The Sinocism China Newsletter 07.01.13

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

Just links today:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

President Xi promises to shake off GDP obsession in promoting officials – Xinhua  On the eve of today’s 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Red and expert? //at a meeting attended by delegates from the Party’s Organization Department in Beijing… “We should never judge a cadre simply by the growth of gross domestic product (GDP),” he said. When promoting officials, the CPC organization departments should consider integrity as a priority and then capability, he said. “The Party’s cadres should be firm followers of Communist ideal, true believers of Marxism and devoted fighters for the socialism with Chinese characteristics,” he said. They must serve the people heart and soul, exercise their power carefully and resist corruption, he said. A CPC official’s integrity will not grow with the years of service and promotion of his post but with persistent efforts to discipline himself and study Marxist classics and theories of the socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said.

Related: Xi Says GDP Not Officials’ Sole Focus in Signal on Growth – Bloomberg At the work meeting on personnel, Xi said that the Communist Party’s organization departments should place integrity before capability when promoting officials, and urged that disciplinary violations and corruption be punished during official selection procedures, according to Xinhua. Cadres should be “true believers of Marxism,” exercise their power carefully and resist corruption, Xi said according to Xinhua. “Xi’s speech includes a forward-looking recognition that obsessive emphasis on economic growth targets is obsolete and must now be balanced against vital environmental and social concerns,” said William Overholt

Related: China Focus: China’s Communist Party membership exceeds 85 million – Xinhua | English.news.cn The CPC had 85.13 million members at the end of 2012, according to a department statement on Sunday, one day before the 92nd anniversary of its founding. Last year, 3.23 million people joined the CPC, the world’s largest political Party — a net increase of 2.53 million taking into account members who died or left the Party. // how many will leave as a result of the rectification campaign?

Related: People’s Daily editorial stresses stronger ties with masses – Xinhua | English.news.cn The Communist Party of China (CPC) and its members must always bear in mind that cutting themselves off from the masses is the biggest threat to the ruling party, according to the CPC flagship newspaper People’s Daily. The CPC is founded among the people and powered by the people, which means the Party shall never abandon its principle of “identifying itself with the masses of the people,” says a People’s Daily editorial to be published on Monday, the 92th founding anniversary of the CPC. // 人民日报-永与人民同呼吸共命运(社论) ——热烈庆祝中国共产党成立九十二周年

China’s Manufacturing Expands at Slower Pace Amid Credit Crunch – Bloomberg The Purchasing Managers’ Index was at 50.1, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said today in Beijing. That matched the median forecast of 33 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey and was down from May’s 50.8. Readings above 50 signal expansion. Weaker gains in manufacturing add to odds that Li Keqiang will become the first premier to miss an annual growth target since the Asian financial crisis in 1998

Related: China PBOC’s Zhou Says Banks Need To Adjust Assets: Press | MNI The recent volatility in the Chinese interbank market highlights the need for banks to adjust their asset structures, People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in comments published Monday. Zhou told the China Business News that banks have been adjusting their asset structures since middle of June following the ramp-up in lending activity earlier in the month. “The positive aspect of the money rate volatility was it reminded banks of the need to adjust their asset business,” Zhou said.

Related: 专访周小川:市场基本正确理解了央行_财经频道_一财网 First Financial interviews Zhou Xiaochuan at the Lujiazui forum// 在出席“陆家嘴论坛”期间,周小川简短接受了《第一财经日报》的独家专访。他表示,央行对流动性的把握,市场基本上还是正确理解了。

Related: Central Bank Will Address Liquidity at Proper Time, Zhou Says – Caixin The comments, made at the Lujiazui Financial Forum on June 28, come as a capital crunch has rattled China’s financial system for weeks. “On one hand, the central bank will guide financial institutions for reasonable credit issuance and asset arrangement to support structural adjustment and upgrading of the real economy,” Zhou said. “On the other hand, it will adopt various instruments and measures to adjust market liquidity to ensure overall stability.”

Related: Central Bank Zhou: China has Higher Saving Rate than It Needs-Caijing Traditional commercial banks act as the major channel for the savings, according to Mr. Zhou. He added the sum of money would play a role in the money market with the development of direct financing. “There are clear guidelines and policies in China stressing [the need] to develop the capital market and direct financing,” he said, “and various polices have already been introduced and will be introduced in this direction.”

Related: 李稻葵:三季度将释放一系列改革信号_财经频道_一财网 Li Daokui says the world misunderstands what is going on with the Chinese economy, says there will be a series of reform signals coming in Q3 // 对此,他透露,中国马上要启动一系列的改革,通过改革解决这些问题,把呆账坏账剔出去,不让呆账坏账影响正常的资金流动。同时,地方财政也应该启动重组,给地方财政找到一个比较可靠的、可持续的新的税收来源。与此同时,民营经济必须要大规模松绑,引导民营经济进入到准公共产品投资领域。 李稻葵表示, 7月份马上开始,国家层面会开一系列的讨论会,会讨论下半年的经济工作、经济政策,8、9月份、9、10月份也会讨论改革,所以中国经济正在进入一个改革的制度变迁的新季度,从7、8、9月,可能还要到第四季度的10月份,将会出现一系列改革的动作和信号,到了那个时候,全世界对中国经济的解读将会有所不同。

Related: 【舒立观察】“钱荒”倒逼经济结构调整_杂志频道_财新网 Hu Shuli on how the liquidity crunch shows need to push structural reform // 调整经济结构应紧紧抓住产能过剩、去杠杆化问题,并进一步激发民间创业活力。所有解决方案均须从全球视角出发

