"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Have you ever wanted to pet a Phoenix?
I had never considered it, but thanks to Edward Snowden now I am intrigued.
Snowden took questions Monday via a live chat held by The Guardian and in response to Spencer Ackerman’s question “Edward, there is rampant speculation, outpacing facts, that you have or will provide classified US information to the Chinese or other governments in exchange for asylum. Have/will you?”, Snowden replied:
This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public, as the US media has a knee-jerk “RED CHINA!” reaction to anything involving HK or the PRC, and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct. Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn’t I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.
My Monday Dealbook column, written before his chat, looks at Snowden in China, as well as a push for cleaner air:
The official People’s Daily on Monday published a commentary on Mr. Snowden’s leaks under a pseudonym frequently used to express the paper’s foreign policy views. The author wrote that Mr. Snowden had helped to expose American hypocrisy and that America’s “exceptionalism is an impediment to the transformation of international relations.”
The effect on American business in China from Mr. Snowden’s actions are unclear. Over the years, there have been occasional discussions in Chinese media about the risks to national security from a reliance on United States software, networking and telecommunications hardware.
Just as Huawei is now effectively blocked from selling its networking equipment in the United States, we should not be surprised to see more aggressive moves from Beijing to shut out American firms like Cisco Systems, which one Chinese news report on Monday noted had significant market share in core parts of Chinese networks.
Mr. Snowden’s disclosures may also explain why certain parts of the United States government have been so concerned about Huawei; they fear the Chinese government could use Huawei to do what the N.S.A. already does. Protests from Washington will be much harder to take seriously now if American technology firms start getting “Huawei’d” in Beijing on national security grounds.
Accusations that Mr. Snowden may be a Chinese spy are beginning in Washington. The former Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News that Mr. Snowden was a traitor and possibly a spy. Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, told MSNBC that he suspected Mr. Snowden could be “in cahoots with the Chinese government” because, among other reasons, he studied Chinese. This is clearly a serious case, but we should hope it does not lead to “Red Scare 2.0” on Capitol Hill.
To Washington, Mr. Snowden may be an enemy of the state, and to civil libertarians, he may be a hero. To Beijing, he is at least a significant propaganda prize, if not much more.
A palace is too expensive given Beijing real estate prices, but now I really want a Phoenix to pet. Phoenix petting though may be even more dangerous than Panda hugging, which is already uncomfortable given their Brillo-like fur.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Beijing Tightens Presale Rules as Home Prices Rise Under Curbs – Bloomberg The city will require non-residential projects and residential developments bigger than an average 140 square meters (1,506 square feet) to meet requirements on construction progress before applying for presale permits, the local housing bureau said June 14. The move follows a June 6 rule ordering presale proceeds to be managed by banks and paid to developers gradually as construction progresses…The new measures, which will increase builders’ funding needs before sales begin and restrict their flexibility in using the presale proceeds, “are putting pressure on developers to accelerate new market supplies,” Hu Jinghui, a vice president of Bacic & 5i5j Group, the city’s second-biggest property broker, said in a statement yesterday. The city “aims to increase developers’ risk factors and interfere with their expectations for higher home prices.”
Related: Beijing Housing Vacancy Rate at 28.9%: Survey -Caijing A survey did by the Beijing Police last year showed the city has 13.2 million units of houses, of which 3.8 million are confirmed vacant, putting its housing vacancy rate at 28.9%, leaving the public in shock and disbelief. A house is “vacant”, defined in the survey, if no one lives in it for at least half a year, according to a staff who conducted the survey explained.
Related: 人民日报：经求证北京6千房主每人300套房系误读|人民日报|住房|误读_新浪财经_新浪网 People’ s Daily investigates the rumor that “6,000 people have 300 or more flats each in Beijing”. talks to the VC who started the rumor who now claims he was misunderstood, said he was referring to real estate rental brokers who control supply, not individuals…was out with some real estate professionals last night, including an SOE executive with oversight of a large swathe of its real estate operations, no one believed this 6000/300 rumor, but all thought the 28.9% empty flat number is plausible // 对传闻中的“300套”说法，查立承认，该说法的确容易造成理解偏差。由于租出的房屋常被隔成单间分租，他的本意是中介手头有300间房，而非300套。为此，他专门在自己的新浪实名认证微博上发文解释，“(我)说过‘北京有几千个手里有300间房的中介业主’，为防误读，特此解释：一套120平方米的公寓，按30平方米/间分割出租，就是4套(间)房！”
Making Rural China Urban | The China Story Chinese urban planners and policy makers approach chengzhenhua by considering towns and villages as potential sites of transformation. To understand the process by which a rural entity becomes an urban one, we need to consider the institutional reforms that have facilitated this process of transformation. In the discussion below, the Chinese term chengzhenhua will be used to refer to the new policy as the English translation ‘urbanisation’ is misleading for two reasons. First, ‘urbanisation’ is already being used to translate dushihua 都市化, from which the new policy is intended to mark a departure. Secondly, ‘urbanisation’ evokes the image of an expansion of existing urban cores. As such, it forecloses possibilities of imagining the rural as a potentially urban site.
