"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Just links today, will be on holiday Thursday, July 4 to observe US Independence Day, back to normal publishing Friday.
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
China Targets Foreign Baby Formula Brands in Anti-Trust Probe-Caijing China has launched an anti-trust investigation on some foreign baby formula makers, in its latest efforts to shore up troubled home baby formula industry, the National Business Daily reported. Among the targets of the investigations are international brands including Mead Johnson, Wyeth, Dumex, Abbott Labs, Frisco as well as home brand Biostime, which allegedly sell baby formulas at higher prices in China.
Related: 成本100元卖到800元 涉价格操纵奶企或遭巨额罚款_财经频道_一财网 据报道，国家发改委价格监督和反垄断局有关人士证实，已掌握部分企业违法证据。发改委2日披露，被查奶粉企业操纵、抬高奶粉价格的不法行为。
Eric X. Li: A tale of two political systems | Video on TED.com
Related: Dialogue 06/14/2013 Special: Chinese Dream – CNTV English Video Yang Rui hosts a conversation with Daniel Bell, Zhang Xudong. M.D. Nalapat, Einar Tangen, Tu Weiming and Zhang Jianfei, Mayor of Changsha at the Yuelu Academy in Changsha
Rejuvenation (复兴) | ChinaFile An Excerpt from “Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century” by Orville Schell and John DeLury // I got an advance copy, an excellent book
China censors urge media to curb ‘cash crunch’ coverage – FT.com In a directive written last week and transmitted over the past few days to newspapers and television stations, local propaganda departments of the Communist party instructed reporters to stop “hyping the so-called cash crunch” and to spread the message that the country’s markets are well stocked with money. // this is a big problem, exacerbated by Chinese information control policies. Rumors fly during any crisis (they certainly flew in the US in 2008) but in the US/Europe for example there are trusted media outlets who can quickly confirm or refute a rumor, and the market will generally believe their reporting. In China, if official media refutes something the first reaction of many is “so it must be true”. If there comes a time when there is a real panic the damaged official credibility could end up having an accelerant effect
China’s Li Says Conditions for Growth in Place, CCTV Reports – Bloomberg Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that the conditions for the world’s second-biggest economy to achieve its growth targets are in place, China Central Television reported yesterday. The conditions exist for China to realize its economic targets for this year and for sustainable, healthy development, CCTV cited Li as saying in a meeting with leaders from central and eastern Europe. // [视频]李克强会见罗马尼亚总理和马其顿总理_新闻频道_央视网 中国经济实现今年发展目标和未来持续健康发展有基础、有条件。在这个进程中，中国将始终坚持扩大对外开放，深化与各国合作，拓展彼此发展空间。
Related: 6月新增信贷料8000亿左右 新华社——经济参考网 6月末的流动性僵局让银行业规模扩张的步伐骤然放缓。日前，《经济参考报》记者从商业银行获悉，截至6月末，工、农、中、建四大行新增信贷规模料在2300亿元左右，由此，业内普遍判断，整个6月份银行业新增贷款规模约8000亿元。而去年同期，银行新增贷款为9000亿元。此前，申银万国调研数据显示，6月前半个月，工、农、中、建四大行新增贷款接近1770亿元，随后，四大行贷款继续投放至2160亿元，信贷猛增势头明显。不过，到了6月最后一周，银行业信贷投放才开始放缓，甚至压缩。结构上看，中长期贷款较5月份回落，短期贷款和贴现票据的绝对规模和占比均出现较大幅度的提升
Related: Golden Era Fades for China’s Banks as Crunch Raises Default Risk – Bloomberg Chinese banks’ valuations are close to their lowest on record as the nation’s interbank funding crisis exacerbated investors’ concern that earnings growth will stall and defaults may surge as the economy slows. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by market value, ended Hong Kong trading last week at 5.3 times estimated earnings, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Beijing-based bank may report profit of $41 billion for 2013, according to the average of 17 analysts’ estimates. Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), with net income forecast at $20 billion, trades at 11 times earnings.