Related: 流动性僵局倒逼利率汇率改革提速 新华社——经济参考网 为期三天的陆家嘴论坛于29日下午正式闭幕。在国内流动性出现僵局的大背景下,参加论坛的业内专家普遍认为,利率和汇率的市场化改革将成为化解流动性僵局的突破口。他们认为,中国经济增长方式要改变,必须在金融体系方面让市场决定利率,让资本能更好地发挥作用,促进实体经济,同时,汇率市场化改革能更好地促使我国的内外经济平衡,并且能够减少境外资本套利空间。

Xinjiang: bloody clashes brings army onto streets | South China Morning Post  The order for the patrols by the People’s Armed Police was issued by the Communist Party’s top law enforcement official, Meng Jianzhu, at an emergency meeting late on Saturday in Urumqi. The action came just days ahead of the July 5 anniversary of a 2009 riot between Xinjiang’s native Uygur people and Han Chinese migrants in the city that left nearly 200 people dead.

Related: Government to steadfastly ensure people’s safety: People’s Daily – Xinhua  The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the government will steadfastly safeguard the security of people after violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, the CPC’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily said in a Sunday commentary. Terrorism is the enemy of the Chinese of all ethnic groups, and no government in the world would tolerate such violent attacks, it added. The commentary said that the violent attacks have become an overt provocation to the security of people’s lives and the country’s unity and threats to people’s fundamental interests, as well as the stability in Xinjiang. Only severe crackdowns on the terrorists will lead to social stability and harmony, it said.

Related: Foreign Ministry rejects US claims on Xinjiang |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn China strongly opposes claims by the United States that it has been discriminating against and imposing restrictions on Uygurs and Muslims, in the wake of a recent terror attack in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Related: 人民日报-坚决打击“三股势力” 本报评论员 近期新疆接连发生的暴力恐怖袭击案件,境内外“三股势力”是罪魁祸首。“三股势力”是一种极端邪恶势力,集恐怖主义、分裂主义、极端主义于一身,在世界各国都留下斑斑劣迹。他们煽动民族仇恨,制造宗教狂热,鼓吹所谓“圣战”,大搞暴力恐怖活动,残杀无辜群众,挑起暴乱骚乱。在新疆的民族分裂势力、宗教极端势力、暴力恐怖势力沆瀣一气。他们以暴力恐怖行为,破坏社会秩序,借机扩大境内外影响;他们用宗教极端主义,蛊惑信教群众,以此扩大力量进行所谓“圣战”。其目的,就是要搞乱新疆、分裂中国。我们同“三股势力”的斗争,不是民族问题,不是宗教问题,而是一场维护祖国统一与企图分裂中国、维护民族团结与企图挑起民族仇杀、维护社会稳定与企图制造动乱暴乱的生死较量。

Related: 苏联:消除多样性未避免分裂 Study Times on how USSR’s ethnic policies contributed to its collapse // 在影响或导致苏联解体的众多原因中,民族政策及其实践是重要的因素之一。苏联曾经在立国之初主张民族多样化、民族平等,甚至到了人为创造已经消失了的民族语言的程度。短暂实施这个政策后,苏联开始推行了大俄罗斯主义的同化政策,并达到了高度的一元化,苏联国内各民族的语言、宗教差异基本消除。结果,这个政策不仅没有促进苏联的向心力,反而制造了不满乃至仇恨,急剧加速了苏联的解体。

Related: China to strike hard on violent terrorist attacks – Xinhua  A Chinese leader said Saturday that the country will strike hard on violent terrorist attacks according to law and maintain social stability in Xinjiang. Yu Zhengsheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Related: Official urges 24-hour patrol in Xinjiang after terror attacks – Xinhua A senior Chinese official said on Saturday that armed police should make 24-hour patrol on all weather conditions in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to guarantee the safety of local people. The call was made Saturday night by Meng Jianzhu, secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Related: 新疆武警部队举行反恐誓师大会_网易新闻 slideshow of massive show of PAP force in Xinjiang

Related: 昨天的鸟市_游谊_博联社 Bishe blogger post more pics of PAP presence in Urumqi

Related: 19 detained for spreading rumors in Xinjiang| China Daily Nineteen people in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have been detained for making up and spreading rumors via text messages and the Internet, the region’s public security bureau said on Sunday.

尹中卿:城镇化路径尚未达到高度共识_财经频道_一财网 Yin Zhongqing, deputy head of the NPC’s finance and Economics Committee, told the Global Think Tank Conference on June 29 that there is still no top level consensus on urbanization path // 全国人大财经委副主任委员尹中卿6月29日在“第三届全球智库峰会”上表示, 国家发改委制定的《“十二五”城镇化规划》迟迟没有公开,国务院城镇化工作会议也推迟,目前十二届全国人大常委会对于城镇化报告的讨论也异常激烈,这其中的主要原因是对城镇化的路径还没有达到高度共

Related: 新华网评:新型城镇化是贪大求快的克星 – 新华评论 – 新华网 Xinhua Comment on what “new-style urbanization” is and is not // 城镇化是从农业社会迈向工业适合的必然途径。摒弃以往粗放型的城镇化发展之路,坚持以人为本的新型城镇化建设理念,正在考验各级政府的执政智慧。政府一方面要当好“主脑”,一方面又要防止自身因利益驱动强势主导、控制包办,让GDP导向和政绩思维把城镇化导向错误的方向。这也意味着,新型城镇化将是一个复杂的系统工程,需要各项配套改革逐步推进,也务须摒弃“贪大求快”的传统思维。

