"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Apologies for the long absence but between vacation and then a nasty stomach bug it just wasn’t happening.
The big news of course has been the protests in Hong Kong, well-covered by just about every foreign correspondent in China who went to the city as well as countless pundits and bloggers.
The protests have shrunk significantly if perhaps temporarily, the authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing have so far showed relative restraint (the South China Morning Post reports the decision to use tear gas one evening was made by the commander at the scene, not by the Hong Kong Chief Executive), and representatives from the demonstrators and the Hong Kong government are to meet Friday for talks, though no one seems to expect them to deliver anything close to what the protestors have been demanding.
It seems likely that the protests will surge again, and if you are looking for possible dates October 20-23, when the Communist Party of China (CPC) holds the Fourth Plenum of the 18th Party Congress in Beijing, or early November when Beijing hosts the APEC summit could be big dates for the protest movement.
One of the much discussed issues in the mass of punditry about the protests is whether or not Beijing will eventually act as it did in 1989. I will guess that such a violent conclusion is very unlikely but that the possibility should not be totally dismissed. Among the official media coverage that ramped up over the October holiday week, perhaps the most alarming was the use of “color revolution” on the front page of the People’s Daily on October 4th to describe the protests.
The last thing Xi Jinping will allow to happen is any sort of weakening on China’s peripheries, as Beijing views Gorbachev did with the USSR’s satellites Eastern Europe. “Color Revolution” is an existential fear for the CPC and if Xi really believes there is the potential for one in Hong Kong then all bets are off, no matter the economic and international damage. Fortunately it looks like we are still a long way from that, and Beijing is now much more sophisticated than it was in 1989 in how it manages demonstrations, in part because it has a broader arsenal of measures it can use to dial up the pressure on protestors.
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
Hong Kong Officials and Protesters Agree on Talks on Democracy – NYTimes.com Hong Kong’s government and the student groups responsible for huge protests that have attracted worldwide attention agreed on Tuesday to hold negotiations on the future of democracy here, but some students immediately expressed disappointment at the narrow range of the planned discussions. In a preliminary session late Tuesday, government negotiators and student leaders agreed that the formal talks set to begin on Friday would address how to change the electoral system, within the framework of the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that governs Hong Kong
Related: China has not gone back on HK agreements with UK: former Thatcher aide – Xinhua “Hong Kong has very extensive autonomy, far greater than we believed actually could be achieved when the Hong Kong joint declaration with China was negotiated,” Charles Powell, former private secretary to Thatcher during the 1980s, told British BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend on Sunday. “They have far better conditions, including political conditions than any other city in China, but the bottom line is — they are a city in China,” said Powell, who was a key foreign policy advisor to Thatcher when Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China. He added that protesters in the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong are “unrealistic.”
Related: Retail sales crash 40pc over holiday period, says management group poll | South China Morning Post Retailers reported a decline in sales of between 30 per cent and 40 per cent in the first five days following the National Day holiday on October 1. And flat growth in tourism and the Occupy Central protests in key shopping areas are to blame, according to a Hong Kong Retail Management Association poll released yesterday.
Hong Kong erupts even as China tightens screws on civil society – The Washington Post One foreign policy expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject, said Putin had called Xi to share his concern about the West’s role in Ukraine. Those concerns appear to have filtered down into conversations held over cups of tea in China, according to civil society group members. “They are very concerned about Color Revolutions, they are very concerned about what is going on in Ukraine,” said the international NGO manager, whose organization is partly financed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), blamed here for supporting the protests in Kiev’s central Maidan square. “They say, ‘Your money is coming from the same people. Clearly you want to overthrow China.’ ”// surprised this article makes no mention of the NED grant below
Related: China (Hong Kong) | National Endowment for Democracy 2012-National Democratic Institute for International Affairs $460,000 To foster awareness regarding Hong Kong’s political institutions and constitutional reform process and to develop the capacity of citizens – particularly university students – to more effectively participate in the public debate on political reform, NDI will work with civil society organizations on parliamentary monitoring, a survey, and development of an Internet portal, allowing students and citizens to explore possible reforms leading to universal suffrage.
Related: Infographics on Hong Kong Protests Are Circulated in China – NYTimes.com Moving more confidently to shape the narrative around the pro-democracy demonstrations that have swept Hong Kong for more than a week, Chinese state television has broadcast a detailed infographic on the Occupy Central movement, rendered in trendy, matte shades of brown, orange and blue, and presenting the movement as illegal and backed by “foreign forces,” principally the United States.
Related: 美智库研究员称占中计划数月前已在美国规划好_新闻_腾讯网 外媒近日报道，美国政治智库Land Destroyer的研究员卡塔卢奇（Tony Cartalucci），在该智库的网志上撰文爆料称，香港民主党创党主席李柱铭和前政务司司长陈方安生，早在今年4月访美时，已和美国国务院辖下的美国国家民主基金会（NED）及美国国际民主研究院（NDI）开会，阐述“占中”行动的计划、参与人物及诉求等。卡塔卢奇形容，这场行动在示威者真正上街参与前几个月，已在美国的干预下计划好。//this article purportedly showing a US role in developing the Hong Kong protests has gotten a lot of play in Chinese media, and it is not hard to convince people that foreign forces are at work in Hong Kong as part of their overall plan to keep China down…
China Expects Heavy Casualties as Earth Quake Hits Yunnan – Bloomberg China said it’s expecting “great casualties and heavy losses” from a strong earthquake that shook Yunnan province in the nation’s southwest, with the toll now given as 1 dead and 38 injured. The 6.6-magnitude quake at 9:49 p.m. local time yesterday 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) below the surface in Jinggu county, China Earthquake Administration said in a statement. The epicenter is about 460 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital, Kunming, where the quake was felt.
China Voice: “Mass-line” a persistent requirement for CPC – Xinhua When the Communist Party of China’s (CPC’s) leadership launched the “mass-line” campaign last year, some people predicted that it would pass quickly like a gust of wind. But as the campaign nears its end, one and half years of action and results have shown that “mass line” is not empty words and the CPC is determined to make long-term efforts to root out the soil where questionable life and work styles grow. This is key to strengthening the Party’s ties with the people.
Related: Facts & Figures: CPC’s “mass line” campaign wraps up with achievements – Xinhua Based on arrangements made at the 18th National Congress of the CPC in November 2012, the campaign was scheduled from June 2013 to September 2014, with an aim of cultivating closer ties with the people. The CPC wants the campaign to bring a “thorough cleanup” of undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, which are believed to have eroded the Party and damaged the relations between the government and the masses. The following are some facts and figures on the campaign’s implementation and results of the clean-up // Page 1 of Wednesday’s People’s Daily 党的群众路线教育实践活动取得实实在在成效
Related: 人民日报任仲平：标注共产党人的精神坐标|任仲平|教育实践活动_新浪新闻 very long Wednesday People’s daily piece by “Ren Zhongping” on the Mass line Education Campaign…bottom 1/3 of page 1. half of page 2
Related: 党的群众路线教育实践活动的成功经验与重要启示 “Qiu Shi” in latest “Seeking Truth” on the success of and learnings from the Mass Line Education campaign//《求是》2014/19 作者： 秋 石 字号：【 大 中 小 】 核心要点： ■ 在任何时候任何情况下，与人民同呼吸共命运的立场不能变，全心全意为人民服务的宗旨不能忘，群众是真正英雄的历史唯物主义观点不能丢。 ■ 对准焦距、找准穴位、抓住要害，不能“走神”，不能“散光”，不能表面上热热闹闹，实际上用形式主义反对形式主义，影响活动健康发展。 ■ 从中央到部门和地方主要领导亲自抓、负全责、作表率，是这次党的群众路线教育实践活动的一大鲜明特色和成功经验。 ■ 要真正解决问题，就要有抛开面子、揭短亮丑的勇气，有动真碰硬、敢于交锋的精神，有深挖根源、触动灵魂的态度。 ■ 始终绷紧作风建设这根弦，做得好的，要不骄不躁，继续做下去；做得不到位的，要不怕阵痛，痛改前非，而且不要再复发。
Chinatown’s Kitchen Network There are more than forty thousand Chinese restaurants across the country—nearly three times the number of McDonald’s outlets. There is one in Pinedale, Wyoming (population 2,043), and one in Old Forge, New York (population 756); Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania (population 1,085), has three. Most are family operations, staffed by immigrants who pass through for a few months at a time, living in houses and apartments that have been converted into makeshift dormitories. The restaurants, connected by Chinese-run bus companies to New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, make up an underground network—supported by employment agencies, immigrant hostels, and expensive asylum lawyers—that reaches back to villages and cities in China, which are being abandoned for an ideal of American life that is not quite real.