Related: Zhou Pulling China Punch Bowl Set to Shape Legacy as PBOC Chief – Bloomberg “Central bankers that pull the punch bowl — or the baijiu bowl — rarely win popularity contests in the moment,” said David Loevinger, former U.S. Treasury Department senior coordinator for China affairs, referring to the liquor consumed at Chinese banquets. “But history usually serves them well.”
China Increases Security in Restive Region – NYTimes.com it is unclear whether the Chinese government endorses the allegations of a link to Syria. No other Chinese news outlet has independently confirmed the allegations in The Global Times, and a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, did not directly respond to the report. Still, when asked on Tuesday whether China believed that separatist organizations were behind the violence, Ms. Hua said, “Please don’t harbor any doubt about the nature of the recent violent terrorist acts in Xinjiang.”
Related: Xinjiang offers rewards for tips | China Daily The Xinjiang public security department issued a notice on Tuesday offering rewards of 50,000 ($8,155) yuan to 100,000 yuan for tips that help solve violent or terrorism cases…Police also called on the public to hand in any dangerous knives, explosives and propaganda materials on terrorism or violent crimes they may have. People who do so within 10 days will be exempt from punishment, but anyone with such weapons or materials after the 10 days will face severe punishment.
Related: 新疆50厅官赴重点乡镇维稳_手机网易网 50 Xinjiang officials sent to key villages and townships as part of stability maintenance strategy…must be tough to be an official in Xinjiang // 为贯彻落实好6月28日中共中央政治局常委会议精神，进一步做好当前维护全疆稳定工作，7月1日上午，自治区党委常委（扩大）会议研究决定，从自治区厅局抽调50名正厅级领导干部赴全区50个敌社情复杂的重点乡镇开展反恐维稳工作。7月2日抽调的干部已分赴各地迅速开展工作。
China’s North Korea Policy: Backtracking from Sunnylands? | 38 North–Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt These developments, however, do not signal a fundamental change in China’s North Korea policy. Its primary concern on the Korean peninsula remains preventing armed conflict, with avoiding large-scale unrest and/or regime collapse as a close second. Although still nominally unacceptable, a de facto nuclear North Korea strategically aligned with China is easier for Beijing to stomach. China’s moves have been tactical and short-term, not strategic and lasting; they have not altered that array of priorities
China presses Japan to admit Senkaku issue – The Japan News As a condition for holding summit talks with Japan, China has asked that Japan acknowledge the existence of a territorial row between the two countries over the Senkaku Islands and said they would both shelve the issue after that, it has been learned. China’s demand apparently was aimed at changing the government’s official stance that there is no territorial issue over the Senkaku Islands. According to government sources, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told China that Japan rejects such a demand.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
China Economic Watch | Too Big to Fail: Deposit Insurance and Chinese State Banks Since 1993 the People’s Bank of China has discussed the topic of deposit insurance but no firm plans were ever released or approved. Now the plan appears to be getting closer to implementation. In May, the State Council approved deposit insurance as one of the financial reform items for the 2013 reform agenda. Then last month, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) called the implementation of deposit insurance an urgent matter in its 2013 Financial Stability Report (加快建立存款保险制度, 完善防范和化解金融风险的市场化制度保).
When the Chinese levee breaks, aluminium edition | FT Alphaville So, not only has the aluminium market been in surplus for the last seven years — driven by aggressive production expansion in China’s northern and western regions — there’s now reason to suspect output growth in Xinjiang will surprise to the upside, according to Goldman Sach’s Roger Yuan and respective team. And while China’s aluminium market posted a small deficit in the second quarter of 2013, the analysts reckon that this was mostly because China’s strategic reserve (the SRB) bought 300kt worth of metal between March and May. There were also a number of production cuts by high-cost domestic producers.
