"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
Today’s Links:
THE ESSENTIAL EIGHT
China Focus: By rule of law, China on the way to improving governance – Xinhua The fourth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee is set to open on Oct. 20 to discuss rule of law. The session is expected to speed up the construction of governance by law from the top level and by improving the system to promote social justice of the country. This will be the first time for a Party session to center on rule of law. It is intended to promote the modernization of the country’s governing system and capabilities. Experts believe the key to realize it is the rule of law. The concept of the modernization of the country’s governing system and capabilities was first put forward in a report released after the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee last November.
Related: “大老虎”的审查将出结果？
Related: Companies look for more fairness as China eyes legal reforms at key meeting | Reuters However, while the party may be seeking to limit the influence of officials on courts, there is no suggestion China is about to set up an independent judiciary, and for sensitive cases, such as high-level corruption or for prominent dissidents, the party will remain firmly in charge. While the legal reforms are also aimed at quelling some of the roots of China’s growing unrest by giving people a sense of fairness in the justice system, there is a strong economic rationale for the measures. Writing in the party’s official People’s Daily newspaper last Wednesday, Li Shuguang, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, said there could be no economic growth without a sound legal system.
Related: Scholars Press China to Embrace Judicial Independence – Bloomberg China’s leadership should formally establish “judicial independence” as being central to the rule of law and the goal of reforms, as well as incorporating the concept of “constitutional rule” in governance, said Xu Xin, professor at the School of Law of the Beijing Institute of Technology. “If these two principles cannot be established, the rest could only be small fixes and revisions that won’t solve the fundamental problems in the country’s legal system,” said Xu.
Related: What China Means by ‘Rule of Law’ – NYTimes.com contrary to what pessimistic observers have predicted, the plenum is not likely to treat law as merely a tool for the party to control Chinese society, a throwback to the “Legalist School” of philosophy from 2,200 years ago which President Xi Jinping seems fond of quoting. Chinese society and its legal system have already changed too fundamentally for that, and the current regime led by Mr. Xi has already signed onto many reforms and even adjustments in ideology that represent positive steps toward a modern system of rule of law. These changes aren’t just window-dressing; they reflect the leadership’s recognition that it needs to improve governance, address widespread public grievances, and respond to public opinion.–Paul Gewirtz is a professor of law, and the director of the China Center, at Yale Law School.
Related: 新华社社评：迈向全面推进依法治国新境界-
Related: 开创法治中国新天地（法治中国 铿锵前行）–时政–人民网 long page1 People’s Daily Monday on “governing the country according to law”, why the 4th Plenum is so important…
China Said to Pull the Strings in Hong Kong Crackdown – NYTimes.com The secretive commute reflects the intimate yet largely hidden role that the Chinese Communist Party leadership has played in the crisis in Hong Kong. According to interviews with six current and former Hong Kong and Chinese government officials, as well as experts in both countries, it is China’s leaders more than Hong Kong’s who have directed the broad outlines of the response here. With China’s needs foremost in mind, they have calibrated a careful balance between a steadfast refusal to give ground on the protesters’ demands for democratic elections and the need to avoid widespread bloodshed that would further destabilize the city, a global financial center.
Related: Fears over ‘radicals’ as protest violence increases, but sources say Beijing won’t be embarrassed into action | South China Morning Post People familiar with central government thinking also said there were “worrying signs” that radical groups in the city were pushing for the city’s de facto political independence under the cover of democracy and were “actively collaborating with foreign forces”. For the first time yesterday, the People’s Daily linked the Occupy movement to an attempt to seek Hong Kong’s political independence. It said in a commentary that the movement’s organisers wanted Hong Kong to have “self-determination” and even to be “independent”.
Related: Violence in Mong Kok: Are the protests spinning out of control? | South China Morning Post A police source said officers were trained to aim at the torso. “But in reality, due to many factors, it’s sometimes unavoidable that the head or legs get hit,” the source said.
Related: Hong Kong’s Leader Blames Foreigners for Fanning Protests – Bloomberg Protest leaders and government officials will meet tomorrow for talks aimed at ending more than three weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations, as Hong Kong’s top official blamed foreigners for adding to the foment.
Related: 从“自主”看“占中”背后的“港独”阴谋–
Japan proposes dialogue with China to settle Senkaku spat – 毎日新聞 According to Japanese government sources, Tokyo is sounding out Beijing about a negotiated settlement of the issue at a summit meeting. First, Prime Minister Abe would reassert to President Xi during their meeting that the Senkakus are an inherent part of Japanese territory. However, Abe would then acknowledge that China has a case as well, and finally propose settling the issue through mutual dialogue over time. However, the content of these talks would not be incorporated in a joint statement or other documents to be released following the meeting, according to the sources. // sounds like quite the concession by Abe. Politically possible in Japan?
