"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
I am traveling in the US for the next week, there will probably only be a couple of issues between now and June 3.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
1. How America Should Respond to China’s Moves in the South China Sea | The National Interest – Randy Forbes While we wish to avoid becoming embroiled in the region’s multilateral territorial disputes, it is becoming clearer that the People’s Republic of China’s increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea require the U.S. to develop and articulate a coherent response, backed up by military power. While the United States welcomes China’s socioeconomic development, we must make clear through words and deeds that the use of force and coercion will be strongly and resolutely opposed. It is encouraging to see that that the President appears to recognize the seriousness of the situation, and that the Department of Defense is considering military options as part of a broader “whole-of-government” approach. I believe this is appropriate given China’s own use of its military and paramilitary muscles in pursuit of its objectives, but careful thought must be given to how we employ our military forces to deter and counter China’s activities without escalating the situation further. // PACOM and the Department of Defense have made their valid point with the CNN ride on the P-8, though it is not actually clear that the White House or State Department were on board with the pr push using CNN. Freedom of navigation flights and cruises should continue, but perhaps PACOM public affairs should keep them quiet. Beijing will get the point and it always good to leave offramps, but the more the public affairs folks push these efforts into the media the fewer the offramps there will be…
Related: China lodges complaint with U.S. over spy plane flight | Reuters The nationalist Global Times, a tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, said war was “inevitable” between China and the United States unless Washington stopped demanding Beijing halt the building of artificial islands in the disputed waterway.
Related: 社评：中美南海军事冲突的可能性有多大评论环球网 The Global Times editorial, I read it as leaving a good amount of wiggle room amidst the belligerent rhetoric // 中国不可能无限退让。那么就要看中美将如何设置各自在此轮南海博弈的底线，以及双方是否能够清楚、尊重对方的底线。 中国最重要的底线显然是要把岛礁建设继续下去，直到它们完工。如果美国的底线就是中国必须停工，那么中美南海一战将无可避免，而且冲突的烈度会高于人们通常理解的“摩擦”。 此外中国还有一个底线，那就是美国要尊重中国在南海的领土主权和海洋权益。美国这方面有一条公开的底线，即美在南海享有“航行自由”。中美的这两条底线对应了各自的原则，但实际操作中双方有一定回旋余地。中美是否会因此而冲突起来，既取决于一些战略考虑，也会受战术上的临时性因素影响。 如果美军是想“骚扰”一下中国，向地区展示美国力量在南海的存在，并因不想真打起来而对自己的挑衅行为保持一定克制的话，那么中方的反制也会大体有所克制，双方酿成实际军事冲突的可能性就不大。
Related: Southeast Asia maritime build-up accelerates, raising risks in disputed seas | Reuters Annual defense spending in Southeast Asia is projected to reach $52 billion by 2020, from an expected $42 billion this year, according to IHS Janes Defence Weekly. The 10 nations of Southeast Asia are expected to spend $58 billion on new military kit over the next five years, with naval procurement comprising a large chunk, it said. Much of this equipment is likely to be used in and around the South China Sea, where Beijing’s creation of artificial islands has alarmed some Asian countries and stoked tension between China’s navy and the U.S. air force.
Related: China’s Master Plan in the South China Sea | The National Interest – Chen Dingding The biggest danger at the moment is the false belief on the part of the United States that China will back down if sufficient costs are imposed on it. Thus we have seen a flurry of reports and recommendations from respectable scholars that call for imposing costs on China, or essentially punishing China. By exaggerating the stakes and China’s threats to international peace and stability in the South China Sea, such recommendations might push the United States and China into an irreversible confrontation.
Related: VP Biden USN China SCS | Video | C-SPAN.org VP Biden’s 2015 commencement speech at US Naval Academy re China challenging US role in South China Sea
Related: Fact, Fiction and the South China Sea – Asia Sentinel | Asia Sentinel China’s strategy in the “lawfare” over the South China Sea is to deploy historical arguments in order to outflank arguments based on UNCLOS. China increasingly seems to regard UNLCOS not as a neutral means of resolving disputes but as a partisan weapon wielded by other states in order to deny China its natural rights. But there is a major problem for China in using these historical arguments. There’s hardly any evidence for them. This isn’t the impression the casual reader would get from reading most of the journalistic articles or think-tank reports written about the South China Sea disputes in recent years. That’s because almost all of these articles and reports rely for their historical background on a very small number of papers and books. Worryingly, a detailed examination of those works suggests they use unreliable bases from which to write reliable histories. This is a significant obstacle to resolving the disputes because China’s misreading of the historical evidence is the single largest destabilizing factor in the current round of tension.