Party Department Announces New Leadership Team for COSCO Group – Caixin The Communist Party’s Organization Department announced a new leadership team for China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. (COSCO Group) at a company executive meeting on July 1, sources say. As expected, Ma Zehua, 60, general manager of the major state-owned shipping giant, will replace Wei Jiafu, 63, as chairman and party secretary of COSCO Group. Li Yunpeng, deputy general manager of COSCO Group, will become general manger.
Property Developer Sets Sail for Foreign Markets – Caixin Dalian Wanda has pinned its hopes for international success on cinemas, yachts and hotels, but critics wonder if it is heady for stormy seas
林毅夫：靠消费将使中国经济陷入危机|中国|消费|林毅夫_新浪财经_新浪网 因此，当中国的最突出和最受人尊敬的经济学家之一，世界银行前首席经济学家林毅夫日前警告说，“中国经济目前只能依靠投资拉动，依靠消费的经济政策可能将中国引入灾难”的时候，外界不免感到惊讶。“谁主张中国经济应该依靠消费，事实上谁就把中国推向了危机。我从来没有见过任何一个国家陷入危机是因为过度投资。”他说。
武汉：资金吃紧 部分棚户拆不动_财经频道_一财网 启动于2007年的青山区工人村改造工程正是当时全国最大的城市棚户区改造项目。今年5月份，国务院联合督察组还来到这里视察改造进展。本报记者实地探访发现，这项民生工程在帮助数万居民实现“麻雀变凤凰”的居住梦想的同时，仍有部分社区尚未启动棚户区改造。一名社区负责人对本报记者说，地方政府财政吃紧可能是该社区“拆不动”的一大主要原因。
三部委酝酿船舶工业“救助”计划 新华社——经济参考网 Chinese shipbuilding industry struggling, Economic Information reports that three ministries–NDRC, MOF and MIIT–are considering assistance plan for the industry…if accurate, not a good sign of resolve to deal with overcapacity… // 据记者了解，针对造船企业“无工可开”的问题，去年国家发改委、财政部和工信部等相关部委已经开始研究出台“振兴船舶工业未来三年行动计划”。该计划将对重点船舶企业给予政策支持，其中一项重要内容是将15年以上船龄的老旧船舶提前报废，国家财政将给予20%的补贴，鼓励中国船东在国内建造新船，推动中国造船业的健康发展。
造船业寒冬偏逢钱荒 熔盛重工遭讨薪_股票频道_一财网 China’s shipbuilding industry is hurting
熔盛重工拖欠工资遭工人堵门 公司紧急发放工资 | 每经网 Rongsheng Heavy Industries workers protest unpaid wages, block factory gates, company pays the back wages, pictures // 核心提示： 因熔盛重工连续拖欠职工工资、公积金和保险费用，今日该公司部分工人围堵工厂大门，要求熔盛重工支付工资。
POLITICS AND LAW
“Mass line” campaign shows CPC’s determination – Xinhua The campaign came on the heels of an “eight-point” regulation that the CPC leadership began promoting in December 2012 to ban extravagance and formalism from events attended by officials. Both the “eight-point” instruction and the “mass line” campaign are the CPC leadership’s endeavor to shoot persistent problems such as red tape, corruption and Party-people alienation among officials.
