a three-part series that will air on The Discovery Channel..
China Reveals Its Cyberwar Secrets – The Daily Beast the acknowledgement of China’s cyber operations is contained in the latest edition of an influential publication, The Science of Military Strategy, which is put out by the top research institute of the People’s Liberation Army and is closely read by Western analysts and the U.S. intelligence community. The document is produced “once in a generation,” McReynolds said, and is widely seen as one of the best windows into Chinese strategy. The Pentagon cited the previous edition (PDF), published in 1999, for its authoritative description of China’s “comprehensive view of warfare,” which includes operations in cyberspace.
‘Tiger Wife’ who wooed doomed major general | South China Morning Post Extra-marital affairs are strictly forbidden by military regulations and Guo, then a rising star within the PLA, appeared faced with a difficult choice. He was already married to an official working at the communication headquarters of the PLA General Staff, and with whom he shared a daughter, Hong Kong-based Phoenix Weekly reported.
Sidwell Friends School » China Steps onto the Stage-Evan Osnos 2015 Zeidman Lecture On the nationalistic tendencies of Xi Jinping, China’s president and general secretary of the Communist Party: Xi Jinping is “one of the most interesting people in the world,” said Evan, “. . . and most polarizing.” Why he feels the need to be “so assertively nationalistic and authoritarian” is likely due in part to being the first leader to be born after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. He feels the rest of the world is going to “test” him and wants it to be known that he has a more assertive view. “He really does believe that after 150 years, China’s time has come to be treated as a great power.” Xi Jinping is a “very sophisticated leader.” He knows that “if China got into a physical battle,that would be dangerous for him and undermine his political support at home. // can’t wait for the twins to start 4th grade there this Autumn
Shambaugh’s China disaster scenario examined-Kerry Brown If the Party can capture the emotional life and convictions of the Chinese people, then anything is possible. But its message at the moment is one where idealism is mixed with fear and coercion. There needs to be an historic reset, something like a renegotiation of the social contract between the Chinese people and their government. I am not as pessimistic as Shambaugh about the outcomes of this, but I do agree something needs to be done.
Xi snub belies growing China-Pakistan ties – FT.com China’s President Xi Jinping will be conspicuous by his absence from a national military parade in Pakistan on Monday, even as Beijing and Islamabad seek to cement five decades of military and economic ties.
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Bar news | Taiwanese whisky named world’s best single malt in whisky awards A whisky from Taiwan has beaten others from Scotland and around the globe to be named best single malt in the World Whiskies Awards. Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique took the title at last night’s ceremony which also saw awards go to whiskies from Scotland, Japan, Ireland, France, Sweden, South Africa, Australia and the US.
Mainland Chinese tourists shun Hong Kong | Video | Reuters.com Frustrated by anger in Hong Kong over the barrage of Chinese tourists, visitors are now shunning shopping and dining tours in the city state, which is dealing a major blow to the economy.
TECH AND MEDIA
维护移动网络时代国家意识形态安全_求是网 CASS researcher in Red Flag- safeguard national ideological security in the mobile internet era // 随着我国对网络“负能量”的逐渐警惕并启动网络整治工作，近一两年来网络风气有所好转。在这种情况下，敌对势力也加紧了对“移动网络”的渗透、宣传。“移动网络”是指移动终端如手机、平板电脑等将移动通信和互联网合二为一，用户通过相关软件既可以随时接触海量信息、也可以随时任意发布信息。从前PC（电脑）网络上流行的扰乱我国意识形态安全的信息，现在已渗透到手机、平板电脑上，传播方式更多样、传播速度更迅速，国家信息与意识形态安全由此面临更大挑战。
南方周末 – 一个县的QQ诈骗生意 Southern Weekend on Binyang County in Nanning, where QQ swindles seem to be one of the top business endeavors, and which account for a huge amount of the reported QQ swindles nationwide // 从2012年开始，宾阳县每年的政府工作报告，都把打击QQ诈骗作为重点工作列入其中。 “全国34个省级行政区，除了香港、澳门、台湾的警察没来过宾阳，其他都来过了。” 从2008年开始，QQ诈骗开始在宾阳县城周边的村庄里展开，然后师傅带徒弟、徒弟又传徒弟，像病毒一样迅速扩散到更多村子。
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
New Agenda for China’s Feared Family Planners – Caixin Family planning agency workers are assuming new roles as parenting trainers to promote early childhood development
Mummified Buddha shown in Hungarian stolen from China: government – Xinhua A Buddha statue that conceals the mummified remains of an ancient monk was withdrawn from the Hungarian Natural History Museum by its Dutch owner in Budapest on Friday. Villagers living in Yangchun, a village in China’s southeastern province of Fujian, claimed that this statue was the one stolen from their village’s temple in 1995, Chinese media reported recently
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Forestry Industry Revamp to Eliminate 100,000 Jobs, Gov’t Says – Caixin The administration announced the ban on March 18 as part of a broader overhaul of the state-owned forest industry to address resources depletion and poverty among loggers. The ban will be phased in by the end of 2017, the forestry department said, and eliminate more than 100,000 jobs. However, the government said state-owned companies should not lay off workers or force them to take severance packages. Instead, the firms should try to absorb the workers themselves or train them for new positions. Also on March 18, the State Council released two documents to guide the overhaul of the sector, and one key is to push for privatization of forestry businesses to allow them to diversify their operations.
