"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Happy Memorial Day to US readers! This is a long newsletter, lots going on over the last few days.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Indictment of PLA hackers is part of broad U.S. strategy to curb Chinese cyberspying – The Washington Post The Justice Department’s decision to charge Chinese officers was approved at high levels of government and was undertaken, department officials say, because talks had brought little progress. Both efforts — diplomacy and criminal prosecution — are part of a broader, previously undisclosed strategy by the Obama administration to hold China accountable for what officials say is a growing campaign of commercial cyberspying. “We’re talking about a major change in administration strategy and policy,” said a third former official who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration deliberations.//press narrative has caught up with the announcement, now the message is that is was a part of an overall strategy
Related: U.S. to Rev Up Hacking Fight – WSJ.com ($$) If China doesn’t begin to acknowledge and curb its corporate cyberespionage, the U.S. plans to start selecting from a range of retaliatory options, other officials said. They include releasing additional evidence about how the hackers allegedly conducted their operations, and imposing visa, business and financial restrictions on those indicted or people or organizations associated with them.
Related: Cyber crime: Hacked off – FT.com ($$) “They are pretty annoyed, especially with pictures of guys in uniforms on wanted posters,” says Chris Johnson, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and formerly the CIA’s chief China analyst, who discussed the case with Chinese officials in Beijing this week…One powerful Chinese who will be especially offended is General Fang Fenghui, the chief of the general staff of the PLA, who had just been to Washington but was not told of the coming indictments.
Related: DoD Distances Itself From US Hacking Indictment of PLA Soldiers | Defense News “We still desire from a military perspective to further grow and develop the military-to-military relationship and to find ways to have a more productive conversation about these very tough issues — and cyber is one of them,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said on May 20. Kirby and other military officials last week said the indictments were a judicial matter.
Related: 美国无孔不入的网络攻击行为令人发指-
Related: U.S. may act to keep Chinese hackers out of Def Con hacker event Washington is considering using visa restrictions to prevent Chinese nationals from attending popular summer hacking conferences in Las Vegas as part of a broader effort to curb Chinese cyber espionage, a senior administration official said Saturday.
In China’s Far West, a City Struggles to Move On – NYTimes.com On Friday morning, a day after one of China’s worst terrorist attacks in recent memory, North Park Street had a veneer of normalcy. The bakeries, noodle makers and fishmongers were open for business. A restaurant serving rice pilaf and lamb was packed with Uighur men and young bank employees on their lunch break. A few paces from the shattered window of a pawnshop, schoolchildren in matching track suits boisterously traded penny candy.
Related: China identifies suspects of suicide bombing attack in Xinjiang: Xinhua – Yahoo News Police have identified the suspects as Nurahmat Ablipiz, Memet Memtimin, Raghimjan Memet, Memtimin Mahmat and Ablet Abdukadir, Xinhua said late on Friday. They all appear to be Uighur, judging by their names.
Related: China calls for Xinjiang ‘terror suspects’ to surrender | Reuters “Those who are involved in (activities relating to terrorism) will be given mitigated punishments if they turn themselves in within 30 days,” the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday, citing local authorities.
Related: 中国开展为期1年严打暴恐行动 以新疆为主战场|严打暴恐_新浪新闻 China announces year-long “strike-hard” campaign against terrorism, says Xinjiang is the main battlefield
One Uighur Man’s Journey Goes Viral–Foreign Policy Kurbanjan Samat is a 32-year-old ethnic Uighur photographer working for CCTV, China’s state-owned television station. He is a native of Hotan, a predominantly Uighur oasis town in the south of China’s Xinjiang autonomous region that has an urban population of 360,000, according to official data. Kurbanjan settled in Beijing, which lies more than 2,600 miles to the east of Hotan. In part to reach out to Han who might want to gain more insight into what is happening in Xinjiang, he spoke with journalist Zhang Chi in a lengthy first-person narrative article that was published in the April 30 issue of Phoenix Weekly, a Hong Kong-based news magazine.//the original 一个维族家庭的生活：不去讲经班遭亲戚排斥|
[视频]习近平在上海考察时强调 当好全国改革开放排头兵 不断提高城市核心竞争力_新闻频道_央视网 Top 10 minutes of Saturday CCTV Evening News about Xi inspecting Shanghai, emphasizing its importance for reform. First 3 minutes of the segment about Xi visiting the Free Trade Zone
Related: Xi Jinping shows support for Shanghai free-trade zone in whistle-stop visit | South China Morning Post On Friday afternoon Xi “highly praised the work that has been so far done in the Shanghai free trade zone”, one source at the site who declined to be named said as he was not authorised to speak to the media. “Everybody is so happy and Xi apparently is in a very good mood after the summit,” said the source, referring to the regional security summit.