Related: For Japan, Small Gesture Holds Great Importance – NYTimes.com the country’s leaders are devoting their energy to a seemingly small gesture: a hoped-for handshake. The gesture has outsized importance because of the two men who would be joining hands: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Xi Jinping of China, the tough-minded leaders of Asia’s two biggest economies who have circled each other warily for almost two years. The Japanese hope the greeting, and a possible short meeting to follow, would be the start of repairing relations that have taken a pummeling over disputed islands as well as disagreements over the handling of Japan’s wartime history.
Related: Chinese coastguard vessels patrol disputed waters | Reuters China has sent coastguard vessels to disputed waters in the East China Sea after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angered Beijing by sending a ritual offering to a Tokyo shrine that honors the dead from Japan’s wars.
U.S. and China look to manage differences, cooperate against threats | Reuters A senior State Department official said after Saturday’s talks that Kerry had raised all areas of U.S. concern about China, including human rights, Hong Kong, the South China Sea and cyber spying. The official said the exchanges had been “candid” and went beyond a restatement of rhetorical positions. He stressed that the talks had been consultations rather than negotiations aimed at achieving concrete outcomes and the results would therefore be “incremental.” Nevertheless, the official said, the talks had been “an extremely substantive and productive encounter” and the informal atmosphere had broken with a tradition of heavily structured dialogue between the two countries.
Related: Kerry seeks to warm summit mood with dinner for China’s top diplomat | Reuters U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, to his Boston home on Friday for talks aimed at warming the often strained U.S.-China relationship ahead of a summit between their leaders next month. Kerry stood outside his imposing townhouse residence in Boston’s exclusive Louisburg Square to welcome Yang with smiles and handshakes. After their dinner on Friday night, the two will hold formal talks on Saturday, when Kerry also plans to show Yang some of the sights of his native city.
Related: China, U.S. working to ensure positive results from Obama’s upcoming China visit: senior Chinese official – Xinhua The discussions focused on the preparations for the visit to China in early November by Obama, while attending the informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to be held in Beijing in November. Yang saluted “new and positive progress” that has been made in various aspects of the China-U.S. ties since last year’s summit held by Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Annenberg Estate in California, where the two leaders reached an important consensus on seeking to build a new model of major-country relationship featuring non-conflict and non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. The senior Chinese official said China welcomes Obama’s visit next month and is willing to work with the U.S. side to make sure the upcoming Xi-Obama summit will achieve positive results to further push forward the construction of the new model of major- country relationship.
Related: China says it’s hard to resume cyber security talks with U.S. | Reuters Yang Jiechi, a state councillor overseeing foreign affairs, told Kerry in Boston the United States “should take positive action to create necessary conditions for bilateral cyber security dialogue and cooperation to resume”, according to a statement seen on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website on Sunday. “Due to mistaken U.S. practices, it is difficult at this juncture to resume Sino-U.S. cyber security dialogue and cooperation,” Yang was quoted as saying. The statement did not elaborate.
The New Victims of China’s War on Corruption – NYTimes.com Such abuses seldom elicit public outrage. Many Chinese assume that the vast majority of officials are tainted by corruption, and they have mostly welcomed the wave of detentions even as they acknowledge that some of the accused may have been swept up for political reasons. Lin Zhe, a scholar at the Central Party School, an institution in Beijing that trains rising officials, dismissed suggestions that politics played a role in determining investigation targets. “The ones who have been taken down have been taken down because they have problems, not because of political issues,” she said. // when joining the Party don’t people agree to subject themselves to the Party discipline inspection regime? That doesn’t justify human rights violations, but don’t they understand what they are getting into?
北大教授：周小平的意义_新闻_腾讯网 Peking U professor Zhang Yiwu on the “meaning of Zhou Xiaoping”…Zhou clearly has struck a chord with many in China // 周小平的文章，当然还有诸多缺点和问题，带着年轻人的不成熟，
Related: 原来花千芳就是因为这篇文章被习总召见 on
Related: 【内部料】文艺座谈会最全与会者名单曝光 a
“Like Running on Mars” – Runners share their Beijing Marathon Stories with many pictures
Related: Ethiopia’s Gebru Wins Beijing Marathon Amid ‘Hazardous’ Smog – Bloomberg A runner from Kenya who led the race in the first 20 kilometers quit midway through, according to official China National Radio.