China Agrees to Asean Talks on Sea Spat Amid Philippine Warning – Bloomberg China agreed to talks with Southeast Asian nations on a set of rules to avoid conflict in the South China Sea, winning praise from diplomats even as the Philippines warned of increased “militarization” of the waters. Talks on a code of conduct between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will begin in September, according to a joint statement released after the two sides met in Brunei today. The move represents a reversal from a year ago, when Asean failed to show a united front amid Chinese pressure to avoid discussing the topic at regional meetings

Related: China urges more cooperation between ASEAN, China, Japan, S. Korea – Xinhua Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday asked for efforts to make cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, South Korea the main cooperation channel in East Asia. The ASEAN+3 (10+3) framework has served as a solid pillar of economic integration in East Asia, said Wang, who was attending an ASEAN+3 ministerial meeting here. Cooperation between the 13 countries should be taken as a means to protect regional peace and prosperity and to better serve the purpose of regional development, he added.

Japan pushed into a corner as Beijing, Seoul put on united front – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun With Seoul and Beijing taking a more united stand against Japan over differences in perceptions of shared history, Tokyo’s efforts at wooing international backing for its territorial dispute with China may have to undergo a rethink. Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye, concluded in talks June 27 that confrontation and distrust between nations are deepening over history and other issues in Northeast Asia. It was an unmistakable reference to the recent flare-up of strains in ties that those two countries have with Japan.

Related: S. Korean president proposes memorial of anti-Japanese hero in China – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun South Korean President Park Geun-hye asked China to build a memorial of Korean activist An Jung-geun, who assassinated Japan’s first prime minister on Oct. 26, 1909. Park’s request for the An memorial in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, was made over lunch with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 28.

Related: Abe playing with war apology fire, Kono warns | The Japan Times is this politics for Abe, or does he actually believe this? // In the early 1990s, Kono played a major role in helping Japan confront its wartime past and establish warmer ties with its Asian neighbors in the years leading up to the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. The now-retired Kono, 76, said in a rare interview last week that Abe’s suggestion that he wanted to revise two national apologies — including a 1995 statement expressing regret for Japan’s wartime aggression and commitment to peace — risks setting back relations with China and South Korea by decades.

The Middle-Class Revolution – WSJ.com – Francis Fukuyama The theme that connects recent events in Turkey and Brazil to each other, as well as to the 2011 Arab Spring and continuing protests in China, is the rise of a new global middle class. Everywhere it has emerged, a modern middle class causes political ferment, but only rarely has it been able, on its own, to bring about lasting political change. Nothing we have seen lately in the streets of Istanbul or Rio de Janeiro suggests that these cases will be an exception. // to which “continuing [Middle Class] protests in China” is Fukuyama referring?

Related: CNPC Report Says Kunming Chemical Project Not Harmful – Caixin The project was approved by the  Ministry of Environmental Protection in July 2012 and the National Development and Reform Commission in January. Construction was started in April. Kunming saw two large protests in May amid public discontent over an opaque environmental assessment process. Ma Xiaojia, head of the National Energy Administration, said environmental impact assessments were confidential and would not be released to the public. In response to public outcry, Li Wenrong, the mayor of Kunming, said on June 2 that a full environmental assessment report would be released. //Story of the Kunming protests increasingly appears to be not that the protests occurred but how effectively the government neutralized them. 

Related: Will Unrest In Egypt Strengthen The Chinese Government? | The Sinocism China Newsletter February 2011–29 months ago–think still relevant as Egypt is again seeing massive protests.// Egypt may turn out to be the catalyst that leads to the reigning in of the special interest groups that hamper further economic reform and threaten both future economic growth and regime stability. Yes these groups are powerful and have representatives at the highest levels of power, but ultimately no one and no group will be allowed to threaten the Party’s rule. Note that I make no mention of Western-style political reform. That is not in the cards, and in fact the propaganda apparatus is using the chaos in Egypt to further deposition Western-style political reform as a contributor to instability.

Why the “Steve Jobs of China” is crucial to the country’s innovative future (Book excerpt) | PandoDaily As I will outline in the following chapters, from micropayments to microblogging, burgeoning online communities to entertainment portals, mobile browsing to mobile messaging, some of the best Internet ideas to come out of China are quietly being copied by the US already. Many more should be….Homegrown Chinese companies – from Xiaomi to Sina to YY – are already starting to change the dynamics of the global Internet industry, showing that Silicon Valley’s status as the victim of Chinese copycats could ultimately be short lived. Instead, expect to see some reverse colonization – the infiltration of Chinese ideas into the air space of the Western world’s Internet sectors. // good new ebook (cheap at $1.99) on China’s Internet–Beta China by Hamish McKenzie. Full disclosure: I know the author, he wrote a nice profile of me and gave me a free review copy. 

Related: Marc Andreessen: Beijing Should Be Another Silicon Valley, But…. | TechCrunch “I worry about the system — the ability to sustain the process and have a system. A lot of it has to do with the same frustrations we’re hearing from Chinese entrepreneurs. There are still issues with the rule of law and basic contract law. There are still issues with IP integrity,” he said. “They have the idea that there can be a free economy without free speech, which I think is not true.” It’s a common complaint I’ve heard in the Beijing-based community myself. There isn’t the same practice or habit of ‘acq-hires’ in China. Instead, the major powers like Tencent may go in and directly copy small startups instead of trying to acquire or lure them in first

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

GlaxoSmithKline staff held in three cities as graft investigation widens | South China Morning Post Chinese police have detained employees of British pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha, following allegations of data fraud and bribery in the multinational’s mainland operations. Last week, police seized several people at GSK’s Shanghai office, including a senior foreign finance executive. They also took employees from the company’s Beijing office, said a source in Shanghai’s pharmaceutical sector.