Related: Chinese president urges Shanghai stronger competitiveness – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged Shanghai to push forward reform, pursue scientific development and improve its competitiveness. Xi made the remarks during his inspection in Shanghai from Friday to Saturday
Related: Xi Jinping’s Shanghai Free-Trade Zone Remarks Seen as Mild, but Welcome Endorsement – China Real Time Report – WSJ Management of the Shanghai free-trade zone “should combine structural reform and the exploration of new methods, while controlling risks and gradually making improvements,” Xinhua said in summarizing the president’s visit, which was also the top story on China Central Television’s main news program. Mr. Xi’s endorsement of the zone–no matter how tepid–could spur bureaucratic action to add definition to a zone that has mostly frustrated business executives.
China Threatens Security Checks for Tech Firms After U.S. Indictments – NYTimes The State Internet Information Office said the Chinese government would establish new procedures to assess potential security problems with Internet technology and services used by “systems related to national security and the public interest,” reported Xinhua…The companies affected could include Cisco Systems, I.B.M. and Microsoft, suggested a commentary about the new policy on the website of China Daily, a state-run newspaper.//”Huawei’ing” of US tech firms in China looks to be happening. And not a thing the US government can credibly complain about…
Related: News Analysis: Windows ban may open door for China’s domestic OS – Xinhua China’s ambitious OS makers, that are developing products based on Linux, took immediate action in response to the government ban. “There are differences between Windows and Linux, but we are trying to make consumers feel almost the same when using our products,” said China Standard Software Co. in a statement. The company is a joint venture of China Electronics Corporation and China Electronic Technology Group Corporation, two state-owned enterprises. China Standard Software Co. said its Neokylin Linux OS is “a safe and controlled product that meets the security demands for government, defense and other confidential fields”.
Related: China clamps down on US consulting groups – FT.com ($$) China has ordered state-owned enterprises to cut ties with US consulting companies such as McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group because of fears they are providing secret commercial information to the US government, according to people close to senior Chinese leaders.
Related: Chinese Law Prof Blog-China’s ban on US management consultants and Windows 8: WTO compliant? Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t look like “fear of state secrets leaking into the hands of a foreign power,” no matter how legitimate that fear might be, counts. Needless to say, there is absolutely zero chance that any government would put WTO rules above its own conception of its security needs. My conclusion, then, is that the anti-Windows 8 measure passes muster but the anti-management consulting measure does not. Let me add that I’m not a WTO expert
Circumstances of My Dismissal from Tencent « China Change On May 20th, I was notified by the department head at Tencent that I was being suspended, citing radical expressions I made in my meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this year and the propaganda directives I publicized online. I was told that I would receive a final decision after Tencent coordinated with the propaganda authorities. On May 23rd, Tencent’s HR department notified me of the termination of my labor contract for “leaking business secrets and other confidential and sensitive information.”//doesn’t sound like Tencent had a choice
“二代”导师困局：方方已被廉政公署控告_财经频道_一财网 C
天津湿地苇田被挖土破坏 18名村民维权遭抓捕_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 Tian
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China’s property problem: Not as bad as you think, but bad enough There are of course other sources of demand, like upgrading and redevelopment, but obviously urbanisation won’t grow forever. Indeed, officials are saying demand may be peaking, and that’s what the market today worries about. CLSA, which is not known as especially bearish, thinks small cities may need to collapse construction by a shocking 60% over the next few years. These cities consume 70% of materials used in all residential construction, which accounts for half of all steel use. Do the maths: that’s a 20% impact on steel demand.
PBOC’s Zhou Says China May Have Housing Bubble in ‘Some Cities’ – Bloomberg China may have a housing bubble only in “some cities,” a issue that’s difficult to resolve with a single nationwide policy, the nation’s central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said. China is a big country with multiple housing markets, many of which are still drawing new inhabitants from the countryside, Zhou said yesterday in an interview in Kigali, Rwanda, where he was attending the African Development Bank’s annual meeting.
