Today’s Links:

THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT

China Thwarts U.S. Effort at Easing Tensions in South China Sea – Bloomberg At a regional security meeting this weekend, China rebuffed a U.S. proposal for nations involved in disputes to voluntarily cease activities that inflame tensions. The proposal, and a similar measure by the Philippines at the Asean Regional Forum in Myanmar, were aimed at breathing life into stalled talks on a code of conduct. “They are not going anywhere because the Chinese don’t see any value in it,” said Richard Bitzinger, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “Their argument is increasingly there is no reason to do this stuff. In their mind it’s a settled issue.”

Related:  China, ASEAN totally able to safeguard well South China Sea’s peace, stability: FM – Xinhua China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are totally able to safeguard well the peace and stability of South China Sea, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here Sunday. Wang, who was attending the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, made the remarks in immediate response to the so-called tense situation propagated by some countries over the South China Sea. Wang said the current situation of the South China Sea is overall steady without any problem with free navigation. Up to now, he never heard any vessel’s free voyage was affected. // Joint Communiqué 47th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting 

Related: China’s military provocation in the Pacific an accident waiting to happen | The Australian ADMIRAL Harry Harris, the Commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, has a reputation as a plain-spoken American military leader. In a long discussion with The Weekend Australian in his ­Hawaiian office this week, Harris amply fulfilled this high accolade. To render some of the take-outs in their starkest form: Harris thinks China is engaging in destabilising and provocative conduct at sea. He is worried that this could lead to an incident which escalates dangerously. He thinks the American navy can defeat any Chinese missile threat.

China’s Energetic Enforcement of Antitrust Rules Alarms Foreign Firms – NYTimes.com In what Microsoft characterized internally as “surprise visits,” the agents from China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce interrogated a company vice president and other senior managers, copied contracts and financial records, and downloaded large amounts of data from the company’s computer servers, including emails and other internal communications…Ms. Zhang, the law lecturer, noted that while antitrust cases involving foreign companies tend to grab the headlines, authorities have in many instances also gone after local and state-owned companies. To date, the biggest such case was in February 2013, when the reform commission slapped total price-fixing fines of 449 million renminbi, or about $73 million, on two of China’s leading state-owned liquor companies: Wuliangye Yibin Group and Kweichow Moutai.

Related:  Food and flirting; how firms learn to live with China antitrust raids | Reuters U.S. and European-style “dawn raids” have become a powerful weapon for China’s increasingly aggressive antitrust enforcement agencies, the NDRC and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), allowing them to seize evidence that may aid broader probes into antitrust violations or corruption. Several major foreign companies have been raided in recent months – from car and drugs manufacturers to technology firms such as U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp – as China steps up enforcement of a 2008 anti-monopoly law…”We’re seeing an increase in the sophistication of the enforcement agencies, and personnel,” said Marc Waha, a partner in the antitrust practice at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright in Hong Kong. “They’ve spent a lot of time with other agencies in Germany and Europe learning about conducting investigations and the value of onsite inspections. That’s why we’re seeing more active enforcement.”

China refutes claim of government ban on Apple purchases | Reuters The Central Government Procurement Centre, as well as the finance ministry and Apple, said the company never applied to be on the list in the first place. The list that created the confusion this week involves energy-saving products, and is just one of a multitude of government procurement lists in China. Apple has never been on that list, the company said in emailed comments on Friday, declining to give more details.

China in Africa: how Sam Pa became the middleman – FT.com For a decade, Sam Pa has opened doors for Beijing in Africa. But his story reveals a troubling side to China’s ambitions…Over the past decade, Pa has risen from obscurity to clinch deals across five continents worth tens of billions of dollars. He has helped to build from scratch a sprawling network of companies linked by common owners, directors and a registered address at 88 Queensway in Hong Kong. Those who have followed the network’s evolution have dubbed it the “Queensway group”.