Dim Sums: Rural China Economics and Policy: Xi Jinping Endorses GMO Technology Chinese President Xi Jinping apparently has stepped in to quell public angst about genetically modified foods by endorsing transgenic technology for agricultural products. The endorsement came as part of a speech on agricultural issues he gave in December 2013 that was not previously released to the public. He began the speech by relating his personal experience of hunger. He recounted how he himself went hungry during the “three years of natural disaster.” As a primary school student he often had nothing to eat but soup. Later, when he was sent to the countryside as a young man during the cultural revolution he was often hungry, going for months without a taste of meat or a drop of cooking oil.
Near Flight Collision Prompts China-U.S. to Start Talks – Bloomberg The move to defuse tensions comes after the Pentagon labeled as “unsafe and unprofessional” the Chinese intercept of a Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft near Hainan Island — one of several recent close calls. The talks, to start this month, will occur as China prepares to host President Barack Obama and 18 other heads of state in November for an Asian-Pacific summit. “We are trying to prevent — both sides are trying to prevent — accidents, miscalculations, quick escalations of problems,” said Robert Work, deputy secretary of defense, describing a growing web of military ties. “We’re looking for a China that accepts that the United States is a Pacific power.”
Q. and A.: Scott Moore on Moving China’s Water from South to North – NYTimes.com There are two what I regard as good arguments for the project, and here I’m speaking as an impartial observer. Virtually every society has dealt with similar challenges of maldistribution of water versus economic development by relying on long-distance water diversions. If you look at the Western United States, you have the All-American Canal, you have the California State Water Project, which basically did the same thing. Israel has it on a smaller scale. The point is that every society has done this, so it’s not unreasonable to think that China would do the same. The second thing is that there are plenty of people in the environmental community in China who actually believe that this project is going to save the Yellow River. And from a hydrological point of view, it’s possible it will.
Related: AP－Drought worsens China’s long-term water crisis The country’s climate is also warming, particular in its populous northeast where rain levels have fallen, according to a 2011 study by Chinese, French and British researchers. Meanwhile, the country’s south has seen its rainfall concentrated in shorter bursts, which has made it harder to predict water supplies. As a result, per capita water availability in the megacities of Beijing and Shanghai as well as their surrounding provinces equals that of dry Middle Eastern countries such as Israel and Jordan, said Feng Hu, a water analyst with the Hong Kong-based research group China Water Risk. By comparison, the average U.S. household has access to nearly five times more available water than Chinese households do.
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
Picture mixed over anti-foreigner bias of Chinese regulator – FT.com The NDRC argues that it is too overwhelmed with its mounting workload to organise a conspiracy against foreign companies. Compared with its US and European peers, the regulator’s price supervision and anti-monopoly bureau is inexperienced and understaffed, although it has been beefing up manpower over recent years. To address these weaknesses, the NDRC has adopted two rational strategies. First, it copies earlier US and European successes: if a foreign company has been busted by Washington or Brussels for monopoly behaviour over the past decade, chances are the NDRC or the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which polices other aspects of China’s Anti Monopoly Law, are looking at it too. In the Japanese automotive component case, Beijing was following a trail blazed by US and EU regulators.
China services sector growth weakens slightly in September: HSBC PMI | Reuters The services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) compiled by HSBC/Markit pulled back to 53.5 in September from a 17-month high of 54.1 in August… A sub-index measuring new business fell to 53.2 in September from a 19-month high of 53.9 in August, but sub-indexes measuring employment and outstanding business both inched up, painting a mixed picture
China Eases Property Restrictions Amid Growth Concern – Bloomberg People applying for a loan to buy a second home may get lower down payments and mortgage rates that were previously only available to first-time home buyers so long as they have paid off their initial mortgage, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on its website yesterday. The central bank also eased a ban on mortgages for people buying a third home.
央行谈首套房认定：拥1套房还清贷款再购房算首套|贷款|融资_凤凰资讯 中新网9月30日电 据央行网站消息，央行、银监会日前发布《关于进一步做好住房金融服务工作的通知》，《通知》明确，对拥有1套住房并已结清相应购房贷款的家庭，为改善居住条件再次申请贷款购买普通商品住房，银行业金融机构执行首套房贷款政策。 《通知》还明确，对于贷款购买首套普通自住房的家庭，贷款最低首付款比例为30%，贷款利率下限为贷款基准利率的0.7倍，具体由银行业金融机构根据风险情况自主确定。 《通知》全文如下：
二线楼市速暖 开发商拿地“恐高”_财经频道_一财网 CBN says sales picked up in 2nd tier cities after the PBoC’s recent moves to help the real estate market…claims some developers now regret not buying more land in the recent downturn… // 央 行和银监会发布“松贷”通知松绑首套房认定后，国庆黄金周的楼市到底如何？ 《第一财经日报》记者了解到，这一政策“大红包”阳光普照了不少开发商，不少二线城市都在黄金周看到了回暖的曙光。
China swoops in on Italy’s power grids and luxury brands – FT.com This week, the Financial Times is exploring Chinese expansion and ambition in Europe and its interest in the most vulnerable economies. The eurozone’s periphery is benefiting from some deals, with Italy this year reaping the most in large-scale contracts: almost €3.5bn worth, according to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank. The phenomenon has been described as the dawn of a second Marshall Plan. Luigi de Vecchi, chairman of continental Europe for Citigroup, says the historic shift in investment is severing some relationships formed in postwar Europe.
Exclusive: Drugmaker GSK investigating corruption allegations in UAE | Reuters so China not an aberration? // Britain’s biggest pharmaceuticals group confirmed the investigation following allegations of improper payments set out in a whistleblower’s email sent to its top management on Monday. The email, purporting to be from a GSK sales manager in the Gulf state, was seen by Reuters. The company is already investigating alleged bribery in a number of Middle East countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, as well as Poland.
Yum Cuts Profit Forecast as China Food Scare Hurts Sales – Bloomberg Same-store sales fell 14 percent in China in the quarter. The company in September reported a preliminary decline of about 13 percent after supplier OSI Group LLC was investigated for altering expiration dates on food. The company terminated its relationship with OSI after the probe and has said it will take legal action against the supplier and its subsidiary Shanghai Husi. “It is difficult to confidently forecast the exact trajectory of China sales,” Yum said in yesterday’s statement. “Sales typically take six to nine months to recover from these types of events.”
Agile Property Says Website Report About Company Is Untrue – Bloomberg Agile Property Holdings Ltd. (3383), the Chinese developer that halted its stock trading last week, said a report linking it to former Chinese security chief Zhou Yongkang was groundless and untrue. The Chinese website article’s claim that Zhou, who is under a corruption probe, is a substantial shareholder of Agile is false, the company said in a statement posted on its website. Allegations that Agile assisted in money laundering and Zhou had a close relationship with Chan Cheuk Yin, one of its directors, are fabricated, the statement said.
China Economic Watch | China’s New GDP Measurement: Impact on Growth, Income, and Productivity In summary, we view this GDP accounting change as a positive step for China. It is not, as has been remarked by some, an attempt by China to bolster its GDP growth data in the face of a measured economic slow-down. Rather, it is part of an international forward-thinking effort to have its national statistics better reflect the nature of economic activity.
Ping An Offers to Finance Down Payments in China – WSJ The offering makes Ping An the most high-profile Chinese company yet to offer to finance down payments, though the frequency of such offers isn’t clear. Previously, some smaller property developers have offered similar programs. Some local governments, including the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, have issued notices warning that such practices violate the central bank’s requirements on down payments.