住建部否认放松限购:中央更希望市场自我调整- 华夏时报 Beijing Times says Ministry of Housing teams inspecting state of real estate markets, reported to State Council Saturday, unlikely to allow mass loosening of real estate demand repression rules, says state of real estate market not as bad as people think //该人士还表示，住建部传达的调控方向是，
天津楼市救市:限购闸门已打开_网易新闻中心-网易新闻 Mea
China eases approval process for foreign investment-Caijing From June 17 this year, China will adopt a system of “limited approval” and “general registration” instead of the existing “all-round approval” mechanism, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) told Xinhua. Meanwhile, the national security review over potential investment projects by foreign companies will be strengthened, it added.
Prawns replace abalone as China property developers go down-market | Reuters Developers and owners of luxury residential property are also feeling the heat. “The Beijing market is particularly slow. There’s a lot of supply because people are dumping their high-end property into the market because of anti-corruption,” said a manager of a property company who declined to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue. Industry watchers said owners of property priced around 40,000 to 50,000 yuan per square meter had already come under scrutiny.
China Mulls Use Of Revenue Bonds To Ease Local Debt Burden | MNI Proposed by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, a bond market governing body under the People’s Bank of China, the bonds would be repaid from cash flows generated from the underlying projects rather than by local governments. Local government would not have to provide any guarantees for the bonds, the regulator said.
Ernst Must Give H.K. Regulator Failed IPO’s Audit Papers – Bloomberg EY, as the firm now calls itself, resigned in 2010 as the auditor of Standard Water Ltd., which applied to list in Hong Kong in November 2009 and withdrew its application after the resignation. The SFC sued EY after it failed to provide the records, with the audit firm claiming it was prevented from doing so by Chinese secrecy laws. “The objection based on state secrets or commercial secrets is a complete red herring,” Judge Ng said, rejecting EY’s other arguments as well. He ordered the firm to pay the SFC’s costs.
传证监会排查出40多人内幕交易黑名单 近期收网_股票频道_一财网 CSRC may have 40 insider traders on an list, culled from “big data”// 据传，根据大数据系统，
U.S. wins car import duties trade case against China | Reuters China, the second-biggest market for U.S. auto exports, in 2011 started levying punitive duties on vehicles with engines of 2.5 liters and above, in retaliation for U.S. trade policies. The duties have since expired.
Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Glass – FT.com Cao Dewang became the biggest Chinese investor in Ohio this year when Fuyao Glass, the car glass manufacturer that he founded in 1987, spent $200m buying an old General Motors factory in Dayton. Few people outside China have heard of Mr Cao even though Fuyao supplies everyone from Toyota, VW and Ford to BMW, Daimler and Bentley. Its founder has been catapulted into the ranks of the wealthiest Chinese, with assets of $1.14bn, according to the 2013 Hurun China rich list.
POLITICS AND LAW
Corruption probe into He Jintao, elder son of ex-Politburo man He Guoqiang | South China Morning Post The party’s top leaders have approved the launch of a corruption investigation into the elder son of He Guoqiang, a former member of the supreme Politburo Standing Committee, four sources familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post. The son, He Jintao, is now under house arrest. // may be related to Song Lin/China Resources case? And wonder if will really be tried and arrested, or just forced to spit back out (吐出来 is the phrase I keep hearing about how some of these cases are dealt with) some portion of his ill-gotten gains?