Related:  The 88 Queensway Group: A Case Study in Chinese Investors’ Operations in Angola and Beyond | U.S.-CHINA Economic Security and Review Commission this report from 2009

The Last of the Gilded Citadels: Life Inside the Secretive World of Beijing’s PLA Compounds | THAT’S As the daughter of a highranking colonel in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Wang grew up in a military compound 25km northwest of Tiananmen Square. “They call me a Beijingren, and of course, technically, that’s not wrong – it’s what it says on my ID card,” she explains. “But my relationship with Beijing is closer to that of a migrant worker. I remember the very first time that I met my classmates at school in Dongcheng – real Beijing kids who talked in Beijing dialect. I realized then that I was different. I remember thinking, who am I?” To outsiders, Wang’s childhood home remains a mysterious place, surrounded by high walls and guarded at all times by armed soldiers. Inaccessible to all but select military personnel and their families, the compound receives few civilian visitors. Its whereabouts are not made visible on online maps, nor is its address publicly available.

China eyes villages in property registration – Xinhua Chinese authorities on Sunday issued a notice to step up registration of rural land use rights and property above the land, along with such efforts in cities. This is the first joint notice ever issued by five departments to stress coordinated moves for property registration in both cites and villages, as the two have been divided in various administrative measures. The five departments are the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Forestry Administration. // 城乡统一建设用地市场改革目标进一步明确 

周其仁称土地财政功不可没 遗憾的是只改了一半-搜狐财经 very interesting essay on reform by Zhou Qiren in latest Caijing magazine, based on a talk he recently gave  //  在改革的逻辑中，改革永远是两层，底层和上层。底层出现了不适应一定会想办法，不论是记者、研究者，还是观察者，一定要眼睛往下看。不要急急忙忙想什么救国大计、战略，一旦贴近地面去看，肯定会有收获。中国的改革将会一步步走下去，停不下来。过去土地不值钱，现在可以筹资了，这是挺好的一步，但是迈的步子不一样大，有的地可以卖，有的地为什么就不可以卖呢？土地如此，国企如此，垄断行业如此，只要坚持改革开放，就没有一个领域是例外。现在的问题是，改革的两个层次往往碰不到一起。在很多情况下，是底层有行动，上层没有吸纳，或者是政策挺好但不中用。因此，不论是执政者，还是理论界，需要有基本的共同信念：不能把多数老百姓放到非法的位置上去，对于底层的经验要及时地吸纳进来，变成体制的组成部分。

影视剧作品首现胡耀邦华国锋_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 New Deng Xiaoping TV series first to have Hua Guofeng and Hu Yaobang appear // 为刘少奇平反、邓小平鼓励胡耀邦针对“两个凡是”问题发表文章，胡耀邦签发《实践是检验真理的唯一标准》…电视剧《历史转折的邓小平》再现1976年粉碎“四人帮”到1984年实行全面改革开放的重要历史。周一至周五晚8点，该剧在中央电视台一套播出 // first episode of the new mini-series on Deng Xiaoping, in advance of the upcoming 110th anniversary of his birth, on Youtube

Related:  人民日报海外版：中央纪念邓小平诞辰110周年政治深意–时政–人民网 People’s Daily Overseas Edition commentator ” Xiake Dao” on political significance of the Deng miniseries, and says Leng Rong and Wang Dongming were consultants to the production  //  习近平履新不到一个月，就去了改革开放前沿——广东，并向邓小平铜像敬献花篮，已经明确表明了继续改革开放的决心。因为，三十年的实践证明，改革是最大的政治正确。十八届三中全会确立全面深改的系统工程，几乎可以看做是改革开放继90年代初之后的再出发。但同时，中央在去年也隆重纪念了毛泽东诞辰120周年，给这位共产党和共和国的缔造者应有的尊重，也是对现政权合法性的宣誓。中共绝不会蠢到像赫鲁晓夫一样，因对斯大林的全盘否定而动摇执政的根本。这是习近平的历史智慧。

Related: 蔡方华：邓小平现身荧屏，信号灯再度点亮_共识网 Cai Fanghua on the political signaling of the Deng Xiaoping miniseries, hopeful that this a positive sign for reform  //  即使在我这个年龄的人看来，《历史转折中的邓小平》也是一部很开放、很“惊悚”的电视剧。说它开放，是因为电视剧中出现了华国锋（很多年轻人都不知道他是谁），据说以后还会出现胡耀邦。这两个敏感的历史人物在电视剧中的“脱敏”，让人尤其感觉意味深长..最近半年多来，反腐败斗争持续深入地开展，不少“大老虎”的落马引起了舆论的热烈讨论。从议程设置看，执政党所发起的这一轮反腐败，不仅是要清除自身机体上的毒瘤，更是要扫除改革道路上的障碍，从而为不断进入深水区的改革打下牢固的政治基础。反腐仍应深入，斗争或将持续，但全面深化改革的议题同样不应旁置。《历史转折中的邓小平》的播出，或许就是改革再上征程的信号。

BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE

China Loosens Monetary Conditions in Test of Credit Power – Bloomberg Bloomberg’s new China Monetary Conditions Index — a weighted average of loan growth, real interest rates and China’s real effective exchange rate — rose 6.71 points to 82.81 in the second quarter from the previous three months. That’s the biggest jump since the July-September period of 2012, with May and June’s numbers the first back-to-back readings above 80 since January 2012.

China Inflation Remains Below Annual Target – Bloomberg The consumer price index rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in Beijing yesterday, the same pace as in June and also the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Factory-gate prices fell 0.9 percent, matching projections and extending the longest stretch of declines since 1999.

China PBOC Economist Says Will Exit FX Market Interventions | MNI The People’s Bank of China will allow more market voices in deciding the yuan exchange rate and will exit day-to-day interventions in the market, Jun Ma, chief economist of the central bank’s research department, said Friday. Market interventions are only conducted when the exchange rate’s movements exceed the regulated range, when the authorities see a big imbalance in the capital account or a financial markets crisis, the former Deutsche Bank economist said.

China issues emergency order to freeze new cement, glass | Reuters The statement, which was carried on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) website www.miit.gov.cn, ordered industrial regulatory departments around the country not to approve any new projects in the steel or plate glass sectors “for any reason”. China’s State Council, the country’s cabinet, made a similar decree in October 2013, in which it mandated a freeze on cement and glass among other industries, but analysts have said that governments and government-connected firms have still tried to evade the freezes and even build new projects.

U.S. Steel Rebound Undermined by China Exports: Chart of the Day – Bloomberg A nascent recovery in steel prices for U.S. producers is being undermined by a flood of cheap exports from China, where output keeps rising even as local demand weakens, according to MEPS International Ltd.

China Focus: China advances property tax reforms amid slowdown – Xinhua A legislation plan to establish a property sector taxation system will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, later this year, Jia Kang, director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science under China’s Ministry of Finance, said at a forum on Friday. Given the progress, the country is likely to complete the legislation process for the taxation system by the end of 2016, and related taxes will be implemented in 2017, Jia said.

习近平两提“新常态” 《人民日报》连续3天发文阐释-新华网 随着2014上半年重要经济数据的公布，舆论对经济形势的分析解读也逐渐升温。8月5日、6日、7日，《人民日报》连续三天在头版位置刊登了“新常态下的中国经济”系列评论，以《经济形势闪耀新亮点》、《经济运行呈现新特征》和《经济发展迈入新阶段》为题，对中国经济形势进行了多角度的分析，具体阐释了“中国经济新常态”的内容和意义。

Rhodium Group » China’s Outlook – Now and in 2020 How does economic reform relate to China’s future economic growth potential? How big a difference does the difficult undertaking of changing the rules of the marketplace make? The answer determines whether the risks associated with reform are really worth it. In our analysis of China’s continuing growth prospects, we put the growth outlook together in a transparent way, and include scenarios for what happens if reform falls short. We find that Beijing can hope to deliver 6% annual growth come 2020 – if it does everything right. Checking with Chinese officials we find they come to the same conclusion – as do IMF economists in their new calculations. If reform comes up short, the story is more dire and China can only look forward to 1-3% GDP growth six years from now. Chinese officials share that view, and recognize that social stability is tough at those levels, which is why they are so intent on changing business as usual today.