九月投资者信心指数创新高_证券_中证网 stock market investor confidence at highest level since survey created in April 2008 // 中国证券投资者保护基金公司7日发布的月度投资者信心调查专题报告显示，9月投资者信心指数为70.5，环比上升1.3%，同比上升20.5%。投资者信心指数已连续四个月上升。9月投资者信心指数、股票估值子指数均达2008年4月指数创立以来最高值。
京津“亚洲最大别墅区”成鬼城 近半价抛售无人问津|京津城际|联排别墅_凤凰资讯 Is this 3000 unit villa complex outside Tianjin not only the largest villa complex in Asia but the largest “ghost” villa complex in Asia? So says Beijing Youth daily. Prices cut nearly 50% and not moving…If not already on some research firms’ China “ghost city” tours it should be; an easy day trip from Beijing…
Chaori Solar Restructuring Plan Seeks Haircuts Up to 80% – Bloomberg Only 3.06 yuan ($0.5) of collateral remains for the solar-panel maker’s notes that were issued at 100-yuan face value, according to a company statement posted to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange website yesterday. With interest included, those securities are worth about 111.64 yuan a piece. The 108.58 yuan gap will be treated as “common debt,” for which the company will repay 100 percent for portions below 200,000 yuan and only 20 percent for holdings above 200,000 yuan, it said.
Boss Talk: With Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Builder Takes Global Stage – WSJ Mr. Ratner relinquished the role of Forest City’s chief executive officer last year, and he now serves as executive chairman. In a recent interview, the 69-year-old executive discussed making a deal with a Chinese company and the future of real-estate development. Edited excerpts:
China’s central bank vows to maintain steady credit growth | Reuters China’s central bank said on Sunday it will use various monetary tools to maintain adequate liquidity and reasonable growth in credit and social financing. In a statement to summarize the third-quarter monetary policy committee meeting, the People’s Bank of China also said it would continue to implement a prudent monetary policy, while pushing ahead with interest rate and yuan exchange rate reforms.
China to build modern logistics – Xinhua An “upgraded version” of logistics with quality and efficiency as the center is proposed in a development program for 2014-2020 issued Saturday by the State Council, China’s cabinet. The plan highlights the sector’s connection with traditional manufacturing industry and new opportunities brought by E-commerce. Twelve projects including farm produce, recyclable materials and manufacturing were prioritized in the plan.
China’s Internet Revolution by Jiang Qiping and Jonathan Woetzel – Project Syndicate As traditional industries increase their usage of the Internet, they streamline their operations, find new methods of collaboration, and expand their reach via e-commerce – all of which accelerate productivity growth. The McKinsey Global Institute projects that new Web applications could enable as much as 22% of China’s total GDP growth through 2025.
Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco | Has China’s Economy Become More “Standard”? | Financial liberalization in China has broad implications, including changing how its central bank’s monetary policy affects the nation’s economy. An estimate of Chinese economic activity and inflation based on a broad set of indicators suggests that the way policy is transmitted to China’s economy has become more like Western market economies in the past decade. Although Chinese monetary policy may actually have exacerbated its economic downturn during the global financial crisis, a move toward stimulatory policy has helped ease its slower growth more recently.
Waldorf to Be Biggest Chinese Property Purchase in U.S. – Bloomberg Including Anbang’s purchase of the Waldorf from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (HLT), Chinese investors will have bought $2.7 billion of New York-area real estate in 2014, topping last year’s $2.6 billion, according to Real Capital. In the past couple years, the Chinese government has allowed the country’s insurance companies to allocate a portion of their funds into global real estate, Mallory said. With concerns about volatility in the property market at home, New York and and other major markets around the world, including London and Paris, “tend to be safe havens for any global investor,” he said.
Andy Rothman: China’s property is slowing, not crashing – beyondbrics – Blogs – FT.com China’s housing market is one of the most important parts of its economy, and also one of the most misunderstood. This sector is important because residential real estate together with construction last year accounted directly for about 10 per cent of GDP, 18 per cent of fixed-asset investment, 10 per cent of urban employment and more than 15 per cent of bank loans. It is also misunderstood because few observers appear to grasp the structure of China’s residential market.
Even Beijing balks at price to pay for renminbi to become a reserve currency – FT.com As China can offer little legal protection, it must ask for trust in the good will of its communist rulers. One has to doubt that will suffice to displace the credibility built up by the dollar over many decades. Thus, it is unlikely the renminbi could replace the dollar as a reserve currency in the foreseeable future. China would have to be transformed, economically and even politically, for that to happen.
POLITICS AND LAW
Three More NDRC Pricing Officials Come under Investigation – Caixin Three more senior officials in the pricing department of China’s top economic planner have been put under investigation, sources with knowledge of the matter say. The National Development and Reform Commission told its staff on September 28 that department head Liu Zhenqiu and two deputies, Zhou Wangjun and Li Caihua, were the subjects of a probe. The investigation started on September 27, the sources said. One source said the men were detained, but it is unclear who took them away.
发改委系统落马官员已有19人 价格司成最密集地_财经_腾讯网 Legal Weekly on the corruption investigations at the NDRC, says 19 officials have been detained so far…reducing its administrative power over the economy, if that is the end result o this, very important // 据法治周末记者不完全统计，自去年5月至今年9月，全国范围内共有19名现任或曾任发改委系统的官员落马。十八大以来，发改委系统中“栽下马”的官员数量在国务院25个组成部门中最多。专家表示，“发改委系统官员落马，主要因为发改委集各领域的审批权于一身，审批权权限过大”。针对发改委出现的种种状况，如何改革是需要认真思考的问题
Xi Jinping’s speeches offer the world a chance to better understand modern China | South China Morning Post OpEd by Cai Mingzhao, minister of the State Council Information Office // In the less than two years that Xi Jinping has been China’s top leader, he has taken the nation onto a new journey of reform, opening up and modernisation. Now, for the first time, a book titled Xi Jinping: The Governance of China – a collection of some 80 of his speeches – has just been released in multi-language editions, including English. The book presents comprehensive and systematic answers to major problems that China has encountered and serves as a unique opportunity for the international community to understand the country
Studies of Xi Jinping thought or ideology grab lion’s share of funding for research | South China Morning Post The grants, some worth as much as 800,000 yuan (HK$1 million), are decided by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science. The organisation falls under the party’s Publicity Department and is headed by propaganda chief Liu Qibao . Despite that proximity to the censors, the office has previously shown a willingness to support a wider range of research proposals. But this year, five of the 12 top topics on the list to receive major funding are about Xi. And none of the chosen scholars has a published history of “Xi thought”, which suggests academics are pushing topics likely to get approval rather than ones in their area of expertise.
74,338 Cadres and Counting: China’s Petty Graft Crackdown, in Numbers–Foreign Policy China has disciplined over 74,000 Communist cadres and severely disciplined* over 20,000 since the December 2012 start of a campaign against petty graft, according to the website of China’s anti-corruption authority. That includes over 6,500 punishments in August alone, well above the prior average monthly rate of over 3,500 officials. This suggests the crackdown, already significant, is picking up steam.
30省份查出政府欠债不还 4省”打白条”近1.2亿元_网易新闻中心 法制晚报讯 “十一”长假进入尾声，截至目前，第二批教育实践活动已基本结束，各地均晒出了在教育实践活动中的整改成绩单。在各地成绩单中，均列出了“关于整治拖欠群众钱款、克扣群众财物”的内容。 《法制晚报》记者经过统计发现，截至目前已有30省份公布查处情况，涉及对群众欠账不付、欠款不还、“打白条”、耍赖账的问题共16204个，查处22065人。同时还发现不按标准及时足额发放征地拆迁补偿款、侵占挪用补助资金的问题7682个，处理4610人，涉及金额超过35亿元。// official media have had several recent reports about grassroots officials eating a local establishments, leaving IOUs, and the difficulty the local businesses have in getting paid
Abandoning ‘class struggle’ central to China’s achievements, paper says in rebuke to leftists | South China Morning Post Abandoning the principle of “class struggle” has been central to China’s achievements over the past 35 years, a flagship newspaper of the Communist Party’s Central Party School said on Monday, in a direct rebuttal of controversial remarks carried by a central party committee publication last week that defined “class struggle” as a long-standing feature of society. The party made a “leftist mistake” by taking class struggle as its guiding philosophy, a blunder that drove the tumultuous Cultural Revolution and halted the country’s economic development, according to the commentary published by the Study Times.