Chinese leaders say no end to improve work style – Xinhua As part of the ongoing second round of the campaign, each of the seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee is allocated a county to supervise its progress…As an important part of China’s state governance, county officials were urged to cherish their posts, solve problems facing the people and promote reforms and development with improved work styles.//the problem is they do cherish their posts, but often for the wrong reasons? These visits made page 1 of monday’s People’s Daily 中共中央政治局常委到第二批党的群众路线教育实践活
国资委：开展向中央企业派驻纪检组试点工作-中新网 SOEs clearly the next front in the corruption crackdown, SASAC under pressure, launching trial with CCDI to put disciplinary inspection teams inside central SOEs // 据中央纪委监察部网站消息，5月23日上午，
【舒立观察】国企反腐如何标本兼治_杂志频道_财新网 Hu Shuli’s editorial this week on how to end SOE corruption
Director of Chinese aerospace company leaps to his death in Hong Kong | South China Morning Post Li Guo-lei, executive of China Aerospace Industrial, faced investigation on mainland, wife says
部分垄断国企招工仍对内倾斜 被质疑变相世袭–时政–人民网
Applause for US recognizing terrorism – Global Times If the US sincerely supports counter-terrorism efforts by China, it should repress the activities by various institutes of the ETIM on its soil. However, ETIM leader Rabiya is still a popular guest of the US and funded by the National Endowment for Democracy. Nonetheless, we still expect the US to change its policy of curbing China through supporting terrorist forces, because such a deed is harmful to itself and not conducive to its China policy.//most portals carried this headline stating that this was the first time the US had called an attack inside Xinjiang “terrorism” 美方首次将新疆境内暴力袭击定性为恐怖
Should China Declare a War on Terror?–Foreign Policy About six hours after the attack, the official account of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on China’s Twitter Sina Weibo tweeted a message expressing sympathy to victims of “violent attack against innocent civilians,” but did not describe the act as terrorism, nor did it condemn the act. The omission, intentional or not, inflamed Chinese Internet users. (The White House later released a statement condemning the “horrific terrorist attack” in Xinjiang.*) The tweet has already attracted more than 17,000 mostly negative comments accusing the United States of a double-standard and behind-the-scenes support for a separatist movement in Xinjiang, which many assume are responsible for the recent attacks.//here is the US Embassy Weibo message that angered so many Chinese. Embarrassing lack of coordination between the State Department and the White House: 美国大使馆向今天上午乌鲁木齐发生的针对无辜平民的暴力袭击的受
China briefs foreign security attaches on Xinjiang attack- China.org.cn Blake Wirth, assistant attache of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Beijing Office, expressed sympathies to victims and their families, adding “the FBI and the U.S. government pledge support to China to assist in any means possible” in the fight against terror.
Q & A: Gardner Bovingdon on Uighur Discontent and China’s Choices – NYTimes.com What would be the long goal of this? The French had a term for this in Algeria — politique du pire — the politics of the worst. If I commit violence now, the government will crack down, and this will increase discontent among most Uighurs, and therefore in the long term it is probably likely to contribute to a groundswell of even greater dissatisfaction and possibly more widespread action even beyond the reach of those organizations.
Xi’s Gloves-Off Xinjiang Strategy Challenged by Violence – BloombergThe government’s “high-pressure policy in Xinjiang has descended to a vicious circle,” said Hu Xingdou, professor of economics at the Beijing Institute of Technology. “More crackdowns will breed more violent attacks.”
23 terror, religious extremism groups busted in Xinjiang – Xinhua The groups were busted by police in south Xinjiang’s Hotan, Kashgar and Aksu prefectures, where the majority of the population are Muslim Uygurs, according to the department. More than 200 explosive devices were also seized in the police raids. Many of the suspects were in their 20s and 30s, who watched terror video and audio through the Internet and electric storages and learned how to make explosives. They exchanged their experiences of making explosives and propagating Jihad through chatting tools, text messages and illegal preaching sites, according to the department.
揭秘反恐工作领导小组:职能广泛 涵盖预警到宣教_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 Anti-
奋力建设团结和谐繁荣富裕文明进步安居乐业的社会主义新疆（
切糕版“中国合伙人”：要被正名的不止是切糕_深度_新京报网
Beijing, Kunming, Urumqi and Guangzhou: The Changing Landscape of Anti-Chinese Jihadists | The Jamestown Foundation The TIP has approximately 300–500 militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also a network in Turkey and possibly Central Asia (Author’s field research in northwest Pakistan, 2012)…The only attacks in China for which the TIP showed evidence of its responsibility were the Ramadan-eve car rammings in Kashgar in July 2011, which killed 12 pedestrians…The TIP’s main “value added” in Xinjiang is mostly providing training to Uighurs who travel abroad or, likely more importantly, the clandestine distribution of jihadist ideological and training materials in Xinjiang by way of various Uighur, Pakistani or Central Asian traders.
能源局3天内4名官员被立案 未来或还有官员被查_网易新闻中心 corruption carnage at the National Energy Administration. cases filed against 4 officials in 3 days, with more likely to come
河南2天4名官员被调查 反腐打老虎进入攻坚阶段_新浪河南视频_新浪河南 Four Henan officials, including the head of the provincial Bureau of Housing, put under investigation on two days
新疆警察学院党委书记、副院长李彦明接受调查_新闻_腾讯网 P
Billionaire Leader of ‘Mafia-Style’ Gang Sentenced to Die – NYTimes.com Liu Han, 48, and his younger brother, Liu Wei, were sentenced on Friday by a court in the central province of Hubei, with the punishment announced on China Central Television. The two were at the apex of a gang of 36 people charged with crimes including intentional injury and the murders of eight people.