ICBC executive sued by ex-employer Deutsche Bank over US$4 million transfer | South China Morning Post A top executive of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is being sued by his former employer over the transfer of US$3.9 million to an offshore company, a High Court writ shows. The lawsuit demands that Zhang Hongli, now senior executive vice-president of ICBC, pay Deutsche Bank more than US$6.3 million as compensation for all losses plus interest. Zhang, also known as Lee Zhang, held senior positions in Deutsche Bank from 2001 to 2010.// Lee Zhang tells Caixin he did nothing wrong 【独家】张红力回复：通过法律途径解决与前雇主的法律纠纷 

郑州取消楼市限购 买房无需提供住房套数证明_网易新闻中心-网易新闻客户端 Zhengzhou the latest city to end housing purchase restrictions  //  河南商报：【即日起郑州取消限购】8月9日晚上20点整，记者从郑州市房管局获悉，经报请上级部门批准，自即日起，在郑州市市内五区、郑东新区购买住房时不再需要提供住房套数证明以及居住、纳税和社保等情况证明。

福建救市猛药背后：房地产“大而不能倒”_财经频道_一财网 Fujian pushes banks to relax mortgage loans beyond what CBRC has rules..sign of desperation about the real estate market?  //  福建对于房贷的首套房认定、要求银行低限放贷，都突破了银监局规定，充分反映福建省对于当前紧缩的房贷很着急，急于大幅放松。

Upstart in China Rides High on I.P.O. Crest – NYTimes.com “The vision of China Renaissance is really to identify these top entrepreneurs and build a relationship with them early on and grow with them,” Mr. Bao said. A diminutive 43-year-old who trains in mixed martial arts and prefers designer shirts open at the collar to ties, Mr. Bao was born in Shanghai to parents who worked in the government. “Nothing senior, I’m not one of the princelings,” he is quick to add, referring to the children of China’s political and business elite.

China developer buys Robinsons-May site in Beverly Hills – LA Times Wanda Group — China’s largest commercial property developer and owner of the AMC theater chain — said Friday it has bought the site of the former Robinsons-May department store in Beverly Hills and will invest $1.2 billion to build a mixed-use development on the plot. No sales price was revealed.

POLITICS AND LAW

【说反腐 谈法治——展望四中全会】之一田文昌谈周永康案与四中全会_政经频道_财新网 Caixin interviews Tian Wenchang about the Zhou Yongkang case and upcoming 4th plenum  //  8月1日，著名刑辩律师、京都律师事务所创始人、名誉主任田文昌就此主题接受财新等记者的采访。谈话内容整理如下，内文标题系编者所加。

习近平：法治是治国理政的基本方式_国内_新京报网 The Beijing News on Xi Jinping and “rule of law” and upcoming fourth plenum  //  今年10月召开中共十八届四中全会，将聚焦“依法治国”。改革开放以来历次党的全会中，以“依法治国”作为主题还是党史上首次。十八大至今，习近平的治国理政思路，“依法治国”贯穿其中，强调“宪法高于一切”、司法机关依法独立行使职权、重大改革都要于法有据、用法治思维和法治方式反腐。

传达学习中央领导小组会议精神审议整改落实建章立制环节工作指导意见_新浪新闻 本报讯（记者 张宏平）8月7日上午，省委党的群众路线教育实践活动领导小组在成都召开会议。省委书记、省委教育实践活动领导小组组长王东明主持会议并讲话。省委副书记、领导小组副组长柯尊平出席。 　　会议传达学习中央教育实践活动领导小组近期有关会议精神，听取我省第二批教育实践活动查摆问题、开展批评环节工作汇报，审议通过整改落实、建章立制工作指导意见，对以狠准韧劲头解决“四风”突出问题、实打实解决关系群众切身利益问题、下大力气解决联系服务群众“最后一公里”问题、坚持务实管用建章立制、持续深入碰硬推进正风肃纪、进一步加强组织领导等，作出部署。

China’s inexorable drive into Central Asia | China in Central Asia For anyone trying to understand China’s foreign policy under Xi Jinping, it is in Central Asia that the first glimmers of understanding can be found. The larger focus on border diplomacy and its short and medium-term impacts and consequences can all be found in Central Asia where China is rapidly becoming the most influential player on the ground. The region is being re-wired so that all roads go to China, and the economics are slowly becoming increasingly dependent on China. The longer-term implications of this shift have yet to be completely understood, but they will likely strike a path that we will slowly see China following along its other economic corridors.

China’s far west: A Chechnya in the making | The Economist The tragedy is that the government could end up proving itself right—by making jihadism the core of the Uighurs’ militancy. For now the violence is fuelled principally by a welter of home-grown grievances and is strikingly amateurish: rarely are the perpetrators armed with anything more than knives. But in recent months the violence has been morphing, spreading beyond the region itself and taking on some of the hues of jihadism elsewhere—through suicide-attacks and indiscriminate killing of civilians.