中国社会科学网：“以阶级斗争为纲”的标签不能乱贴|中国社会科学网|以阶级斗争为纲_凤凰资讯 head of CASS’ essay seemingly in support of “Class Struggle as the Key Link” causes huge uproar // 核心提示：中国社会科学网9月29日刊登文章《“以阶级斗争为纲”的标签不能乱贴》。文章指出，有些人不对问题做科学严谨的分析，就给正常的学术讨论和理论文章扣上“以阶级斗争为纲”的帽子。文章认为，在学术讨论中，必须始终坚持实事求是的原则，公正全面地分析问题、解决问题，有一说一，有二说二，决不能乱贴“以阶级斗争为纲”的标签。
学习时报–最根本的拨乱反正：否定“以阶级斗争为纲” Study Times (paper of the Central Party School) article repudiates CASS Head’s recent red flag piece that says class struggle ongoing…wish I knew what is going on here…even the recent Deng Xiaoping miniseries makes it very clear that Deng’s efforts to overturn the idea “Class Struggle as the Key Link” were hugely important in laying the groundwork for reform and opening…this is very strange // 1980年代后期，邓小平以“三个转变”概括了改革开放以来的经验：“一九七八年我们党的十一届三中全会对过去作了系统的总结，提出了一系列新的方针政策。中心点是从以阶级斗争为纲转到以发展生产力为中心，从封闭转到开放，从固守成规转到各方面的改革。”“三个转变”归纳到一起，就是中国共产党在十一届三中全会以来制定的“一个中心、两个基本点”的基本路线。一个中心，就是以经济建设为中心。进入1990年代，年届九旬的邓小平以中国共产党老革命家的身份嘱咐：“基本路线要管一百年，动摇不得。”这是他最后的政治嘱托，更是长期“以阶级斗争为纲”教训的深刻总结，也应当是永久终结“以阶级斗争为纲”的标志。
Eight questions set forth to unify Communist Party | South China Morning Post The eight questions raised: # A contradiction between the tenet of market economics and the principles of socialism; # The need to reflect on Marxism from the Soviet era; # A needed conclusion on the class struggle theory; # The theory on modernised governance of state affairs; # How to interpret the decision that allowed market forces to play a decisive role in the distribution of resources; # The workability of a market economy under a centralised government; # How Marxism and traditional Chinese culture can coexist; and # How to propagate socialist core values.
中国社科网：以阶级斗争为纲标签不能乱贴_中国-多维新闻网 北京时间9月29日，中国社会科学网刊登文章《“以阶级斗争为纲”的标签不能乱贴》称，有些人不对问题做科学严谨的分析，就给正常的学术讨论和理论文章扣上“以阶级斗争为纲”的帽子。文章认为，在学术讨论中，必须始终坚持实事求是的原则，公正全面地分析问题、解决问题，有一说一，有二说二，决不能乱贴“以阶级斗争为纲”的标签。此前，中共宣传思想理论战线重要阵地《红旗文稿》发表中国社科院院长王伟光题为《坚持人民民主专政，并不输理》的评论文章大谈阶级斗争进而引爆舆论，随后，中共官媒《环球时报》亦发文称，重提阶级斗争并非政治信号，中共党校刊物《学习时报》29日刊文并直接引用邓小平的话称，最根本的“拨乱反正”就是停止“以阶级斗争为纲”。
Dalai Lama in ‘informal’ talks with China to return to Tibet – The Economic Times on Mobile The Tibetan spiritual leader said he had “made clear” his desire to undertake the pilgrimage to a sacred mountain in his homeland to contacts in China, including retired Communist Party officials. “It’s not finalised, not yet, but the idea is there,” the 79-year-old said. “Not formally or seriously, but informally… I express, this is my desire, and some of my friends, they are also showing their genuine interest or concern,” he added. “Recently, some Chinese officials, for example the deputy party secretary in the autonomous region of Tibet, he also mentioned the possibility of my visit as a pilgrimage to that sacred place.”
栗战书内部讲话：警惕有人看中“中办”特殊影响力拉拢腐蚀_中国政库_澎湃新闻-The Paper Thepaper prints what it says is long internal speech by Li Zhanshu, head of the General Office of CPC Central Committee
China Cuts Thousands of ‘Phantom’ Workers From State Payroll – Bloomberg A total of 162,629 employees who had continued to draw salaries after leaving their posts were cleared out of central and provincial governments, state-controlled financial companies and universities as of Sept. 25, the official People’s Daily reported yesterday. The country also disposed of 114,418 government vehicles, it said in a separate report.
Why personal secretaries to Chinese leaders are so prone to graft | South China Morning Post Today, research by Cheng Li of the Brookings Institution in Washington suggests that, like Xi, more than three-quarters of officials at the ministerial or governor level were once secretaries to leaders themselves. Fifteen of the 25 members in top decision-making Politburo were. So were four of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee. Analysts said the statistics reflected the political role the secretaries had played in mainland politics.
Cambridge Journals Online – The China Quarterly – Abstract – Controlling Corruption in the Party: China’s Central Discipline Inspection Commission looks interesting but don’t have access to the full article // This article investigates a prominent but little discussed CCP central organ, the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC), and its local discipline inspection commissions (DICs) in the post-Mao era. It analyses how the CCP exerts its control over the disciplinary organizations and argues that the disciplinary agencies’ lack of autonomy hinders their efforts to crack down on corruption. This article investigates the important role played by the CDIC in CCP politics by examining its organizational structure, modes of operation and criteria for imposing disciplinary sanctions, and evaluates the measures and approaches employed by the Party’s disciplinary organizations to combat corruption. The study concludes that structural, institutional and cultural factors hinder the effectiveness of the CCP’s disciplinary agencies in their efforts to control Party members, officials and corruption.
Cambridge Journals Online – The China Quarterly – Abstract – Empowering the Police: How the Chinese Communist Party Manages Its Coercive Leaders How does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secure the loyalty of its coercive leaders, and its public security chiefs in particular, in the face of numerous domestic protests every year? This article presents the first quantitative analysis of contemporary China’s coercive leaders using an original data set of provincial public security chiefs and public security funding during the reform era. I demonstrate that the CCP, owing to its concern for regime stability, has empowered the public security chiefs by incorporating them into the leadership team. Empowered public security chiefs then have stronger bargaining power over budgetary issues. I rely on fieldwork, qualitative interviews and an analysis of Party documents to complement my statistical analysis. The findings of this analysis shed light on the understanding of regime durability, contentious politics and the bureaucracy in China.
洛阳官方证实失联副市长郭宜品被抓_新闻_腾讯网 missing Luoyang vice mayor has been arrested // 记者经向洛阳官方和警方人士核实了解到，曾失联一个多月的洛阳副市长郭宜品被抓获，已被移交给郑州检察院，洛阳有关部门对此不愿多做回应。洛阳某区一干部称，郭宜品被两男子控制的照片近两天在官场内部流传，有警方人士证实了照片的真实性。记者孙旭阳
河北反腐新政：省纪委书记可直接约谈市委书记_网易新闻中心 人民网北京10月5日电 据中央纪委监察部网站消息，近日，河北省委常委、省纪委书记、省纪律检查体制改革专项小组组长陈超英主持召开了省纪律检查体制改革专项小组第二次会议，听取了今年以来全省纪律检查体制改革进展情况汇报，研究部署了下一步工作任务。
最高法:严肃查处充当诉讼掮客的法院干警–法治–人民网 人民网北京10月6日电 据中央纪委监察部网站消息，日前，最高人民法院公布了《关于人民法院纪检监察部门履行监督责任的实施意见》（以下简称《意见》）。《意见》的公布，对推动人民法院党风廉政建设和反腐败工作向纵深发展具有十分重要的作用。
【时局】基层一把手成腐败高危群体 文章称，各项强农惠农补贴的发放正成为村干部违纪重灾区，集中表现在危房改造、粮食补助、民政救济、扶贫资金、土地征用补偿等领域。如，农村危房改造工作涉及面广、资金量大、监管环节多，一些地方在资金分配和发放过程中侵吞、截留、挪用危房改造资金问题突出，严重损害农民群众利益。2010年以来，广西各级纪检监察机关严肃查办涉及农村危房改造补贴腐败案件152件，结案104件，处分107人。//more on the corruption epidemic among local officials
Exposed: Corrupt Chinese Officials Lured by Love of Expensive Camera Gear — WSJ bad news for Leica // The probe into Mr. Qin came months after Zhang Minji, a former energy executive, was convicted and jailed over corruption and abuse of power in February, Xinhua said. Mr. Zhang, who was chairman of a natural-gas firm in the central city of Wuhan, received bribes in the form of high-end camera equipment favored by professionals, according to Xinhua…Xinhua also named Wang Huishi, former deputy mayor of Ordos city in Inner Mongolia, as another example of an allegedly corrupt official with an expensive photography hobby.