Auditor Finds Range of Problems at State-owned Banks – Caixin The National Audit Office (NAO) says it has found problems at several state-owned banks, including executives taking advantage of regulatory loopholes to rig bond trading in the interbank market. A typical fraudulent scheme involved a bank executive selling bonds held by the bank cheaply to a financial institution he or she controlled or had personal connection to, then re-acquiring them at a higher price, Liu Jiayi, auditor-general of the NAO, said when he reported the findings to the Standing Committee of the State Council on June 27.

China’s June Home Prices Jump on Increasing Sales, SouFun Says – Bloomberg Prices surged 7.4 percent last month from a year earlier to 10,258 yuan ($1,671) per-square-meter (10.76 square feet), SouFun Holdings Ltd. (SFUN), the country’s biggest real estate website owner, said in a statement today after a survey of 100 cities. Last month’s increase was the biggest since December, when prices climbed 0.03 percent, reversing a 0.46 percent decline in November.

Beijing Land Sales in H1 Nearly Quadruple Year Ago -Caijing  Land sale revenue of Beijing, China’s capital city, in the first half of this year nearly quadruples the number a year ago, despite the Chinese government’s strong stance on reining in property inflation. The Beijing municipal government generated 66.4billion yuan from land sales in the first six months, that’s more than the figure for the 2012 full year, and a sharp rise from the same period last year which reported 13.6billion yuan in land sales. The number of deals completed in the first six months is lower than 37 for the full year of 2012, but the area of land sold for construction use hit 2.76million square meters, compared with the 2.756 million in 2012.

China Audit Report: Local Debt Ratio Up to 189Pct in Some Cities-Caijing  1) Outstanding debts in 36 local governments were close to 3.85 trillion yuan at the end of 2012, up 12.94, or 441 billion from that in 2010. Bank loans accounted for 78.07 percent.  2) Four provinces and capital cities in eight provinces saw their debt growth rate at over 20 percent, with the highest at 65 percent, in 2012.  3) 55 percent of outstanding local debts in four provinces and 11 provincial capitals were pledged to be repaid with land revenue, although the latter was far from enough to cover the detbs.  4) Local authorities had illegally guaranteed 81.8 billion yuan in local government debts in 2011 and 2012.  5) Branch offices of 27 lenders provided 28.4 billion in loans to unqualified projects; As much as 18.4 billion yuan of loans were diverted for other uses, with 2.2 billion flowing to RMB financial market to be paid to private borrowing or repackaged as new loans.

Li Keqiang’s Bottom Line by Zhang Jun – Project Syndicate The view that Li will tolerate slower growth only above a particular threshold is based on the belief that GDP growth below 8% would hurt economic development more than it helped, and lead to social instability. And, indeed, if unemployment pressure had become as acute today as it was in the 1990’s, the prolonged economic slowdown would undoubtedly have precipitated government intervention.But, over the last decade, structural changes to China’s economy have caused unemployment pressure to decline significantly – a trend that can be corroborated by across-the-board wage increases. Now, the setting is very favorable to build the stronger, more stable economy that Li wants – and that China needs.

China’s Financial Regulation Mess – China Real Time Report – WSJ Has China’s financial regulatory regime reached its use-by date? The rapid proliferation of wealth management products in recent years could mean that it’s well past. That was one of the themes to emerge from the Lujiazui Forum held in Shanghai on Friday and Saturday, an annual get-together of the great and the good from China’s financial sector. Speakers called for the standardization of rules governing the issuance, design and sale of wealth management products across an increasingly broad universe of financial institutions.

银行地产联手托市 政策底若隐若现_证券时报网 Securities Times on signs the government may be trying to put a floor in the stock market // 上周五,先是龙头地产股集体奔涨停,此后尾盘中国石油、工商银行、中国银行等权重股又在“9900手”超级买单推升下大幅收涨。在经过上周初的恐慌之后,银行地产联手托市让市场猜测是国家队进场,政策底若隐若现。 不过,从历史经验来看,往往政策底之后还要构筑市场底,这也导致市场各方谨慎看待国家队救市。部分机构认为,短期经济基本没有好转动力,加上前期大涨的成长股有回调压力,后市依然不容乐观。

人民日报:股市罕见连续暴跌 估值已基本与国际接轨_证券时报网 People’s Daily on A share valuations, part of trying to create market confidence? // 刘献军则认为,经济转型是未来中国经济的发展重点,经济将由速度型向效益型转变,经济结构调整和去产能化任重道远;城镇化将被赋予新意义,而非简单的投资扩张;外围资本市场的流动性宽松将逐步终结。因此,未来A股市场可能在相当长时期内维持指数振荡探底而阶段性、结构性行情相对较为活跃的局面。

China Focus: Oversupply forces Chinese steelmakers to react – Xinhua  Chinese steelmakers are dealing with a substantial oversupply problem that will likely force them to transform the way they do business. A report posted on the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA)’s website on Monday said that a weak economic recovery, low demand, high prices for raw materials and high steel output have caused an oversupply of steel products.