Ethnic unrest: Spreading the net | The Economist Few Uighurs, however, sympathise with the authorities’ controls on their religion. The latest violence erupted at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, during which officials put pressure on teachers, students and civil servants not to observe fasting rituals. Philip Potter of the University of Michigan argues that in the long run, Chinese leaders “have painted themselves into a corner”, deepening the divide between themselves and the Uighurs they govern. Worsening unrest seems certain.

新形势下做好民族工作的行动指南 来源： 《求是》2014/15     作者： 中共国家民委党组 Party Committee of State Ethnic Affairs Commission in latest “Qiushi” on a guide for ethnic affairs work in the “new situation”

以学习贯彻总书记重要批示精神为动力 弘扬“两路”精神开创治边稳藏新局面|党建|党组织_凤凰资讯 on studying Xi’s recent comments about developing Tibet

Beyond the Dalai Lama: An Interview with Woeser and Wang Lixiong by Ian Johnson | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books Wang Lixiong: I think the government in exile hasn’t used its brains at all. It’s still traveling the world, meeting people, and shaking hands. It’s completely useless. Instead, the emphasis should be on the people inside Tibet and helping them determine their future. In the past, the people of Tibet have just waited, hoping the Dalai Lama would take care of everything. But he hasn’t and instead you have more and more Chinese arriving in Lhasa, eating their spicy food, drinking liquor, and playing mahjong. There are two Tibets. One is the Tibet outside the borders and the other is the Tibet inside the borders. The Tibet inside the borders has no voice and no representatives. Abroad you have a few hundred thousand people but are they really the representatives of the Tibetan people?

奋力谱写新疆社会稳定和长治久安新篇章 2014年07月31日 07:31:12 来源： 《求是》2014/15     作者： 张春贤 Zhang Chunxian in latest “Qiushi” on creating stability and peace in Xinjiang

新疆网民翻墙发暴恐谣言被拘 称武警轰炸莎车3个村_新闻_腾讯网 man in Urumqi arrested for making up reports of huge casualties in the recent violence in Yarkand…report says he went over the Great Firewall and ultimately his fabricated report was picked up by the World Uighur Congress…Beijing would do itself a service by allowing more transparency into what is going on in Xinjiang..otherwise hard not to lose the media war as most believe whatever Beijing says can’t be true

China Focus: 18 Xinjiang terrorist rioting suspects surrender – Xinhua Eighteen suspects in last month’s fatal terrorist attack in Shache County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, have surrendered to police after a major campaign encouraging the public to expose them, the regional government said on Sunday. The attack on July 28 in southern Xinjiang left 37 civilians dead and another 13 injured. A gang armed with knives and axes attacked a police station and government offices in Elixku Township, and some moved onto Huangdi Township, attacking civilians and smashing vehicles as they passed. Police shot dead 59 of the attackers and arrested 215 others, confiscating banners proclaiming “holy war.”

China Arrests Four for Spreading Online Rumors Amid Clampdown – Bloomberg The suspects used social-networking services to spread rumors or had forwarded rumors published on foreign websites, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported today. These rumors included predictions of an earthquake in Beijing and gunshots being heard in the west of the city, the news agency said.

天津原公安局长武长顺专利迷局：发明信号灯遍布全城-时政频道-新华网 Tianjin police chief reportedly taken down for dirty dealings around LED traffic lights on which he held patents that were then installed around the city..CCDI inspection team also found all sorts of problems in Tianjin..wonder how current PBSC member and previous head of Tianjin Zhang Gaoli feels about all this // 天津纪检系统、政法系统干部透露，武长顺是在中央巡视组对天津进行巡视后落马的，或涉及利用其多项专利在天津智能交通建设及与交通相关的领域中牟取不当利益。 　　武长顺申请了35项专利，其中的34项与智能交通等领域相关。1999年后，武长顺部分专利被大规模用于天津的交通领域。 　　天津是2014年首轮被巡视地区之一。7月8日、9日，中央第五巡视组先后向天津市委书记和天津市领导班子进行了巡视反馈。 　　巡视组反馈的主要问题包括：在党风廉政建设和反腐败工作方面，国有企业大案要案频发，城市建设领域腐败问题突出，“一把手”违法违纪案件多危害大。// CCDI website Sunday 8.10 on Tianjin preparations for second round of inspections 天津部署今年第二批巡视工作 探索专项巡视 