Related: China to construct two large lighthouses in the South China Sea – Xinhua China’s Ministry of Transport hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday for the construction of two multi-functional lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef of China’s Nansha Islands, so as to improve the navigation safety in the South China Sea.
Related: China and the Reefs: A Weakness in the U.S. Position – NYTimes the United States cannot avail itself of Unclos arbitration because it has failed to ratify Unclos! We have thus denied ourselves an important instrument for peacefully resolving disputes and putting international pressure on China to alter its dangerous course. I suggest that our political, diplomatic and military leaders denounce those in the Senate who have long blocked Unclos ratification. The United States should also be urging Japan, which does belong to Unclos, to begin an arbitration now against China to peacefully assure continuing freedom of navigation over waters essential to the security of both Japan and the United States–Jerome A. Cohen
2. Xi’s speech stresses people-to-people exchange to improve China-Japan ties: Japanese media – Xinhua Xi making sure the East China is calming now that the South China Sea is roiling? // The Japanese media said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech delivered at a gathering of more than 3,000 Japanese visitors in Beijing Saturday is a clear sign of China’s willingness to improve bilateral ties as well as a warning against any attempt to whitewash Japan’s wartime history. The 3,000-member Japanese delegation arrived in China on Friday, an event observers hope will deepen mutual understanding and trust between the two neighbors. The Mainichi Shimbun said the Chinese side viewed the visit by the Japanese delegation led by Toshihiro Nikai, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s General Council, as a practical step to improve bilateral ties.
Related: 习近平友好姿态惊日本 被指占尽先机_国际-多维新闻网 2012年、2013年、2014年的中日交流大会，中方参会人员分别是中国驻日大使程永华和前国务委员唐家璇，习近平此次出席中日友好交流大会也是比较突然。在二阶访华前，日媒等都对习近平是否会接见二阶心存疑虑，但事实证明，习近平不仅见了二阶，还高调参加中日友好交流大会。
3. China issues first white paper on military strategy – China Daily For the first time, the paper noted that “some offshore neighbors take provocative actions and reinforce their military presence on China’s reefs and islands that they have illegally occupied”. “It is thus a long-standing task for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests.” Vietnam and the Philippines have kept building on some of China’s islands in the South China Sea. Accordingly, the paper said the navy of the People’s Liberation Army will “gradually shift its focus from ‘offshore waters defense’ to a combination of ‘offshore waters defense’ and ‘open seas protection'”. It also mentioned an adjustment in preparations for military struggle. Following the guideline set in 2004 in order to win “informationized local wars”, the new expression highlighted maritime military struggle.
Related: 中国政府发表《中国的军事战略》白皮书 – 中国军网 the white paper. In English here
Related: China to speed up building a cyber force – Xinhua China will speed up the development of a cyber force to tackle “grave security threats” to its cyber infrastructure, said a military white paper here Tuesday. Cyberspace is highlighted as one of China’s four “critical security domains”, other than the ocean, outer space and nuclear force, by the report titled “China’s Military Strategy”.
4. Chinese Stocks Surge Most Since 2008 for World’s Biggest Rally – Bloomberg Business The Shanghai Composite rose 1.3 percent to 4,876.09 at 1:16 p.m., taking its six-day rally to 14 percent, the most among 93 global benchmark indexes tracked by Bloomberg. The government announced Friday cross-border sales of funds will begin July 1, while investors are awaiting the start date of a stock exchange link between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.//it broke 4900 briefly, as of this writing at back below 4900
Related: Hedge Funds Win Through Stock Connect – WSJ “Stock Connect has been a game changer for hedge funds,” said Shane Bolton, head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime-brokerage business in Asia, which lends securities to hedge funds. “I think what people are missing is you have another leg coming.” Mr. Bolton pointed to another trading link expected to be opened shortly between Hong Kong and the mainland Shenzhen exchange, as well as the easing of restrictions on lending and borrowing mainland shares to place bearish bets.