Related: From sand to skyscrapers: Inside China’s newest city as 400 million move to towns – Telegraph China is racing to move millions of people out of the countryside, and to accommodate them is constructing new cities on an unprecedented scale. Tom Phillips reports from northwest China on how one such city, Lanzhou Xinqu, is being built from scratch for 500,000 residents – putting British new towns of the 1950s like Milton Keynes into the shade.
Humiliating defeat leads to more agonizing on China’s national football team | Danwei Today is a baneful, humorless day for some of the newspapers that ran front page headlines on another humiliating defeat of 5-1 at home on Saturday for China’s football team against an under-strength team of youngsters from tiny Thailand. There’s hopeless despair, frantic questioning and anger at this latest flub, China’s third loss in a row. Although Chinese fans are quite used to China losing at football, the way the team capitulated against Thailand was (as the Oriental Guardian from Nanjing puts it today) “like a dagger deep into the heart of every Chinese football fan” (像一把尖刀深深地刺痛每一个球迷的心).
Related: China players accused of corruption after heavy defeat against Thailand | South China Morning Post Mainland media highlighted the fact that bookmakers at Macauslot – an online gambling portal based in Macau – stopped taking bets on the match just one minute before Thailand scored their first goal, citing technical reasons as the excuse. Bookmakers would have lost a fortune had they not stopped taking bets. The odds stood at 600 to 1 for China to lose by four goals or more. The online gambling company could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Shanghai booster Fang Xinghai lands Beijing financial advisory role | South China Morning Post Fang Xinghai, former head of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, who once famously downplayed Hong Kong’s importance as a financial hub, has been named a senior official at the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, sources close to the leadership said…Fang, who obtained his PhD in economics from Stanford University, took the helm of the Shanghai Financial Services Office in 2007 and has been deputy general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Myanmar’s old friend China is left wondering where it went wrong – FT.com As President Thein Sein gave the opening address to the forum, the word in the halls of the Chinese-built convention centre was that he personally despises Beijing’s influence over its smaller, poorer neighbour. And on the second day of the forum news broke that state telecom giant China Mobile had dropped a joint bid with Vodafone to expand the country’s mobile phone network – apparently after being told the Chinese company had no hope of winning. In Beijing and Naypyidaw there is recognition that China handled the bilateral relationship badly thanks to a toxic mix of arrogance, neglect and meddling by elements of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
China PBOC-Backed Paper Says No Relief For Interbank Market | MNI China’s monetary authorities are unwilling to take meaningful action to inject funding into the interbank market because the current liquidity shortage is a structural problem and any banks in difficulty have only themselves to blame, a Financial News report suggested Monday. The central-bank-backed newspaper cited several unidentified sources as saying that the PBOC is refusing to step in and bring relief to the market, and specifically those banks that have bypassed regulatory caps on lending and fallen into difficulty as liquidity conditions tighten. “These banks are highly reliant on interbank borrowing to adjust their positions. They can manage their operations when capital inflows are high and regulators haven’t tightened policy against non-bank financing… but when liquidity tightens because of sharply declining inflows, their liquidity becomes very tight,” it said.
Related: Chinese Banks Pressure PBOC to Ease Cash Crunch – WSJ.com and M2 growth still far above 2013 official target // Traders and economists cite a sudden reduction in foreign capital inflows— the result of China’s recent crackdown on speculative money flows and of a slowing economy—as one of the main reasons for the ongoing cash squeeze. That is because companies aren’t converting as much foreign currency into China’s currency, the yuan, resulting in less yuan funds flowing into the economy. Adding to the shortage of funds is additional demand for cash so that banks can meet the obligations of repaying investors who hold some high-yielding investment products sold by banks, known as wealth-management products.