I, Too, Will Stand Up for Tiananmen – NYTimes–Murong Xuecun One of those present read out an essay I wrote about the Tiananmen crackdown. Hard as it may seem to believe — I have a law degree, and I myself can hardly believe it — reciting such an essay at a private gathering can violate China’s laws. By the government’s logic, I too have committed the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” I am going to turn myself in. // Can’t imagine this will end well
Open Brain, Insert Ideology – Bloomberg View New research, from Davide Cantoni of the University of Munich and several co-authors, shows that recent curricular reforms in China, explicitly designed to transform students’ political views, have mostly worked. The findings offer remarkable evidence about the potential influence of the high school curriculum on what students end up thinking — and they give us some important insights into contemporary China as well.
习近平引用名句梳理：激浊扬清为第一要义 interestin
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China, Pakistan vow to strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation – Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday agreed to strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism efforts. At a bilateral meeting, Xi said that China backs Pakistan in practicing a counter-terrorism strategy based on its national conditions and is willing to enhance bilateral security cooperation to safeguard the peace and stability of the two countries and the region. Hussain said that the “East Turkistan” terrorism forces are a common enemy of Pakistan and China and vowed to make joint efforts with China to combat the terrorists.
73 militants killed in air strikes, clash – – DAWN.COM MIRAMSHAH: At least 73 suspected local and foreign militants were killed in a series of pre-dawn air strikes on hideouts and bases in North Waziristan and in a later clash following an attack on security personnel. An army major and three other security personnel died in the clash. The targets of the air strikes were strongholds of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (Etim) — a militant outfit comprising largely Turkic-speaking militants from Uzbekistan and Uighurs from China’s north-western autonomous region of Xinjiang, a security official said.//hit real targets or just unlucky ones?
Four militants killed as operation continues – Newspaper – DAWN.COM One senior security official said the military was in particular targeting the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a separatist militant outfit blamed for numerous terror attacks in China’s restive western region of Xinjiang. He said the Chinese government had pressed Pakistan for taking action against the Uighur separatists based in North Waziristan. “The Chinese authorities had conveyed their message separately to the prime minister and the army chief; the issue had been raised even with the president when he was on an official visit to China,” he added.
Japan Raises Alarm on Chinese Flybys in Overlapping Air Zones – NYTimes.com The Chinese stance toward at least Japanese military flights appeared to change on Saturday, when a pair of Chinese Su-27 fighters flew within 100 feet of a Japanese YS-11 propeller-driven reconnaissance plane. Earlier in the day, another pair of Chinese fighters flew within 150 feet of a Japanese P-3C, another type of propeller-driven reconnaissance plane, the ministry said. It said the Chinese fighters took no other measures against the Japanese planes, which both returned to base safely.
China’s Leader, Seeking to Build Its Muscle, Pushes Overhaul of the Military – NYTimes.com The Chinese military was already trying to accomplish a lot by 2020, at which point it hopes to have completed its mechanization and made major progress in spreading the use of information technology, said Dennis J. Blasko, another former American military attaché in Beijing. “I see the P.L.A. undertaking a much more complex modernization process, with more components than the U.S. military after Vietnam — but without the recent combat experience, Reagan-era defense budgets, and N.C.O. corps the U.S. military had,” Mr. Blasko said, referring to noncommissioned officers.
中国南海人工岛方案曝光：战机军舰设施全到位_新闻_腾讯网 p
China warns Japan, Philippines accuses China in maritime spat | Reuters A Malaysian diplomatic source said China was deliberately slowing down the talks. “China has been reluctant to even talk about the code of conduct,” the diplomatic source said. “It’s a carrot to dangle in the distance. We are dealing with a superpower.