环保部盯上钢企 称“一查到底” 新华社——经济参考网 Ministry of Environmental Protection to inspect steel firms // “1至5月份大气污染最严重的20个城市中,17个城市有钢铁企业,实际上钢铁行业因为缺乏有效监管,对大气的污染非常严重。”环保部污染排放总量控制司司长刘炳江在“2013第四届中国钢铁节能减排论坛”上表示。据他透露,钢铁行业将成为继电力行业后环保部“十二五”期间整治的重点,最近环保部正在酝酿更为严格的整治方案,其中对于环保问责制将更加清晰,从环保事故发生后进行的事后问责转向对整个环保过程进行“问责”。

China Debates Weak Influence on Global Gold Prices – China Real Time Report – WSJ As global gold prices on Friday recorded their worst quarter since the start of modern gold trading in 1974, industry experts in Shanghai were talking about China’s efforts to have a say in global gold prices — and whether the efforts are having an impact. China is the world’s largest gold producer and the second-largest consumer after India, but industry executives and professionals have been complaining that gold prices in China are just shadows of global prices and don’t have any impact on other markets.

Ghana’s Crackdown on Chinese Gold Miners Hits One Rural Area Hard – NYTimes.com After the crackdown, images of violent deaths and vandalized mining camps blazed across Chinese social media, fueling national anger and soul searching. But here in Shanglin, a mountainous county of 470,000 in one of China’s poorest regions, it is despair over financial ruin that is most pronounced. “My son might be killed in Ghana, but if he comes back he’s dead anyway,” said Shen Aiquan, 65, whose family borrowed 3 million renminbi, or $489,000, to build a mining operation, though from whom exactly she did not know. All she could do was wait for her son, and the debt collectors who would surely follow.

How will a slowing China cope with rapidly aging buildings? | China Economic Review and how do you fix a building that is sinking into its foundation, as one building in a Beijing CBD landmark is rumored to be doing? // Chinese researchers have suggested that many buildings could reach the end of their lifespan in as little as 20 years. The average lifespan of a Chinese building is 35 years, according to property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. That’s abysmal compared to the average 74 year life span of US buildings and 132 year lifespan of buildings in the UK.

Senior cabinet official Ding Xuedong set to be named new head of CIC | South China Morning Post Ding Xuedong, currently deputy secretary-general of the State Council, China’s cabinet, is expected to be officially named the new CIC chairman, two sources familiar with the hiring process said. Ding, 53, is the youngest ever deputy secretary-general. He was also vice finance minister for about two years between 2008 and 2010.

Broward businessman recalls captivity in China –  MiamiHerald.com As Starnes grabbed his briefcase and left his office, he saw four trucks pull up near the entrance to the executive wing. Out jumped nearly 150 workers — most of them women — from the alcohol prep pad division and the warehouse, cooks and cleaners. They shut the gate, blocked the exits and occupied the wing, refusing to leave until everyone got a severance package. “This is surreal, and is it real?” Starnes wondered at the time. “As it led into the night, it became very real very quick.” By 10 p.m., local government officials and police arrived, and pressured Starnes to capitulate, he said. They went back and forth for nearly eight hours. //Why would any foreign firm ever invest in Huairou, Beijing again? 

China hostage situations–ChinaLawBlog Control Risks has seen a “sharp increase” in hostage situations in China in the past two years, Kedl said, and has seen an increase in threats and actions against company management and foreigners. Kedl attributes the change in part to China’s slowing economy, as companies reassess their businesses in China and in some cases start to restructure–news that often comes as “a shock” to workers. Restructuring “is an anathema to most Chinese employees,” said Kedl. “It’s been nothing but growth for the past 10 years. . . . In China, business hasn’t come and gone. It has only come.”

 

POLITICS AND LAW

Anti-corruption drive puts Inner Mongolia’s United Front Work Department chief in the crosshairs | South China Morning Post The head of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in Inner Mongolia is under investigation for “serious disciplinary violations”, state media reported yesterday. Wang Suyi, who occupies a vice-ministerial position, has become the latest senior official to draw the Communist Party’s ire in an ongoing anti-corruption campaign ordered by President Xi Jinping after he took leadership of the party in November.

罗昌平新书《打铁记》独家连载:刘铁男情妇提供了举报信_UGC精选 Luo Changping’s new book on exposing Liu Tienan is serialized online // 罗昌平实名举报副部级高官,并最终致其落马被查。他是怎么做到的呢?罗昌平新作《打铁记》将在网易UGC精选独家连载,详细揭开刘铁男落马内幕。

梳理落马官商关系网 政法王势力遭定点清除_中国_多维新闻网  Duowei has created a graphic showing how certain officials under investigation are connected to Zhou Yongkang // 根据大陆媒体《新京报》6月26日消息,在李春城落马之后,吴涛5月中旬就准备携巨款出逃,且持有4个护照。知情人士指出,吴涛与李春城关系非常密切,被认为是李春城的“管家”。在李春城担任成都市委书记期间,李春城家住浣花溪,此地归青羊区管辖,而吴涛正好是青羊区公安分局局长。该知情人士称,李春城之妻曲松枝被查也有两个护照,该身份资料就由吴涛帮助办理。 至此,经多维新闻梳理,虽然目前尚无证据显示刚刚被中纪委带走的郭永祥与李春城案是否有瓜葛,但是这些涉事高官、富商之间的关系已然构成一张大网,其中脉络渐渐浮出水面。

Former university chief Zhou Wenbin expelled from national legislature | South China Morning Post China says it has expelled a member of the national legislature for “serious disciplinary violations” amid a crackdown on corruption ordered by President Xi Jinping. No details were given, although the charge of violating discipline is usually shorthand for bribery, embezzlement, the selling of offices or other forms of corruption. The official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday that Zhou had been dismissed from his post as president of Nanchang University in the southern province of Guangxi on June 18.