Related: China’s interbank rate back to normal level – Xinhua China’s borrowing costs between banks plummeted on Monday, returning to normal levels after rising to about 9 percent last week. The Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate overnight dropped 215.50 base points to 4.81 percent, suggesting eased cash flow among China’s financial institutions.
Jerome Cohen on Chen Guangcheng: ‘You Shouldn’t Bite the Hand That Feeds You’ | FP Passport What concerns me here is that the New York Post, or something that Congressman Christopher Smith says, or NYU faculty opposed to [NYU President John] Sexton who don’t have anything to do with China, or Chen’s statement, no one has given one fact [to show that] Chen has been restricted or not done much at NYU. It’s all nonsense! You shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds you. NYU has been extraordinarily generous to the Chens, and I’ve been grateful for the support. // Second time Chen has chewed on a helpful American hand, remember the embassy fiasco last year. Beijing must be enjoying this, another dissident crashing and burning overseas…
Related: Chen Guangcheng courted by US institutions with opposing views – FT.com Jerome Cohen, the NYU law professor who helped negotiate Mr Chen’s passage to the US, said it was important that he was not co-opted by the pro-life cause. “If he takes the Witherspoon position that would diminish his stature in the US,” he said. Mr Chen opposed forced abortions but believed in a woman’s right to choose, he said. “There are groups in the US who have tried to blur that line.”// How much of this is Bob Fu’s doing?
刘志军“合伙人”-财经网 New Caijing cover story on Liu Zhijun case // 官员贪腐近年正由权钱交易逐渐转为非物质化贿赂，使法律难于认定罪责。反思刘志军与丁书苗的合作模式与罪控审判，正可为后来者鉴
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
China’s Stock Futures Rise as Sovereign Fund Raises Bank Stakes – Bloomberg Futures on the CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) expiring in June added 0.3 percent to 2,401.60 as of 9:20 a.m. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. may lead banks higher after Central Huijin Investment Ltd., a unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund, increased its stakes in the biggest lender last week.
CBRC Orders Review of Promissory Note Business – Caixin The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has ordered rural commercial banks and credit cooperatives to examine the promissory bank note business they did before May. The order came as the banking regulator seeks to control risks associated with the rapidly increasing amount of notes. In the first quarter, the amount of undiscounted notes totaled more than 670 billion yuan, up 189 percent from the same period of last year, data from the central bank shows. That is because some financial institutions have been taking advantage of promissory note regulation to hide loans, a senior official of CBRC said.
Tales from a Shanghai job fair: Why China’s college grads, employers mismatched | Marketplace.org picky, unrealistic expectations, never been in a downturn..shocks coming for some of these kids. Expectations have grown too fast, government faces expectations gaps in many areas // Hundreds of HR managers carefully eye prospective employees who, resumes in hand, crowd the floor at a Shanghai job fair. Here’s the problem: neither group is interested in each other.
China Govt Advisors Warn Corruption Deters Private Investors | MNI “The private sector will find a place to grow and that place won’t necessarily be China — people are learning to invest globally so China doesn’t have much time left,” Fan Jianping, an economist with the State Information Center, told a conference at the weekend. Fan said investment returns are falling in the manufacturing sector but corruption costs haven’t adjusted, making it unprofitable for private investors to invest.
Yuan Gains Most in 3 Weeks as Central Bank Sets Record Fixing – Bloomberg The currency gained 0.07 percent, the most since May 27, to 6.1267 per dollar at 11:04 a.m. in Shanghai, according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices. The central bank will not intentionally depreciate the yuan to boost competitiveness, People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan was cited as saying by China Central Television this month.
Local Exaggeration Rampant in China-Caijing A check of industrial profits from 71 firms in Henglan, Guangzhou city, found the data was falsely inflated by 6.29 billion yuan ($1.02 billion) in 2012, almost three times of the real figure of 2.22 billion
Smithfield Is Pressed to Break Itself Up – WSJ.com In the letter, Starboard argues that Smithfield would be worth more if it were broken up into three parts—U.S. pork production, hog farming and international sales of fresh and packaged meats—and then sold. Starboard says a broken-up Smithfield could be worth $44 to $55 per share, compared with the $34-per-share price offered by Shuanghui. The offer, including debt, values Smithfield at $7.1 billion.