Related: When Predicting China Stocks There’s Only Wrong and Very Wrong – Bloomberg Business I got it wrong, predicted in January that Shanghai composite would hit 4500 in 2015…now over 4800…see that some of the vocal foreign bears who totally missed the surge are now getting on board and saying it may hit 6000 or more, probably a near-term bearish sign…// A year ago, analysts who cover the 50 largest companies trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen said equities were set to rally 28 percent. Turns out they weren’t anywhere near optimistic enough, as monetary easing and a buying frenzy among Chinese retail investors sent shares surging 111 percent through last week. Analysts have been scrambling ever since, updating predictions, then re-updating them and re-re-updating them as stocks blew by their target prices. The rally that outran their forecasts is now making their jobs even more difficult as they try to assess the prospects of companies trading at multi-year highs with the possibility of further government stimulus.
5. China warned over ‘insane’ plans for new nuclear power plants | The Guardian He Zuoxiu, a leading Chinese scientist, says the country is not investing enough in safety controls after lifting of post-Fukushima disaster reactor ban
6. China issues regulation on CPC’s united front work – Xinhua During a three-day meeting on united front work that closed May 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged authorities to pay close attention to united front work, improve working methods and pool strength for the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. The regulation proclaims that it is essential for the CPC to unite all forces in society as China transforms itself, with reforms in almost every area. The regulation also stipulates that united front work should be carried out in line with the “Four Comprehensives” national strategic plan, which represents Xi’s blueprint for China’s future: to build a moderately prosperous society, deepen reform, implement the rule of law and strengthen CPC discipline. Targeted groups for united front work include non-CPC members, Chinese nationals living at home and abroad, religious groups, outstanding intellectuals and those working in the private sector.
Related: Party’s ‘United Front’ Meeting Said to Be Aimed at Earning Reform Support – Caixin As reforms stall and economy slows, party meets to discuss ways it can work with non-members inside and outside the country
Related: 不止于统战朝野 习近平迈出政改一步_中国-多维新闻网 然而，人事变动趋向仅仅是一个参照。就在统战部换血之时的4月，习近平召开的中共中央政治局于当月底审议通过《中国共产党统一战线工作条例（试行）》。这份文件是中共关于统一战线工作的第一部党内法规，“明确统一战线服务‘四个全面’战略布局的方向原则，规定了各领域统战工作的方针政策。”而统战部部长孙春兰则在更早前密集走访八大民主党派和全国工商联，会见十一世班禅等知名宗教人士，从3月下旬到4月下旬的一个月之内先后赴河北、云南、山东等地就围绕民主党派、非公经济、新社会组织、民族宗教以及地方统战工作等展开调研。近期，中央统战部又与中组部、中央党校、国家民委等在京共同举办“省部级干部民族工作专题研讨班”，各省统战部部长几乎悉数到会。
Related: 互联网大V轮训政协副主席授课–时政–人民网 据陈丹青介绍，多位老师的讲课紧扣当下热点，外交形势、社会转型、经济新常态、“一带一路”战略构想、自贸区、大数据等都成为学习的内容。据《中国统一战线杂志》报道，培训课程有《当前的经济困境与社会转型》、《关于中国传统文化“士”的解读》、《关于新的社会阶层的几个问题》等。按照惯例，研究班课程分为理论学习和实地考察。今年研究班一行人去了福建古田。1929年召开的“古田会议”确定了“党指挥枪”的原则。陈丹青说，事实上一些理工男对这段历史所知甚少，甚至不知道古田是什么地方。三天的古田行给他们补了一课。// what some of the Big V tech execs learned at their recent UFW camp…
7. The Big VIE Question – Caixin Many entrepreneurs wonder whether the time has come to undo their firms’ VIE structures. It’s a good question, but what comes next?
8. 北京3万余个监控探头覆盖所有重点街面|监控探头|北京_新浪新闻 市公安局介绍，全市目前纳入街面巡控的监控探头3万余个，基本实现了对街面重点复杂、要害部位的“全覆盖”。这3万余个巡控探头分为三个级别。一级探头对各区县的核心地区、重点地区等实行24小时盯控，譬如东城区的王府井、西城区的西单和金融街、朝阳区的三里屯、丰台区的东大街以及各郊区的城关地区；二级探头则对繁华街区、交通枢纽、学校周边、商市场周边、近期案件高发地区进行巡控，如商场在客流量大的时段、公交场站在车多人多时开启巡控；三级探头则对辖区内其他道路、巡逻盲区进行不定时巡控。// on the impressive upgrading of Beijing’s video surveillance network
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China’s top banking regulator warns of rising bad loans, credit risk: sources | Reuters hina’s top banking regulator warned of rising credit risk from real estate, local government debt and unconventional forms of finance, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters, highlighting Beijing’s struggles to prevent risky debt from engulfing a stuttering economy. The sources cited a speech given by Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), during a teleconference in early May. The amount of non-performing loans in the first quarter has already reached 56 percent of the total amount last year, Shang said, according to the sources. Unconventional forms of credit – which usually refers to instruments like entrusted loans and letters of credit – were also on the rise, he said.