Xi Jinping’s wider ambitions in rooting out graft | South China Morning Post Wang Xiangwei’s column this week  //  His rapid consolidation of power would not have been successful without a cross section of support from party elites, including ex-president Jiang Zemin, who is still believed to wield strong influence behind the scenes. Party elites are also likely to support a strong leader after witnessing what happens when there isn’t one. Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, failed to exercise control over the nine-member standing committee, giving rise to the saying: “Each of the nine dragons ruled their fiefdom without a clear leader”. This has been widely blamed for the lack of any major reform drive and the rapid rise of official corruption during Hu’s 10-year reign. The argument that Xi’s anti-corruption drive is no more than a power grab also fails to appreciate his political ambitions. As a son of a former reformist party leader, Xi appears to harbour grand ambitions to shape his political legacy on a par with that of Deng, who put China on the path of reform and opening-up.

中纪委：“公款送月饼”将点名道姓曝光-时政频道-新华网 CCDI again destroys the dreams of moon cake vendors everywhere, says will publicly name officials who use official funds to gift them…mid-Autumn festival just a month away

网信办：下半年全面推动政务微信公共账号设立|微信_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 SIIO says big push for official government accounts on Wechat coming in H2 2014

别让谣言污染“朋友圈”（人民论坛）–IT–人民网 People’s daily page 4 Monday on rumors and Wechat…crackdown just getting started

Peter Humphrey trial: GlaxoSmithKline to blame, says son – Telegraph GSK hired Mr Humphrey and his wife in March 2013 for “Project Scorpion”, an investigation into 49-year-old Vivian Shi, a former employee that it suspected of a smear campaign against its China boss, Mark Reilly. Ms Shi, whose father was a high-ranking government official at Shanghai’s Health bureau, had been fired the previous December for allegedly falsifying her travel expenses. But GSK suspected she was also to blame for 23 anonymous emails to various Chinese government offices alleging that bribery was rife in the company and endorsed by the senior management.

In China, British Investigator Hired by Glaxo, and Wife, Sentenced to Prison – NYTimes.com The court said Mr. Humphrey would be deported after he serves his term of two and a half years. The couple was also ordered to pay about $55,000 in combined fines, and Ms. Yu was sentenced to a two-year term. They can appeal.

FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS

总政要求抵制干扰军改错误言论 防政治自由主义_新闻_腾讯网 PLA General Political Department out with propaganda education outline on deepening military reform…per headline demands resistance to incorrect statements that interfere with reform and to “political liberalism”  //  本报北京8月10日电 总政治部日前印发《深化国防和军队改革宣传教育提纲》，要求全军和武警部队认真学习贯彻党中央、中央军委和习主席决策指示，坚决拥护改革、积极支持改革、自觉投身改革。

China and Japan talk in Myanmar on easing political tensions – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Japan to “make practical efforts to overcome existing political obstacles between the two sides” during an informal meeting with his Japanese counterpart during an ASEAN summit in Myanmar. According to a statement posted on the website of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Aug. 10, Wang met Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Naypyidaw on Aug. 9. It gave no further details.

INSIGHT: Abe, Xi might just pull off 1st summit in Beijing in November – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun Signs of a rapprochement emerged after former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met secretly with Xi late last month to convey Abe’s eagerness to hold a summit. Fukuda, who is known for his close ties with the top Chinese leadership, visited China from July 27 to 29. After the talks, Fukuda and Xi agreed that both nations should patch things up and work together in an array of fields, including the development of natural resources and environmental technology. The talks apparently took place without input from the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministries. Instead, top level officials of the Chinese Communist Party got involved, while Fukuda used his own network of diplomatic contacts to set up the meeting with Xi.