Hanoi behind all the trouble – Ruan Zongze in China Daily If it continues to take provocative actions and call white black, Hanoi will reap what it has sown. In fact, Vietnam is already suffering the consequences of the anti-China rampage which has shaken investors’ confidence in Vietnam and thus jeopardized the country’s investment prospects. And Hanoi has no one but itself to blame for that, because it distorted the facts and sowed the seeds of irrational anti-China violence in the first place. Counting on support from third parties, Vietnam continues to act provocatively…Washington has committed a mistake by encouraging Hanoi and its reckless behaviors.//reading the English language propaganda these days you would be forgiven if you thought China saw the US as an enemy
Explaining China’s behaviour in the East and South China Seas-Hugh White The idea that China might believe these things comes as a surprise to many outside China, including, one suspects, many in Washington. US policy towards China, including the pivot itself, is based on contrary assumptions. The consensus is that Beijing is not really serious about challenging US leadership in Asia because it is simply not willing to risk a confrontation with America which Beijing’s leaders must know they would lose, and they do not care enough about expanding China’s role in Asia to take that risk. If that’s true, then as Brad Glosserman says, China’s conduct is clearly foolish. But before assuming that the Chinese leaders are fools, we would be wise to wonder whether they really do believe what Washington assumes they believe. I’m pretty sure they do not.//They are not fools. Interesting that the commentariat over this round of tension in the South China Sea is, correctly, nearly unanimous in assuming that Xi is in charge and there is no longer the “9-headed dragon” bureaucratic infighting that some believed led to dangerous disarray in China’s near seas’ policymaking in recent years. For what it’s worth, and I hate going too far with the Go-influenced strategic theories, but I hear that Xi Jinping is quite the serious Go (围棋) player.
Futile distraction from the United States of Secrets – Opinion – China Daily – Chen Weihua The US knows only too well that its action was bound to provoke a response from China. And such tit-for-tat actions will only escalate. Yet when China announces its own indictment of five people responsible for the reckless global surveillance activities of the US National Security Agency, it will draw applause in countries around the world.
Exclusive: Afghanistan suffers trade blow as China halts dollar deals with its banks | Reuters Despite intense pressure from Western backers, Afghanistan has so far failed to pass laws meeting global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing. That has prompted banks from various countries to halt trade with its commercial banks.
Shanghai’s Japanese Resident Numbers Plunge 17% in First Drop – Bloomberg “One reason why numbers are declining is that Japanese being sent by their companies aren’t bringing their families, because of PM2.5, bird flu and other factors,” Hitoshi Nakamura, secretary general of the Shanghai Japanese Commerce & Industry Club, a chamber-of-commerce-like body, said last month. “Lone Japanese postings without family are rising.”
Robert Gates: China, Russia Are Becoming Aggressive As They Perceive U.S. Pulling Back He said Southeast Asian countries should band together -– along with the U.S. — to speak out against Chinese aggression. He said this happened in 2010, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was at an ASEAN meeting in Hanoi and at least seven or eight Southeast Asian countries denounced China’s aggression. Gates noted that China President Xi Jinping — more than his predecessor, Hu Jintao — is very much in charge of China’s military actions. Regarding this week’s U.S. charges that Chinese officials engaged in cyberspying on American businesses, Gates said stealing American secrets and technology is not new and is done by probably a dozen countries. Second to the Chinese, the French may be the most capable in this regard, he said. For years, Gates said, French intelligence agents would break into American businessmen’s hotel rooms and steal information from their laptops.
Fareed Zakaria: China’s cyberespionage presents a 21st-century challenge – The Washington Post “It is the largest theft in human history,” Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution told me, pointing to one example. The United States will spend around $1 trillion developing the F-35 fighter, which will be its most advanced weapons system. “But we can now see clearly that elements of the F-35 have made their way into a similar Chinese plane. American investments that were meant to give it a 15-year battlefield advantage have been totally undermined,” Singer said
解放军上将的演讲，让国人脊背发凉却又热血激昂！ intere
Global Military Justice Reform: “The Chinese military legal framework must be improved” Apparently unnoticed in the roar of recent articles and statements by policy analysts about China’s People’s Liberation Army is that improving Chinese military law is part of the Chinese government’s plans for reforming and modernizing China’s national defense establishment and People’s Liberation Army.
Chinese, Russian warships return to Shanghai from joint drill – Xinhua Besides the Pacific Fleet that took part in this drill, Russia would like to include its Black See Fleet and Baltic Fleet in future cooperation with Chinese navy, he said. Commanders of the two navies will hold discussions on the drill on Monday, while China’s Zhengzhou missile destroyer and Russia’s Varyag missile cruiser will be open to citizens in Shanghai for visit on the same day.