Don’t be led astray by foreign investment banks – BUSINESS – Globaltimes.cn As a growing number of foreign investment banks lower their outlooks for China’s economy and several of its industries, local investors should look carefully at the intentions behind these downgrades before blindly using them to direct their own investment moves.–The author is an associate research fellow with the World Economy Institute at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
Fisker’s China (dis)connections | Reuters Fisker’s suitor search began in earnest last August when Joseph Chao was named the head of operations in China, the world’s biggest auto market. One of his main tasks was to lead the search there for new strategic investors – and a potential buyer. Chinese companies had begun buying up the troubled assets of Western automakers to expand their presence on the global stage and gain access to more advanced technology
外交部：王毅外长公务用车今起使用国产红旗轿车_财经频道_一财网 Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s new official ride is Red Flag. Audi nervous? If Xi Jinping starts riding around in a Red Flag expect demand among officials all over to soar
China Economic Watch | Why China Does Not Need to Worry About Japanese QE The net result of Japanese QE could in fact be positive for China. Japan is the third largest consumer of Chinese exports after the United States and the EU and recent weakness has impacted China’s overall export profile. Chinese exports to Japan fell by an average of 8.8 percent since the beginning of 2012. If monetary easing were to restore demand in Japan, this could stabilize China’s weakening export growth
Fidelity’s Anthony Bolton to Stop Managing China Fund – Bloomberg coming to China can be bad for one’s career (as I look in the mirror..) though at least Bolton rich enough it is only an ego and reputational issue…// Over 28 years running the U.K.-focused Fidelity Special Situations fund, Bolton delivered average annual returns of 19.5 percent, transforming a 10,000 pound ($15,720) investment in 1979 into 1.49 million pounds in 2007, according to Morningstar Inc. After coming out of retirement to start China Special Situations in April 2010, the fund has lost about 15 percent, matching the MSCI China Index’s decline in British pound terms.
Jiaxing-Shaoxing Sea Bridge completed – Xinhua a bridge to somewhere // Photo taken on June 17, 2013 shows the Jiaxing-Shaoxing Sea Bridge in Shaoxing, east China’s Zhejiang Province. The bridge was completed on June 17 and is expected to be open to traffic by the end of June. With a span of 10 kilometers over the Hangzhou Bay, it is the world’s longest and widest multi-pylon cable-stayed bridge.
POLITICS AND LAW
True or Faked, Dirt on Chinese Fuels Blackmail – NYTimes.com Now, in addition to looking over their shoulders for antigraft inspectors, civil servants must contend with blackmailers armed with honey traps, video cameras or worse: Photoshop. Here in Shuangfeng, a rural county in Hunan Province, the authorities have arrested dozens of blackmailers, some of whom have used officials’ actual transgressions to demand payments and some of whom have simply used electronic manipulation to make misdeeds up.
八项规定已深入人心–时政–人民网 page 1 People’s daily on the success of Xi’s 8 rules…// 厉行勤俭节约、改进调查研究改观最大, 细化标准、制度建设成为最受关注话题
Communist Youth League convenes national congress – Xinhua The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), a 91-year-old mass youth organization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), opened its 17th national congress on Monday. On behalf of the league’s current 89 million members, more than 1,500 CYLC delegates from across the country attended the opening session of the five-yearly congress in the Great Hall of the People. All seven members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee — Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli — also attended the ceremony.
新华调查:三问“临时工” 为什么“惹事”的总是他们? – 地方联播 – 新华网 In the wake of the Cheng’guan head stomping incident, Xinhua asks why it is always “temporary workers” who are responsible for problems?