Chinese Home-Buying Binge Transforms California Suburb Arcadia – Businessweek This flood of money, arriving from China despite strict currency controls, has helped the city build a $20 million high school performing arts center and the local Mercedes dealership expand. “Thank God for them coming over here,” says Peggy Fong Chen, a broker in Arcadia for many years. “They saved our recession.” The new residents are from China’s rising millionaire class—entrepreneurs who’ve made fortunes building railroads in Tibet, converting bioenergy in Beijing, and developing real estate in Chongqing. One co-owner of a $6.5 million house is a 19-year-old college student, the daughter of the chief executive of a company the state controls…In late 2013, Cheng and her mother, Wang Jun, bought a 9,000-square-foot house with a pool and spa in Arcadia for $6.5 million. According to an L.A. property filing, Wang’s husband is Cheng Qingtao. He’s CEO of China Huayang Economic & Trade Group, one of the first state-owned companies set up by the central government, which still owns a majority stake
BUSINESS, ECONOMY AND TRADE
China’s PBOC Said to Plan $32.7 Billion Bank Injection – Bloomberg The People’s Bank of China is providing funds to joint-stock banks to help them prepare for year-end liquidity needs, a government official familiar with the matter said yesterday, asking not to be identified because there hasn’t been an official announcement. Joint-stock banks are mid-sized national banks with mixed ownership.
中国版“两房”启动 或可撬动10万亿元“沉积资产”-财经频道-新华网 “９·
The $2 Trillion Megacity Dividend China’s Leaders Oppose: Cities – Bloomberg China needs a new prescription for growth: Cram even more people into the pollution-ridden megacities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. While this may sound like a recipe for disaster, failing to expand and improve these urban areas could be even worse. That’s because the biggest cities drive innovation and specialization, with easier-to-reach consumers and more cost-efficient public transport systems, according to Yukon Huang, a former World Bank chief in China.
面向大海再扬帆 曹妃甸好消息接踵而至–河北频道–人民网
Chinese Shares Advance Most in Three Weeks on Economic Measures – Bloomberg The liquidity injection “is in line with our views that the Chinese government is to introduce a series of easing measures in coming weeks to support the launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the ruling party’s 4th Plenum,” Lu Ting, China economist at Bank of America, wrote in a report. “Other than helping the real economy post the release of poor August macro data, the major purpose of this 200 billion yuan injection is to boost confidence in the financial markets, especially the A shares listed in Shanghai.’
Costco Opens in China, and No Membership Fees! | TheNanfang Costco received over 10,000 orders on the first two days of opening (October 12-14) at its Hangzhou headquarters, including orders for three tons of Kirkland nuts, and 1.5 tons of dried cranberries. To give you an idea of what Chinese shoppers are interested in, here are the top five recommendations
POLITICS AND LAW
China mulls penalties for officials accepting “cash gifts”: report – Xinhua The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will convene a bimonthly session from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, and lawmakers will consider a series of draft laws and amendments, including a draft amendment to the criminal law. According to the report, officials accepting cash gifts are not susceptible to criminal charges under the current law, and many crooked officials have sought to defend themselves from bribe-taking charges by alleging that the bribes they took were only gifts from friends.
福建一纪委官员坠亡 曾称被人设圈套当替罪羊_网易新闻中心 据李伟伟堂哥介绍，
黑龙江省交通厅长落马_政经频道_财新网 head of Heilongjiang Provincial Traffic Bureau detained…high-risk job, so much money to steal from infrastructure investment
Unrest in China leaves 22 dead following Xinjiang attack – FT.com Radio Free Asia said four Uighurs armed with knives and explosives stormed the wholesale market in Maralbeshi on October 12, attacking police and Han Chinese stall owners before being gunned down by police. The incident was not reported in Chinese state media, which has delayed reporting past incidents for days, or else initially substantially underreported the number of deaths. State media said several days after the fact that 59 “terrorists” and 37 civilians died on July 28 after police shot at a crowd of Uighurs near the ancient silk road city of Yarkand, known in Chinese as Shache. The circumstances of the incident have never been clearly explained.
With Xi’s new power is collective leadership over? | East Asia Forum The current domestic and international circumstances required that Xi move to centralise. In addition to the weak collective leadership of Standing Committees in the past, China’s rapid growth has rendered the present government organisation less effective in responding to the demands of economic and social reform. Meanwhile, the international response to China’s rapid ascendance also warrants cordial — yet decisive — Chinese leadership. During China’s own fast transformation and a period of regional, as well as global, power transition, China needs a determined leader who can command collective leadership domestically. Obviously, in the course of strengthening the effectiveness of collective leadership the chance of shifting away from its original intent may actually increase. But as long as Xi allows policy consultation and deliberation before decisions are made, his revamped system may actually enhance China’s ‘democratic centralist institution’. // how influential is Shen Dingli these days?