Hanergy: Bulk of Stock Collapse Occurred in Less Than a Second – WSJ In Hanergy’s case, a sudden burst of rapid-fire sell orders overwhelmed the market, causing a number of buyers to pull out, traders said. Some experts said the trading could have been designed to trick buyers into pulling back, a manipulative tactic known as “spoofing.”…On Friday in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, Mr. Li disclosed he went short 759.7 million shares in Hanergy on Monday, two days before the annual meeting. This represented 1.9% of the company and about 5.3 times that day’s trading volume of Hanergy shares. The stock exchange gives a loose definition of what it means to short a stock. The typical definition is to sell shares to bet on a decline. But the exchange also defines a short position as a case when a person is “under an obligation to deliver the underlying shares”—for example the pledge of shares for a bank loan.
Banks Face Obstacles to Using Biometric Data for ID Purposes-Caixin (Beijing) – Banks will not be allowed to verify the identity of new customers using biometric information unless certain conditions are met, a central bank official says. Unless a mature technological standard for biometric identification is established and financial regulations are amended accordingly, the regulator will not allow banks to adopt the practice, Fan Shuangwen, deputy director of the central bank’s payment department, said at a forum on May 24. “The regulator has concerns about rushing to permit remote verification or say that it is safe and effective,” he said. “As for when it might drop those concerns, I don’t know for sure, and it is hard to set a timetable for this.”
China invites private investors to help build $318 billion of projects | Reuters China’s state planning agency on Monday released a list of more than 1,000 proposed projects totalling 1.97 trillion yuan ($317.75 billion) that it is inviting private investors to help fund, build and operate. The National Development and Reform Commission said the 1,043 projects, in sectors such as transport, water conservancy and public services, will be done as public-private partnerships (PPP).
Chinese local governments agree to settle bills after being sued – FT.com Yan Jiehe, founder of the Nanjing-based China Pacific Construction Group, sued six local governments in January for debts totalling more than Rmb900m. But repayment agreements have now been hammered out with four of the debtors according to Mr Yan, who vowed to pursue the other two administrations in Hunan and Shandong provinces, which owe more than Rmb200m, to China’s Supreme People’s Court “if needed”.
Chinese Hedge Funds Bearish on Copper Ring Alarm Bells for Bulls – Bloomberg Business But for some Chinese commodity funds, with holdings that have grown by as much as a third this year to $90 billion, copper looks increasingly like a rally that won’t last. Policy makers in Beijing have cut interest rates three times since November in a bid to reverse a property-led slowdown. As much as half of the copper used in the country is related to housing and real estate, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “If you don’t have good property sales and property consumption, can you find another industry that can replace copper demand?” said Mary Wang, managing director of commodities research at Hangzhou, China-based DH Fund Management Co., which has 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in assets. A weaker property market means demand will fall like it already has for steel, she said.
Why China’s big muni bond market move matters — Medium Calling this a Chinese QE masks the fact that China’s monetary policy has always had a fiscal element that has been quantitative in nature. That’s why the focus is on new CNY lending and China’s self-created Total Social Financing that brings together all the capital market activity happening and creating new lending. Muni bonds are a way of taking it off bank balance sheets, sort of, making it part of TSF and actually creating a proper market for credit risk over time while giving Beijing the leeway to wipe some of it away at its own discretion. There are always multiple goals involved in these big projects that still manage to combine reform with cleaning up for past sins.
As Economy Slows, China Slashes Duties in Bid to Spur Spending – China Real Time Report – WSJ The Ministry of Finance said Monday that it will cut duties by half, on average, on imports including suits, fur garments and shoes beginning June 1. A tariff on cosmetics will fall to 2% from 5%, while a duty on diapers will decline to 2% from 7.5%, according to the ministry. The tax cuts come as China’s government looks for ways to boost spending within its borders.