武汉公布城管摆摊“卧底”日记：小贩不易做_新闻_腾讯网 Wuhan sent two Cheng’guan undercover to get a better understanding of the life of street peddlers? so say officials, lots of skepticism online
倪发科案进展:六安副市长被查 一涉案官员身亡_网易新闻中心 Ni Fake case getting more interesting, one suspect official died recently // 安徽省原副省长倪发科涉嫌违纪案的调查又有最新进展。倪发科原任职地安徽六安市的一名副市长及当地数名商人最近被纪检部门带走调查。此外，六安霍邱县政府办副主任、县安监局党组书记张某也于近日异常身亡。倪发科案有可能成为震动安徽官场的一宗窝案。
研究称六成落马贪官带病提拔 中纪委正研究对策_新闻_腾讯网 安徽省原副省长倪发科涉嫌严重违纪被组织调查，云南省楚雄市市长赵万祥因涉嫌受贿被批捕……梳理近期接连“落马”的官员，一个尖锐的共性问题再次进入舆论视野——怎么又是一名“带病提拔”的官？
国家档案局回应副司长包养女性:当事人已辞职|司长|包养|辞职_新浪新闻国家档案局政策法规司司长、新闻发言人郭嗣平17日接受新华社“中国网事”记者电话核实时表示，该司副司长范某目前已辞职，单位已就相关情况进行了处理。郭表示，网络实名举报的女当事人所述并非完全属实，但范某也的确有问题。新华
江苏北京等多地劳教所转型为强制戒毒所_网易新闻中心 Reform through education camps being transitioned into drug rehabilitation centers? // 改变的不止朝阳市劳教所一家。此前几天，吉林省长春市朝阳沟劳教所举行了“二次挂牌”仪式，以前的劳教所又加上了长春市朝阳沟强制隔离戒毒所的牌子。吉林省司法厅劳教局局长关爱民出席了揭牌仪式，他讲话称，要落实各项监管规章制度，确保劳教制度转型期工作顺利进行。
群众路线是“执政生命线”（人民观点）–观点–人民网 越是在经济发展关键期、社会转型深水区，越需要唤起对人民群众的赤子之心，越需要坚守群众路线这条“执政生命线” .“照镜子、正衣冠、洗洗澡、治治病”，一场自上而下的党的群众路线教育实践活动，即将在全党拉开帷幕。新形势下，作为“中国号”巨轮的掌舵者，执政党再次亮出群众路线法宝，重申、重叙、重塑党群干群之间的舟水之喻、鱼水之谊、血肉之情，用意深远，意味深长。
纪委退卡大限将至 卖高尔夫会籍官员明显增多|纪委|会员卡|反腐_新浪财经_新浪网 deadline for turning in membership cards looming…// 就整体“退卡”进度而言，各省份和多个部委已经做了专项部署，其震慑作用亦不断显现。但从接受本报记者采访的多名纪检系统和高消费场所人士透露的信息来看，会员卡能否做到应退尽退还存在一些监管难点，比如不记名卡的身份如何认定、自查自纠“无人退卡”之后如何加强核查。
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China asks U.S. to explain Internet surveillance | Reuters “We believe the United States should pay attention to the international community’s concerns and demands and give the international community the necessary explanation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily briefing.The Chinese government has previously not commented directly on the case, simply repeating the government’s standard line that China is one of the world’s biggest victims of hacking attacks. A senior source with ties to the Communist Party leadership said Beijing was reluctant to jeopardize recently improved ties with Washington. // letting Hong Kong legal system run its course shouldn’t jeopardize US-Beijing ties.
Cheney hint Snowden is a Chinese spy ‘sheer nonsense’, says China | South China Morning Post China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday denied Edward Snowden was a Chinese spy and said the United States should give the world an explanation regarding its international internet surveillance programme. In its first official response to the recent exposure of the US National Security Agency’s internet surveillance programme by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the US should pay attention to concerns of the international community on the issue.
Bob Schieffer Rips Edward Snowden – Business Insider Schieffer said Snowden shouldn’t be mentioned in the same conversation as other heroes who have exposed government wrongdoings. “For one thing, I don’t remember Martin Luther King, Jr., or Rosa Parks running off and hiding in China. The people who ran the civil-rights movement were willing to break the law and suffer the consequences,” Schieffer said during a monologue on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
应对棱镜事件 专家：中国应尽快建立网络战部队_军事_中国网_权威防务资讯 NDU professor writes that in wake of Snowden’s revelations China needs to set up a cyber army too
The Big Interview: Are We in a Cyber War With China? – China Real Time Report – WSJ Is the U.S. engaged in a cyber war with China? In an excerpt from the Big Interview, Army Vice Chief of Staff John Campbell outlines the cybersecurity threat and the steps needed to give the U.S. an advantage.
环球时报：引渡斯诺登会让香港内地都失分|香港|斯诺登|引渡_新浪新闻 中央政府不表态，香港特区政府表态模糊，这样的分寸把握是恰当的。现在应当让舆论引导这件事情的处理。因为舆论的方向符合中国国家利益和香港特区的利益，政府在含糊表态的同时，完全没必要同社会的意愿反着来。 至于美国有议员凭空抹黑北京，暗示“斯诺登可能正在与中国政府合作”，我们根本没必要受其影响。美国议员历来嘴大，中国岂能被他们指挥
A New Type of Major-Power Relationship: Seeking a Durable Foundation for U.S.-China Ties–David Lampton This essay considers recent calls for a new major-power relationship between the United States and China and examines concrete steps that both countries could take to pursue such a relationship.