中央政法机关基本形成依法办理信访问题”路线图”–时政–
China’s Unstoppable Lawyers: An Interview With Teng Biao by Ian Johnson | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books Teng Biao, who is 41, is also a founder of gongmeng, the Open Constitution Initiative, a group of lawyers and academics who argue for greater rule of law and constitutional protections, and the New Citizens Movement, a broader group of civil rights activists. He is a lecturer at the University of Politics and Law in Beijing but has been banned from teaching since 2009 because of his political activities He is currently a fellow at Harvard Law School. I met him in Berlin in late August, a few days before he left for the United States.
习近平执政700天：12个“习式热词”正改变中国 这12个“
FOREIGN AND DEFENSE AFFAIRS
China seeks our help chasing its corrupt cadres | Business Spectator Caijing, a respected business magazine in China, recently identified seven senior officials or executives of state-owned enterprises who are hiding in Australia. Collectively, they are accused of bribery and embezzlement involving a total of about $1 billion. According to the magazine, Mr Gao fled to Australia in 2002 as allegations emerged that he and his son, Gao Xinyuan, reaped millions from a rigged bidding process for building an electricity transmission when Gao Yan was in charge of State Grid Corp, which is the largest utility in the world on revenue and owns key electricity distribution assets in Australia, including stakes in SP AusNet, Jemena and Electranet.
Canberra suspicion over China’s new fund | Business Spectator Treasurer Joe Hockey is open to the idea of Australia joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, but Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is opposed. It is understood that Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb believes the proposal has merit and could add value to the region. Australia has been under pressure from the United States not to participate in the new bank.
Liu Qibao attends annual conference of Chinese Language Press Institute – Xinhua Liu Qibao (C Rear), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee’s Publicity Department, addresses the opening ceremony of the 47th annual conference of the Chinese Language Press Institute
世界中文报业协会第47届年会在京开幕 刘奇葆出席并致辞-新华网 how many US-based Chinese-language newspapers attended the 47th annual conference of the Chinese Language Press Institute? // 刘奇葆在致辞中说，改革开放30多年来，
Xinhua Insight: The silence of a bomb: China’s first nuclear test – Xinhua Many places in the region had no names, just code numbers. The former atomic city was given the name Xihai Town, the regional capital of the Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Du and Liu, both retired from Factory 221, moved to live in a special compound built in downtown Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai, for some 600 former atomic city workers in 1990. “I sort of put the bomb behind me, but I can never forget it. For me, it was the most profound experience of our lives,” Du said. Many of his former colleagues and neighbors have passed away over the past 24 years. Now, only about 300 remain alive. Their stories are known to few people, even to their own families.
China’s Aircraft Carrier Trouble—Spewing Steam and Losing Power — War Is Boring — Medium The Chinese navy isn’t going to get rid of Liaoning any time soon. She’s Beijing’s first serviceable carrier and the ship is a valuable resource for naval flight operations. Even if China never sends her into battle, she’s useful for training and learning how carriers work. But powerplant problems can also make it so China can do little else. Failures can add costly repairs, shorten the vessel’s lifespan and force her to crawl along the water at slow speeds. Beijing also lacks large overseas naval bases—a necessity if trouble arises while Liaoning sails far from China’s shores.
Answering Four Key Questions About China’s Rise | Fu Ying Fu Ying // In a recent conversation with Henry Kissinger, he told me that he thought more people should know what the Chinese are thinking. I have therefore chosen a few hotly discussed topics below to share some of the views in China.
Chinese Doubt Their Own Soft Power Venture-Foreign Policy “Not only do CIs charge no tuition fees, they even provides subsidies. Where does the money come from? Are they paid by Chinese taxpayers? China’s 1.3 billion taxpayers need an explanation,” demanded one Weibo user on Oct. 4, who identified himself as a lawyer in the southwestern city of Chongqing. Then there’s the program’s lack of transparency, which has led to accusations of corruption. In Jan. 2010, a company called Wuzhou Hanfeng Web Technology Ltd. won the bid to build and maintain the official website of the online CI program. As reported that month by a swath of mainstream media outlets such as China Daily, Beijing News, and Sina, Chinese online muckrakers subsequently alleged that Wuzhou Hanfeng belongs to Wang Yongli and Hu Zhiping, who are both directors at Hanban. (The bid amounted to over $5 million.)