China’s Central Bank Lowers Borrowing Costs to Help Clean Up Local Debt Mess – Bloomberg Business China’s government needed lower borrowing costs to clean up a local debt mess. The central bank obliged. The three-month Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate has tumbled 194 basis points since March 31, heading for the biggest two-month drop since 2008. That coincides with the government kicking off a municipal bond program and the exchange of regional loans into lower-yielding notes. Jiangsu province and Xinjiang autonomous region both sold three-year debt for less than 3 percent last week, almost matching the sovereign, after the start of issuance was delayed in April.
POLITICS AND LAW
Hostile forces target younger generation – Global Times Eleven Chinese students born in the 1980s or 1990s and studying in the US recently signed an open letter to their counterparts in the mainland. The letter carries their extreme views on the 1989 Tiananmen incident in the tone that used to be adopted by much older pro-democracy activists. It harshly attacked the current Chinese regime, twisting the facts of 26 years ago with narratives of some overseas hostile forces. Generally, even if changes in thought do take place, it’s unlikely for mainland students who study in the US to lash out at their homeland in such an insulting way. The open letter claimed that the post-1980s and post-1990s generations in the mainland have been fooled and they couldn’t get to know the “truth” of the 1989 Tiananmen incident until they moved abroad to study, where they can get unlimited access to the Internet. However, it’s well-known that Internet censorship cannot prevent people acquiring sensitive information from overseas websites // 环球时报：境外势力试图煽动八零后九零后
习近平到舟山考察：干部好不好百姓说了算_网易新闻中心 Xi Jinping inspects Zhoushan in Zhejiang..his 14th visit there // 5月25日中午，习近平总书记到浙江舟山考察调研。一下飞机他就前往城市展示馆，观看反映舟山群岛新区经济社会发展的图片、沙盘、视频短片，并向有关负责同志详细了解情况。远洋捕捞多吗？休渔几个月？从舟山到宁波走跨海大桥用多长时间？渔民生活水平不低吧？外资来得多吗？ 这是习近平第14次到舟山。2002年至2007年在浙江工作期间，他上海岛、下渔村、访渔民，深入调研、科学谋划舟山发展战略。参观中习近平说，舟山这几年发展变化很大，现在的样子已完全认不出了。
中纪委领导层再调整 陈文清不再担任副书记|人事变动|陈文清|中纪委_新浪新闻 Chen Wenqing no longer deputy secretary of CCDI, rumors he is moving to MSS, also rumors that that move may have run into issues…
Leaked Emails Reveal Details of China’s Online ‘Youth Civilization Volunteers’ · Global Voices On May 17, a hacker nicknamed XiaoLan leaked a package of emails revealing details of the recruitment of college students by the Shanghai League of Communist Youth, one of the most significant Chinese Communist Party organizations under the single party regime. The students serve as voluntary online commentators that spread positive energy and “purify” the internet. The existence of the commentators is not a state-secret: the latest round of massive recruitment was revealed in a document issued by the China Communist Youth League back in February which set the target of recruiting no less than 20 percent of its members to serve as “civilization volunteers” by spreading positive energy and acting as models for “good netizens”.
Forgotten Archipelagoes: On the legality of shuanggui The sixth sentence of the oath – 严守党的纪律 – pledges obedience to Party discipline, and shuanggui is a cornerstone of Party discipline. The oath is taken at the end of a somewhat lengthy process in which prospective Party members file a formal application to join the Party, acquire theoretical and practical knowledge of how the Chinese Communist Party is structured, and how it works. Shuanggui is widely discussed on the mainland, and besides prospective Party members are required to understand Party discipline (art. 6 here) therefore it is reasonable to assume that any prospective Party member will know that they may be placed under shuanggui, should they be suspected of corruption. The choice to accept Party discipline in return for the substantial benefits that are often tied to Party membership may well be a choice that Party members have made in more or less full autonomy. The question of what can and does happen during shuanggui, pre-trial detention or arrest is, of course, an entirely different one.