China may soon peddle discount drones to the developing world – Quartz China could become a drones “proliferator” to developing countries, according to a report (PDF) released on June 13 by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.”Chinese companies appear to be positioning themselves to become key suppliers of UAVs in the global market…Chinese UAVs are likely to be attractive to developing countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, particularly given their price points,” the report concludes.
North Korean official to hold talks in China; analysts skeptical | Reuters Some analysts said Kim’s meetings in China would be a way for North Korea to lower tensions without giving in to demands to abandon its nuclear weapons. “North Korea has been under a lot of pressure, and they don’t want to continue to be provocative like in the past six months,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University. “They are seeking a route of retreat, but also rejecting denuclearization promises by rejecting the six-party talks.”
非京籍本科毕业生入伍退役后可获北京户口|本科生|入伍|户口_新浪新闻 Beijing hukou to be granted after service for non-resident Beijing college students who enlist in the military, if hired by Beijing work units/organizations// 在北京高校的非京籍本科应届毕业生，如果希望参军，既可以选择回到户籍所在地入伍，也可以选择从所属高校的地区武装部入伍，如从北京地区的高校入伍，退役后被本市用人单位接收，则可以获得北京市户口。据介绍，这里所指的用人单位既包括国企、事业单位，也包括私营企业，只要是在北京注册的单位即可。即使这些单位没有户口指标，通过该政策，该退伍战士也可以获得北京户口。
Beijing begins military recruitment of college students – Xinhua | English.news.cn More than 1,000 representatives from over 30 universities in Beijing on Monday joined in a ceremony held to mark the start of the military recruitment of college students. Brochures introducing recruitment polices were distributed and students’ questions about the policy were answered in the event, which was jointly organized by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and the Ministry of Education.
The Chinese scramble into Greenland is overhyped | Jonas Parello-Plesner – China Dialogue Talk of thousands of Chinese workers on the ground in Greenland masks the reality of a country still coming to terms with its potential mining wealth
Manned sub Jiaolong completes deep-sea dive – Xinhua The Jiaolong manned deep-sea submersible on Monday completed a deep-sea dive in the South China Sea as part of an ongoing mission. The Jiaolong was unloaded from the Xiangyanghong 09 oceanographic vessel and began its dive around 10 a.m., returning to the vessel around 4:30 p.m. The submersible and its crew of three dove to a depth of about 1,400 meters during the dive.
The Dragon Extends its Reach: Chinese Military Power Goes Global: Larry M. Wortzel: Amazon.com Advances in technology and the development of indigenous weapons platforms in China, combined with reactions to modern conflicts, have produced a military force very different from that which China has fielded in the past. Wortzel presents a clear and sobering picture of the PLA’s modernization effort as it expands into space and cyberspace, and as it integrates operations in the traditional domains of war
In New Book, Former US Army Officer Warns of Romancing China | Defense News | defensenews.com The ups-and-downs of US-China military relations, the history of China’s military modernization effort, and Wortzel’s frustration with American academia’s continuing efforts to downplay China’s military capabilities as nothing more than a “nuisance,” are all illustrated in his new book, “The Dragon Extends its Reach: Chinese Military Power Goes Global.” Defense News was given an advanced copy of the manuscript prior to publication.
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TECH AND MEDIA
Gady Epstein on China and the Internet | FiveBooks | Five Books Down the road there could be some crisis or catastrophe or economic crash, that will lead to both social unrest and political uncertainty and quite dicey times for the Communist Party. I just think the Internet is not hastening that day. It may actually be delaying that day of reckoning. There is quite a strong potential for a political transformation. How that takes place, what form it takes, really remains unclear to me. I do think a multi-party system or a system where people can vote and actually participate in choosing their leaders is inherently more stable long-term. So that would seem to suggest that eventually one party rule won’t work. But it could be decades before we come to that day of reckoning. Or it could be a shorter time
Supercomputing for Everyone – NYTimes.com The new computer, called a Tianhe-2, or Milkyway-2, was built at the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, China. At its peak, it can perform at a speed of nearly 55 petaflops – with a petaflop akin to one thousand trillion instructions per second. The previous record-holder, announced last November, had a peak performance of 27.1 petaflops. Five years ago, a single petaflop machine was record-breaking.