Pilot to Form Media Ethics Committees Reportedly Expanded – Caixin The pilot was launched by the party’s publicity department last year in Hebei, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hubei and Shanghai. Another nine other regions have formed the committees this year, the reports say. Jiangxi Province is supposed to form one this year, but so far has not. On September 16, the capital announced it was forming a media ethics committee as part of the pilot. That body will reportedly be led by Mei Ninghua, the former head of Beijing Daily.
Who warped China’s media? – China Media Project Typical of official arguments on the question of media corruption, He Yonghai’s editorial blatantly ignores the elephant in the room, the corrosive affect of political power. He talks in an offhand fashion about how media should earn the trust of the public, when in fact the notion that the media should work in the public interest at all can be a highly sensitive one in China. The media, make no mistake, work for the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, a point Xi Jinping has made more emphatically than his predecessor, telling propaganda leaders they should “show their swords” and “struggle” for domination of the ideological sphere. Press controls under the CCP have always emphasized that “politicians run the newspapers,” a term that goes back to Mao Zedong. Under this idea of the role of the press, it is the Party’s prerogative to dictate what is meant by such things as truth, fact or rationality. And year after year, propaganda leaders bang their fists about the need to “emphasize positive news” and “speak with one voice.”
Some questions about Chinese judicial reforms answered | Supreme People’s Court Monitor An article on the judicial reforms in the 25 September edition of Southern Weekend (南方周末) is now making its way across Chinese social media, featuring an interview with Peking University Law professor Fu Yulin and Tsinghua University law professor He Haibo.
内蒙古值几十亿煤矿遭侵占 疑受军中大老虎干预_网易新闻中心 核心提示：2004年，内蒙古自治区锡林郭勒盟西乌珠穆沁旗国营跃进煤矿蹊跷“易主”，为辽宁春成工贸集团有限公司董事长王春成控制经营。据称，王春城系在“军中大老虎”的干预下获得该矿。2014年，在徐才厚、王春城被查后，400多名矿工在提起相关诉讼后接连遭遇不予立案。
[视频]习近平主持召开中央全面深化改革领导小组第五次会议强调 严把改革方案质量关督察关 确保改革改有所进改有所成 李克强张高丽出席_新闻频道_央视网(cctv.com) 央视网消息(新闻联播)：中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席、中央全面深化改革领导小组组长习近平9月29日下午主持召开中央全面深化改革领导小组第五次会议并发表重要讲话。他强调，要高度重视改革方案的制定和落实工作，做实做细调查研究、征求意见、评估把关等关键环节，严把改革方案质量关，严把改革督察关，确保改革改有所进、改有所成。
China bans tourism disguised as government business – Xinhua | Government meetings have been forbidden at 21 popular destinations as part of an ongoing frugality campaign by China’s central authorities. The General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued a circular banning Party and government authorities at all levels from holding meetings at Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province, Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province and 19 other popular tourist destinations, including the Badaling Section of the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs in Beijing. The circular said that a 1998 ban did not stop government meetings in the listed sites and meetings have been held in other popular spots from time to time, damaging the image of the Party and the government. Also banned are tourist trips in the name of meetings.
CPC to convene key meeting on rule of law Oct. 20-23 – Xinhua | A key Chinese political meeting that looks set to discuss rule of law has been scheduled for Oct. 20-23 in Beijing. The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee set the date for the fourth plenary session of the CPC 18th central committee at a meeting chaired by General Secretary Xi Jinping on Tuesday. According to earlier reports, this will be the first time a plenary session of the CPC Central Committee has taken rule of law as its central theme. The Tuesday meeting also discussed the same topic, as well as reviewing the CPC’s “mass line” campaign aimed at boosting ties between officials and the public, according to a statement.
China issues white paper on Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps – Xinhua Starting from scratch 60 years ago, the XPCC workers have reclaimed ecological oases from the desolate Gobi desert, initiated Xinjiang’s modernization, built large-scale agriculture and industrial and mining enterprises, and established new cities and towns through joining hands with local people of all ethnic groups. By the end of 2013, the XPCC had 176 regiments, 14 divisions, an area of 70,600 square kilometers under its administration, including 1,244,770 hectares of farmland, and a population of 2,701,400, accounting for 11.9 percent of Xinjiang’s total population, figures from the white paper show. The total output value of the XPCC in 2013 was 149.987 billion yuan (24.2 billion U.S. dollars), 220 times that in 1954 when it was established, with an annual growth of 9.6 percent; and 22.9 times that in 1981 when the XPCC was reinstated, with an annual growth of 10.4 percent. “Xinjiang has a long border, and safeguarding it is the responsibility the state has entrusted to the XPCC,” the white paper said.
Xinjiang party boss Zhang Chunxian calls for hard and soft lines to tackle terror | South China Morning Post Zhang’s remarks came ahead of the release of a white paper yesterday by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which vowed to play a special role in safeguarding unification and in cracking down on violent terrorist crimes.
China – Crackdown – Foreign Correspondent – ABC This is one of China’s most sensitive issues and as President Xi Jinping’s government imposes growing restrictions on the way the media operates, it’s an incredibly difficult story to cover. Nevertheless Correspondent Stephen McDonell sets out to do just that for Foreign Correspondent, heading into one of the most stifled and controlled parts of China [Xinjiang] in search of perspective on how Beijing’s crackdown is playing out and what it means for the Uighurs. It’s not long before he and cameraman Wayne McAllister draw the attention of security forces, scrutiny that only grows over the course of their dogged pursuit of this important story.
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
中央下发意见管控军队信息 保证重要人员安全_新闻_腾讯网 CMC issues guidelines for strengthening information security in PLA, looks like lots of emphasis on making as much of the tech as indigenous as possible, as expected // 京华时报讯据解放军报“军报记者”微博消息，经习近平主席批准，中央军委近日印发《关于进一步加强军队信息安全工作的意见》。《意见》提出当前和今后一个时期的军队信息安全工作的指导思想、基本原则、重点工作和保障措施，为全军和武警部队开展信息安全工作和建设提供重要遵循。
以积极正面心态看中国（钟声·澄清不实之词 客观认识中国（4））–国际–人民网 People’s Daily’s Zhong Sheng takes on the idea of “assertive China” in Wednesday’s paper
Chinese troops training with US, Australia in exercise Down Under – News – Stripes Ten members of China’s People’s Liberation Army are participating with U.S. Marines and soldiers and Australian Army forces in Exercise KOWARI 14, Johnston said in a statement.
State Department opens door to maritime defense weapon sales to Vietnam | Air Force Times The United States will allow the sale of lethal equipment and weaponry to Vietnam for maritime defense purposes, the State Department announced Thursday. The executive decision, which ends an overall ban on lethal weapon sales to that country and which has been in place since the end of the Vietnam War, begins immediately.
Philippines halts work in disputed South China Sea | Reuters The Philippines has stopped all development work in the disputed South China Sea because of the impact such activity might have on an arbitration complaint it has filed against China, a defense official said on Friday.