China: Communist Party To Purge Officials Of Faith In ‘Jerusalem Of The East’ – Eurasia Review The latest anti-Christian campaign in the city will see the party probe its own ranks, the state-run Global Times reported, following 18 months in which authorities have removed crosses and destroyed churches across Zhejiang province. “Whoever loses loyalty in the party will be expelled,” it said. “The daily performance of potential members and the possibility that they practice a religion will be examined.” The planned purge follows a visit late last year by the inspection team of the Communist Party’s Central Disciplinary Committee, which reported that “individual party members in some places participate in religious activities and believe religion”. // 中纪委机关报:有干部带头信教
Fei Chang Dao: Hu Xijin, Global Times Editor, Says China Would Be North Korea Without Liu, Ai, and Pu Without those such as Liu, Ai, & Pu, China would be North Korea. Without the forces restraining those people, China would be Egypt, the Ukraine. Without certain external pressures, China might stagnate. Without the state’s ability to restrain and master its political conflicts, China would inevitably fall apart. Complementary forces are molding and pushing China, and if these complementary forces can ultimately follow the example of the last 30 years, then it can only be for the greatest good of China. Some people don’t understand this sort of talk, but this is the logic by which society progresses. // then Hu deleted this and related posts
And the law won | The Economist In the end, however, the lawyers fell victim to their own success. The party became suspicious of their networks, and their rapid deployment at scenes of confrontation with officialdom, such as protests by residents enraged at the bulldozing of their houses by government-backed developers. In 2006 Luo Gan, then China’s security chief, urged that “forceful measures” be used against saboteurs of the system who operate “under the guise of weiquan”. That is when the men on the cover of Asia Weekly, already by then under intense official scrutiny, became China’s most wanted. President Xi is now finishing the job of locking them away.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
CICA non-governmental forum opens, stressing stronger public foundation for regional security – Xinhua The non-governmental forum of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia(CICA) started its first annual session on Monday, calling for public support in promoting regional security cooperation. “Non-governmental power can play an important role in promoting mutual respect and the harmonious existence of different cultures, regions,races and religions,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a congratulatory message to the forum, recalling his proposal of common, comprehensive,cooperative and sustainable security in Asia at the CICA Shanghai summit last year. Xi called for the creation of a people-to-people communication network to pave the way for the spread of the CICA security concept, stronger influence for the CICA and promotion of regional security governance.
Taliban and Afghan Peace Officials Have Secret Talks in China – NYTimes A peace envoy from Afghanistan met in western China last week with former Taliban officials with close ties to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, in an attempt to keep open the possibility of formal Afghan peace talks, officials said Monday. The meeting, hosted by China and, in part, organized by Pakistani officials, took place Wednesday and Thursday in Urumqi
Embassy verifying ‘video of kidnap’ -China Daily The Chinese embassy in Pakistan is attempting to verify reports of a video purporting to show a Chinese kidnapped by Taliban-allied fighters in Pakistan a year ago asking Beijing to help secure his release. Chinese in Pakistan have been told to be on the alert, despite the security situation improving this year. According to the video from a militant known to belong to a Taliban splinter group called Jaish al-Hadeed, or “Contingent of Steel”, the man asks the Chinese government for help, The Associated Press reported.
Qihoo launches new security product – China Daily “Being a Chinese security company offers us an advantage on the market,” Tan said. Qihoo’s clients include China National Petroleum Corp, the People’s Liberation Army and at least eight ministries. The new system, named SkyEye, is the first known made-in-China online security product designed to fight off advanced persistent threats, or APT, using all the data available on its customers’ server and most of the data pool in the country. An overseas provider using similar technology will not get the same security clearance as the SkyEye in government-backed projects, said Tan.
我们的队伍向太阳：新时期中国军队的使命与担当_求是网 ——专访国防大学科研部部长秦天少将
B-1 supersonic bombers coming to the north after all | The Australian Canberra and Washington are in negotiations about who pays what for extensions to the runway at the Tindal air base in the Northern Territory. One of the main purposes of extending the runway at the base, near Katherine, is so that the B-1 bomber can use it.
RIMPAC discussion exposes US prejudices against China – Global Times Certain US congressmen identify China and the Chinese army as a putative foe for their personal ends. They spread the “China threat” theory in order to make more countries feel insecure, which will in turn seek more US protection or purchase more US weapons. In this way they can better boost the defense industry in their own constituencies. In the meantime, some US scholars and media are looking at Beijing with a Cold War mind-set. They are firmly convinced that the rise of China will alter the international order. Against such backdrop, the territorial disputes in the South China Sea provide a perfect excuse for them to provoke conflicts between China and some other claimants, nudging more nations to rush for Washington’s shelter, which in the end, will ensure US dominance in the Asia-Pacific region
Defenses bolstered across Nansei Islands – The Japan News The ministry also aims to make a similar deployment on Amami-Oshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture. A GSDF headquarters is expected to be established on Miyakojima to command the units on Amami-Oshima and elsewhere. Because Chinese naval vessels have passed through the waters between Okinawa’s main island and Miyakojima before, the location is considered a “strategic zone,” according to a senior ministry official. After completing a field survey of potential sites for the headquarters in Miyakojima city, the ministry selected two locations — a pasture and a golf course — as candidates.