INTERVIEW/ Wu Jianmin: Calm, rational diplomacy serves China’s interest – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun While China playing hardball over the South China Sea and other issues is fueling tension with the United States and with neighboring nations, criticism still remains loud within the country that Beijing’s diplomatic approach is “weak-kneed.” In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, Wu Jianmin, a longtime spokesman of China’s diplomatic arm and a moderate who formerly served as president of the China Foreign Affairs University, explained what is making Beijing take the strong stance.

2014-08-08期 曝外国间谍云集丹东 公开策反中方人员 – 高清在线观看 – 腾讯视频 “many foreign spies in Dandong” on North Korea border says this report // 专家称，丹东地处中朝边界，国外记者外交官，甚至国外情报人员，在朝鲜有重大事件时，就会云集到丹东搜集情报，有正常采访的，也有通过非法渠道窃取情报，甚至公开策反中方人员。

学好强军理论 干好强军事业 2014年07月31日 07:31:20 来源： 《求是》2014/15     作者： 许其亮

China Looks to High-Speed Rail to Expand Reach – NYTimes.com The latest setback in Myanmar was not all bad news for China. With considerable gusto, the new junta in Thailand gave approval on Aug. 1 for two Chinese high-speed rail projects that had been shelved because of financing difficulties under the previous government. The head of the junta, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced the revival of plans that call for more than 620 miles of rail links from Thailand to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, by 2021. In all, China wants to build thousands of miles of track that will loop through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia and head south to Singapore as part of a grand trans-Asian rail accord signed by nearly 20 Asian countries in 2006.

Many Chinese economic fugitives still at large in US – World – Chinadaily.com.cn “The US has become the top destination for Chinese fugitives fleeing the law,” said Liao Jinrong, director general of the International Cooperation Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security…”We face practical difficulties in getting fugitives who fled to the US back to face trial due to the lack of an extradition treaty and the complex and lengthy legal procedures, ” Liao said. He said an extradition treaty is essential between the countries but little progress has been made with the US. Moreover, experts said, US judicial authorities misunderstand the Chinese judicial system and procedures.

Text – H.R.5379 – 113th Congress (2013-2014): China Human Rights Protection Act of 2014 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress sponsored by Rep Chris Smith, as with most bills, highly unlikely to pass into law..also includes reciprocity over the journalist visa issue  //  To impose sanctions on individuals that are responsible for the commission of serious and ongoing violations of human rights or gross violations of human rights against nationals of the People’s Republic of China or their family members, to protect universal freedoms in the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.

Accounts of Confucius Institute-ordered censorship at Chinese studies conference @insidehighered Marshall Sahlins, one of the leading critics of the Confucius Institutes and the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of Chicago, said the incident brings to light the Confucius Institute’s seriousness in enforcing its contractual provisions stating that programming under its name must abide by Chinese laws and regulations – which would, he noted, encompass a wide range of restrictions on speech.  “Moreover they’re going to enforce them the way they do in China which is not so much by going to court… but simply by fiat,” Sahlins said.

They Shoot Satellites, Don’t They?–Foreign Policy–James Lewis Hit-to-kill is really just an advanced defense technology. There is a lot of talk about China pursuing “asymmetric” technologies to threaten the United States. But this is a case where China’s interest is totally symmetric. The Chinese are interested in hit-to-kill for the same reasons as the United States is. In fact, the Chinese are probably doubly interested because they don’t want to be left behind as the United States develops an important new defense technology that can be used to intercept anything — airplanes, missiles, and satellites. China might have shot down a missile during its last test, but it is really building up a broad technological capability that can be used for any number of missions.

TECH AND MEDIA

iDreamSky Co-founder Jeff Lyndon Talks About IPO As Company Stock Begins Trading on Nasdaq | TechNode Whilst Chinese tech companies flock to the U.S. stock market this year, Chinese game publisher iDreamSky also made its mark on the 2014 IPO market. One month after filling for U.S. IPO, iDreamSky (DSKY: NASDAQ) stock began trading yesterday, offering 7.7 million American depositary shares at an initial public offering of US$15.00, above the preliminary US$12.00 to US$14.00 price range. The stock closed up 7% at US$16.05 per share on Aug. 7. Through the IPO the company raised US$115 million and reached a market valuation of approximately US$$695 million.