Former Chinese Communist Party official gets 13 years for bribery: Xinhua | Reuters Lei Zhengfu, a portly, pop-eyed ex-secretary of a region in southwestern China’s Chongqing, was caught on video having sex with an 18-year-old mistress, with the clip ricocheting around China’s gossip-obsessed Internet when it surfaced last November.

Political balancing: Mixed messages | The Economist Optimists say it is only natural for Mr Xi to act tough in the political realm if he means to pass reforms that would take on powerful interest groups such as state-owned enterprises (SOEs). His emphasis on following party orders may be partly aimed at political liberals. But it could be just as much a warning to SOE bosses that it is time to bite the bullet of reform. Unfortunately, one of the messages of Document Number Nine appears to be that calls for economic liberalism also pose a threat. Mr Xi is signalling in all directions.

Wang Zhongwei picked to head Premier Li Keqiang’s office | South China Morning Post  State Council deputy secretary general Wang Zhongwei, a former Shanghai propaganda chief and later a senior propaganda official in the central government, has been picked to head Premier Li Keqiang’s office, sources said.

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng faces tough road in redefining himself in US | South China Morning Post Professor Perry Link, a Sinologist at the University of California, Riverside, who has aided many Chinese dissidents, said Chen belongs to a group of exiles who find the adjustment the toughest. Chen was too old to reinvent himself and too young to retire, he said. “The limelight that he now enjoys will fade,” Link said. “Judging from others who have similar cases, he has a bleak-looking future.”

Recalibrating Expectations on Reform of China’s ‘Re-Education Through Labor’ System – China Real Time Report – WSJ  A recent Chinese newspaper article notes officials are eager to avoid public speculation, because they are apprehensive that discussion of laojiao reform might extend to questioning the party-state’s priority on maintaining “social stability.”  The author maintains, too, that petitioners and dissidents are sent to laojiao by local officials who use the sanction “to solidify [their] authority and interests in the name of maintaining stability.” Professor Yu Jianrong of the Chinese Academy of Sciences agrees, and observed in a recent story by CNN that laojiao “serves as the local authorities’ tool of reprisal in the name of maintaining stability.”

Chinese remain unforgiving as PLA general’s son faces trial for alleged gang rape | South China Morning Post From “alleged gang rape” to “taking turns having sex” – the changing phrases in Chinese official media reports on a criminal case involving the teenage son of a famous PLA general are angering many internet users. The high-profile case is about to go to court in a closed trial. But many people are concerned about how fairly it will be conducted.

张木生:中国的世界秩序-张木生-观察者网 long essay from Zhang Musheng

人民日报-网上信访也要把握“生命线”(人民时评) 李 拯 Online petition site goes live, People’s Daily comment on it // 7月1日,国家信访局门户网站的网上投诉将全面放开。足不出户即可表达利益诉求、查看办理过程,这一举措在很大程度上是以信息化方式完善信访工作体系、重整信访工作格局,体现着信访制度面向时代的创新。物不得其平则鸣。信访制度设计的初衷,就是让人民群众有地方说话;作为独具中国特色的制度安排,信访是党的群众工作的重要组成部分。党的群众路线教育实践活动深入展开之际,信访部门开通网络投诉迈出了密切联系群众的又一步,能不能“不虚”、“不空”、“不偏”,取得效果、落到实处,我们充满期待。

学习时报:部分干部违法乱纪因不学不知不懂制度|制度建设|领导干部|违法乱纪_新浪新闻 党的制度建设之所以存在着差距和不足,主要是由于一些党员、特别是领导干部在认识和行动上还存在着忽视制度、轻视制度、不能有效运用制度的倾向。随着中国特色社会主义法律体系形成和依法治国、依法执政、依法行政共同推进,加强党的制度建设比以往任何时候都显得更加重要和紧迫。 最近,《中国共产党党内法规制定条例》和《中国共产党党内法规和规范性文件备案规定》公开发布,这标志着我们党的建设制度化、规范化、程序化又上了一个新台阶

江苏高档休闲会所造型酷似人民大会堂_高清图_新浪网 A Jiangsu club built to look like the Great Hall of the People

“The officers destroy your body, mind, heart and spirit …”–Sydney Morning herald Found guilty of fraud, Troy Bremer spent years in a brutal Beijing jail – just one of a growing number of Australians caught up in the Chinese prison system.

 

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

Chinese premier meets Kissinger – Xinhua  As a reader pointed out a couple of weeks ago, Kissinger is 90, won’t be around forever, who can Beijing use as another backchannel, elder statesman? // Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Beijing on Friday, according to a government press release on Saturday.