TECH AND MEDIA
Smartphone ‘Cold War’ Seen in Asian Moves on Patent Licensing – Bloomberg Business The Chinese and Korean officials are just formalizing what 100 years of legal precedent has done in the U.S. and Europe, and a lot will depend on how the governments implement the rules, antitrust lawyers said. “They’re new to this area and they take it very seriously,” said Jim O’Connell, of Covington & Burling in Washington. “When you do too much, you end up ultimately hurting yourself because you diminish incentives to innovate. That’s a balance that can be tricky to strike. The Chinese agencies are wrestling with it, too.”
A Chinese secret: why mobile publishers are spending big bucks on their own in-app purchases | GamesBeat | Games | by Jeff Grubb “Seeding is a secret in China, and many people don’t know this, and few people would ever present this publicly,” NG said during his lecture. “Seeding is when you launch a game, and you actually buy in-app purchases for it to pump up the revenue of your game. This is good if you don’t want to work with a publisher, or a publisher may do it for you if it has confidence in your game.” NG gave an example where a developer in China decided to avoid working with publishers. Typically, going alone means a game will wither and die because publishers have all the connections with the various distribution channels. But NG’s friend had a plan, and he decided to just release his game on the iOS App Store as well as a single Android app market. And then he “seeded” the game on each by spending around 5 million Chinese yuan (around $800,000) on microtransactions in his own game. That artificial influx of cash helped the game zoom to the top of the highest-grossing app charts. When the other distribution channels saw this, they all started chasing after the new game to get it on their stores as well.
人民网评：为青少年打造健康绿色网络空间–观点–人民网 为营造有利于青少年健康成长的网络环境，提高青少年网络安全意识，国家互联网信息办公室决定于5月20日至6月7日在全国范围内开展“护苗2015·网上行动”。在“六一”国际儿童节到来之际，开展以少年儿童为主要用户的重点网站、重点应用和重点环节的集中治理，不仅可以进一步净化网络空间，更给孩子们送上了最好的节日礼物。
贾跃亭套现百亿引踩踏 乐视网开盘大跌股市一财网 LeTV CEO sells 10B RMB worth of shares, stock craters…
央视曝光京东涉嫌售卖翻新iPhone 供应商系联通子公司|京东|翻新|iphone_新浪财经_新浪网 “当时该产品的供应商是中国联通(9.14, 0.12, 1.33%)全资子公司联通华盛，是苹果授权国代经销商。我们愿意与相关部门配合，彻底调查此事，找出真正的问题环节。”京东方面补充道。//CCTV attacks JD.con for selling refurbished iPhones as new ones
NSA Planned to Hijack Google App Store to Hack Smartphones – The Intercept Another major outcome of the secret workshops was the agencies’ discovery of privacy vulnerabilities in UC Browser, a popular app used to browse the Internet across Asia, particularly in China and India. Though UC Browser is not well-known in Western countries, its massive Asian user base, a reported half billion people, means it is one of the most popular mobile Internet browsers in the world. According to the top-secret document, the agencies discovered that the UC Browser app was leaking a gold mine of identifying information about its users’ phones. Some of the leaking information apparently helped the agencies uncover a communication channel linked to a foreign military unit believed to be plotting “covert activities” in Western countries. The discovery was celebrated by the spies as an “opportunity where potentially none may have existed before.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Rest home inferno kills 38 in central – China Daily Thirty-eight people were killed and six others injured in a fire at a rest home in Central China’s Henan province on Monday, local authorities said Tuesday. The inferno at the privately-owned Kangleyuan Rest Home in Lushan county, Pingdingshan city started at 7:33 pm, according to a statement issued by the provincial publicity office on Tuesday morning.