中国填海加速:永暑岛超太平岛成南沙第一大岛_网易新闻中心 C
HONG KONG, MACAO AND TAIWAN
Hong Kong Protests: Man Arrested Over Online Messages – WSJ – WSJ The Hong Kong Police Force said in a statement on its website that a 23-year-old man had been arrested Saturday on suspicion of “accessing a computer with illegal or dishonest intentions” and illegal assembly. A preliminary police investigation revealed the man had posted messages on online discussion boards urging others to go to Mong Kok—one of three main protest sites—to “join an illegal assembly, attack police and paralyze subway lines,” the statement said. The man, who has been released on bail, is separately accused of illegal assembly in Mong Kok, the statement said.
Taiwan tests submarine-launched missiles | Business Spectator Taiwan’s navy has successfully test-fired two anti-ship missiles from a submarine in the first such exercise since the weapons were acquired from the United States, local media reports. The Harpoon missiles were launched from Hai Hu (Sea Tiger), a Dutch-built conventional submarine, during a drill last week, the Liberty Times and the United Daily News said, citing unnamed naval sources.
TECH AND MEDIA
Chinese Censors Shut Down Tencent Website in Shaanxi – Bloomberg The website (xian.qq.com) will be closed for seven days for “lack of control on contents” and “permitting the spread of vicious and harmful information,” according to a notice by the Shaanxi Internet Information Office on the local government’s news portal. An official at the office confirmed the ban and declined to provide further details. Calls to Tencent Holdings head office in Shenzhen and its local website in Xi’an went unanswered on Sunday. The website, known as Daqin, provides local news and information to 15 million users in the northern province of Shaanxi. The closure of Daqin was part of a campaign by the Shaanxi Internet Information Office in “cleaning up cyberspace and protecting legal rights of citizens,” targeting “terrorism,” “political rumors” as well as “fake journalists,” according to the notice.
Top Court Clears Tencent of Anti-Virus Firm’s Accusation It Enjoys Monopoly – Caixin The Supreme People’s Court supported a ruling by the top court in Guangdong Province, which ruled against Qihoo. The court in the southern province ordered Qihoo to pay 796,800 yuan in legal costs. The lawsuit was the result a dispute between Tencent and Qihoo in 2010. Qihoo blocked certain functions of Tencent’s messaging service QQ. This prompted Tencent to tell QQ users that they could not use the program on computers running Qihoo’s anti-virus software. Tencent says more than 700 million people use QQ, and Qihoo says 400 million computers run its anti-virus software.
China’s Film Industry Online–China Law Blog China’s theatrical box office market may be huge but the ancillary revenues (i.e. non-box office) are still relatively small in China. This is the first in a series of posts on developments in China’s digital ancillaries in a lead-up to the US-China Film Summit
BBC News – Huawei boss says US ban ‘not very important’ “It’s very important for us to establish a trusted global brand,” says Huawei’s chief executive, Guo Ping. The boss of the world’s largest telecommunications company, Huawei, says that he is confident of realising the group’s global ambitions even without the US market.
联通对 iCloud 服务器进行 SSL 劫持？ – V2EX claims online that iCloud SSL has been hijacked in China
SOCIETY, ART, SPORTS, CULTURE AND HISTORY
China to Broaden Two-Child Policy in 2 Years, Adviser Says – Bloomberg All Chinese couples will be allowed to have a second child in two years, said a researcher who advises the government on birth control policies. “We will fully relax the policy” in two years after an experiment allowing some couples to have a second baby, Cai Fang, a vice director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the government’s research arm, said in a brief interview yesterday after a speech in Beijing.
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND HEALTH
VA explores alternative therapies – Veterans – Stripes The acupuncturist in his glow-in-the-dark yellow Crocs gently leaned over the burly and bearded Army Special Operations officer, who was stretched across a bed in the “zen den” of the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center.
AGRICULTURE
青岛农科院科研苹果新品种被一夜偷光_新闻_腾讯网
BOOKS AND LITERATURE
Book excerpt: The End of Copycat China – Campaign Asia What is this ‘Chineseness’ trait that has given mainland enterprises a one-up in the innovation stakes? Shaun Rein, founder and managing director at China Market Research Group (CMR), hints at the reason in an excerpt from his new book.
BEIJING
北京有一种感情叫“发小” nice essay on the importance of “Fa4Xiao3” in Beijing. 发小 refers to people with whom you grew up // “发小”，是北京方言，指从小一起长大的玩伴儿，相当于南方的“
北京APEC峰会主场馆 令人惊艳的日出东方凯宾斯基酒店（
明年北京将实现城乡低保并轨 官方已下发规划_网易新闻中心 新京报讯 记者昨天从北京市农委了解到，市农委、市发改委等已正式发布《