China Policy Institute Blog » Fighting the Water Giant: Lawsuits against Veolia in China One month ago in Lanzhou, a heavily industrialized city of 3.6 million people in the northwestern province of Gansu, a district court accepted the filing of four lawsuits by fourteen citizens against Lanzhou Veolia Water Company after almost a year of struggle.
中石油因水污染赔偿兰州逾亿元政经频道财新网 在爆发多次环境污染事故，并遭到兰州市政府公开斥责后，中石油兰州石化分公司（下称兰州石化）承诺花费超过1亿元，完成兰州石化地下水和土壤污染修复项目。
【独家】关于进一步深化电力体制改革的若干意见_专业光伏媒体 plan for power secor reform published // 世纪新能源网独家重磅消息：2015年3月21日，世纪新能源网（www.ne21.com）从权威渠道获悉，中共中央文件〔2015〕9号《关于进一步深化电力体制改革的若干意见》已下发。该文件的下发将正式拉开新的电力改革计划。
22日至29日 京张申冬奥迎“考官”国内新京报网 IOC inspection team in town 3.22-29 for beijing’s 2022 winter bid…hope that means good air for the next week // 北京冬奥申委昨日表示，3月22日至29日，国际奥委会评估团将来华对北京联合张家口申办2022年冬奥会进行评估考察，包括听取主题陈述、考察场馆等。之后，评估委员会将形成报告上报国际奥委会，并于6月初反馈给候选城市。
甘肃一企业向腾格里沙漠排污被查国内新京报网 记者昨日从甘肃武威市委宣传部获悉，有关部门调查发现，武威荣华工贸有限公司向腾格里沙漠违法排污8万多吨，污染面积266亩。该公司董事长已被立案调查，2名直接责任人被拘，武威市、凉州区有关部门主要负责人被停职审查。
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ISSUES
China to pilot scheme to reform rural land use – People’s Daily Online China announced on Friday a pilot program, allowing the trade of rural land use rights for stakes in farming entities. The pilot program will be run in three experimental rural reform regions in Jiangsu, Sichuan and Guizhou, and four counties in Heilongjiang, Shandong, Zhejiang and Chongqing Municipality, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement.
土地金融生意经：土地流转市场催生新一轮“上山下乡” | @二十一世纪商业评论 | 21商评网 方正证券近期一份研究报告指出，土地确权市场空间本身将近1000 亿元，加上后端的土地流转、土地金融、农民征信、土壤大数据等空间将接近2500亿元。
黄奇帆：地票、户改的重庆实践视频频道财新网 video-Hu Shuli talks with Chongqing Mayor Huang Qifan about Chongqing’s experiences with land and hukou reform
BEIJING
Coal plant closed – Global Times the one just inside the 4th ring road next to the JW Marriott // Beijing on Friday closed a large coal-fired power plant in its downtown area, replacing it with a gas-fired plant to cut pollution. Beijing previously had four coal-fired power plants. The first was closed last July and the last will be closed next year.
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