唐慧所在镇书记：维稳一个唐慧6年耗资80万元_网易新闻中心 核心提示：媒体称，唐慧是永州市零陵区富家桥镇人，据富家桥镇信访考核细则，以及相关背景和经费投入记录来看，“唐慧们”多因对司法判决不服上访，其直接结果更多的是和基层官员博弈。据富家桥镇党委书记魏斌透露，这些年单单稳控唐慧的经费，估计耗资已过80万元。
官员晋升路线图_财经频道_一财网 interesting article on “roadmap for officials’ promotions” // 36岁的副科算是“超龄”了吗？近期，有报道称，如果在35岁前不能升迁到正处级，这个官员的仕途或再无突破空间
人民日报-闯王陵前萧萧风 刘益善 (p 24) second most read story on People’s Daily online version this morning // 谒了闯王墓，参观完陈列馆，沿石级而下，回到闯王陵牌坊前，大家坐在洁净的石级上休息。正是夏日的午后，阳光被满山绿色滤净，游人不多，蝉鸣山更静。此时一阵山风吹来，松柏萧萧而动，我进入了一种幻景之中。崇祯年间，内部腐败，外患无穷，遍地旱灾蝗灾，有典籍记载，延安府，析人骨以为柴，煮人肉以为食，流民揭竿而起，李自成一支即为其一。官军围剿，驰杀疆场，进入北京，黄袍加身，忘乎所以，忘其初衷，终至败入深山，死于刁民之手，一代枭雄，尸塞石缸。这是历史，这是真实，令后人长此叹息。萧萧风声，是旌旗摇展，是厮杀声声，是人呼马啸。壮哉闯王，悲哉闯王！是真英雄，也是真悲剧。萧萧风中，历史的昭示，长将记起！
China posts top court’s judgments online – Xinhua In a bid to improve judicial transparency, China’s top court has posted its first batch of judgments online, the judicial management office of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) said Tuesday. All of the judgements made by the SPC will continue to be publicized on its official website (www.court.gov.cn/zgcpwsw), except those concerning national secrets, trade secrets or personal privacy.
Former top leader Zhou Yongkang returns to limelight amid corruption speculation | South China Morning Post State media recently reported on Zhou Yongkang’s not-so-recent trip to his alma mater earlier this year – publicity that analysts suspect was aimed at dispelling speculation of corruption surrounding the nation’s former security tsar…Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, a political scientist at City University of Hong Kong, said the Communist Party appears to be maintaining a status quo, dating back to the late 1970s, in which no member of its Standing Committee has been prosecuted.
18 years later, 5 acquitted of taxi slayings |China Daily After their arrests, four of the five – Chen Jianyang, Tian Weidong, Wang Jianping and Zhou Youping – were sentenced to death with the possibility of a reprieve in December 1997. Tian Xiaoping was sentenced to life in prison. The five would still be facing life in prison or death had it not been for a major internal crackdown by the Hangzhou police two years ago. Part of the crackdown included reviewing fingerprints for every person in the city with a criminal record.
Standing at the Crossroads – Caixin –Zhou Qiren A society with true hope is one where each generation has higher and higher expectations. Thus, reform ought to match the mainstream population’s ideal. If improvements cannot keep up with young people’s social expectations, problems will arise. Finally, because institutional variables are changing too slowly or are absent, a parallel “extra-judicial” system is taking root. In many ways, the law says one thing while people actually practice something else. Many choose not to abide by the law because it is so unreasonable, while economic regulations are so impracticable that people end up going underground to survive.
中投董事长“宝座”：迟迟没人接棒 为何虚位四个月？–时政–人民网
传王素毅包养数名女生 被情妇联名举报_网易新闻中心 Wang Yisu, Inner Mongolia official under investigation, turned in via joint expose by his mistresses? // 内蒙古自治区党委统战部部长王素毅因“严重违纪”正接受组织调查。近日，《河南日报》农村版副主编顾华在个人微博上写道，王素毅“现被情妇联名举报贪污受贿近亿元，包养女大学生女记者数名，房产数十套。安排近30名亲戚吃空饷”。
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China Takes Friendly Tone at Asean Summit to Counter U.S. Pivot – Bloomberg China may be taking a friendlier tone to isolate the Philippines over a dispute that’s seen several standoffs between Chinese and Philippine vessels. The Philippines has boosted defense ties with Japan and the Obama administration, which since 2011 sought to “pivot” toward Asia following a focus on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq under former President George W. Bush. China is “turning on a charm offensive to Asean as a whole, and at the same time making it clear that it is the Philippines that is making trouble,” said Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in the U.K.