总书记商飞行：国产大飞机一定要搞上去_财经频道_一财网 Xi visits Comac as part of his Shanghai inspection, sits in cockpit of a C919, makes it clear he really wants China to have indigenous passenger jets
Modi’s existential challenge to Obama – FT.com Normally Indian chief ministers meet one member of the Chinese politburo. On his most recent trip Mr Modi met four. Uniquely for a provincial leader, he was also received in the Great Hall of the People. President Xi Jinping clearly saw Mr Modi coming. Mr Obama denied him entry. That, at least, is how Mr Modi sees it. Nor does he make a secret of his grievance. Mr Modi’s advisers have put it out that his first two trips are likely to be to Japan and China
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
A Defection to China and the Threat to National Security | Thinking Taiwan Chinese reports published in early 2014 revealed that the 54-year-old had joined the State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science at Beijing Normal University. He was reportedly recruited via China’s “Thousands Talents Program,” an initiative launched by Beijing to recruit foreign talent. According to the Chinese-language Liberty Times, through his work at CSRSR, Chen, an expert on microwave remote sensing, may have had access to classified imagery pertaining to deployments of Taiwanese armed forces and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) across the Taiwan Strait.
Wake Up, Washington: All’s Not Well in Taiwan | The Diplomat The occupation was as clear a warning as could possibly be given that Taiwanese society and the nexus of Chinese irredentism, big business, corrupt officials and pro-unification forces were on a collision course. Despite the rapprochement, Beijing has refused to make an offer on the terms of unification that had any appeal to the majority of Taiwanese, and knowing this it continued to build up its military in case force were necessary to bring the island to heel. Events in Hong Kong, where Beijing had broken almost every single promise it made ahead of Retrocession in 1997, were a reminder to Taiwanese — even to those who had voted for Ma in 2008 and 2012 and who supported closer ties with China — that Beijing could not be trusted. The backtracking on reform in China observed under President Xi, and the systematic crackdown on all forms of dissent, further emphasized that point.//One blogger thinks this post is over the top. See Taiwan Hyperbole, Again. by the Fear of a Red Planet blog
As Taiwan beefs up prized South China Sea outpost, barely a peep from China | Reuters While Itu Aba, also called Tai Ping, is small, no other disputed island has such sophisticated facilities. Its runway is the biggest of only two in the Spratly archipelago that straddles the South China Sea, and the island has its own fresh water source. “Taipei knows it is the only claimant that (China) will not bother, so it is free to upgrade its facilities on Tai Ping without fear of criticism from China,” said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the Hawaii-based East-West Center think tank.
TECH AND MEDIA
Sinica Podcast–History of the Internet in China Joining long-time hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn in our studio today are three stalwart guests who have experienced the worst and the best of the Chinese Internet: Duncan Clark from BDA China, Gady Epstein who writes for the Economist, and yours truly
Closer Look: Tencent Has High Score in Mobile Gaming, but Baidu and Alibaba Want Next Turn – Caixin In 2010, Jack Ma, the founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, pledged to none other than former premier Wen Jiabao that he “would not invest a penny into games” because it wasn’t a worthwhile way for the country’s children to spend their time. And yet that is exactly what Alibaba is doing. In January, the e-commerce giant announced it is branching into mobile games, market that could be worth as much as 50 billion yuan. And now China’s Big Three Internet companies – Alibaba, Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings — are all playing.
China Mobile to Boost Content as Tencent’s WeChat Eats Into Text – Bloomberg “Tencent’s WeChat has a big impact on text-message services,” Li said at today’s meeting. China Mobile plans to respond with greater involvement in content, Chairman Xi Guohua said at the meeting. “We shouldn’t just be a channel,” Xi said. “We need content. We are building content for music, reading and video. Video is a very good area in the future. So are games and animations and cartoons.”
央视调查4G网速:宣传每秒百兆 实测或不到两兆_网易新闻中心 CCTV goes after China Mobile for not delivering on its 4G download claims. Not just foreign firms get whacked…
Strange things are afoot with the US IPO of this Chinese online video company – Quartz Just days ago, on May 19, photos of a visit to Xunlei’s Shenzhen offices by Li Changchun—former head of media and propaganda, and one of China’s most powerful men—set the Chinese tech media a-buzz as they made their way around the web. Li’s visit, in and of itself, isn’t strange…, what’s strange is that this time, hours after Li’s visit to Xunlei grabbed headlines, the articles disappeared—a sign that censors had instructed web editors to take the stories down
Alibaba’s American Aspirations – NYTimes.com To build up its 11 Main site, headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., Alibaba has recruited seasoned hands in e-commerce from the likes of eBay, Gap and Walmart. A separate office in nearby Santa Clara is tasked with making investments in the United States and Europe. The goal is to find Internet start-ups with business models that it could learn from — and maybe own outright someday.