Tianhe-2 ranked as the world’s fastest computing system – Xinhua Intel Inside // Photo taken on June 16, 2013 shows the supercomputer Tianhe-2 developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology. The supercomputer Tianhe-2, capable of operating as fast as 33.86 petaflops per second, was ranked on Monday as the world’s fastest computing system, according to TOP500, a project ranking the 500 most powerful computer systems in the world.
Huxiu.me — Kaifu Lee on what Tech companies should do to make things work in China Chinese market, a parallel space–What makes Chinese market particularly special to American companies? Here are Lee Kaifu’s analyses:
Coolpad becomes top 3G handset vendor in China China-based handset vendor Coolpad has reportedly become the number-one local brand in China’s 3G handset market, overtaking Lenovo due to sales of its 4-inch smartphones, according to industry supply chain sources. Coolpad’s success has largely come from CNY$1,000 (US$163) 4-inch smartphones that have high-end features but are priced low enough to tackle entry-level and midrange segment, the sources said.
余额宝背后：支付宝为何愿做“赔本”买卖？_财经频道_一财网 近 日，支付宝个人账户信息的下方，突然出现了一个名叫“余额宝”的功能。这是支付宝推出的余额增值服务——客户将账户中的余额转入余额宝之后，这里面的资金将用于购买货币基金。目前，天弘基金是余额宝唯一的货币基金提供商，他们为此定制了一只名为增利宝的货币市场基金。昨日，支付宝和天弘基金联合就此事召开新闻发布会，宣布天弘增利宝正式上线。
Action star Jackie Chan | Q with Jian Ghomeshi | CBC Radio Says he has never heard of Ai Weiwei..guess he does not read western media? // Jackie Chan became a global phenomenon with his breakout hit, Rumble in the Bronx. In this extended version of the interview, he talks to Jian about his struggles in Hollywood, why he wants to be taken more seriously as an actor, making films for the Chinese market, and why he thinks China is unfairly singled out for criticism for its human rights record.
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Govt bans private adoptions of abandoned infants |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Individuals and groups are banned from secretly adopting abandoned infants, a joint circular from multiple Chinese government departments has outlined. The circular, with specific instructions on transferring, settling and treating abandoned infants, requires local residential committees and police organs to be immediately told if such a child is found, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, one of seven ministerial departments issuing the document.
Zhang Yaxin: Photographing Chairman Mao’s Model Operas – LightBox In 1967, Zhang Yaxin was 34 and working as a photojournalist at China’s state-controlled Xinhua News Agency when he was assigned to a top-secret government project. He was to be the official photographer of a new arts program led by Chairman Mao and his wife – the Model Operas. Though he was not to know it then, Zhang would spend the next seven years documenting the evolution of one of the most dramatic and elaborate attempts to redefine artistic sensibilities in modern art history.
洛阳大叔在美国名校前摆摊 1天赚800美元(图)_新闻_腾讯网 man from Luoyang supposedly making $800 a day with a food cart in New York City
Do Quotas in China’s College Admissions System Reinforce Existing Inequalities? | ChinaFile While it may seem counterintuitive, competition for spots at China’s top universities is less fierce in populous cities like Beijing and Shanghai than in China’s more rural provinces. This is because universities located in Beijing will reserve more spots for students with Beijing hukou, and thus the lowest qualifying score for a Beijing-based test-taker may be vastly lower than the score required from a student taking the examination in Henan or Jiangsu.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH
China Emission Trading Experiment Unlikely to Ease Cities’ Smog – Bloomberg Seven pilot carbon-trading programs are scheduled to start this year, with the first opening today in Shenzhen, followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hubei. They are set to regulate 800 million to 1 billion tons of emissions by 2015 in the world’s biggest cap-and-trade program after Europe’s, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
China Smog Measures Seen as Most Aggressive Yet by Deutsche Bank – Bloomberg The 10 measures, which include stricter controls on coal-burning emissions and road traffic, will push up the cost of burning the fuel, push energy consumers to use cleaner energy sources and result in more public-transport use, Ma Jun, Deutsche Bank’s chief economist for Greater China in Hong Kong, wrote in a note today. “It is the most aggressive policy effort to address air quality issues in China’s history,” Ma said. “We believe these measures represent the beginning, rather than the full package, of China’s anti-air pollution campaign.”