China to join Russia for largest naval drills with foreign partner | World news | guardian.co.uk China’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that its navy would send four destroyers, two guided missile frigates and a support ship for the exercises, which start on Friday in the Sea of Japan and run until 12 July. The ships departed on Monday from the port of Qingdao, where China’s Northern Fleet is based, and headed for the rallying point in Peter the Great Bay near Vladivostok. “This marks our navy’s single biggest deployment of military force in a China-foreign joint exercise,” the ministry said.
National Review Online | Hollywood, the Nazis, and the Chi-Coms Movie moguls once collaborated with Nazis. Are they now kowtowing to Chinese Communists? A forthcoming book presents a strong case that pre–World War II Hollywood was in bed with Nazi Germany, in catering to its censorship demands. The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler, by Ben Urwand of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, uses archival material to show that Hollywood studios agreed not to make films that attacked Nazis or depicted their harsh treatment of Jews…Thank God nothing like that oily surrender of artistic freedom could happen in Hollywood today. Or is it happening today, if we look at show-business relations with the authoritarian regime in China? After all, China is a “terrific” market for Hollywood executives that has them kowtowing to Chinese censors and even jumping into self-censorship to curry favor with them. // nasty piece, still surprised Republican-controlled Congress has not called for hearings into Hollywood Studios China business
[视频]关注美国监控丑闻_新闻频道_央视网 Another CCTV Evening News update on Snowden’s disclosures and the reactions to them
Sea center looking for candidates| China Daily Liu said candidates must meet 119 basic requirements including height, weight, age, good mental health and a wide range of knowledge of mechanical engineering and the ocean. Other than age and height, Liu didn’t mention other requirement differences between male and female oceanauts. “If a person doesn’t smell good, he or she is not qualified to be an oceanaut,” Liu said. “Because of the small space of Jiaolong, the Chinese submersible, and the long hours they will spend in there, it would be a disaster.”
Foreign translators awarded for promoting Chinese culture – Xinhua | English.news.cn Ezra Vogel, an American expert on China, along with five other foreigners on Tuesday won the special book award for promoting Chinese culture around the world .The other prize winners included Italian sinologist Lionello Lanciotti, Argentinean writer Jorge E. Malena, Egyptian writer Mohsen Said Fergani and Indonesian publisher Yoza Suryawan, according to the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
TECH AND MEDIA
Qihoo a Winner in China Mobile Wars, Citigroup Says, Removes High Risk Tag – Emerging Markets Daily – Barrons.com Qihoo, with 457m PC Web users and 275m users of its mobile security products, is poised to become a mobile market leader in China, in our view. Qihoo will seize mobile walletshare via its market-leading mobile apps store which will emerge as a leading mobile games platform (growing gaming revenue much faster than the traditional client-based games market). Over the longer term, we expect Qihoo to play an additional role in the mobile ecosystem via mobile search, other targeted mobile display ads as well as via its strategy as an e-commerce aggregator. We believe that the Street has yet to factor in the company’s mobile potential and is hence taking a narrow view of Qihoo’s market potential, and that the stock will re-rate significantly as these new growth drivers emerge. // A huge embarrassment for Citron Research and other firms who were calling for this stock to go to single digits when it was around 20. Closed at 47 last night
Rumor: China to Issue Payment License to Foreign Firm | Marbridge Consulting – China Internet News According to a source close to the matter, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) will soon announce that a “foreign company has been awarded a third-party payment license, but the company will not likely be [eBay’s third-party payment platform] PayPal.” An announcement on the matter could be made as soon as this month, according to the source.