Alibaba taps former PepsiCo comms leader, top Treasury aide Jim Wilkinson pre-IPO | PR Week from a couple of weeks ago. Alibaba clearly learned from its successful DC lobbying over the “notorious markets” USTR listing for Taobao that working DC is cheap, and certainly cheaper and more straightforward than similar work in Beijing? // Based in San Francisco, Wilkinson will be responsible for building the company’s international corporate affairs operations as it prepares for its IPO in the US. Wilkinson joined Alibaba from PepsiCo, where he has held the EVP role since 2012. Previously, he was managing partner for international business and financial strategy at Brunswick Group. He served as chief of staff to former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson from 2006 to 2009, the period that included the global financial crisis. Wilkinson also served as a senior adviser to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, as well as deputy national security adviser, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Sony to Start China PlayStation Sales, Taking on Microsoft – Bloomberg good news for game info sites and app makers…Sony and Mincrosoft will have huge marketing budgets for this // Sony Corp. (6758) agreed to form two ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl (Group) Co. to start making and selling PlayStation gaming consoles in China as competition with Microsoft Corp. intensifies.
“耕地宝”拟斥亿元流转五千亩农地 新华社——经济参考网 Economic information on problems in Alibaba’s scheme to allow individuals in farming plots online, to give them access to safer fruits and vegetables // 《经济参考报》记者日前采访了解到，
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Contemporary art in China: Cultural Revolution | The Economist That historic weakness is about to be challenged by two new private museums of contemporary art in Shanghai. One is the Long Museum, the brainchild of Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei, a billionaire couple who develop property and buy art. The other one is the Yuz Museum, inaugurated on May 18th by a wealthy Indonesian-Chinese businessman, Budi Tek.
成都挖出隋代人工湖遗址 杜甫曾泛舟吟诗(图)_新闻_腾讯网 Sui Dynasty manmade lake on which Tang poet Du Fu once floated unearthed in Chengdu // 5月24日，在成都体育中心南侧的一处工地里，
Grant Hill, Yao Ming assembling separate ownership groups to buy Los Angeles Clippers – ESPN Sources say that Yao, meanwhile, also plans to pursue the Clippers hard with a group of Chinese investors. The former Houston Rockets All-Star center owns the Shanghai Sharks in his native country and has maintained close ties to the NBA through the league’s various initiatives in Asia.
My Father and the Republic: A Talk with Novelist, Poet, and Historian Pai Hsien-yung (Video Interview) | Asia Pacific Memo Last fall the Asia Pacific Memo sat down with Pai Hsien-yung (Bai Xianyong 白先勇), the renowned novelist and son of Pai Chung-hsi (Bai Chongxi 白崇禧, 1893–1966), a gifted general and strategist, key Kuomintang leader, and close associate of Chiang Kai-shek, with whom he had a long and stormy relationship. While Pai Hsien-yung is a worthy subject in his own right, in this video interview his focus—and ours—is on his famous father, Pai Chung-hsi.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
节约资源 中央带头全民行动–时政–人民网
FOOD AND TRAVEL
‘Love Boat’ line Princess begins cruises from China–USA Today The Love Boat line’s 2,670-passenger Sapphire Princess on Thursday kicked off voyages from Shanghai — its new summer home. It’ll remain there through August. The 10-year-old vessel will operate 24 sailings from Shanghai targeted primarily at the Chinese market. The three- to five-day trips will visit ports in South Korea and Japan.
BEIJING
北京4条地铁或延至河北 廊坊保定楼市或继续上行_网易新闻中心 Beijing may extend 4 subway lines into Hebei…Greater Beijing Metropolitan Area
北京频现“天价停车位” 部分价格超过中档轿车-财经网 some Beijing parking places now selling for up to 1m RMB
Beijing Fast Forwards to the Future – Carry On | Travel + Leisure-By Gary Shteyngart To participate in the 21st century and not know Beijing will require similar pride. Or foolishness. In fact, the saddest flight in the world is from America’s decrepit Newark Liberty International Airport, essentially a giant bathroom with airplanes, to the gleaming and sinuous Norman Foster–designed Beijing Capital International Airport.