Deutsche Bank–Big bang measures to fight air pollution (2nd Edition)–PDF
我国1/6耕地重金属污染 欲修复恐花数万亿 – 新华时政 – 新华网 近期镉大米事件，让人们将目光聚焦耕地重金属污染。数据显示，我国受重金属污染的耕地面积已达2000万公顷，占全国总耕地面积的1/6，防治形势十分严峻，并且还呈现不断加剧的趋势。据估算，如果对这些耕地进行修复，需求资金将要数万亿元。再加上我国目前土壤污染底数不清、土壤修复相关法律和标准缺失，我国耕地重金属污染修复任重道远。
内蒙古查获熊掌走私案 5轮胎藏213只熊掌_网易新闻 213 bear paws found hidden in tires in Inner Mongolia
停工5个月：陕西百亿调水工程的“环评”困惑_财经频道_一财网 “陕西省引汉济渭工程报批的环境影响评价文件未经批准，于2009年8月擅自开工建设。”今年1月5日，环保部开出的一张“行政处罚决定书”中称。在文件末尾，环保部责令此工程停止建设，并罚款20万元。 引汉济渭工程，号称陕西省最大的调水工程，2008年由陕西省政府规划，静态投资便超过百亿元。5月下旬，本报记者在现场调查发现，该工程仍处于停工状态。 昨日，引汉济渭工程工地上的一位人士对本报记者表示，工程依然没有复工，而从环保部发出“处罚书”算起，该工程已停工逾5个月。
FOOD AND TRAVEL
New tech can help to keep food safe |Society |chinadaily.com.cn Vice-Premier Wang Yang urged public and civil groups to help supervise food safety, particularly through modern technology. “Given major challenges facing the nation’s food safety, like the colossal number of small businesses and a decentralized food production and processing model, a supervisory net highlighting the general public is essential to help ensure food safety,” he said at the fifth China food safety forum as national food safety week kicked off on Monday.
马云：我怕20年后中国的GDP数字被药品所抢占-财经网 凤凰财经讯 6月17日上午，国务院食品安全办等14个部门联合启动全国食品安全宣传周活动。中共中央政治局委员、国务院副总理汪洋为食品安全宣传支招：还要利用现代的手段。汪洋会上也给马云提出了建议：“马云创办的淘宝网也卖食品，如果在卖食品的时候对一些重要的食品安全事项进行提醒，买家就可以不上当，这也是一种食品安全的普及。
BEIJING
微博编造“警察打狗”女子被拘_北京新闻·社会_新京报电子报 Woman detained for spreading rumor on Weibo that Beijing police beat to death a golden retriever…crackdown on large dogs in the city underway, unfortunate, many people are illegally raising dogs over 35 cm high inside the city, could get ugly…I held off getting a golden retriever years ago out of fear an eventual enforcement would make us have to give the dog away, which would be traumatic for the kids // 新京报讯 （记者申志民 通讯员 田冬冬）近日，一条“三名警察打狗”的微博，引起了网友极大关注. 昨日，海淀警方通报，该微博内容虚假，散布者已被行政拘留。 6月12日，一网民发微博称：“刚刚目睹一起打狗事件，套住脖子，三名警察打狗，一只金毛当场断气。”
房山唐代墓葬主人周六“验明正身”_北京新闻·时政_新京报电子报 interesting tomb discovery in Beijing mountains, to be unveiled live on Beijing TV Saturday // 房山唐代墓葬主人周六“验明正身”–推测为唐幽州节度使刘济；周六将开启墓志，北京电视台现场直播
JOBS AND EVENTS
==欢迎访问苏州大学网站== Announcement of the Joint Media Interview Regarding Ping Fu’s Deceptive Behavior, Soochow University. Since the release of the two official statements by Soochow University regarding Ping Fu’s deceptive behavior, many have expressed interest in, and perhaps concern over, the issue, and some of the media have written to enquire for further information and called up for interviews. At the request of many media, Soochow University is to hold a joint media interview on Ping Fu’s deceptive behavior in the Academic Hall on the Main Campus at 10:00am on June 20th (Thursday). Those who show interests are welcomed to attend the interview. Journalists who intend to attend the interview please contact us before 14:00 on June 19th (Wednesday). Press cards and passes issued by the university are required for entry.