中国军网_军队工程建设项目招投标管理将进行改革 PLA Daily–reforms coming to the bidding system for PLA projects…// 本报北京6月30日电 汤磊、记者徐叶青报道:记者27日从总后勤部了解到,为认真贯彻落实中央和军委总部关于改进作风一系列决策部署,军队工程建设项目招投标管理将进行改革。改革内容主要涉及招标方式、评标办法、投标企业入围办法、评标委员会构成,以及监督和处罚措施等。总后勤部已通知要求,在北京、济南、青岛和天水等4个城市驻军先期开展改革试点,明年在全军范围实施。

Chinese trio held near Line of Actual Control–India.com After dealing with the PLA incursion last month, Army personnel have now apprehended three persons of Chinese origin along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) carrying political maps in Arabic language in the same area. The three men, identified as Adil, Salamo and Abdul Khaliq, were nabbed inside the Indian territory on June 12 near Sultanchku and it took nearly 10 days for the authorities to make them give their name, official sources said. All the three men are Sunni Muslims aged between 18 and 23 with fair complexion but their language was not comprehensible, they said.

China doesn’t want ‘unexpected’ border incident, says PLA General – The Hindu People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Major General Luo Yuan, one of China’s most recognised military strategists, has said China does not want to see “unexpected” incidents along the disputed border with India and believes that the situation along the boundary could be effectively managed with the right mechanisms in place. Major General Luo told The Hindu that he did not even see the boundary dispute with India as figuring among China’s top five current military threats or challenges. He identified these threats as the East China Sea, where China is currently engaged in a dispute with Japan; the South China Sea, whose waters and islands are disputed by several countries; and the newly emerging financial, cyberspace and “outer space” threats.

Obama sees no threat in China rivalry for Africa business | Reuters The United States does not feel threatened by the growth of trade and investment in Africa by China and other emerging powers, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday. Suggestions that he has allowed China to steal a march over the United States in doing business with Africa have dogged Obama’s three-nation swing through the continent, but he said the increased Chinese engagement was beneficial for all.

As Chinese-Israeli Relations Enjoy a Second Honeymoon, the U.S. Frets – Tablet Magazine  “As the People’s Republic discovers the Jews,” warns a recent article in Foreign Policy, “it should remember an old Yiddish proverb: You can’t dance at two weddings at once.” But the reality is that Israel is less worried about the Arabs challenging its relationship with China than it is about the United States. Israeli officials at a recent meeting on China were concerned about how Jerusalem can strike a balance between Beijing and Washington. These officials remember that the previous era of close Sino-Israeli relations was brought to a sudden halt by American pressure.

EU opens new front in China trade battle with stone case | Reuters   The European Union has opened a new front in its trade battle with China by launching an investigation into alleged dumping by Chinese producers of stone used for counter tops and tiles. The European Commission said on Friday it was starting the study after a complaint lodged last month by A.St.A., the European association of manufacturers of agglomerated stones.

Hard on Obama by Steve Coll | The New York Review of Books He concludes with criticism of Obama’s most important foreign policy conception, the announced American “pivot” toward Asia and away from the Middle East, a reorientation of policy, alliance priorities, and military deployments made possible by the reduction of American involvement in the wars Obama inherited in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most provocatively, Nasr argues that by retreating from the Middle East—and by signaling a withdrawal from “the exuberant American desire to lead in the world”—Obama has yielded strategic advantage to China, for which the United States will pay a heavy price in the future. // The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat–Vali Nasr

U.S. Looks to Blunt Corporate Espionage by Chinese Firms – WSJ.com “Maybe five years ago, it was sexier to chase drug cases than trade-secret cases,” said Benjamin Bai, a partner at Allen & Overy in Shanghai. However, “the political climate is brewing the perfect storm in the U.S. for prosecutions to increase.” A recent law strengthening the U.S. Economic Espionage Act will likely encourage more prosecutions, said Mr. Bai, who has represented U.S. clients on intellectual-property issues.

Abe criticizes China for demanding Senkaku concession – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Prime Minister Shinzo Abe criticized China on June 28 for demanding a concession on the Senkaku Islands dispute as a condition for holding a bilateral summit with Japan. “Chinese officials have told us that unless Japan accepts a certain condition, China won’t agree to hold a summit with Japan,” Abe said during a debate among leaders of eight political parties, which was streamed live on the Nico Nico Douga video-sharing website.

 

HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN

Apple Daily newspapers torched–RTHK Police believe the case – being treated as arson and criminal intimidation – is related to a series of incidents targetted at the pro-democracy Next Media group recently. The group’s chairman, Jimmy Lai, said he’s not worried and that the “childish” acts would only drive more people to join the annual July the first march tomorrow.

Nevada Regulator Says Macau VIP Rooms Make Compliance Harder – Bloomberg The use of outside VIP room operators by casino companies in Macau limits their ability to prevent money-laundering and other illegal activities, one of Nevada’s top regulators said. “Criminal transactions are widely alleged to take place just out of the direct purview of the casino,” A.G. Burnett, chairman of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, said in testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in Washington yesterday.

 

TECH AND MEDIA

【经济新动力】深耕细作创新利 电商物流正升级_新闻频道_央视网 Ecommerce and logistics as new economic force the top story on Sunday’s CCTV Evening News.

Digitimes Research: China 3G service subscribers to top 300 million in 1H13 The number of 3G service subscribers in China is expected to top 322 million by the end of the first half of 2013, representing a penetration rate of 27.1%. Meanwhile, sales of smartphones in China will total 170 million units in the first half of 2013, up 51% on the prior six-month period, according to Digitimes Research.

 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

Cultural Revolution Vigilantes – NYTimes.com Joe Nocera takes up Ping Fu’s cause, strange column, but he just did a helicopter tour of China right? // “School was interrupted a bit, but there was still school,” sniffed Cindy Hao, in attempting to refute Fu’s claim that she had worked in a factory. Hao, a Chinese-born journalist who lives in Seattle, has become one of Fu’s most vociferous critics. “Ping Fu made up her whole story,” she told me. (Note: Hao, a freelance translator whom the Beijing bureau of The New York Times uses on occasion, helped report an article by Didi Kirsten Tatlow. She says that she became a critic only after that article was published. She is no longer permitted to do reporting for the bureau.)