China’s “silicon valley” to expand – Xinhua Zhongguancun, China’s iconic technology park, is to expand out of the capital under the coordinated development initiative for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. A recent agreement between Beijing and Tianjin should mean construction of the Binhai-Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park in Tianjin Binhai New Area, a special economic development zone, can get underway. The park will combine Zhongguancun’s innovation drive and Binhai New Area’s policy priority. Another Zhongguancun science and technology park is being considered in Qinhuangdao, a port city in Hebei Province.

Alibaba Profit Growth Boosts China Internet Valuations – Bloomberg Online companies including Vipshop Holdings Ltd. (VIPS), a fashion retailer, and YY Inc. (YY), a social entertainment website, have led gains this year on the Bloomberg China-US Equity Index. The gauge, with about half of its members focused on web business, trades at 18 times forward earnings, near a four-year high reached July 28 and up from a multiple of 11 in February.

Alibaba’s land speculation under guise of e-commerce｜｜WantChinaTimes Jack Ma stands in front of the Alibaba logo, Nov. 12, 2013. (Photo/Xinhua) Cainiao Network Technology Company, jointly developed by Alibaba and several delivery firms and financial institutions, has started building Alibaba founder Jack Ma a smart logistics empire through acquiring lands in large quantities, a move that may turn sour with land speculation, reports Shanghai-based IT Times.

Alibaba Tells Media Watchdog about Tech Magazine’s ‘Organized Extortion’ – Caixin Net titan says IT Times and an affiliated website are trying to get it to pay to stop negative coverage ahead of New York listing

China’s Alibaba Is Not Investing in Snapchat | Re/code More indicative of its intentions: Alibaba has been on a hiring spree of late to put in place a solid U.S.-based team that will better interface with Wall Street and government regulators, especially given possible controversy around its Chinese origins. As an aside, it is somewhat amusing that soon-to-be-rich Alibaba is now getting named as a possible investor or acquirer of a number of U.S. companies. Just FYI, while a number of bigger transactions here may come much later, it’s not buying Yahoo or eBay today. Nor should it if it wants this public offering to go smoothly.

Internet giant Baidu flagged in China porn crackdown – Xinhua The warning came after investigations by Beijing’s cultural administrative authorities confirmed public tip-offs that some accounts on Baidu Cloud (pan.baidu.com) contained obscene and pornographic content, said a statement released Sunday by Beijing’s anti-pornography and anti-illegal publications office. According to the office, the company has been warned against slack supervision of its storage service and urged to “promptly delete all files in question, shut down accounts uploading such content and present a report on its clean-up effort.” Calls to Baidu went unanswered, but a red-letter anti-pornography slogan at pan.baidu.com led to a post at its forum saying that the company had started to check users’ shared files for questionable content.

百度游戏证实副总监廖俊被带走协助调查|百度游戏|廖俊_互联网_新浪科技_新浪网 Baidu discovers its game vp is on the take, reports him to police, he has been taken away by PSB for investigation 

SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY

What Happens When A Beijing Man Invites Women Into His Lamborghini? | WFSU The video has been viewed more than 4 million times, according to Web figures, and chatting with young people here in Shanghai, it seems at least half had watched it. That includes Wang Xinyu, a recent high school grad, who was out strolling with her boyfriend earlier this week. “This experiment really says one thing: Nowadays, when girls see men driving luxury cars, they will fall for them,” says Wang. “They probably thought people driving luxury cars must be very rich, and who knows, maybe they can be with them and be happy the rest of their lives.”

曝某中超球员涉案郭美美卖淫 至少已交易两次_体育_腾讯网 which famous Chinese soccer player allegedly paid Guo Meimei 300k HKD and 50k RMB for a night of love? Guo Meimei the poster child for anti-Socialist values and Internet bad behavior…

Film-maker defies China’s censors to reveal horrors of the Great Famine | World news | The Observer Hu Jie’s documentaries tells story of students whose criticisms of Maoist excesses cost them their lives

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH

Li Hu, AIDS Activist, Dies in Beijing – NYTimes.com In an eloquent message of support for the rights of people with H.I.V./AIDS in China, as many as hundreds gathered Friday morning at You’an Hospital in Beijing to say farewell to Li Hu, a campaigner who died on Wednesday. Mr. Li, who turned 40 on Tuesday, died of complications from the disease. He is survived by three siblings, his parents and his partner, according to friends.