在知耻奋进中肩负起强军兴军的历史责任 Gen. Fan Changlong in latest issue of “Seeking Truth” on the historical responsibility of building a powerful military//《求是》2014/19 作者： 范长龙 字号：【 大 中 小 】 核心要点： ■ 历史是最好的教科书，中日甲午战争是这部教科书的极为沉重的一页。回顾反思这段历史，为的是以史为鉴、知耻奋进，更好地把国防和军队建设事业推向前进，为实现“两个一百年”奋斗目标、实现中华民族的伟大复兴的中国梦贡献力量。 ■ 一个民族、一个国家、一支军队向前走，走得再远也不能忘记从哪里来、要到哪里去，都要从走过的路中汲取前进的智慧和力量。 ■ 回望甲午是为走出甲午，反思败仗是为能打胜仗。研究甲午战争不能坐而论道、纸上谈兵，关键是要联系实际，联系正在做的事情，有选择有重点地进行研究。 ■ 建设强大人民军队是持续奋斗的伟大事业，一代人有一代人的使命。现在强军的责任历史地落到了我们这一代人的肩上，我们就要挑起这副重担，牢记强军目标，坚定强军信念，投身强军实践，为实现中国梦提供坚强力量保证。
Australian man Shen Ping-kang jailed in Taiwan for spying for China–The Age Ko and Shen were arrested in March last year. Ko, 70, has been sentenced to 14 months imprisonment. Shen, 75, received a 12-month sentence. The relatively light sentences appear to reflect the age and poor health of both men, as well as their preparedness to cooperate with investigators. In contrast another senior Taiwanese military officer, General Lo Hsien-che, head of telecommunications and electronic information for Taiwan’s army, was sentenced in 2011 to life imprisonment for selling military secrets to China. Lo’s case also included a significant Australian connection not previously reported in this country.
China launches latest of military, ‘experimental’ satellites – IHS Jane’s 360 Analysts believe that a range of sensors, encompassing electro-optical imaging, electronic intelligence (ELINT) intercept, and synthetic aperture radars, are carried by Yaogan series satellites…Internet sources, citing Xinhua, report that the experimental Tiantuo-2 carries four video cameras capable of streaming real-time data on moving objects. It is speculated that the system will be capable of tracking objects on the earth’s surface using real-time ground-controlled directional alignment of the cameras. An NUDT statement reported that the satellite will be used to test technologies for more advanced video imaging satellites.
155 Uighurs found crammed into 2 apartments in Kuala Lumpur – The Malaysian Insider The Uighurs, a Muslim people from China’s far-western region of Xinjiang, were discovered when officers from the immigration department raided the residential units on October 1 after receiving a tip-off. Ninety people, including 44 children, were crammed into one unit, while the remaining 65 were in a second unit, according to a report from enforcement operations unit chief Basri Hassan.
Why Russia’s President Is ‘Putin the Great’ in China – WSJ China’s fascination with Mr. Putin is more than literary, marking a shift in the post-Cold War order and in Chinese politics. After decades of mutual suspicion—and one short border conflict—Beijing and Moscow are drawing closer as they simultaneously challenge the U.S.-led security architecture that has prevailed since the Soviet collapse, diplomats and analysts say. The former rivals for leadership of the Communist world also increasingly share a brand of anti-Western nationalism that could color President Xi Jinping’s view of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Beijing accuses Western governments of stirring unrest there, much as Mr. Putin blamed the West for the pro-democracy protests in Kiev that began late last year.
Standoffs along the LAC could be China’s attempt at forcing India into an early resolution of the border dispute – India Today After the conclusion of a three-day high-voltage visit by President Xi Jinping that coincided once again with a major standoff on the border, the military establishment is still struggling to decipher China’s motives. Several military experts are suggesting that the confrontations could be aimed at a consolidation of Chinese claims in the northern sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and pushing India into resolving the border issue to Beijing’s advantage. As per the current ground position, the Chinese would have a far greater claim on the disputed territory than the Indian Army would like to concede.
A Rare Arctic Land Sale Stokes Worry in Norway – NYTimes.com The tycoon, Huang Nubo, was rebuffed last year in an attempt to buy a tract of frozen wilderness in Iceland and has turned his attentions to Norway. This summer he reached a preliminary deal to buy a large waterfront plot for about $4 million near the northern city of Tromso and, according to Norway’s state-owned broadcaster, is also eyeing a much bigger and even more northerly property here on Spitsbergen, the main island in the Svalbard archipelago. Mr. Huang’s company, Beijing Zhongkun Investment Group, denied reports in the Norwegian news media that it wants to buy land here in the high Arctic, and said it is focusing instead on plans for a luxury resort complex in Lyngen, a mountainous area on the Norwegian mainland near Tromso.
Virtual Lines in the Sand: China’s Demands for Internet Sovereignty | The Standing Committee The sovereignty that Xi refers to in his speech, thus refers to more than the age-old principle of non-interference. It is coupled to an expansively defined notion of security, which covers not only traditional rubrics such as military affairs and critical infrastructure, but also “ideological security” and resistance against foreign infiltration. In order to be secure, the leadership believes that it must enhance its command over “hard” technological and infrastructure resources, as well as “soft” matters, such as ideological monopolies and information controls. China has pushed to decentralize more of the core infrastructure of the Internet, including root servers, to bring Internet governance into the UN umbrella, as well as to become more self-reliant in critical systems components and software.
Here’s a Peek Inside a Chinese Submarine — War Is Boring — Medium For eight days in September, a Chinese Song-class attack submarine made a highly unusual port call in Sri Lanka. For one, the diesel-powered vessel had the honor of being the first Chinese submarine to dock at an Indian Ocean port. The news raised concerns across the region that China is muscling in on India’s traditional sphere of influence. Chinese state media coverage also provided a glimpse inside the submarine force—literally—and Beijing’s surprise at the controversy the visit created.
习近平点兵 集团军主官大换血_中国-多维新闻网 Duowei on PLA personnel moves //伴随着中共十八届四中全会的临近，有关中国军方的人事调动不断增多。毕竟自习近平掌军之后，中央军委及七大军区虽未见有大幅度调动，但集团军层面的陆军中坚将领就开始出现大幅换血，一方面是清洗因涉贪腐正被调查的中央军委原副主席徐才厚的军中嫡系，另一方面换上自己信得过的将领。全军18个集团军之中，继年初5个集团军更换军长之后，沈阳军区第16军、济南军区第26集团军两名军长近日“换马”，同时济南军区属下第54及第20集团军，以及南京军区属下的第12及第31集团军共4名军政委亦已换人。这样大幅的集团军级军政主官大换位，被香港媒体解读为“规模空前”。
In Creating ‘Martyrs’ Day,’ China Promotes a Vision of the Past – NYTimes.com Eager to bolster patriotism at a time of growing tensions with neighboring countries, China will celebrate a new holiday for the first time on Tuesday to memorialize people who died in battle against foreign powers. Government officials insist the holiday, called Martyrs’ Day, is no different from holidays honoring the war dead in other countries, like Memorial Day in the United States or Remembrance Day in many countries of the Commonwealth.
Associates of disgraced PLA general Xu Caihou may have been purged for ‘disloyalty’ | South China Morning Post In one recent case, Major General Xu Yuanlin, the former political department director of the Lanzhou Military Command, was replaced by Lieutenant General Zhou Weimin, who attended a Martyrs’ Day commemoration in Gansu on Sunday, the Gansu Daily reported . No mainland media organisations have reported the whereabouts of Xu Yuanlin or his new post so far. Just three months ago, he was reported to have succeeded Lieutenant General Fan Changmi as head of ideological education for Lanzhou sol diers. On Friday, state media reported that Major General Gao Guanghui , who commanded the 16th Army Corps at the Shenyang military command, was replaced by Major General Tan Min , the former commander of the 26th Army Corps at the Jinan military command. Gao’s new position is also unclear.
Top DoD Official: US Will ‘Respond’ if Japan-China Dispute Escalates | Defense News During his talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, Work discussed defense strategies toward the Asia-Pacific region. “While the Senkakus are under Japanese control, Article 5 applies, and we would respond if there was an attempt to take the Senkakus,” Work said. He later added, “We would definitely respond militarily to certainly any engagements against our allies.” The Pentagon official called Japan the “cornerstone of our alliances in Asia.”