人民网评：户籍岂是生命价值“分割线”–观点–人民网 近日，河南小伙王超杰与东北小伙搭救落水工友不幸遇难。施工方律师称，王超杰是农村户口，只能赔偿19万多；那名东北工人是城市户口，可以赔偿40多万。尽管王超杰事件有了最新进展，工程的最终承包人冯氏彩钢承诺赔偿王超杰家50万元，但事件留下来“同命不同价”的制度反思，却依然发人深省。 透过这一事件，我们看到，带有计划经济色彩的户籍制度，依然是条生命价值的“分割线”。上学、治病、养老，城乡有别，甚至衡量生命的价值，城乡亦有倍差。可以想象，在谈论儿子赔偿事宜时，一句“你儿子是农村的”，扎得王父有多深多痛。皆是见义勇为，却遭遇“同命不同价”的尴尬，如此不合理状况如果不从制度上去改变，未来还有多少个体命运和家庭悲欢将被深深刺伤？
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
Scientists Make Novel Attempt to Save Giant Turtle Species – NYTimes Even if it’s guesswork, artificial insemination may be the only chance to save the species. Two other male Yangtze giant softshell turtles are believed to be in Vietnam — one in Hoan Kiem Lake, in the center of Hanoi. But those animals “are pretty much off limits for any non-Vietnamese,” Dr. Kuchling said, and so a collaborative breeding program seems unlikely.
Heard in the Hutong: How Chinese Feel About Health Care Reform – China Real Time Report – WSJ In China’s health care system, as elsewhere in the world, frustrations abound – but authorities pledge that help is on the way. On Sunday, China’s Cabinet announced a plan to reform several aspects of the health care system. They include the problem of profit-seeking at public hospitals, which often rely on drug sales to boost their income, as well as ballooning costs for consumers. Under the new proposal, authorities would bring down medical spending by individuals to less than 30% of all health care spending in the country. But will they succeed? China Real Time hit the streets to find out about the health care experiences and opinions of Beijing residents.
EDUCATION
中国大国崛起的经济、历史、国际研究分析-学堂在线慕课(MOOC)平台 This course will answer the above questions by investigating three different aspects of China’s economy and culture. The first part of the course focuses on China’s world view and discusses what makes China unique and more intriguing than other “Number twos” in world history. It also addresses the challenges China is currently facing, and how China’s world view may help the country overcome these issues. The second part of the course reviews China’s development over the past 100 years from a historical perspective. It examines the major political issues that China is engaged in, and whether there are any self-corrective mechanisms in China’s political system. In addition, the Paradox of the Stratification of the Ruling Party is also discussed. The last part of this course addresses China’s foreign policy. It explores the history of China’s foreign policy and discusses how China’s diplomacy has evolved as the international political environment has changed. In addition, the factors determining China’s currently foreign policy are also examined.
BEIJING
“京A”政商网：揭秘宋建国和郭文贵的隐秘关系_网易财经 在宋建国及其子和秘书相继被查之后，一个主要围绕“京A”机动车牌的盘根错节甚至带有传奇色彩的故事，随着宋建国涉嫌受贿案进入司法程序逐渐揭盅而出。 在北京等城市，机动车号牌，属于稀缺资源。尤其是党政机关普遍使用而未纳入摇号池中的京A车牌更具有某种身份的象征。宋建国正是利用手中权力，通过对这一稀缺资源把控，建立了一个特殊的灰色政商关系网。这个网络中，不仅有北京知名的汽车租赁公司新月联合，也有多家房地产开发商，其中最惹人眼球的便是北京盘古氏投资有限公司的负责人郭文贵。 随着宋建国及其家人、下属、多位警员、号牌交易中间人涉嫌犯罪的系列案件陆续进入司法程序，使一直保持神秘的“京A”号段车牌审批制度“潜规则”露出冰山一角。// on the trial of former Beijing traffic police head Song Jianguo, and his dirty dealings and liberal granting of coveted “京A” license plates
Residents of Beijing Community Renew Protest against Waste Incineration Plant – Caixin Locals voiced their opposition to a facility in Asuwei area back in 2009, and news that building plans were moving forward spurred them to demonstrate again
北京6娱乐场所涉黄涉赌被令停业整顿特别报道新京报网 北京警方昨日通报，西城区塞纳河俱乐部、海淀区紫御国际俱乐部等6家娱乐场所因存在涉黄、涉赌违法行为被责令停业整顿。据悉，专项行动以来已发现存在问题场所261家。记者昨日探访涉事俱乐部，多数称关门因“装修”。
JOBS AND EVENTS
Yale Center Beijing – Dialog on Global Affairs “China’s evolving foreign policy and U.S.-China relations” – 2015年6月11日 星期四 07:00 至 20:30 Paul Haenle has served as the founding director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Beijing office, known as the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center (CTC), since 2010.-June 11, 7PM
If you like Sinocism please spread the word using this link.
Follow me on Twitter @niubi for updates between newsletters
Send comments/tips/complaints to bill@sinocism.com
And if you really like Sinocism, feel free to donate some money, with Bitcoin or a credit card. Thanks.