Ping Fu’s Book Isn’t Worth Joe Nocera – Bloomberg It’s hard to imagine Nocera devoting a column to another alleged fabulist (where is his piece defending James Frey, the disgraced author of “A Million Little Pieces”?). So why did he devote a column to Fu? His answer seems to be that he’s offended at how the Chinese immigrant community in the U.S. has made something of a hobby out of debunking Fu’s book: “Yes, Ping Fu’s book has mistakes in it. But it is hard to see how they justify the level of extreme, unrelenting vilification she has suffered. Her real sin, it appears, is that she stirred a pot most Chinese would prefer to leave alone.”…This would be a shaky defense of Fu if it were true. But it’s not.

Why is Ping Fu the only “victim”? » Shanghai Shiok! I am not from China or America, but that NYT column is when I went from apathetic to very interested — because this controversy has turned into a highly racial one, with many Westerners in the pro-Ping camp and Chinese in the anti-Ping one.

Christie’s Leader Returns Ancient Bronzes to China – NYTimes.com The businessman, François-Henri Pinault, chief executive of Kering, the luxury goods company that owns Christie’s auction house, attended the ceremony at the National Museum of China in Tiananmen Square along with senior Chinese and French government officials, including China’s highest-ranking female politician, Liu Yandong, vice premier of the powerful State Council.

《焦点访谈》 20130630 犬之祸 人之过 CCTV News Focus looks at recent spate of large dogs attacking people, and killing some. disturbing video, starting with little girl being attacked and dragged away by a Tibetan Mastiff..luckily a villager saved her

Ministry drafts child welfare system| China Daily China will gradually build a comprehensive child welfare system to provide universal welfare protection to children, who are categorized into four types depending on their living circumstances, under a draft plan from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Children will be identified as orphans, in plight, from underprivileged families or from ordinary families. Each will be offered different standards of welfare services, the plan said.

Lhasa completes renovation of old city – Xinhua | English.news.cn Lhasa, the capital city of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, on Sunday completed renovation of its old city, a bustling cultural and commercial center The 1.5-billion-yuan (243 million U.S. dollars) project involved upgrading the sewage system, water supplies and electric lines, elimination of safety hazards, installment of heating facilities and preservation of old-styled buildings, said Che Zala, secretary of the Lhasa municipal committee of the Communist Party of China, at a ceremony.

[视频]拉萨老城区保护工程完工_新闻频道_央视网 Sunday CCTV Evening News on the Lhasa old city renovation project

Snapshots: Who’s the most beautiful Sichuan girl in Summer? – Xinhua

 

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

浒苔再袭青岛海岸_网易新闻 Green Algae bloom overwhelms Qingdao beaches, pictures

 

FOOD AND TRAVEL

LumDimSum » Blog Archive The Hutong Travel’s Radical Ningxia Bike Ride » LumDimSum It was truly an eye-opening experience to discover a swath of geographies, landscapes, encounter the Hui people and other ethnic groups, and we were looking forward to actually getting on bikes to cycle through the terrain (as opposed to the jeep we hired to be more time-efficient during our research trip) and going deeper into developing our cultural exchange by arranging for home-stay dinners and workshops at the homes of Hui Muslim families

Souring on Shark Fin Soup – NYTimes.com  “It’s a fantastic awakening that the Chinese public has had,” says Sonja Fordham, who is president of Shark Advocates International and led the first efforts to establish American and international bans on shark finning. Mr. Knights told me that traders had been cutting their prices by 40 percent, and multiple sources — from fishermen in Indonesia to undercover agents in China — reported a 50 to 70 percent sales decline in 2012. New data from the Census and Statistics Department show fin imports in the first quarter of 2013 down another 40 percent from the first quarter of 2012, using the new coding categories. While it’s unclear how much reducing Chinese demand will stem the global harvest of sharks, these are encouraging signs, and not just of local import.

 

BEIJING

Beijing Residents Told to Stay In as Smog Exceeds Exposure Limit – Bloomberg  Concentrations of PM2.5, fine air particulates that pose the greatest health risk, rose to 520 micrograms per cubic meter at 3 p.m. near Tiananmen Square from an average of 260 in the past 24 hours, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center. That reading was more than 20 times higher than the World Health Organization recommendations of no higher than 25 for day-long exposure.

北京一周三天重污染 专家称情况不如去年同期_网易新闻中心 新京报讯 又是重污染。继6月26日、28日,昨日北京再遇重污染天,昨天上午10时许,市环境保护监测中心发布消息称,北京市区细颗粒物PM2.5浓度达到6级严重污染。专家表示,近期重污染天频繁,除了污染物排放,不利的扩散条件也是主因。

 

JOBS AND EVENTS

Largest Airport Demo in The US to Stop China Southern! | China Southern Airlines is the last Chinese airline to continue transporting primates for vivisection. Air China, China Eastern Airlines, and Hainan Airlines have all confirmed that they will no longer transport primates. China Southern Airlines regularly transport monkeys from Guangzhou (China), to Chicago (USA), and Paris (France), where the animals are distributed to laboratories across the USA and Europe. As the only transporter of primates from China, it’s suspected that China Southern Airlines are transporting up to 1,200 animals a month and it is scheduled to increase by the thousands.