Another Confucius Institute to Close @insidehighered In confirming that the university will be ending its Confucius Institute agreement at the end of this year (Dec. 31), the dean of Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts cited goals that are inconsistent with those of Hanban, the Chinese government agency that administers the institutes. “Over the past five years, our Asian Studies has grown successfully from a program to become a full department,” Dean Susan Welch said in a written statement. “We worked collegially with our partners at the Dalian University of Technology. However, several of our goals are not consistent with those of the Office of Chinese Languages Council International, known as the Hanban, which provides support to Confucius Institutes throughout the world.”
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
‘Hong Kong People,’ Looking in Mirror, See Fading Chinese Identity – NYTimes.com More than 90 percent of Hong Kong residents are ethnically Chinese. However, ask residents here how they see themselves in a national sense, and many will say Hong Konger first — or even Asian or world citizen — before mentioning China. The issue of identity is one that the Chinese Communist Party has grappled with since Britain turned over control of this global financial capital to China 17 years ago. But what the student-led protests show is that Beijing’s efforts have backfired, helping turn the issue into an occasionally explosive problem as members of an entire generation act on their sense of alienation from China and its values. // One of Beijing’s biggest challenges. Xi was in charge of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Leading Group from 2008-13, does he really not understand Hong Kong? If he does not, a very worrisome sign of how he gets information. Then again, maybe he does understand and is not sympathetic. Regardless, how Beijing tries to win back this generation without significant political concessions will be interesting to watch.
Police negotiators facing ‘toughest challenge yet’ at Occupy sites | South China Morning Post Some officers worked 24-hour shifts trying to negotiate pathways for emergency vehicles and defuse tensions between frontline police and protesters, often amid a barrage of insults and with little success. “We’re not used to facing big crowds like these,” said Chan Chi-wai, who is a marine police officer as well as a member of the 62-strong Police Negotiation Cadre.
The umbrella revolution won’t give Hong Kong democracy. Protesters should stop calling for it. – The Washington Post Eric X. Li weighs in // The prevailing media narrative about the Hong Kong protest — namely that the citizens are politically dissatisfied and are fighting for democracy against the tyranny of Beijing — is false. What’s actually happening is this: A fringe of radical (or sometimes, more charitably, merely naive) ideologues are recasting the real and legitimate economic grievances of people here as a fight about Hong Kong’s autonomy. The movement is part of a global trend you might call maidancracy (rule of the square, from the infamous Maidan in central Kiev where the Ukrainian protests began). If carried out to its full extent, it will not end well for Hong Kong.
Ex-Obama adviser Bader on Hong Kong: ‘We have to focus on reality’ – The Washington Post The reality is Beijing is quite intractable. They have a different sensibility and perspective. It’s an illusion to project Western wishful thinking onto how they approach this issue. They see Chinese stability, as well as the leadership of the party, at stake. These are issues on which there is almost no room for compromise.
Chinese Wary of Hong Kong Protests Ease Pain at Macau Casinos – Bloomberg More than 750,000 mainland Chinese tourists have poured into the world’s largest gambling center since the China National Day holidays known as Golden Week began Oct. 1, with growth accelerating to 17 percent over last year. The surge came as the Occupy Central pro-democracy movement pushed Hong Kong into its worst political crisis in decades and cut its rise in Golden Week visitors to 5.4 percent, compared with 16 percent last year.
Hong Kong Protests Set to Leave Lasting Impact on Ties With China – WSJ there is no guarantee talks will succeed. Even if a deal is reached, it doesn’t mean China won’t move to, as one Western diplomat put it, “squeeze” Hong Kong in the years to come to restrict its citizens’ ability to defy Beijing. Any move by Beijing may be quiet and could take years to become apparent, said Merriden Varrall of the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney. “They are very good at doing quiet, subtle changes that have the intended effect, but over a longer period of time,” she said.
China’s false promises to Hong Kong – The Washington Post If Hong Kong’s pan-democrats were taken in by, or chose to believe, the notion that Beijing would allow real democracy in Hong Kong, they were hardly alone. Legions of Western scholars and journalists helped perpetuate the delusion that as China became more affluent, it would become more open and democratic. It was an idea not without precedent. Elsewhere, authoritarian regimes fell as middle-class populations expanded and people demanded a greater say in running their own affairs. It happened in South Korea in the late 1980s and Indonesia in the late 1990s.
Will China Crush the Hong Kong Protests? – WSJ Twenty-five years after China’s brutal suppression of protests in Tiananmen Square, a new generation of students is filling the streets of Hong Kong. Orville Schell on whether China’s new leader will compromise or crack down.
The Useless Tree: Hong Kong and the Mandate of Heaven It is fashionable now for PRC officials, including Xi Jinping, to drape themselves in traditional Chinese cultural rhetoric. They pepper their speeches with references to Confucius, while maintaining a most un-Confucian political regime. They are desperate to keep Hong Kong in line but when they press too hard they reveal their old-school Leninist core, illustrating to people in Hong Kong, who well know what “Chinese culture” is, that they are upholding neither traditional Chinese values nor modern Hong Kong liberties. The faux-Confucian PRC leadership thus legitimates a genuinely Confucian critique of their actions in Hong Kong.
Taiwan leader rejects China unification terms – Al Jazeera English Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has rejected a “one country, two systems” deal proposed by his Chinese counterpart. “In the early 1980’s the ‘one country, two systems’ concept was created for Taiwan, not for Hong Kong. But Taiwan has sent a clear message that we do not accept the concept,” said Ma in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera. “If the system is good, then we believe it should be ‘one country, one system’.” “We are not expecting to go to war with the Chinese Communist Party,” added Ma. “Instead, we are hoping to minimise the possibility of war between us.”
The Great Divide–Foreign Policy After school and universities inculcate this lexicon, China’s state-controlled propaganda system broadcasts it, normalizing its use and injecting it into everyday discourse. During conversations on social and political matters, many Chinese tend to turn to Marxism without questioning its applicability. A classic example of its impact can be found in the extremely popular anti-protest article titled “The Hong Kong Problem: It’s the Economy, Stupid!” originally posted to discussion forum Tianya in Aug. 18 to discuss rising tensions in the city. The piece expertly deploys a language system that prioritizes national interests and social stability. It claims that “the prosperity of Hong Kong has nothing to do with the will of the people” and insists that “the true problem in Hong Kong” is a failure to understand a shift in the “mode of economic development” there.
Hong Kong protests: How I found myself in the middle of an anti-American smear campaign | Fox News Mark Simon of Next Media // Is it normal to have reporters ask questions about the birth mothers of our adopted children, write columns on my wife having Catholic signs on our door, or knock on our door at all hours without any questions? After a dozen or so nuts, my kids appearing in Chinese communist newspapers with their distinctive school outfits, and all rational men, including some very decent guys at State Department saying my risk profile was quite high, the family went back to the U.S. this week. I am staying in Hong Kong, and will return after my brief trip to the United States. I have no intention of abandoning my boss, friends, and Hong Kong.
TECH AND MEDIA
Alibaba-Distributed Game Mistake Exposes Private Videos – Bloomberg Users of one of only two games on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA)’s instant message service have found movies of themselves uploaded to China’s most popular video site after the developer failed to notify users that their videos would be stored online. The videos of people playing the charades-like game Feng Kuang Laiwang, many showing users in underwear or naked while playing the game at home, appeared on Youku Tudou Inc. (YOKU)’s website. App developer Zhejiang Zhile Network Co. apologized on its official Weibo account, Youku deleted the videos and Alibaba referred questions to the developer.
Oscars: China Selects ‘The Nightingale’ for Foreign-Language Category (Exclusive) China has submitted The Nightingale (Ye Ying/Le promeneur d’oiseau), the second-ever official French-Chinese co-production, as the surprise candidate for best foreign language film at the 2015 Oscars, industry sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
China’s Tencent Steps Up Wager on 58.com After Selloff – Bloomberg Three months after purchasing a 19.9 percent stake in the Beijing-based company, Tencent scooped up $117 million more of 58.com’s American depositary shares in the secondary market from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29, boosting its stake to 24.6 percent in the process, according to an Oct. 2 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares in 58.com, a Craigslist-like site, tumbled 31 percent in the third quarter, the fourth-worst performance in a Bloomberg index of 79 Chinese companies listed in the U.S.