人民日报-产量连续3年保持30%以上增速，今年上半年票房超去年总和 国产动画电影是潜力股
冯小刚导演春晚未必是坏事 – 新华评论 – 新华网 Feng Xiaogang may direct the 2014 Spring Festival Gala? // 舆论支持冯小刚当春晚总导演，是呼吁春晚要有新气象的最直接体现。既然春晚取消不了，年年需要办下去，不妨步子迈得大点，交由冯小刚或别的导演尝试一下。传闻冯小刚要出任2014年春晚总导演，此消息一石激起千层浪，央视对此进行了否认，但也有媒体称从内部人士那儿得到的说法是“八九不离十”，当事人“哥只是个传说”的回应也颇具冯氏幽默，这摆明了大家心急火燎想知道究竟谁会执掌马年春晚。假若这是别有用心的炒作，那也是高明的炒作，因为当冯小刚遇到春晚，这中间的想象空间实在太大，也实在太值得期待。
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
Filial Piety, Once a Virtue in China, Is Now the Law – NYTimes.com The government enacted a law Monday aimed at compelling adult children to visit their aging parents. The law, called “Protection of the Rights and Interests of Elderly People,” has nine clauses that lay out the duties of children and their obligation to tend to the “spiritual needs of the elderly.”
《全国越野车大赛现场掠影》（入选博联影像）_无边风月看风月无边_张少毅_博联社 fun pictures of an off-road vehicle competition in Jincheng, Shanxi…still hoping for a Chinese version of “Dukes of Hazard”, though who needs moonshine when you have erguotou
多名中国游客在颐和园外墙小便引外国游客拍照_新闻_腾讯网 bad idea to use the bushes and not the bathroom at Yuanming yuan, whether Chinese or foreign, as this group of Chinese who couldn’t wait and was photographed by foreign tourists is learning // 新京报讯 (记者李雪莹)三天前，在颐和园散步的曹先生看到，十七孔桥附近十多名男性游客同时面对颐和园外墙小便，引得外国游客边摇头边拍照，曹先生拍照，并发微博批评游客不雅行为。昨日，颐和园管理处回应称，颐和园内共有150余处公厕，布局合理，如此多游客当众小便，属不文明行为。
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
马鞍山（好大一个坑 《焦点图》）_徐建平_博联社 disturbing pictures of a massive open pit mine in Ma’anshan
昆明炼油项目被指环评无公众参与应停止建设_新闻_腾讯网 南都讯 记者吴珊发自北京 昨日，自然之友、自然大学、北京市朝阳区公众环境研究中心、绿色流域等多家环保组织来到国家环保部，分别就新近公开的《中石油云南1000万吨/年炼油项目环境影响报告》及批复向该部提出行政复议申请，指出该环评报告完全没有任何公众参与的篇章，并据此要求环保部撤销环评批复。
After Serenading a Dictator, Jennifer Lopez Won’t Say If She’ll Keep the Fee | Mother Jones The event was hosted by the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), a state-owned Chinese oil and gas company based in Dongcheng District in Beijing that has seen its fair share of accidents and controversies. (CNPC did not respond to Mother Jones’ multiple requests for comment.)
BEIJING
Beijing needs 2.5m more parking lots|Society|chinadaily.com.cn In the next two years, the city will need a great number of parking spaces for at least 2.5 million cars, according to a joint analysis in Beijing. By the end of May 2013, more than 5.31 million vehicles were owned and operated in the streets and that number grew at a rate of nearly 20,000 vehicles per month.
北京本地人住房超1户1套 8成外地人居住条件差–时政–人民网 昨天，由北京工业大学、中共北京市委社会工作委员会（市社会建设办公室）、社会科学文献出版社联合出版的“社会建设蓝皮书（2013）新闻发布会”在北京举行。会议正式发布的2013年社会建设蓝皮书《北京社会建设分析报告（2013）》指出北京本地城镇户籍居民的住房质量逐步提高，住房的数量已经超过一户一套的水平。但新正式移民即2008年以后户籍迁入北京的居民住房负担沉重，住房质量较低；非正式移民即外来人口的住房条件低劣。
北京限购影响：2011年外来人口在京购房仅21948套 | 每经网 北京限购令之前，商品房的1/3被外来人口购买。限购令以后，2011年，外省市个人占期房购买者的比例只有10.1%。