To Reach China, LinkedIn Plays by Local Rules – NYTimes.com Analysts say LinkedIn is well positioned to be acceptable to Beijing because it can argue that it makes the employment market more efficient, ultimately spurring the economy. China’s Internet regulators often argue that the main goal of development of the Internet should be to bolster economic growth. China’s closed markets have given a huge head start to four homegrown companies, which dominate the Internet there: Alibaba in e-commerce, Baidu in search, Tencent in video gaming and instant messaging and Sina in social networking.
电视剧《国家审计》今晚河北卫视首播|赵宁宇|执导_凤凰资讯 本报讯（实习生张世达 记者刘成群）10月4日晚，26集主旋律反腐大戏《国家审计》将在河北卫视黄金时间首播。该剧不仅是一部弘扬主旋律的现实主义作品，也是1983年我国建立国家审计制度以来第一部全面反映国家审计的职责和功能、向广大电视观众传播审计知识和审计文化的电视艺术作品。
Taiwan government investigates Xiaomi on potential cyber security concerns | Reuters Some Xiaomi phones automatically send user data to the firm’s servers in Beijing, where the company is headquartered, potentially leading to security breaches, according to a statement posted on the website of Taiwan’s executive branch on Tuesday.
Fresh off Monster IPO, Alibaba Sues Blogger over Critical Posts – Caixin Alibaba lawyers and the blogger, a 41-year-old named Ge Jia, presented evidence in Binjiang District People’s Court in Hangzhou on September 23. Alibaba has its headquarters in Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Ge is a native of Hebei province and lives in Beijing. His blogs have appeared on the tech industry website iResearch. Ge has resigned from China Intercontinental Communication Center (CICC), a news website has reported. CICC’s website describes it as a “cultural communication agency.” Alibaba told the court that starting in 2012 Ge published more than 70 columns and blogs and wrote posts on his Sina Weibo account and on the popular messaging app WeChat that maliciously attacked the company and damaged its reputation.
Global Times: “All iPhone 6 Owners Deserve to Be Despised” | TheNanfang Many people say the iPhone 6 exploits the Chinese people by performing mental experiments in the form of number of marketing tricks, thus proving that there are fools with too much money in the Chinese market. This is the place where there is a real loss of face. That’s why whomever has an iPhone 6 deserves to be looked down upon with despise.
Jack Ma brings Alibaba to the U.S. – CBS News Lara Logan speaks with the chairman who took $50,000 in seed money and created a company valued at $231 billion// Alibaba PR is on a roll
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
纪检组长与妻触景生情玩车震 官方：非道德败坏_新闻_腾讯网 married local CCDI officials decide to celebrate their anniversary by reliving their youth with an intimate moment in a car, are caught, local officials say not morally corrupt since married…
河北业主建“武功队”维权 请咏春八卦拳师助阵_新闻_腾讯网 owners at a housing complex in Yanjiao, Hebei, hire martial arts instructors to learn to better fight with the compounds security guards
Queen’s grandson puts horse racing in China under starter’s orders – Telegraph Peter Phillips, the Queen’s eldest grandchild, has been hired by the Chinese authorities to launch a horse racing industry to rival Britain’s. Mr Phillips flew to Beijing last week for the official unveiling of the China Jockey Club, which will run the country’s nascent racing industry. In exchange for his role as the China Jockey’s Club’s official global ambassador, Mr Phillips is to be reimbursed with shares in the venture.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
South China province reports 1,431 new dengue fever cases, one death – Xinhua South China’s Guangdong Province reported 1,431 new dengue cases on Sunday, bringing the total number up to 21,527, said local health authorities on Monday. The number was rising quickly, with more than 1,000 new cases found each day last week. One new fatality case was reported by the provincial health and family planning commission on Sunday, bringing the death toll in the province to six.
北京已报告16例登革热–社会–人民网 Beijing has 16 cases of Dengue Fever so far, says all infected before arrived in Beijing
习近平批示内蒙古腾格里沙漠污染问题|习近平|腾格里沙漠_凤凰资讯 Xi Jinping tells Inner Mongolia officials to deal with the pollution recently exposed in the Tengger desert
Can Doctors Cut the Public Hospital Cord? – Caixin A prominent Shanghai doctor who quit his successful hospital position is leading a push to give physicians more freedom
Developing More Equitable and Efficient Health Insurance in China Tang Shenglan of Duke University surveys China’s health insurance schemes and proposes an array of reforms.
Dearth of doctors drags on China private healthcare drive | Reuters The bottleneck – the result of resistance from both public hospitals and doctors themselves – could dent a drive to reform China’s hospital sector, just as investors flock to a healthcare delivery market that’s set to more than double to $600 billion by the end of the decade, according to consultancy Bain & Co. Part of the problem is that doctors across most of China need permission from the state-owned hospitals where they practice before they can also work in the private sector. And many public hospitals don’t want to let their best doctors go.
On The Ground In China’s Fight To Quit Coal–Huffington Post “The targets are very, very ambitious,” said Ailun Yang, a senior associate with the World Resources Institute, a global research organization focused on preserving natural resources. “I don’t think people have figured out how you can achieve the target without having major impacts on the economy and unemployment.” Tongchuan is in the midst of working that puzzle out for itself. The city is already running short on its finite coal reserves, and as it makes the delicate transition away from coal and concrete, it’s banking on major growth in an unlikely sector: “Red tourism.” Tongchuan is playing up its role as a cradle of the communists’ Red Army, hoping to lure China’s urbanites out to a small ex-mining village that once served as the base for legendary bands of peasant guerillas.
Chinese tuna firm admits companies have been allowed to breach quotas and avoid sanctions for years | China Dialogue Earlier this month, Greenpeace’s Hong Kong branch delivered a letter of complaint to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, accusing the China Tuna Industry Group (CTIG) of underestimating its exposure to environmental and sustainability risks in its draft prospective to investors, ahead of a public listing of the company. According to the draft prospective issued by the company, the Chinese fleet had for years breached international fisheries agreements, breaking quotas on catches of the “vulnerable” bigeye tuna in both the Pacific and Atlantic. But as neither the international associations nor the Chinese government sets any quotas for individual companies or vessels, there is no risk of them being held responsible.
FOOD AND TRAVEL
Once a Draw, Restive Region in China Suffers After Unrest – NYTimes.com Xinjiang, the size of Western Europe, has long been considered one of China’s most exotic destinations. Chinese tourists, usually traveling in tour groups, visit the grasslands and Siberian forests here in the north and desert oasis towns in the south, along the old Silk Road. Among the locals, an estimated 1.5 million people have some tie to Xinjiang’s tourism economy, and many were hoping for a big surge in visitor numbers during the National Day holiday week in China, which began Wednesday. But given reports in late September of dozens killed in clashes, there is little expectation that the numbers will match those of previous years.
BEIJING
北京将在学校内首次实时监测PM2.5_网易新闻中心 Beijing to launch real time monitoring of air quality inside classrooms // 晨报讯 本市将率先在学校内试点在线实时监测PM2.5，并建立学校教室内空气质量监测预警系统。今后，监测中一旦发现问题卫生监督部门将及时处理，避免空气传播性疾病暴发流行。
北京市正在修改城市总体规划 统筹考虑京津冀 – 视野 – 参考_参考消息_北京参考-北京参考网 9月28日，在北京市新闻办召开的“北京市经济社会发展成就新闻发布会”上，北京市发展改革委副主任刘伯正表示，要治理“城市病”，从顶层制度设计角度来讲，目前北京市正在进行城市总体规划的修改工作，修改工作是把首都功能放在京津冀的范围内进行统筹考虑。在人口调控方面，北京也在加快推进居住证制度。
北京升学政策变化致学区房热：比关系路子靠谱_新闻_腾讯网 随着全国各地相继取消限购政策，央行高调表态放水救市，堪比2008年的房地产大拯救终于达到了最高潮。回顾这几年的严格限购、限贷，很多人的生活轨迹都因此受到影响，其中既有为了孩子上学孟母三迁、反复腾挪的学区房；也有极端一些的为了买房离婚、为了贷款离婚；更有高房价下如春笋般冒出的各种新城，在盛况之后成了让人惊悚的“鬼城”……对于这些楼市怪现象，北京青年报记者分别予以了梳理。//on how the Beijing school enrollment reforms have affected housing prices around schools